Bad Luck Strikes Kincaid in Bark River

Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2010 Traxxas TORC Series took over Bark River, MI, July 10th and 11th, for some high speed, yet technical fender banging action. Thursday July 8th, The JKM crew packed up the Traxxas/ Forest County Potawatomi Pro 2wd on BFGoodrich tires with a fresh Goodwin Competition Ford Motor, and made the short 100 mile trip to Bark River Raceway. Friday, once the crew finished getting the awning set up, and the pre-race technical inspection was complete, they prepped the truck for a practice session later in the afternoon. Kincaid took to the track for a 3 lap session, and put down some good lap times.

Saturday morning brought a 3 lap qualifying session, in which Kincaid turned the 4th fastest lap, out of the 9 truck field. Jeremy McGrath set the fastest lap, allowing him to draw for how much of an inversion there would be for Round 3. McGrath drew a 6, inverting the top 6, and putting Jeff in the 3rd starting position for the 2 by 2 rolling start. The Kincaid team went to work, making sure the truck was ready to take on the high level of competition in the Pro 2wd class. Later in the afternoon, the 9 truck field took to the track for the start of Round 9. Mike Oberg and Chad Hord led the field to the green, as the race got underway. The 800+ horsepower trucks charged into the first corner, Kincaid was shuffled back to 5th place through-out the first lap. Oberg took the early lead but eventually gave it up to Rob MacCachren a few laps into the race. Kincaid battled for 4th with McGrath for the first half of the race. By the mandatory caution, Jeff worked his way to the 4th position, as MacCachren had to pit with a flat tire. Once the green flag flew again to start the second half of the race, Jeff went to work, passing Hord for the 3rd position. With three laps to go McGrath capitalized on an Oberg mistake to take the lead. Jeff also put heavy pressure on Oberg trying to take over the second position. That same lap McGrath would pullover with mechanical issues giving the lead back to Oberg, with Kincaid right on his bumper. Coming to get the white flag, Jeff started to slow, and pulled off the track with his hopes of back to back wins going up in smoke. Oberg went on to win the race, with MacCachren and Hord finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively, and Kincaid finished in the 6th position. After the JKM team was able to get the truck back to the pit, they looked it over to find the water pump belt was thrown off causing the motor to overheat. Jeff made the decision to pull out his backup truck for Round 4, to ensure he could collect enough points to keep him in the championship battle.

Sunday morning, the Pro trucks were able to run a 2 lap practice session, in which Jeff performed a shakedown run on the spare truck to make sure everything was race ready. After the run, Jeff was confident he would be able to compete well with the rest of the field. With Kincaid racing a different truck, he would have to start in the rear of the field for Round 4. The 9 truck field again lined up two by two as Dan Vanden Heuvel and Scott Taylor led them to the green. Vanden Heuvel jumped out to an early lead, and eventually gave it up to Taylor. Jeff slowly picked off trucks every lap, making his way to 4th by lap 4, and closing on third place Ricky Johnson, racing side by side at one point, before being pinched off by Johnson. On lap 5, as Kincaid went through the chicane in the back loop, his right front wheel fell off, sidelining him for the remainder of the race. Rob MacCachren went on to win the race, with Johnson and Taylor rounding out the podium. After checking the truck over, the JKM crew verified that a wheel bearing went bad, to cause the wheel to come off. Leaving Round 4, Jeff sits in 3rd place in points, 25 points behind leader Rob MacCachren.

The Traxxas TORC Series will take over Oshkosh, WI for Rounds 5 and 6, July 23rd and 24th under the lights for some exciting night racing. Jeff looks to get back on track in Oshkosh, as he tries to claim his first championship in the Pro 2 division. Rounds 1 and 2 will be the series premier of the 26 hour Traxxas TORC Series TV show, starting September 2nd on Discovery Channel’s HD Theatre, and continuing for 26 weeks every Thursday night. Hope to see you in Oshkosh!