C.J. Greaves snaps Pro 2 streak with rainy first Brush Run win

The 29th Forest County Potawatomi Brush Run was marred by rain that fell upon Crandon International Off-Road Raceway. Such conditions were favourable for the four-wheel-drive Pro 4 trucks compared to their Pro 2 counterparts, and C.J. Greaves took advantage of the slipping and sliding to win the Brush Run for the first time.

Pro 4 trucks swept the podium as Greaves was joined by Kyle LeDuc and father Johnny Greaves. Although the fifteen-truck Pro 2 grid received a head start of approximately thirty seconds, the weather allowed the five Pro 4 entries to quickly gain momentum. The younger Greaves beat his dad to the holeshot and did not take long to catch the Pro 2s. As scattered showers continued around the track, Greaves and LeDuc picked their ways through the order before the former developed a comfortable margin over his rival after LeDuc attempted an overtake on Zac Zakowski that failed.

Greaves cleared the Pro 2 of Mickey Thomas, who won his class’ Championship Off-Road race earlier in the day and beat Saturday victor Cory Winner for the holeshot, at the halfway point. Despite LeDuc and Johnny Greaves getting by Thomas and fellow Pro 4 opponent Kyle Chaney, they were too far back as Greaves won by over five seconds.

“(Family and friends) tuned in to a chaotic Cup race. I mean, it lived up to the name,” remarked LeDuc. “It wasn’t in favour of the Pro 2s with all the rain, but we fought through it. As soon as I passed Mickey Thomas, the last Pro 2, I ran out of tear-offs so I was holding my visor up.

The win completes a strong weekend for Greaves after claiming the Pro Lite race on Saturday and the Pro 4 event earlier on Sunday.

“It’s surreal right now,” Greaves said on the podium moments before Johnny poured water over his head. “It was just an exciting weekend all around. We had great speed in the truck all weekend. We knew it was going to be a battle, it’s going to be a dogfight all year. My dad’s fast, Kyle’s obviously really fast, and there’s a bunch of other Pro 4s out here that are beating on the door. It’s going to be a dogfight all year.”

The win snaps a two-year Brush Run victory streak for Pro 2s, which had dominated the race in recent years by winning four of the previous six editions. Kyle Kleiman and Jerett Brooks, who respectively won the 2020 and 2021 races, finished sixth and ninth.

The Pro 2 of Keegan Kincaid, who won the COR race at the 2021 Brush Run, did not race due to mechanical issues that plagued his weekend. R.J. Anderson, winner of Saturday’s Pro 4 race for his maiden win in the class at Crandon, was eighth.

Round #3 of the 2022 Championship Off-Road season is at ERX Motor Park on 15/16 July.

Unofficial race results