Crandon, WI (September 2, 2018)
Crandon International Raceway once again hosted the Annual AMSOIL Cup race. This race is arguably the most intense and competitive short-course off-road race of them all. It pits the all wheel drive Pro-4 trucks against the 2-wheel drive Pro-2 trucks. In this race, the Pro-2 trucks are given a head start and the Pro-4’s try to catch and pass them before the 10 lap, no competition caution race ends.
This year’s race joined drivers from the west coast and the midwest for a chance at the $49,000 purse. Due to the difference in horsepower, the Pro-2 Midwest trucks lined up on the front row with the West Coast racers on row two. The Pro-4’s lined up on a third row.
There were 9 Midwest Pro-2 trucks lined up including veterans Chad Hord and Keegan Kincaid. CJ Greaves revealed at the last minute that he would be driving his Pro-2 with the West Coast package which he had not raced since 2016. Alongside CJ was fellow Monster Energy driver, Bryan Deegan. On the 3rd row there were 9 Pro-4’s including last year’s winner, Bryce Menzies, along with Scott Douglas, Kyle LeDuc, Adrian Cenni, and multiple cup winner, Johnny Greaves.
The trucks, line up side-by-side motocross style, snorting and pawing a the the dirt awaiting “Cowboy’s” thumbs-up, ready to charge toward the hair-raising Potawatomi turn one holeshot. The “midwest” Pro-2’s were given the green flag and after about a 20 second head start, the “west coast” Pro-2’s took off to catch the other Pro-2’s who were already through turn one and past the front stretch. Chad Hord took the holeshot and the early lead.
With CJ already passing the midwest Pro-2’s, the Pro-4’s were having their own battles. Kyle LeDuc had mechanical problems right off the starting line and had to drop out of the race. Johnny was working on Bryce Menzies when all of a sudden, Menzies lost power in the hairpin turn. Johnny tried to avoid a collision but the two made some contact. Menzies troubles continued as he suffered a right rear flat. All the while, the top 2 Pro-2’s, Hord and Kincaid, were still way out in front but with CJ Greaves’ Monster Energy/Mutant Soda Toyota in sight of them and the Pro-4’s getting closer and closer, picking off one machine after another.
With only 4 Pro-2’s in front of Johnny Greaves, the leading Pro-4, a late race full course caution came out after a racer rolled his truck and landed on his roof. This would give the Pro-4’s a big advantage but race officials tried to stagger the standing restart. With only a couple of laps remaining, CJ Greaves had passed all of the midwest Pro-2 trucks except the race leader, Chad Hord. CJ and Chad were racing nose-to-tail when Chad went up on two wheels and nosed into the K-rail, handing the lead over to CJ. Three Monster Energy sponsored trucks were now in the hunt for the coveted Amsoil Cup–CJ, followed by Bryan Deegan, and Johnny Greaves. However, on the last lap, Deegan’s motor let go, leaving the Greaves Duo to duke it out for the win. CJ Greaves, sporting a little over 2-second lead, took his 3rd Amsoil Cup win with Johnny crossing the line in 2nd for another one-two Greaves podium.
“We took a gamble on running the Pro-2 today,” said CJ following the race. “This Toyota was like it had been caged up for 2 years and was a truck on rails.”
Johnny said, “This crew made this [win] for us! They work so hard and this one is for them!”
The Greaves are no strangers to winning at Crandon. CJ has already won 3 AMSOIL Cup races and Johnny has been the runner up in two of them. Johnny Greaves has won numerous cup races at Crandon including 3 Borg Warner Cup races.