McCracken pulls off victory at RedBud

Published 9:35 pm Monday, August 12, 2013

Rob McCracken won the PRO 4x4 division at RedBud as the TORC Series off-road truck racing returned to southwest Michigan this past weekend. (Leader photo/AMELIO RODRIGUEZ)

Rob McCracken won the PRO 4×4 division at RedBud as the TORC Series off-road truck racing returned to southwest Michigan this past weekend. (Leader photo/AMELIO RODRIGUEZ)

BUCHANAN — If you were anywhere near RedBud this past weekend, you probably heard the thunderous sound of engines capable of producing 900 horsepower and felt the ground shaking beneath your feet as thousands of pounds of metal, rubber, and fiberglass went soaring through the air and made many violent landings as the truck off-road racing (TORC) series took over the world famous Motocross track this past Saturday and Sunday.

The upstart series (fourth year in existence) rocked RedBud patrons for the third straight year with its impressive brand of racing that garnered plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” from the raucous crowd.

There were also plenty of familiar faces from RedBud events of yesteryears for fans to see again. The notable of which was legendary motocross star Ricky Carmichael, who made his TORC racing debut in the PRO-Light division.

Seven-time AMA champion, defending TORC PRO 4×4 series champ and TORC series founder Ricky Johnson was on hand as well.

The weekend proved to be a huge boost for Johnson’s quest for a three-peat in the series’ premiere PRO 4×4 division. He had a third-place finish on Saturday and finished second on Sunday to overtake the series’ point lead from Johnny Greaves.

Greaves had a disastrous experience at Redbud finishing fifth after taking a black flag in the first race and ninth after getting turned around on the track trying to avoid a wreck in Sunday’s race.

Series veteran Mike Jenkins won his first PRO 4×4 race in three years and his first Oakley Bomb (award for fastest lap in a pro division race) of the season in the main event on Saturday evening. Sunday saw the all-time leader for wins in off-road racing, Rob McCracken, add another “W” to his resume as he beat Johnson by a solid 12 truck-lengths to secure a victory. McCracken also won an Oakley Bomb in his performance.

In the 2WD-PRO division, two-time defending champion Bryce Menzies dominated the weekend winning each race and raising his total points’ lead to 279 points over MacCachren’s 241 points. Menzies also won an Oakley Bomb on Sunday.

The RedBud experience wasn’t all bad for the Greaves’ family as Johnny’s son CJ added to his series’ point total lead in the PRO-Light division by winning a race on the first day and finishing second on Sunday.

Doug Mittag won the PRO-Light race on Sunday. Carmichael finished 12th and eighth in his first set of races.

The TORC series will pick back up on Aug. 31 on the sport’s biggest stage at the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway in Crandon, Wisconsin.

 

Class Results

PRO 4×4

Saturday

Mike Jenkins

Adrian Cenni

Ricky Johnson

Oakley Bomb: Jenkins

 

Sunday

Rob McCracken

Ricky Johnson

Scott Douglas

Oakley Bomb: McCachren

 

2WD-PRO

Saturday

Bryce Menzies

CJ Greaves

Rob McCachren

Oakley Bomb: Menzies

 

Sunday

Bryce Menzies

Rob McCracken

Jarit Johnson

Oakley Bomb: CJ Greaves

 

PRO-Light

Saturday

CJ Greaves

Keegan Kincaid

Cam Reimers

 

Sunday

Doug Mittag

CJ Greaves

Brad Lovell