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Johnny Greaves wins PRO 4WD opener at TORC: The Off-Road Championship


PHOTO (select to view enlarged photo)

FORT WORTH, Texas (May 27, 2016) - The 2016 season opener of TORC: The Off-Road Championship presented by AMSOIL treated fans to high-flying competition Friday on the first night of this weekend's doubleheader at the Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway. Four-time defending champion Johnny Greaves manhandled his Monster Energy Toyota to an early win in PRO 4WD, Keegan Kincaid finessed his way to the top PRO 2WD podium spot, and Kyle Hart ran a perfect race in Atturo Tire PRO Light. PRO 4WD

Four-time PRO 4WD champion Johnny Greaves pulled off a confident win on Friday, grinding his way from a third row start to victory in this season's first race of the TORC Series' top class.

"Looking at all the guys in front of me, I knew I had to make things happen fast," said Greaves, who finished runner-up to his son CJ in the 2015 championship and enters this season determined to return to the top of the standings. Father and son ran nose to tail for the first half of the contest until a mechanical problem for the younger Greaves forced him to retire mid-race. It was clean racing for the remainder as Johnny Greaves found a good rhythm and powered his way to the finish line. "This is one of those tracks where if you overdrive it, it bites you," said Greaves. "I had to slow down and chill out and drive it."

Chad Hord, who started Friday's opener in the third row, put in a strong performance to start the season with a second-place result. "We're super pumped," said Hord.

"Hopefully tomorrow we can come back out and get a win."

PRO 4WD Official Results:


1.
#22 Johnny Greaves
2.
#9 Chad Hord
3.
#7 Scott Douglas
4.
#10 Ross Hoek
5.
#8 Kent Brascho
6.
#33 CJ Greaves
7.
#47 Mike Jenkins

PRO 2WD

Shaking things up in the opening round of PRO 2WD was Keegan Kincaid, who pulled off an upset win against defending champion CJ Greaves. "We had an OK starting spot, but we knew we had to pace ourselves a little and we were saving the truck for the second half when we started pushing a bit," said Kincaid. At the start, Greaves rocketed away from the pack with a textbook holeshot. But hot on his tail was class-rookie Kyle Hart, who is campaigning trucks in both PRO 2WD and Atturo Tire PRO Light this season.

An early spin from Arie Luyendyk Jr. handed Keegan Kincaid the opening he needed to rocket through the pack, moving into third place and then overtaking Hart in a side-by-side drag race on the front straight. After the mid-race yellow regrouped the field, Kincaid reeled in Greaves. The technical infield right-hand hairpin would ultimately decide the winner, as Kincaid squeezed past the defending champ to clinch the top podium spot in PRO 2WD.

PRO 2WD Official Results: 

1.
#7 Keegan Kincaid
2.
#33 CJ Greaves
3.
#15 Kyle Hart
4.
#25 Arie Luyendyk
5.
#44 Brad Lovell
6.
#45 Rodney van Eperen

A high flying Keegan Kincaid at TORC RoundUp in Texas. (CREDIT: TORC Series)

Atturo Tire PRO Light Kyle Hart dominated the opening race of the TORC Series' 2016 season early Friday with a clean run from start to finish. He chose the inside line into the first banked oval turn and jumped two positions to grab the early lead. Hart maintained a comfortable lead to the mid-race caution lap, put more space between him and the pack after the restart, and drove uncontested all the way to the checkered flag to capture his first win of the season.

"We got a great start and we were able to dive under at the beginning and take the early lead and we didn't look back from there," said Hart. "This place is awesome!" The battle for second place was heated as Luke Johnson held off Jake Lunderby early in the race, and then protected his position from a hard-charging Shawn Morris for the remaining laps.

"We started out last year with a second place finish here in Texas and we're doing it again here this year," said Johnson. "I'm excited to be here knowing I'm racing a full season here this year. Having that plan we've got an end goal. I'm excited to see what else the season has."

For his part, third-place finisher Shawn Morris kept the pressure on throughout the race, clawing his way to the podium from the last starting position.

Atturo Tire PRO Light Official Results: 

1.
#41 Kyle Hart
2.
#14 Luke Johnson
3.
#27 Shawn Morris
4.
#151 Andrew Carlson
5.
#9 Bobby Runyan Jr.
6.
#43 Travis Dinsmore
7.
#21 Cam Reimers
8.
#3 Travis Pecoy
9.
#25 Chad Dohrman
10. #55 Jake Lunderby

Kyle Hart wins the first Atturo Tire PRO Light race in Texas. (CREDIT: TORC Series)

At the Texas opener, full points races in all three top pro classes take place both Friday and Saturday evenings, with gates opening at 5 p.m. and starting ceremonies at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets start at $20 for adults and just $5 for kids. Courtesy of MultiCam, entry to each race is offered free for active and retired military personnel who present a valid military ID at the ticket window.

The season opener also marks the start of the series' expanded live digital event coverage in 2016. All 13 rounds of the championship will be presented in HD this year, with 2.5 hours of live racing presented at every round on www.torcseries.com.

Full coverage begins this Friday and Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Tape-delayed television programming of the TORC Series airs on FS2, with exciting 90-minute shows slated for Thursday nights in primetime beginning June 9. ABOUT TORC: THE OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY AMSOIL

TORC: The Off-Road Championship presented by AMSOIL is the nation's premier short-course, off-road truck racing series. A collision between action sport and motorsport, TORC is the ultimate battleground for 900-plus horsepower race trucks competing to win the TORC National Championship. Action-adventure sports events company Mountain Sports International acquired ownership of the TORC Series at the end of 2015 and brings its core strengths in HD digital broadcast production and event management to the growing series. Full television coverage of the 2016 TORC National Championship is carried on the FS2 television network with HD digital broadcasts available live and on demand on www.torcseries.com. [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001d1HXWZgMujsk2IAQcKzxG3clMeFdCwOzB_V0cm8EiZRSOwb7KJn7C4LU5-V3aA5z5aSlR2hYwC2BcV6e-hnSW-84BTk7iKM5RUhInRn4VokmnH7DVvM40geicHcTa2F7LvQXmwMewsxPmEoRnbHAaPZvDlrsou2gdPTI5qaMwLI=&c=cR0NSgqUnoEEZstV3iC8D4w4RVslNUp2S75sPQiUIzidJxYmyHjuFg==&ch=sVFH_biipiTT_LEt7K9TIN822lenhQUJWXmaR439l-xI4pO5y0br2A==]