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Bark River Off-Road Races End Under Sunny Skies
 BARK RIVER--- The third day of the Traxxas TORC Series Presented by Amsoil was a grand finale to a fantastic weekend of racing. As expected a capacity crowd turned out to witness the final day, Fathers Day, for Round 5 of competition. The weather was perfect, competition stiff, and racing dramatic. There was already two days of action in the books, but the teams were prepped and ready to put down a show for the fans. It’s no wonder the fans come to Bark River again, and again, the racing is incredible, exciting and most certainly unpredictable. In the 1600 light buggy race, Todd Lempke was the winner as local U.P. boy Jamie Kleikamp had a rough race. Kleikamp won the race on Saturday, but was sixth on Sunday, telling the Radio Results Network's T.J. Ryan: "Well, I've had better days." In the 1600 single buggy, it went right down to the wire before Mark Steinhardt held off local U.P. racer Brad Erickson. It was the second straight day that those men went 1-2. PRO BUGGY Luke Johnson in the Number 14 had an already fulfilling weekend with back-to-back wins and was hoping for a third. But that was not going to happen if John Frana had anything to do with it. Frana hopped out to an early lead with Johnson and Wheeler close behind. Andy Zipperer on a normal day would have been in the mix, however due to a roll over in Round 4, the chassis had suffered some damage, forcing Andy to race in his backup car. Zipperer experienced soreness after the roll over and wasn’t one hundred percent and finished back in tenth. Frana had his four-wheel drive buggy dialed in today after experiencing some carburetor and alternator issues in the previous days at Bark River. ”We didn’t have any mechanical issues today, just some driving issues. I made a few mistakes today and Luke was able to get around me” explained John. Although Johnson would make the pass for the lead on Frana, it did not come easy, John was focused and driving some great lines. After Johnson made the pass in the Cemetary turn, Luke would extend his lead with each lap and grab the checkers for the third time on the weekend. “Hat Trick at Bark River, everyone has been joking about it all weekend, I can’t believe we pulled it off. We are four for four, I had two of the best races of my career here at Bark River, I really had to work for it. Peak Motor Oil, Undead Power, Red Bull, BF Goodrich Tires, Replay cameras, everyone has been so instrumental in getting me to this point” expressed Luke. Johnson has a comfortable points lead on the field going into Crandon on June 28th and Zipperer and Frana will be gunning for him to take a chunk out of his lead. Pro Buggy Results: 1) Luke Johnson, 2) John Frana, 3) JR Wheeler, 4) Schott Schwalbe, 5) Jame Grosser, 6) Tom Schwartzburg, 7) Jack Haenlein, 8) Maggie Zipperer, 9) Brian Boccia, 10) Andy Zipperer, 11) Michael Hester, 12) Chris Haenlein. PRO LIGHT A full field of trucks followed the Nissan Pace Truck to the Red Bull arch for the drop of the Green Flag. With the inverted field Nick Baumgartner again found himself as the pole setter. Baumgartner and his team had been working out some fuel gremlins all weekend and were hoping they had it fixed for Round 5. While Nick got off to a great start and lead four of the ten laps he still experience the fuel issues, “We are hoping to have it resolved by Crandon” explained Nick. Shawn Morris (27), Rafael Navarro (9), Keegan Kincaid (7) and Brad Lovell (44) rounded at the top five in the first turn. Seventeen-year-old CJ Greaves piloting the Number 33 Monster Energy Pro Light started in the six spot but quickly moved up and was contending for third in the first lap. Greaves passed Shawn Morris for second and began to chase down Baumgartner. On lap five, CJ got around Nick with Morris and Kincaid to follow. As Greaves checked out the battle was on between Kincaid and Morris. Kincaid would make an inside move on Morris for second, but Morris would fight back to retake the spot. With laps ticking down the white flag was out, Kincaid goes for another inside pass, the two would get together with Morris getting spun around and Kincaid continued onto second. Shawn quickly turned the truck around before Baumgartner had a chance to get by him. Greaves is wasting no time extending his points lead in the division, rest