Photos by Art Eugenio

Fan favorite Jeremy McGrath put on a good show tonight for the crowd at Perris Auto Raceway.

Just as the sun dipped under the horizon, Round 9 of the Traxxas TORC Series kicked off at Perris Auto Speedway. This is the last stop in Perris, California, for the TORC Series, and it’s one of the final races of the year. The series finale is next month in Las Vegas from October 23-24, so the point race is tightening up as the 2009 series comes to a close.
The stands were looking pretty vacant at the start of Friday night, but by the time the pro classes started later in the evening they were close to full. And it seemed that all in attendance were ready to burst if a certain So Call local named Jeremy McGrath could pull off his first win in the Pro 2WD class. Even fellow racer Todd LeDuc claimed that McGrath would take the win in pre-race interviews. So it was no surprise that the crowd was trying to cheer McGrath to victory on Friday night.

McGrath ran a solid race, jumping out to the early lead and fighting off the charges from Rob MacCachren to maintain the holeshot. Dan Vanden Huevel was just off the pace of the two front-runners in the third-place spot but was getting some serious competition from Ricky Johnson, and for a number of laps the two battled back and forth, even swapping paint a few times.

During the first half of the race, a number of things occurred just behind the leaders, as Evan Evans was forced into the hot pits for repair, and Mark Jenkins pulled of the track with some mechanical issues and was unable to return; Evans, however, did return to action after his pit. At the halfway point, McGrath still held the lead over MacCachren while Johnson sat in third.

Rob MacCachren was on a mission tonight, and he came away with a solid victory in Pro 2WD.

On the restart, McGrath was able to hold off MacCachren again, but it was clear that MacCachren came out more aggressive and that McGrath was watching his rearview mirror a little bit more. After three laps, MacCachren made his move and passed McGrath for the lead, leaving McGrath to deal with another aggressive driver in fellow Supercross legend Johnson. Johnson was literally on McGrath’s tail but kept it clean. He waited for his opportunity and was eventually able to pass McGrath and move into second place. There were a few laps remaining at this point, but the top three had gapped the rest of the field and each were spaced out enough that no other major battles took place. MacCachren took the win, Johnson took home the silver and the Oakley Bomb Award for fastest lap, and McGrath rounded out the podium in third.

“This is our third win of the year, and we’re hoping for a lot more,” MacCachren said after the race, noting that most of the racers are more worried about wins than they are the championship points at this point. “If you want to win the championship, you’ve got to win races.”

Ricky won the Oakley Bomb Award with some fast and aggressive driving, but he was again stuck in the familiar second-place spot.

“I screwed up. I got behind Rob, and I think I started trying too hard,” he said. “We missed it by one again. Again, second place sucks.”

McGrath was a little down after the race, wanting more than ever to get the monkey off his back and win a race, but he says he’s going to try his best to not worry about it.

Evan Evans had to make a stop in the hot pits but still managed to finish seventh.

“Things were going well. I felt really comfortable out front,” he said. “I was hoping things would line up tonight, but it didn’t work that way. It’s kind of funny, we’ve been saying it for a while. Eventually it will happen. It’s something I’ve got to stop worrying about. I want to win as much as anybody does.”

Though winning is nothing new to the Supercross legend, he does admit that he’s still learning news things in short-course racing all the time.

“I’m still kind of a new guy, so I just watch these guys and learn,” he said. “I’m just getting tired of watching.”

Scott Douglas notched another win on his belt in the Pro 4WD class.

Pro 4WD kept everyone on the edge of their seats the entire race. There was a little bit of everything in this race, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Mike Jenkins retained his pole position and took the holeshot on lap one, but he relinquished the lead to a hard-charging Johnny Greaves who was closely followed by Scott Douglas. Jenkins fell off the pace a bit, and Greaves, Douglas and Kyle LeDuc led the race in that order. The top three remained unchanged for a few laps until LeDuc went to take the outside line on Douglas going into turn three, but Douglas looked as though he shut the door on the line, forcing LeDuc sideways just enough that he dug his front end into the wall, busted his left front wheel and ended his night. This allowed Adrian Cenni to move into third place, and he was being tailed closely by Rick Huseman. The front of the pack remained that way until the halfway point.

