Kincaid Captures Points Lead and World Championship

         Rounds 11 & 12 of the Traxxas TORC Series were set to take over Crandon, WI along with the highly anticipated, 40th Anniversary World Championships celebration at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway, this past Labor Day weekend. The Celebration began Wednesday with a trail-ride on the original 25.4 mile Brush Run 101 course, and some other team competitions on Thursday at the Crandon beach on Lake Metonga. Friday brought the annual Labor Day Parade festivities, in-which all of the drivers competing in the weekend events, bring their race vehicles down-town Crandon, where the biggest autograph session in short-course racing takes place. All race fans can get up close and personal with their favorite drivers and their race vehicles, while watching the Pit Crew Challenges taking place. At the parade, Jeff Kincaid Motorsports showcased they’re new Pro-Lite, which as has been Jeff’s backup truck all-season, along with they’re brand new Traxxas/ Potawatomi Pro-2 that was set to race in rounds 11 & 12. The parade started at noon, with 40th Anniversary dedication floats and local business supporters saluting the tracks accomplishments. To end the parade, the trucks and buggies were escorted back to the track so racing action could get underway for the weekend.
Later in the afternoon, 12 Pro-Lites took to the starting line to qualify for the 3rd Annual Forest County Potawatomi “Decision at Sundown.” Jeff went out with confidence, knowing he had won the previous 2 D.A.S., and set the fastest lap by a ½ of a second. The crew performed a quick check-list on the Pro-Lite, and Jeff headed to the starting line to take his pole position. The rest of the field took their places along-side Kincaid in the staggered land rush start and awaited the green flag. The flag man dropped the yellow flag, and shortly there-after the green flag waived and the field barreled around Crandon’s famous Turn 1. As the 12 Pro-Lites began filing into position, Kincaid sat in 4th throughout the first half of a lap and found himself in second by the time he crossed the finish-line starting the first official lap. Chad Hord led Kincaid around Crandon’s “Super-Short” Track for the first 5 laps before Jeff made an outside-in pass in the gravel-pit turn and, made the pass for the lead stick as he crossed the finish line to start lap 6. Jeff went on to lead through-out the mandatory halfway caution, and stretched out to a very comfortable lead. With only 2 laps remaining, it looked as if Kincaid was going to cruise to his 3rd consecutive D.A.S. victory, but as Jeff landed off the barn jump his left-front wheel broke off as he spun off the track. Chad Hord took over the lead and went on to win the 3rd Annual D.A.S. Kincaid watched from the sidelines and finished in the 6th position.

Saturday morning brought qualifying for Jeff in his brand new Pro-2. With only about 15 practice laps under his belt in the Pro-2 category, Jeff and the crew were very happy with truck’s set up and were confident they would have a top qualifying time. They got just that, when on his second lap Kincaid beat the Pro-2 track record by a couple tenths of a second. Greg Adler went on to top that by 1 tenth of a second, putting Kincaid 2nd fastest, and in the 8th starting spot for the Pro-2 race after the 6 place inversion.
After the excitement of the fast lap in the Pro-2 had settled, Jeff and the crew had to focus on the Pro-Lite for round 11. Kincaid had high expectations of regaining the points lead and capturing the World Championship Ring would also be a plus. Race-ready, Jeff took his position on the starting line, lined up 5th with the 6 place inversion. The 12 truck field revved their 4 cylinders erratically awaiting the green flag. Once the green dropped, Kincaid sling-shot out off the line and was second to the 1st corner behind Casey Currie. By the exit of the corner Jeff used his momentum to sweep the outside past Currie and into the lead by the first jump. From there on Kincaid never looked back. By the mandatory half-way caution, Jeff stretched out to a 20 car-length lead. With the pace lap, Marty Hart was now in second, bunched up to Kincaid’s rear bumper. Once the green flag dropped again, Kincaid eventually stretched his lead by 15+ car lengths and cruised on to win in front of his home-town crowd for his 4th win of the season. With the win, Jeff captured his 7th World Championship Ring, 7th Oakley Bomb Run of the season, which was a new track record by a half second, and also regained the points lead by 6 Points over Chad Hord.
Sundays Pro-Lite race drew a similar picture. Casey Currie jumped out to an early lead in round 12, but by the finish-line corner to start the first lap, Kincaid slipped past Currie, taking over the lead. Jeff again ran away with the first half of the race, and kept a steady 10 car-length lead over Currie and Hord. By the half-way caution, Hord made his way to second behind Kincaid. Hord tried for a pass on Kincaid on the restart, but Jeff started to pull away slowly each lap. Kincaid again cruised to the checkered for the 5th time on the season putting him well over 70+ career Pro-Lite wins. Jeff’s winning performance earned him his 8th Oakley Bomb Run Award, and gave him an 11 point cushion over Chad Hord who finished in second place.

Jeff’s Pro-2 debut was stellar nonetheless, as he was moving towards the front in both rounds of racing. Unfortunately, some new truck gremlins sidelined Kincaid, and he was unable to finish either day. Kincaid will continue his hunt for his 7th career points championship in the Pro-Lite division in Perris, CA September 25th and 26th for rounds 13 and 14 of the TORC series. The TV coverage for round 12 aired LIVE on ABC September 6th, if you missed it watch for re-airs on ESPN2. The 40th Anniversary was a huge success braking Crandon’s attendance record with 58,000 fans in attendance, it was packed!