Round 1
Pro Lights Hit the Track First, Veteran Marty Hart Takes the Checkered
Ft. Worth, TX (May 15, 2009)-The Traxxas TORC Series started the 2009 racing season, debuting the new series at the dirt track at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas. The best professional short-course drivers in the country put on a show for the fans in Texas who got a taste of the high energy entertainment this sport offers. The fans got a preview of the Red Bull X-Fighters freestyle motocross show with an exciting exhibition on a very pleasant Friday evening. The racing action started with the Pro Light Truck class taking to the track first followed by the Pro 2WD class, and capping off the evening with the Pro 4x4.

Kyle LeDuc and Marty Hart were the first two drivers out of the shoot but LeDuc developed tire problems coming out of turn 3 that became completely flat by turn 4. Hart took the lead on the front stretch of the first lap after a hard charging Jeff Kincaid tangled with two other trucks in turn one. He kept the lead for most of the race. Kincaid didn’t give up though and pressed hard to catch Hart to battle for the lead the until the mid race mandatory caution that bunched everybody back together again. At the restart, Hart and Kincaid pulled out to a nice lead over Chad Hord who appeared to have a blown engine problems, but may have been a bad tire rub. Hart and Kincaid went at it but by lap 9, hart pulled away to a two truck margin.

Chad Hord maintained third place most of the race. Back in the pack though, there was 3 wide racing at times for the 4th position between Mark Krueger, Chris Brandt, and Casy Currie.

The race ended with Marty Hart taking the checkered flag and Jeff Kincaid taking second. Chad Hord finished out the podium with a third place finish.

Johnson Takes the Top Spot in the Pro 2WD Class
After the Pro Light trucks came the powerful Pro 2WD trucks with a 6 truck inversion putting Rob MacCachren and Greg Adler on the front row followed by Jeremy McGrath and Todd LeDuc. MacCachren took an early lead but a hard charging Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Johnson stayed within a few truck links until the mandatory caution at the 10 lap point.

MacCachren was in the lead with McGrath in second followed by Ricky Johnson. MaGrath went wide in turn one opening the door for Johnson to move into second. Back in the pack Scott Taylor and Evan Evans tangled causing a bottleneck pushing Mark Jenkins and the rest of the pack further away from the font runners. Johnson continued his push hard for the lead eventually catching MacCachren who began to fade allowing Johnson cut underneath him in turn 4. Two laps latter McGrath was also able to take the inside line on MacCachren in turn 4 to take second. That is the way the race ended with Johnson, McGrath and MacCachren landing on the podium.

Huseman Takes Advantage of Greaves Spin to Win Round 1 of the Pro 4X4 Class
The Pro 4x4 class feature race excited the crowd with all the fender banging and drama that you would expect from a race with nine of these powerful trucks on a short-course track at one time. After the first several laps, it looked like another Johnny Greaves victory. With Greaves and LeDuc in the front starting position, Greaves hit turn one and checked out. But later, Curt LeDuc caught the right fender of Mike Jenkins flipping him several times, landing him on his side in the middle of the track. This brought out the red flag, stopping the race to remove Jenkins truck from the track.

When the race resumed, Greaves again jumped out to another quick lead followed by Rick Huseman and Kyle LeDuc. At lap nine, the lap just before the mandatory caution, Greaves caught a rut in turn 6 and lost control of his machine and went off track loosing dropping 2 positions taking the field to the midway caution at lap 10. The Traxxas TORC Series pace truck took to the track leading the field through the caution lap.

When the green flag dropped, Rick Huseman was in the lead, followed by Kyle LeDuc and Johnny Greaves in the third spot with Scott Douglas, Curt LeDuc, Adrian Cennin, Steve Barlow and Travis Coyne rounding out the rest of the field. Greaves was able to get around LeDuc to grab the second spot as he charged hard to get back to the front. However, coming out of turn one, Greaves lost control again, taking a wild ride off the track but somehow was able to maintain second through the bobble. Huseman was able to stretch his lead followed by Greaves and the elder LeDuc who managed to pass Douglas and his son to get into the third position.

At lap 14 Greaves made another dramatic bobble taking him off the track once again at the table-top sending in almost into the infield but still only dropping one position where he ended up when the checkered flag dropped. Huseman maintained the top spot, followed by Curt LeDuc with Greaves ending up in third. Kyle LeDuc managed a 4th place finish with Douglas, Barlow, Cenni and Coyne rounding out the rest of the field with Jenkins out of the race due to his early flip.