Off Road

News Story

McGRATH REACHES TOP OF PRO 2WD PODIUM

BARK RIVER, Mich., Aug. 12-13 – After several years of trying, Jeremy McGrath finally completed his transition from champion motocrosser to short-course off-road racing driver when he won Pro 2WD on the first day of the TRAXXAS The Off Road Championship series second visit to Bark River Raceway this season. It was the first of three Toyota Tundra wins for the weekend, as Rick Huseman won Pro 4x4 on both days.

“I felt like for a long time, this whole year, I made it finally over the hump,” said McGrath. “I’m able to run up front, qualify up front. It’s pretty phenomenal. I was real calm, my truck worked great and I felt real comfortable the whole race. Up to this point, I was able to hold it together for most of the race; this time I felt like I was finally relaxed, even on Lap 10.”

The win, plus a second place on Sunday, gives McGrath a bit of a confidence boost heading into the next round at Chicago and the finale at Crandon International Off Road Raceway. “We put a little gap on fourth place in the points, which is good. Right now we don’t have anything to lose; we just shoot for wins.”

Huseman may have won both Pro 4x4 races and solidified his lead in the points, but the two races couldn’t have been much more different.

The first day, Huseman started on pole, jumped out front and led the whole race except for a brief period when fellow Toyota driver Johnny Greaves got by him on the penultimate lap.

“It made the race real exciting,” Huseman said. “To be able to get the lead on this track right off this start is a big deal because it’s hard to pass. We led most of the race and then for Johnny to get by us … I saw him on the inside and I was thinking, ‘Oh man, we’re going to race now. ’We swapped back and forth a little bit and never touched each other and had a nice clean run passing back and forth. It made the crowd go wild.”

Starting fourth on Sunday thanks to the inversion, Huseman had to work a little harder for it, and didn’t get out front until, while he was running third, the first- and second-place drivers took each other out and Huseman, with a badly beaten truck, came through for victory.

“We needed a win here to get our points back up,” he said. “We got two and it feels good.”

Greaves earned the Oakley Bomb Award for turning the fastest Pro 4x4 lap on both days.

Rounds 9 and 10 of the TRAXXAS TORC series will be at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., on Aug. 25-26.

Toyota Drivers Results – Pro 4x4 Saturday/Sunday
Rick Huseman 1/1
Johnny Greaves 2/7

Toyota Drivers Results – Pro 2WD Saturday/Sunday
Jeremy McGrath 1/2


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