Crandon, WI (June 24-25, 2023) — Greaves Duo looked a little different as the team headed to “The Big House” at Crandon International Raceway this past weekend. Johnny Greaves, still nursing some cracked ribs, was not in the drivers seat of the number 22 Monster Energy Toyota. Kyle Greaves filled in once again. CJ capped off the weekend by winning the 30th annual FCP Community Cup race–his second in a row. He is one of few drivers who has ever accomplished that. He also won the Pro Stock SXS on Saturday and was winning the Sunday race when his motor overheated on the final lap. He took a close 2nd in the Pro4 race in-spite of experiencing some mechanical problems. Following a hard fought battle with Jimmy Henderson, he won the Pro4 race on Sunday, only to be penalized 3 positions due to racing incident. He remains atop the standings by 23 points in Pro4 and 14 points in Pro Turbo SXS. Kyle Greaves got some great Pro4 experience by landing 4th and 5th place finishes.
Pro Stock SXS
Saturday: 21 Pro Stock SXS cars lined up for the landrush start in Saturday’s race at The Big House. CJ Greaves had his Polaris RZR in the middle and made it through Potawatomi turn one with no problem, emerging in 3rd place. He was up to 2nd by the end of the first lap and went on the charge for leader Jeb Bootle. CJ took the lead and never looked back–checking out to nearly a 5 second lead at the checkered flag.
Sunday: Mother Nature dumped a lot of rain throughout the day on the Crandon track on Sunday. By the time the pro classes started to race, the rain had subsided, but left some challenges for the track crews. Race officials decided to forego the landrush and went with a rolling 2×2 start. They also did away with the competition caution. CJ rolled off from the 4th row. Still dealing with slick conditions, CJ Greaves managed to work his way through the field and into the top 3 by the 2nd lap. The top 3 pulled away from the rest of the field. CJ watched as the leader, Owen Van Eperen and 2nd place Jeb Bootle, battled and waited for the right time to make his charge. As time was running out, he made his move, passing Van Eperen to take the lead. But his lead was short lived. With only 2 minutes remaining in the race, he overheated and had to pull out of the race.
Pro Turbo SXS
Saturday: Fresh off his sweep of the Pro Turbo SXS in Antigo, CJ Greaves put his Toyo clad Polaris RZR on the starting line with 19 other cars for Saturday’s race in Crandon. He landed in about 6th as the field settled down after the landrush start and he began to work his way towards the front. Kyle Chaney was in the lead when a car flipped bringing out a full-course caution. On the restart, the top racers pulled away. With several dropping out of the race, CJ could only improve to 5th before the end of the race.
Sunday: The sun made an appearance for Sunday’s Turbo SXS race turning the mud into dust. CJ started deep in the field again for the rolling 2-by-2 start. With no competition caution, Greaves had to pass a bunch of cars and hungry drivers to get to the front. He worked hard and pulled off a top 5 finish and remained atop the points standings by a narrow 14 point margin.
Pro-4
Saturday: The last race of Saturday’s races was the mighty Pro-4’s. CJ Greaves in the number 33 and Kyle Greaves, sitting in for the injured Johnny Greaves, had their Monster Energy, Toyota, Toyo Tire machines on the line with 5 other trucks. Cole Mamer got the holeshot but CJ was right on his bumper while Kyle was hanging on to 5th.
On the restart following the competition caution, CJ stuck the nose of his truck inside of Mamer at the gravel pit turn but was unable to make the pass. Jimmy Henderson was also making his presence known and the top-3 made it three-wide at the start finish line. The battle continued until Mamer biked his machine in the gravel pit turn allowing CJ to take the lead. Henderson was also strong and made the pass stick on the final lap to take the win. Greaves later revealed he was unable to use 5th gear which limited the speed. Kyle Greaves finished 4th in the race.
Sunday: The Pro-4’s raced at the noon hour to allow time to prep for the afternoon Community Cup race. The Pro-4’s also started with the rolling start and no competition caution. By the second turn, CJ took the top spot and began to pull away from the field. With less than 7 minutes to go in the race, Jimmy Henderson began to pressure CJ for the lead. At the 4 minute mark, Henderson took the lead but CJ was battling hard to get back to the number 1 spot. The two traded licks and with 2 laps to got, they collided in the gravel pit turn with CJ sliding into Henderson who was on the outside of the turn. CJ powered ahead to take the lead. The contact resulted in a flat tire on the Henderson machine on the final lap. Greaves took the apparent win but was penalized 3 positions due to the racing incident. In spite of the win being stripped away, CJ Greaves was able to hold on to the points lead by a 23 point margin.
Pro-2 vs Pro-4 FCP Community Cup Race
The 30th Annual Forest County Potawatomi Community Cup race was the climax of Sunday’s racing. The race is Pro-2 verses the Pro-4’s, with the Pro-2’s getting a 37 second head start in the 10 lap race. CJ Greaves number 33 was beat up pretty bad from the morning mayhem so elected to drive Johnny’s number 22 Toyota in the race. There were 5 each of the 2-wheel drive and 4-wheel drive trucks on the line for the landrush start.
Johnny Holter got the holeshot of the Pro-2’s. CJ lead the Pro-4 train through Potawatomi turn one and began to hunt down the back of the Pro-2 field. On lap 5, CJ had caught the tail of the 2-wheel trucks and picked them off one-by-one, taking the lead on lap 7. He could not relax, because another Pro-4 in the form of Jimmy Henderson was on CJ’s bumper. However, Henderson lost front wheel drive and did a 360, taking him out of contention on lap 8. Now all alone, Greaves took his black Monster Energy truck to the checkered flag. He is only one of a few drivers who have ever had back-to-back wins in the cup race.
Next up for Greaves Motorsports is the ERX Off-Road National in Elk River, Minnesota on July 14-15th.