JOLIET, Illinois –– Mud was flying on Friday for the first night of Chicagoland Slam as TORC: The Off-Road Championship presented by AMSOIL makes its second doubleheader stop of the season.

In the first night of TORC championship racing on the Dirt Oval at Route 66 Raceway, Johnny Greaves won the PRO 4WD class, while his son CJ Greaves took the PRO 2WD win. Kyle Kleiman claimed the top spot in Atturo Tire PRO Light.

PRO 4WD
Johnny Greaves solidified his lead in the overall points race with a PRO 4WD victory at Round 3 Friday night. The multi-time champion struggled early in the race, sliding around on the wet track, but found his footing just before the mid-way point and began making passes on the inside.

“We were a little worried if they put a lot of water down and it was slippery like it was they weren’t going to be real good,” Greaves said, of his tire selection. “So I just played it cool and once we started spinning off a little bit of water and the thing started hooking up, man, I could just drive anywhere on the track. I was pretty happy. At the yellow I said, ‘I think I’ve got this.'”

For the first half of the race, it had been Scott Douglas in the lead, ahead of CJ Greaves and Johnny Greaves. But as CJ Greaves began losing pace, his father slid into second place and eventually passed Douglas to claim the lead. Keegan Kincaid, filling in this week for Mike Jenkins in the No. 47 truck, made an impressive showing in his third-ever PRO 4WD race, fighting his way to second place.

“I was still learning this truck, so I was feeling it out and we got tangled up at the beginning,” said Kincaid. “I was like: ‘Oh, we’ve got to start picking them off and driving hard.’ Once the halfway point came, it was game on.”

Douglas has now finished third in each of the first three rounds of the series and is trailing Johnny Greaves and Chad Hord in the overall points race.

“The first half maybe I ran a little too hard, used up the brakes — maybe used up a few things when I didn’t really have to — but I was just having so much fun out there, you know?” Douglas said. “Second half, these guys were hungry and they were coming after me. Sometimes when you’re out front you get these lines and everything, and then when the animals come and chomp down on you you’ve got to step it up again a little bit, too. I stepped it up at the beginning but then I couldn’t quite get it back there at the end.”

PRO 4WD Results:
1. #22 Johnny Greaves
2. #47 Keegan Kincaid
3. #7 Scott Douglas
4. #9 Chad Hord
5. #33 CJ Greaves
6. #8 Kent Brascho
7. #10 Ross Hoek
8. #69 Milan Mazanec

PRO 2WD
Defending TORC double champion CJ Greaves got back on top in PRO 2WD with a dominant performance Friday night. It was a redemption for the driver, who had struggled in the opening doubleheader in Dallas two weeks ago. He credited his team with pulling together to dial in the No. 33 truck.
“We had 10 days to turn this truck around and we worked all through the weekend,” said Greaves, who took the lead on the first lap and held it to the finish. “We definitely got our truck back to where it needs to be.”

Second place went to Keegan Kinkaid. He fought his way to the runner-up position after Arie Luyendyk, Jr. rolled in front of him and the two made contact, forcing a restart. Both drivers regained the course but by the mandatory mid-race competition caution, Kinkaid’s No. 7 machine was showing signs of damage from the earlier hit and he found himself on the defensive as Brad Lovell turned up the heat behind him.

“We’re happy to be up here in second for all we went through in that race,” said Kinkaid. “We literally drove the tires off this thing.”

Lovell, who had a tough practice session in the No. 44 truck earlier in the day, spinning several times, said he felt he found his pace when the green flag dropped. “We came and ran with CJ and Keegan: they weren’t running away from us tonight and that feels great,” said Lovell. “We’re finally getting this truck together and finally getting this program back to where it needs to be.”

PRO 2WD Official Results:
1. #33 CJ Greaves
2. #7 Keegan Kincaid
3. #44 Brad Lovell
4. #45 Rodney Van Eperen
5. #91 Nick Tyree
6. #25 Arie Luyendyk Jr.

Atturo Tire PRO Light
Kyle Kleiman clawed his way to a win in the Atturo Tire PRO Light class Friday, ahead of Travis Dinsmore and Kyle Hart. It was the first race of the season for the driver, who was relieved to take the win after narrowly avoiding a tangle that left the No. 14 of Luke Johnson on its lid in the final lap. “I had no idea what was going on,” Kleiman said, afterwards. “It was so close and I just wanted to get it over with.”

Dinsmore made a Herculean effort to claw his way to second place after starting at the back of the grid. His runner-up result moves him to second place in the points after Round 3 of 13.

“We got terrible qualifying and started dead last,” said Dinsmore. “We had a game plan to conserve the whole way through and then take it after the mandatory caution. I felt that if we’d had one more lap we could have taken the top spot.”

Kyle Hart, who won both opening rounds in Texas two weeks ago, got the holeshot and held a commanding lead until lap 11 of 16, when a right-rear flat tire dropped him back. A decision to head to the pits for a swap proved wise. He was able to fight his way back into fourth behind Jake Lunderby, then bumped into the third place position after Lunderby was assessed a penalty for the contact that ended Johnson’s podium charge. Hart seemed as surprised as anybody to find himself in the Top 3 after the flat tire, and he’ll hold on to his overall points lead in the Atturo Tire PRO Light class.

“My team just gave me a great truck and we were running for everything it’s worth,” Hart said. “Unfortunately we got a flat and went to the hot pits but we made the best of it. I’m really bummed I just handed it to these guys. But to be back on the podium from dead last in two laps, that’s phenomenal. To keep up in the points and move forward from here, I couldn’t be happier.”

Atturo Tire PRO Light Official Results:
1. #42 Kyle Kleiman
2. #43 Travis Dinsmore
3. #41 Kyle Hart
4. #21 Cam Reimers
5. #48 Cody Kleiman
6. #29 Chad Rayford
7. #9 Bobby Runyan Jr.
8. #27 Shawn Morris
9. #95 Andrew Kossak
10. #91 Ben Roper
11. #14 Luke Johnson
12. #151 Andrew Carlson
13. #55 Jake Lunderby

All TORC results are informational pending official post-race procedures.