Kincaid’s Bad Luck Continues in Oshkosh

After a rough weekend in Bark River for Rounds 3 & 4 of the Traxxas TORC Series, Jeff Kincaid Motorsports looked to get back on the winning track, for Rounds 5 & 6 in Oshkosh, WI. The TORC Series brought the highly competitive Pro-divisions back to Wisconsin’s Fox Valley, for some fender banging action at the Oshkosh Speed zone, which is a 1/3 mile oval-track turned into a technical off-road course with plenty of whoops and mogul sections. The Races would take place under the lights for a Friday/ Saturday night show, July 23rd & 24th. JKM arrived at Oshkosh with their prepped Traxxas/Potawatomi Pro2wd, Thursday July 22nd, with the hopes of getting some track time before the race. With the gremlins JKM had in Bark River, Jeff wanted to ensure the bugs were worked out, and he could charge to the front. Unfortunately for Kincaid, the heavy rains, doused the Oshkosh area for much of the day Thursday and early Friday. The track crew worked hard to get the track ready for race action, but with all the fresh dirt, TORC Officials had to cancel the practice/qualifying session that was scheduled for Friday afternoon. Kincaid had to go to the line hoping the truck was ready for 16 laps of hard racing.

With qualifying being cancelled, the starting positions would be decided by points for Round 5, with a six place inversion. Kincaid would start on the outside of row 2 in the 2 by 2 rolling start, in the 4th position. The 9 truck Pro 2wd field took to the track for a few warm up laps, then lined up behind the pace truck. Scott Taylor set the pace on the pole, as the green flag dropped, getting the race underway. Kincaid made a charge to the front through the first turn, but with some trucks pushing high in front of him, Jeff would have to check up, and fall back to 7th position. Once the field separated out, Kincaid began a charge to the front, making his way to 5th by the 2nd lap. Later on the third lap, Jeff’s crew noticed his truck was excessively spraying water from the over flow. Kincaid checked his gauges, to discover he was overheating. Jeff slowed down to see if the temps would come down at all, but with no success, and had to pull into the hot pits on lap 7. Jeff’s crew tried finding an issue, but the temps continued to rise, and Jeff made the decision to not risk wrecking the motor. Kincaid would finish in the 9th position, with Ricky Johnson winning the race. The crew went back to the pit to dissect the overheating issue. After looking the cooling system over, the crew concluded there was an air pocket left in the system, pushing the water out of the motor. After checking the motor over, Kincaid made the decision, to race the secondary truck for Round 6, not knowing what damage was done to the motor.

The JKM crew checked over the secondary truck to ensure Jeff could make up some lost ground and get a good finish. With Kincaid finishing 9th in Round 5, he would have to start 9th for Round 6. The 9 truck field took to the track again, following the pace truck for the pace laps. Mike Oberg led the field to the green flag to get Round 6 underway. With Kincaid starting from the rear, he played it safe making sure not to make contact with anyone, throughout the first laps. Once the field settled into position, Jeff made some nice passes throughout the first half of the race. By the mandatory half- way caution, Jeff found himself in 6th position, after battling with Mike Oberg. The field bunched back up, as Ricky Johnson led them back around to the green. With the race back underway, Kincaid continued to battle with Oberg, and was able to make into 4th as passed Oberg and Chad Hord. On lap 10, Jeff caught a rut in the in-field hairpin, causing him to go off the track and loose a position to Hord. On the next lap, while chasing down Hord, Kincaid’s steering locked one way, making Jeff pull off thinking he had a broken front end. By the time Jeff realized his steering was working again, he was back to 9th position. Kincaid again charged hard, trying to make back some of the positions he lost. Jeff was able to pass Scott Taylor with one lap remaining, and also got by Mike Oberg on the last lap finishing in the 7th position. After a hard fought race, Jeff discovered he must have got something jammed in his steering to cause him to pull off. Ricky Johnson went on to nudge out Rob MacCachren for the win with Jeremy McGrath taking 3rd. Kincaid lost some ground in the points battle, but is still in the hunt. Jeff sits 6th, 49 behind leader Rob MacCachren and only 8 points out of 3rd place.

The Traxxas TORC Series will take over Bark River, MI for Rounds 7 and 8, August 14th and 15th. Jeff looks get back on to the podium in Bark River, 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 Bark River!