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Friday 'PRO' Racing Kicks Off Bark River Weekend
 PRO 4 Re-Cap: There was not a fan in the stands that wasn’t ready for the ultimate battle of mighty Pro 4’s. Monster Energy driver Johnny Greaves who set top qualifying time is right at home in his backyard at Bark River and is a fan favorite. Green flag drops, hammer drops and the race is on with Ricky Johnson getting out to an early lead after going through turn one three wide with Mike Jenkins and Rob MacCachren. “I got into the lead pretty quick, got by ...Jenkins, but Johnny did the same thing and his was all over me and got by me” explained Johnson. Greaves who started middle of the pack, would make quick work of the field and chased down Ricky to find himself in second by the end of the first lap. “I could tell early on that I think we had the speed to get around Ricky, played it cool, got an opening and made the pass, we rubbed a little bit but it was all good” stated Johnny. With the fans on their feet and the cheers in the air, Johnny continued to increase his lead as Ricky fell back several truck lengths. But this is the Big Dog PRO 4’s and you never know what might happen. Johnny made a big mistake late in the race and Ricky was right there to close the gap and pushed Johnny hard hoping to make the pass. “Started putting my foot in it and driving it harder and ended up getting close to him, but not close enough but we’ll be faster tomorrow” stated Ricky. Bringing up the field in third was veteran driver Scott Douglas in the number 7 AMSOIL, INC. “We got on the podium, I slipped up a couple of times, we have a couple of races to go so we’ll get em’ then” explained Douglas. PRO 2 RECAP: Never light on great action, the PRO 2WD division never disappoints. Rob MacCachren sets fast time in qualifying for the day with CJ second fastest and Bryce Menzies third. You know with a lineup like this, it is gonna be a race for the books. Rob and Bryce immediately began to battle in the first lap with Bryce quickly taking the lead. As the two battled, Chad Hord and CJ Greaves would fight for the third spot with Greaves eventually having some mechanical issues and having to pull off the track. Midway through the race, Rob Mac would be make an inside pass on Bryce for the lead. As fate would have it, Rob would experience some mechanical issues on the next lap and Menzies would regain the lead. “I always love coming here, it challenges me as a driver, it’s not our best track but we end up doing good here” expressed Menzies. Hord was coming on strong after the competition yellow hoping to challenge Bryce for the lead but would eventually bring the Nissan to the checkers in second. Rookie driver Matt Cook gets the third spot on the box with his impressive run in the make up round. Cook started eight and was working on making some ground when he and Mike Oberg tangled which put Cook back to the tenth spot. “I just kept fighting through it, biked over a couple times, a couple of other guys broke down and I just made my way up, it’s almost surreal being on the podium” said Matt.
PRO LIGHT RECAP:
Out of the shoot Nick Baumgartner takes an early lead into the first turn and the heat is on with Rafael Navarro, Keegan Kincaid and CJ Greaves nipping at his heals. Keegan was coming into the weekend after his first ever win in the Pro Light division at Eldora Speedway. Keegan quickly ran down Nick and was able to make the pass after some contact thru the triples in the back section. “This win helps me relax a bit, feel more confident, yo...u get your head on right and hopefully stay consistent and on the podium the rest of the year” stated Keegan. Monster Energy driver CJ Greaves is currently leading the points battle but got off to a bad start in the weekend with an incident early on the race that would eventually take him out of contention for the day. Brad Lovell finds his way to second on the box after having some bad luck early in the day after flipping his truck while Shawn Morris finishing in third.
PRO Buggy Recap:
As the sun begins to get lower in the sky the Buggies are first on deck to put on show for the fans who are anxious for the action to start. Andy Zipperer, John Frana and Luke Johnson are quickly out in front of the field. The three would battle lap-after-lap thru the first half of the race. Frana would have some mechanical issues after the competition yellow bringing Johnson into second with JR Wheeler in third. Johnson was working hard on... Zipperer trying to make the pass, “Just had to be smart, trying to figure out where I could make the move on Andy who did not make it easy, he made a mistake at the last second and I was able to make the pass” said Johnson who was coming off his first win at Eldora in the Pro Buggy. Andy Zipperer lead the entire race holding off Frana and Johnson but would finish it second, “It was a very fast track, thought I was running a smart race and I knew he was right there, changed it up on the last lap, never should of done that” explain Andy. Finishing up in third was Wheeler Motorsports driver JR Wheeler. * Article was taken from the Traxxas TORC Series Presented by AMSOIL Facebook page. |
