Johnny, Marty, CJ Podium at Route 66 Raceway, Johnny Clings to Narrow Points Lead, CJ Clinches Back-to-Back Super Buggy Championship!

Photo Courtesy of Mike Roth - http://johnnygreaves.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=15cf2044426f600115bd9bbd1&id=4081a61eb3&e=0af0b23007.
Abrams, WI (Sept 19, 2011)—The Off Road Championship headed to the Route 66 Raceway at Chicagoland Speedway, in Joliet, IL for a rare midweek race on September 14th and 15th. The Wednesday evening race was streamed live on USAC's USTREAM channel while the Thursday race was broadcast live on SPEED TV.CJ strapped into his Pro Light truck first on Wednesday evening for the under the lights race. CJ found himself in the lead early, but problems by Casey Currie stopped the race. When the green flag flew once again, CJ powered ahead to maintain his lead for the next 4 or 5 laps with RJ Anderson on his bumper in 2nd and Brad Lovell in 3rd feeling pressure from Sam Hubinette. Anderson got a run on CJ and passed him heading into the back stretch. Greaves and Anderson pulled away from the field and CJ wisely backed off to save his truck for the second half of the race. Lovell would eventually role his truck as did Hubinette just as he crossed the start/finish line to take the mandatory caution at the midway point. Andrew Caddell got a great restart and pushed past CJ to take over 2nd. The top 3 ran bumper to bumper until the end of the race. CJ and Caddell went side-by-side but Caddell prevailed. On the white flag lap, Shawn Morris had a vicious role-over bringing out a full-course caution. At first it looked like it would be a green/white restart, but USAC changed it to a yellow/checkered flag—ending the race in the order prior to the caution—RJ Anderson, followed by Caddell, and CJ landing his 3rd podium of the year.

On the restart, Marty held his lead. Meanwhile, Jeff Kincaid passed Hord for 2nd. One lap after the restart, Mike Oberg got into Hord who rolled hard and landed on his roof, bringing out a full-course caution and putting the last of the top 3 points leaders out of the race. When racing resumed, Marty worked hard to stay in the lead, but Jeff Kincaid was able to pass him in the air at the infield tabletop jump. Marty Hart took the checkered flag in 2nd for his highest position of the year.

On the restart, Mark Jenkins jumped the green flag twice. Once racing finally got underway, Johnny began to work his way back to the front. With 3 laps to go, Johnny squeezed his Monster Energy Toyota between the 3rd and 4th place running Scott Douglas and Steve Barlow to take over 3rd place where he finished the race. Johnny also earned his Oakley Bomb Award for the fastest lap.


The Pro-4 race was a classic battle between Johnny and Ricky Johnson—reminiscent of the battles he used to have with fellow Monster Energy racer, Rick Huseman. Johnny confessed he played it a little too safe at first. He lead a good portion of the race but RJ was able to make as pass on Johnny after he, like Marty, developed some steering issues. Johnny took his red plated number 22 to the runner up podium position and maintained his points lead in the process—but by a narrow 4 point margin, setting up a showdown for the championship on the final race weekend at Cycle Ranch in San Antonio, TX.
Greaves racing didn't have any time to rest. They headed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the final Sportsman race of the season for CJ in the Super Buggy class. CJ hoped to wrap up his bid for a back-to-back championship in only his second year racing. He did that with flying colors by going 3-for-3 for Traxxas/ Monster Energy/Maxxis/Oakley. He actually clinched the championship by taking the green flag in the 2nd race. The 3 victories were icing on the cake—he finished all but one race on the podium this season—and clinched by a whopping 64 points.
The Traxxas TORC Series will wrap up its season on October 15-16 at Cycle Ranch near San Antonio, Texas. It should prove to be a very exciting weekend with Johnny shooting for another off-road championship to his legendary racing career.
No comments:
Post a Comment