After the restart, Greaves was unable to fight off Douglas anymore and lost the lead. Cenni and Huseman continued to battle for third place, with both swapping spots at one time but Cenni managed to stay in front. Coming into turn three, Huseman took the turn a little too tight, got it up on two wheels with little room to recover and went into the turn three wall. With the aid of two track trucks, they got Huseman’s truck off the wall and back on all fours, and he was able to get running again but had more bad luck when he lost a tire and kept putting in laps until checkered flag waved to earn as many points as possible.

While Douglas kept his spot out front, Cenni set his sights on Greaves and was eventually able to overtake him for second. Cenni held onto second place for a few laps, with Greaves applying the pressure and retaking the spot briefly before Cenni fought back. The top three stayed put until the end of the race, giving Douglas another win on the season and Cenni his first podium of the year.  Steve Barlow took home the Oakley Bomb Award for the fastest lap and was just off the podium in fourth place behind Greaves.  

Adrian Cenni made his first podium of the season with his second-place finish at Perris.

“We didn’t’ have anything for him in the end, so congratulations to him,” Cenni said of Douglas.

Douglas was happy with the victory, and noted that he hopes to do this as long as possible.

“This big Ford just pulled through these straight-aways,” he said. “Living the dream baby, I tell you. I’ve been doing this a long time. There’s no stopping in sight for me.”

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Jeff Kincaid was in last at one point after pulling into the hot pits, but he managed to recover, finish in second place and take home his ninth Oakley Bomb Award of the season.

With a large starting field of 14 trucks, Pro Light was the first of the Pro Truck classes off the line on Friday night. Casey Currie, in his newly decked out Monster truck, took the holeshot from the second starting spot off the line. Unfortunately for Currie, his trend of not being able to maintain leads in recent races continued, as Marty Hart overtook him for the lead in what was the first of a number of racers to hold the first-place position tonight.

An ugly crash for the 55 truck of Jeff Huseman in one of the whoop sections forced a few slow yellow-flag laps behind the pace truck as they cleaned up the truck and debris off the track. Once up and running again, Currie slid back to third place while Hart and Jeff Kincaid battled for first place. Kincaid was forced to pull off the track a few laps later and pull in to the hot pits, and Hart fell off the pace a bit allowing Currie to move back into first, a position he held until the mandatory restart, with Chad Hord working up the field into second and Brandt just behind him in third.

After the restart, Hord made a move on Currie and took over first after a few turns of the two trucks racing door to door. Currie later slowed up with mechanical issues and was out of the running, but it was Kincaid who was making a miraculous comeback after being in dead last at one point, having worked up into fourth with a few laps remaining. Out front, Brandt started applying the pressure to Hord, and Hord did his best to fight him off. Brandt got around him on the rhythm section before turn three, and in trying to get back his spot Hord incidentally tapped Brandt’s backend. Brandt spun out but was still in front of Hord and didn’t give up easily, as he managed to block Hord’s path around him with a strategic reverse that helped him retain his lead. Hord stalled and lost a few spots as Hart and Kincaid moved past him. Brandt held onto the win, but Kincaid made an impressive jump up into second place, taking home the Oakley Bomb Award for fastest lap in the process.

”It’s amazing to get the Oakley Bomb, it’s my ninth this year,” Kincaid said. “I’m looking for the big bomb at the end of the season.”

As for Brandt, the soft-spoken racer thanked his sponsors and the fans.

“It feels great,” he said of the win. “I thank all the fans for coming out to Perris tonight.”

Valerie LeDuc is one of the few girls tough enough to take on the boys in Pro Light.

In the UTV class tonight, it looked like Tyler Winbury was going to run away with the UTV race. He jumped out front to the early lead and held it to the mandatory restart. Young RJ Anderson jumped out to challenge him after the restart, and he was able to pass Winbury for the lead and never look back. Anderson’s nemesis early in the race was Brett Axup, who was ahead of him in second place at one point. After Anderson passed Winbury, it looked as though he had technical issues and fell of the pace. Anderson took the win, while Axup took second place.

“There was some blockin going on, some rough racing, but it was fun,” 16-year-old Anderson said after the race.