 
2009 Champions Honored at TORC Series Banquet in Las VegasThe 2009 Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL held its awards banquet at the South Point Casino Grand Ballroom on Sunday, October 25, 2009. The evening featured cocktails, buffet dinner, awards ceremony and dancing. TORC series announcers Scott Rehn and Wes Kain emceed the gala along with a couple of red feathered show girls.TORC's Mitch Covington welcomed everyone and thanked the host of sponsors, track crew workers, and drivers for a successful year. He also talked about the future of TORC-looking forward to the 2010 season. Ricky Johnson gave a special thanks to Johnny and Kathy Greaves and the PDG (Professional Drivers Group) for their support and contribution to the new series. He also presented the Tire Manufacturer of the Year Awards. BF Goodrich took the PRO LIGHT (260 points) and PRO 2WD (271 points) class with Toyo taking the PRO 4x4 (279 points). Ricky presented the Engine Manufacturer of the Year Awards to Toyota for the PRO LIGHT (266 points) and PRO 4X4 (287 points) classes with Ford winning the PRO 2WD (298 points) class. Ricky went on to thank the great participation in the Sportsman class as well as the winners. He told about the banquet that will be held for Midwest Sportsman in Milwaukee on December 5th. Tyler Winbury was named the UTV class champion with Mitchell DeJong earning the 450 MODIFIED KART class honors. John Fitzgerald made it to the top spot in the 1600 BUGGY. He also managed second place in the Midwest version of the 1600 Buggy class. Phil Bollman finished atop of the PRO SUPER BUGGY class. Phil also made a Midwest appearance in Crandon with a good showing. The Professional Class presentations were made with highlight videos of each class and speeches by the winners. First on tap was the PRO LIGHT TRUCK class. 3rd place 3 wins, 9 podiums and 2 Oakley Bomb Awards went to Chad Hord who also took a ride in a PRO 4X4 in Crandon. Beating Chad out for the 2nd place spot by only 8 points was Marty Hart. Marty had 4 wins, 8 podiums and 3 Oakleys. No one will forget Marty catching on fire in Bark River while leading the race. The PRO LIGHT TRUCK Champion was Jeff Kincaid, a.k.a. "the dominator". He received his championship medal, a special championship watch presented by Oakley and a cool electric guitar with special TORC paint scheme by Carvin. The PRO LIGHT veteran won an impressive 6 races, podiumed in 9 out of 16 rounds, and took home 10 Oakley Bombs-the most in all classes. Next was the PRO 2WD TRUCK class. This was an extremely competitive class with the winner being determined on the final night of racing in Vegas. Following the class highlight video produced by Paul Taublieb of MediaXi for the event, Todd LeDuc was introduced as the 3rd place winner followed by Ricky Johnson who took 2nd. Ricky fell just 4 points short of the top spot but had 5 wins, 11 podiums and 6 Oakley Bombs, the most in the 2WD class. LeDuc had 9 podiums which included wins in Bark River and Crandon. Rob MacCachren was named the PRO 2WD TRUCK champion. He did it in style with a last half surge that put him on top of the podium in 7 of the last 8 races including 3 wins. He had 5 wins total, a lucky 13 podiums with 2 Oakleys to top things off. Rob also received a Oakley Series Championship Watch and a Carvin Guitar. The final championship presentations were for the heavyweight class-PRO 4X4's. The highlight reel for this class features the most insane racing and spectacular crashes. The season finale is being called by many the most intense, competitive and unpredictable race in the sport's history - including exploding cars, drivers racing blind, trucks crawling on trucks, all leading to season-ending, heart-stopping one-lap shootout which no one could have predicted. The excitement will unfold on ABC as the race will air on Nov 8th at 1:30pm Eastern (10:30am Pacific). 3rd place in this 4-wheel drive class went to Scott Douglas. Scott, coming back from a 2008 broken leg, squeezed out 9 podiums that included 2 wins. Kyle LeDuc finished 2nd in points but was on the heals of the leader the entire year. His 10 podium appearances included 4 wins and taking home the coveted BorgWarner trophy at Crandon. It also included a weekend sweep in Bark River. Rick Huseman, who has come close to championships several times, was named the PRO 4X4 champion. Rick also received the Driver of the Year award. This award is based on a vote by the other drivers. Rick started the year off with a bang by winning 5 of the first 6 races. He ended the year with 10 podiums and 7 Oakley Bombs for the fastest lap times. Following the class championship presentations, other awards and special recognitions were made. Mike Jenkins, who won his first PRO 4X4 win in Vegas, was recognized for the Most Spectacular Crash of the Year. No one will forget him straddling the fence then crashing head-on in the infield fence at Crandon! Traxxas sponsored Pro Driver RC Races at many of the races. Kyle LeDuc, Todd LeDuc, and Jeremy McGrath received custom replica body RC cars. Other awards presented were: Most Improved Driver going to Mark Jenkins; Semi Hauler Driver of the Year, Larry Diaz; Crew of the Year went to Jenkins Brothers; and Crew Chief of the Year went to Steve Barlow/Ricky Johnson's Charlie Schlieve. The evening concluded with a dancing and partying. Check out photos of all of the awards in our photo gallery. << Next Article | Previous Article >> |
 
|
