TORC: CJ Greaves has career night, doubles up in PRO 4WD, PRO 2WD

Fans of TORC: The Off-Road Championship Presented by AMSOIL have been waiting for it since he announced he was racing PRO 4WD fulltime and Thursday night at The Dirt Oval at Route 66 in Joliet, Ill., they got it. CJ Greaves versus Johnny Greaves and on this night, son beat father to become the first multi-time class winner in 2015.

In what may have been the most physical race of the season so far, Mike Jenkins finished second with Scott Douglas rounding out the podium. Johnny Greaves finished a surprising fifth after losing a shock at the halfway point and Chad Hord, who made a powerful run for the lead late in the race crossed the finish line just outside the podium in fourth.

The elder Greaves led the field to the green and the battle for the point began immediately. Johnny held a solid lead the first couple laps while Douglas held off CJ and Hord and Jenkins both fought to get inside the top 3. As the race approached the midway point, CJ was able to get past Douglas and quickly started dogging his dad, mirroring his moves to take the lead.

The racing was strong throughout the field. Behind the battle for the lead, Ross Hoek and Adrian Cenni, in his first TORC Series event of 2015, mixed it throughout the race.

Just before the mandatory caution, CJ was able to take the lead from his father and almost simultaneously, Mark Kvamme, also making his first TORC start of the season, lost his steering and hit the Start-Finish Line arch, necessitating a red flag. Kvamme was not only OK after the collision, he crawled from the truck and punched his fists in the air to the approving roar of the crowd. During the caution, both Johnny and Douglas headed for the hot pit, but for Greaves, the shock issue proved to be a fatal one for his truck and after running a couple laps, he headed off the track.

Jenkins and Hord continued to battle for second, Hord with a flat tire while Jenkins' truck was pouring smoke. Late in the race, Hord was battling CJ for the lead and very nearly passed him, but a costly over correction lost him precious spots as both Jenkins and Douglas drove around him. The victory represents CJ's first-ever back-to-back PRO 4WD wins and with that, he is now unofficially tied with Johnny for the PRO 4WD point lead.

A career night, CJ, the defending PRO 2WD champion, also took the win in that class over Marty Hart and Doug Mittag. Keegan Kincaid was in what has been his customary position of second before overheating issues took him out of the race. PRO Light kicked off the event and Mittag, the fastest qualifier in both the classes he raced, took the top step with Luke Johnson earning his second runner-up finish of the year and Kyle Hart finishing third.

The second round of the Chicagoland Slam is Friday night with gates opening at 5 p.m. and opening ceremonies kicking off at 7:45. Off-road fans can watch the race live via free streaming at TORCSeries.com starting at 7:30 p.m. CST. Tickets are available at TORCSeries.com/Tickets.

Source: TORC