assured that after three Podium finishes this weekend, Kincaid will be driving his Traxxas sponsored truck to the limits and attempt to gain some ground on CJ’s lead at Crandon. Pro Light Results: 1) CJ Greaves, 2) Keegan Kincaid, 3) Shawn Morris, 4) Nick Baumgartner, 5) Doug Mittag, 6) Brad Lovell, 7) Rafael Navarro, 8)Mark Kleiman, 9)Jason Januz, 10) Scott Beauchamp, 11) Cam Reimers, 12) Travis Dinsmore, 13) Randy Eller PRO 2 The two wheel beasts are firing on all cylinders and the heat is on after some intense action in Rounds 4 and 5. The field is set after the inversion and Matt Cook (55) is taking on the lead spot at the Green Flag. Cook blasts into the first turn and down the stretch and sets up for turn two while coming in hard. Track Crews had just layed down some fresh water on the track, and the turn was greasy, Matt would over rotate the Ethika sponsored Pro 2 and the remaining field would scramble to get around Cook. Mike Jenkins (47) took advantage of the situation sliding into the number one spot, followed closely by Chad Hord (9) and Bryce Menzies (1). Jenkins would later over rotate and Hord and Greaves were there to snatch up the opportunity. Hord lead for two laps but had mechanical issues slowed him down giving CJ the lead, from that point on, even after the competition yellow, there would be no one to challenge CJ as he went on to take his second podium of the day and claimed the Oakley Bomb. Rob MacCachren and Bryce Menzies battled back and forth with Rob Mac finishing in second and Bryce in third while Steve Barlow and Mark Jenkins rounded out the top five. PRO 2 Results: 1) CJ Greaves, 2) Rob MacCachren, 3) Bryce Menzies, 4) Steve Barlow, 5) Mark Jenkins, 6) Jarit Johnson, 7) Chad Hord, 8) Jeff Kincaid, 9) Justin Keehner, 10) Mike Jenkins, 11) Matt Cook, 12) Mike Oberg, 13) Mark Kvamme PRO 4 Is there any question that the fans wouldn’t witness some epic racing, after all it is the PRO 4’s and you never know what is going to shake down. Monster Energy Number 22 Johnny Greaves dominated on Friday, Red Bull Number 1 Ricky Johnson threw it down and found his way to the top of the box on Saturday. One could only anticipate that the two rivals were going to go head-to-head in a classic Greaves vs Johnson battle, but not today! Adrian Cenni (11) started off the field and was looking very strong early on, Mike and Mark Jenkins followed Cenni with Scott Douglas (7) and RJ rounding out the top five. Cenni would later experience tranny issues and was forced to pull off into the hot pits unable to continue while Mike Jenkins also experienced some mechanical issues which ended his day. Mark Jenkins crew had worked hard all night on the truck, and it appears that they had nailed it, not long after Mark passed Adrian for the lead he checked out with the Number 25 Traxxas Sponsored truck. Jenkins was quickly fading in the distance to those behind him and would never look back. Greaves was able to get by Douglas and move his way into second where he finished while RJ was running mid-pack. RJ had a right rear tire go down and he was forced to make a stop in the hot pits midway. While on competition yellow, RJ would come out in the back of the pack after pitting but would make his way back up to third after working on Douglas for several laps. After seven long years of racing, Mark Jenkins was able to dominate the top drivers in the series and claim his first victory in the PRO 4 division. “I can’t think my sponsors enough, thank you brother Mike! I have the greatest sponsors, hands down” explained Jenkins. To top off the exceptional victory Mark walked away with the heavily sought after Oakley Bomb for the fastest lap. The perfect reward to a perfect day. Congratulations Mark, to a job well done! PRO 4 RESULTS: 1) Mark Jenkins, 2) Johnny Greaves, 3) Ricky Johnson, 4) Scott Douglas, 5) Rob MacCachren, 6) Mark Kvamme, 7) Ross Hoek, 8)Dan Baudoux, 9) Milan Mazanec, 10) Al Andrews, 11) “The Wildman” Adrian Cenni, 12) Mike Jenkins Crandon is next on the block and there is no telling what will go down. Teams will be in high gear to prep and get ready for the legendary short course off-road facility located in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Book your hotel, hook up the camper, pack your tent, whatever you have to do, do not miss Rounds 7 and 8 at the Big House! This article is courtesy of Taxxas Torc Series Web Site |
