CORR Off Road

Kincaid Sweeps Weekend, Huseman Triumphs on Sunday In Pomona

The tricky track at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., made for some wild CORR racing over the weekend. Toyota Pro Lite driver Jeff Kincaid swept both of the weekend's races in that class, while Pro 4 star Rick Huseman took the win in Sunday's Pro 4 contest. And Johnny Greaves looked to have the Pro 4 truck to beat on both days, but was beset by bad luck in both races; however, his Pro 2 program is showing steady improvement.

Saturday's action kicked off with Pro 2, and Greaves (who is still getting acquainted with the ins and outs of the category) had to dodge a veritable minefield of incidents in front of him on the opening lap. The upside of all these skirmishes, of course, was that the Wisconsinite was able to hoist his No. 4 Monster Energy/Forest County Potawatomi Toyota Tundra from ninth on the grid to fifth by the end of lap 1. Unfortunately, that's as close to the front as he'd get in this race, as a chronic oversteer condition led to a series of spins that would put Greaves back to 11th at the finish.

"We're just having trouble hooking that thing up," Greaves said of his Pro 2 truck. "We've still got to figure out where it likes to run when the track goes bad, and I've still got a few Pro 4 tendencies when I'm driving it. We've got an odd motor and transmission combination compared to everybody else, but making stuff like that work is kind of our forte."

Things went considerably better for Kincaid in the Pro Lite race that followed. The veteran Pro Lite pilot and his No. 4 Traxxas/Forest County Potawatomi Toyota Tacoma took the green flag in fourth, but man and machine were up to third by the end of the opening lap, and in the lead by the end of the second. From there, Kincaid's competition was left to squabble over second place as he took the victory by a comfortable margin.

So, did Kincaid think it was as easy as it looked from outside the truck?

"Nothing's ever easy," he said. "We had a good start. They watered the track, I was patient getting to the front, and when I got there I made everybody chase me."

If any of the fans found their attention wandering during Kincaid's runaway win in Pro Lite, then the Pro 4 race that came right afterward definitely fixed that. The grid inversion moved third fastest qualifier Huseman back to fourth, which might have sealed his fate; the driver of the No. 3 Fabtech Tundra got caught up in a wreck in Turn 2 on the first lap, necessitating a trip to the pits. Greaves, meanwhile, who started stone dead last, was picking off his rivals one by one in his No. 4 Monster Energy/Forest County Potawatomi Tundra, and was all the way up to fourth when the competition yellow came out at halfway. Huseman was also fighting his way toward the front, eventually recovering to finish seventh.

"I got in the middle of a big ball of trucks that took out my right front tire and took out my third gear," Huseman said, "so we decided to run the race in second and fourth gear. It was a hard race to run, but we managed to pull seventh out of it, which is better than nothing."

However it was Greaves who was the story of this race. After a fierce battle with Ford driver Carl Renezeder that raged for several laps, Greaves took the lead on the next to last lap, and had a comfortable margin going into the fifth and final turn on the last lap. Unfortunately, a broken CV joint pitched the black and green Tundra into a spin, leaving the three-time class champion fourth at the flag and pondering what might have been.

"It was a great race between the four of us: Carl (Renezeder), Scott (Douglas), Kyle LeDuc and myself. We ran each other as clean as we could with all that water on the track. We put on a good show, I took the lead from Carl once, he took it back, then I got it from him again and saw the white flag. The spotter told me he wasn't alongside me anymore, he was behind me, so we were on our way, and a CV snapped. It must have snapped going over the whoops before the last turn, I threw it in there not knowing, and spun out."

Pro 2 was again the first pro race on Sunday, and Greaves took the green flag from 13th spot. But he didn't stay there very long: by Lap 5 he had cracked the top-10, and in an ironic reversal of fortune from the Pro 4 race the day before, picked up fifth place from Renezeder when he sustained a flat tire on the next to last lap. Greaves would stay in fifth all the way to the drop of the checkers, a result that helped bolster the confidence of driver and team with regard to the Pro 2 program.

"We actually switched a bunch of stuff back to how we had it at Primm," Greaves said. "We went in the opposite direction of what everyone else is doing for setup, but it works for my truck. And about halfway through the race I finally realized, 'This thing isn't that bad. I should start getting on it a little harder.' But I'm still a little timid, because I don't want to spin out and blow the whole race. I'm just trying to work my way up to speed little by little."

But Johnny and company didn't have much time to savor their solid result, because the Pro 4 showdown came right on the heels of the Pro 2 race. Greaves qualified fourth and Huseman was fifth, but that order was reversed with the grid inversion. Even so, it was Greaves who led the Tundra offensive, and he and Huseman were one-two shortly after the start of the second lap. It didn't take long before the duo had left Josh Baldwin's Chevrolet in a very distant third. After the competition caution it looked like more of the same, but fate dealt Greaves a losing hand for the second time in as many days and Pro 4 races, this time in the form of an unnerving noise in the drivetrain.

"These trucks are hard on parts," he explained, "and once you know that something's starting to fail it's just a matter of time, so I just kind of backed out of it. I was hoping I could at least nurse it home at half-speed and see if I could beat somebody, but it just really started rattling, so I decided to get out of the way and let the other guys have a clear track."

Huseman, on the other hand, was no doubt picking up some good vibrations. Greaves' misfortune handed the driver from nearby Riverside, Calif., the lead, but Renezeder was on the attack, nearly flipping over for his troubles. In the end, though, it was Huseman taking home his second win of the season.

"We were running hard the whole time," he said. "Johnny and I had a good run going; I really liked it. I saw a couple opportunities to get by him, and I knew it was going to be a battle for the whole race, but unfortunately he broke, so it was kind of given to me. Then we had some battles with some other guys, and fortunately we came out on top."

Pro Lite was the final race of the day and the weekend, and the inversion dropped Kincaid one spot to fifth. But that didn't matter one bit, as the five-time class champion was able to pick off his rival one at a time, making it a weekend sweep for Kincaid and Pro Lite Tacoma No. 4.

"We started out with patience, and I think patience is a virtue at this place," he said. "Due to the weather and heat it was dusty so they had to throw a lot of water on the track, and I think we just succeeded by showing patience and letting the competition make mistakes. Keep showing them the nose, keep showing them the nose and it finally came to me, and we brought it home."

Toyota Finishers at Pomona

Saturday
Pro 2
11th: Johnny Greaves, No. 4

Pro Lite
1st: Jeff Kincaid, No. 4

Pro 4
4th: Johnny Greaves, No. 4
7th: Rick Huseman, No. 3

Sunday

Pro 2
5th: Johnny Greaves, No. 4

Pro Lite
1st: Jeff Kincaid, No. 4

Pro 4
1st: Rick Huseman, No. 3
14th: Johnny Greaves, No.4