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Bark River Day 2: Triumphs, Tribulations, Repeats
 BARK RIVER--- There's nothing quite like the sound of race engines, the smell of race fuel, and the feeling of excitement in the air to start off your Saturday on Race Weekend. After a great day of make-up racing and a long night of good times with friends and fellow race fans Friday, off-road enthusiasts began to fill the Bark River International Raceway grandstands early in anticipation of Saturday’s events. Sportsman’s series were first on the bill after a full round of practice for all divisions. Shortly after practice concluded, the Sportsman drivers found themselves greeted to a bit of moisture as a few showers rolled into the area, this would be their first rounds of competition in the 2013 Season. The rain would eventually subside and the Sportsman’s enjoyed a great day of racing and victories. After wrenching all night, planning strategies and prepping the trucks, the Pro’s were ready to tackle the off-road speed plant. Legendary battles have been fought on this track and today would be no different. Bark River Track Crews prepped the track for a pristine racing surface for the first class out of the blocks, Pro Buggies. Race fans, here we go. Green, Green, Green. 
Jamie Kleikamp comment #1
Bob Grindler won the Super Truck frace, and in the 1600 single buggy, Mark Steinhardt was the winner in his usual dominating fashion.
Brad Erickson comments
There were several re-starts due to a persistent light rainm but overall, the races went off without a hitch. PRO BUGGY Right from the start the Pro Buggy drivers you could tell this was going to be an awesome race, as Mike Hester started the field off and would get off to an early lead with Wheeler, Johnson and Schwalbe close behind. Wheeler would make an early pass on Hester for the lead with Luke Johnson to follow. Coming into the second lap Wheeler crossed the Red Bull arch first followed by Johnson in second. John Frana was also hard at work on Hester and transferred into the third spot. Wheeler would hold of Johnson for the first few laps, “We took third place yesterday, so we made some adjustments to get some more speed, it felt good, had a good grove going but for some reason lost the groove and couldn’t get back into it. Tomorrow were going to get back in there, I am going to try to stay calm and stay in it, hopefully keep it up front and hold it” explained Wheeler. With the race at the half way point, Johnson had made his move and was comfortably in the lead, “Today we grabbed another win, stayed consistent and getting on the box. I knew Frana wasn’t going to let me rest in the second half of the race. Hopefully we make it three-for-three this weekend” stated Johnson. Andy Zipperer started midway through the pack and would eventually move past Wheeler for third, working his Pro Buggy into the back half of the track, Andy would catch a rut that would flip him over a couple of times and landing upside down taking him out of the race. Wheeler not far behind slid into the third spot and would finish off the top three with Johnson in first and Frana in second. PRO LIGHT Can you say ‘On Fire’! CJ was kicking it into high gear today in his Monster Energy Number 33 Pro Light showing the field he is back to take his spot on the top. Coming off the start, Nick Baumgartner hammered into the early lead after starting on the pole. Rafael Navarro in the Boss Snow Plow Number 9 was second off the start with Doug Mittag and Keegan Kincaid right behind. Working through the back part of the track Baumgartner and Mittag were first over the big air jump, but Rafael was about to let them know he would be banging on their door panels soon. Baumgartner and Mittag got tangled up and Rafael was quick to take advantage and move into the lead. Seventeen-year-old C.J. Greaves started mid-field was also there to move up to second after passing Baumgartner and Mittag. The chase was on and Greaves was making up ground to setup a pass on Navarro. Greaves squared off the big sweeping corner and stuck it hard to setup the pass and would never look back, snatching back the top of the block. Kincaid and Lovell were battling for second, “I was pushing it hard there at the end coming over the big turn by the bleachers, I biked it a little bit and let Keegan sneak underneath me for second. I can’t complain a podium any day. I think we got what it takes to get up there on top, we just got to get it done out there” expressed Lovell. Pro Lights top three were Greaves, Kincaid and Lovell. PRO 2 Never say die! What a race for the fans, Traxxas driver Rob MacCachren was the man to contend with, but no one would think that after he found himself in the creek in the first lap of the race. “I lost vision there for a moment trying to grab the tear off, I was pretty far sideways, I tried to save it and I realized, I’m gone, I was headed toward the water! Next thing I know I am in the creek” explained Rob. Racing action was stopped so the TORC Safety crews could quickly get to the Number 21 truck and get Rob out of the water and back on the track. The race was reset as the TORC Nissan Pace Truck brought the field back around for a complete restart which wouldn’t make Mike Oberg not much to happy, he was hammer down and leading the pack on the initial start. Jeff Kincaid made quick work of Mike Jenkins in the Number 47 Traxxas truck on the restart and moved into first. Kincaid was on a mission and was flyin' with CJ Greaves chasing him down. Lap-after-Lap to the competition yellow Kincaid would lead the field. “We had a really great race today, the truck was working really good. Not a lot track time for me this year, but the truck was fast. We took away the Oakley Bomb, but halfway thru the alternator light came on, power was going down. So I just pulled off and let’em race. Truck is good and looking fast” stated Kincaid. With Kincaid off the track, Greaves would move into the top spot. Green flag on the restart and Greaves and Menzies were instantly battling, but who would of thought that Rob Mac would be there in the battle. After an unexpected visit to the watering hole, restarting in the back, the overall winningest off-road driver of all time, had moved his way to the top three. WOW! Never, never, count out Rob MacCachren. The gloves were off and it was a three way battle between Greaves, Menzies and Rob Mac. Going thru the triples, Menzies would attempt to make a move on Greaves and locked bumpers for a short time, just long enough for Rob to capitalize and get by them both! The crowd was on their feet cheering on the race that was sure to please any race fan. Menzies would continue to work on Greaves, but CJ would hold him off and maintain second place, with Menzies finishing in third. PRO 4 After a nail biting Pro 2 race, the fans of Bark River were fired up and ready for Big Dog Pro 4 action, and they were not denied. RJ was prepped and ready to go toe-to-toe with Johnny Greaves after coming in second to Johnny on Friday’s makeup round. “Johnny dominates this place, he is really strong, but he had something go wrong with his truck, I would like to beat him heads up. But today was much better than yesterday, we made some big suspension changes, got out in front quickly. Rob started catching me again, I couldn’t choke, I didn’t want to be a champ to a chump in one bump. I needed to focus to job at hand cause Rob is one of those guys that doesn’t make a mistake” stated Ricky. RJ came into turn one door-to-door with Mike Jenkins, however Johnson wouldn’t take long to take the lead. Jenkins would settle into second, followed by Rob Mac and Greaves with Scott Douglas finishing out the top five. Mark Jenkins drove by Douglas and moved into the fifth spot coming over the finish line while Greaves was beginning to make some moves and gain some spots but experienced some mechanical issues and faded back. MacCachren continued to gain ground on RJ and challenged him throughout the race but RJ would hold him off each completed lap to the finish “As we raced lap-after-lap I was thinking this guy was just in a lake and came back to win Pro 2, if he catches me and passes me, it’s gonna be the race of his life” said Ricky. Douglas and Jenkins stayed tight on each other throughout the race, Douglas would make an aggressive pass on lap three, but Mark Jenkins came back and passed Douglas again, the two moved into third and fourth in front of Mike Jenkins and would finish third and fourth while Mike Jenkins rounded off the top five. Going into Day 3 at Bark River, Mother Nature appears to be granting race fans and teams with some warmer weather and hopefully no rain in the forecast. Drivers and Crews have been working hard all weekend to put on a good show and certainly they have. Race schedule is the same tomorrow with racing action starting at 11am beginning with the Sportsman’s classes. Article courtesy of Traxxas Torc Series Web Site |
