Johnny and CJ Greaves headed to the East coast to the land of NASCAR and the dirt track at Charlotte Motor Speedway for rounds 9 and 10 of TORC-The Off Road Championship. The hot and muggy conditions were fitting for the on-fire Monster Energy, Toyota, Maxxis Tire team that is has racked up 20 podiums and added another 5 following this weekend’s racing action. CJ won Friday’s Pro-4 then took the Pro-2 on Saturday and 2nd place in Pro-4. Johnny came in 2nd in Friday’s Pro-4 to CJ but topped him on Saturday for another first and second finish for the Greaves team.
CJ Greaves took to the horseshoe shaped track on Friday evening sporting a nice 24 point Pro-2 lead in the standings. He started his Monster Energy Toyota Maxxis Tire Pro-2 from row 2. CJ showed a lot of patience through the first part of the race-staying out of trouble and getting a feel for the track. He finally saw his opportunity and made the pass on the 3rd place running Keegan Kincaid and immediately went to work on Marty Hart in 2nd.
As CJ, Marty and Kincaid headed to the tabletop jump, a lap truck forced CJ to make a quick dive to the inside of Hart. When they both went airborne, Hart hit the side of CJ’s machine sending him barrel rolling off the track. All this happened as they were approaching the yellow and red crossed flags signifying the competition caution. CJ was able to get his machine re-fired and headed to the hotpit to get checked out. As racing resumed, He was unable to keep pace with the field but stayed on the track as long as he could to save valuable points.
CJ didn’t have much time to lick his wounds; he made the quick turnaround to his Maxxis Tire Pro-4×4. The father/son duo lined up on row 2. Johnny and CJ quickly moved to the top 2 spots. CJ would eventually get the advantage over his dad leading up to the competition caution.
On the restart, CJ Greaves was able to hold the lead all the way to the checkered flag and take the win followed by Johnny in 2nd.
Saturday, CJ was looking to rebound from Friday’s bad luck in the Pro-2. The crew worked all night, until 6 AM to get the truck back to racing condition. It didn’t take long to see that their hard work would pay off. CJ moved from 4th to 3rd as Marty Hart went wide and spun off the track early in the 16-lap race. CJ took advantage of a Brad Lovell mistake to move up another spot. He went to work on Ari Luyendyk, the two went door-to-door along the front stretch as the competition caution was flying. CJ was able to edge the nose of his Monster Energy Toyota just enough the take over the top spot as the field slowed to take the mandatory caution.
CJ Greaves held the lead the second half of the race to get his 5th win of the season and edger further ahead in the points standings.
In Saturday’s Pro-4 race, the first few laps of the 16-lap race were fierce. Douglas and Hord got together allowing Johnny to go to 2nd. CJ was also on the move and out muscled Hord and Douglas for 3rd. Mike Jenkins was in the lead, but he over-rotated in the infield turn and Johnny took advantage to move into the lead. The top 3 pulled away to sizable lead up to the halfway point of the race.
On the restart, Johnny Greaves got a great start and shot ahead to a good lead. CJ was getting pressure from behind by Chad Hord. He was applying some pressure of his own, working on Mike Jenkins. The two battled hard but CJ was able to prevail. Johnny held on for the win followed by CJ for another one and two podium finish for the team.
The team will take a little break and then head to the Battle at the Chip, the legendary Buffalo Chip Motorsports Park in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 4-5. The race will be during the famous Bike Week in Sturgis on the brand-new “made for TORC” race track.