Greaves Drives his way to the Podium despite Black Flag and Engine Damage at Bark River, Round 8

Bark River, MI (August 11, 2007) – Johnny Greaves maintained a narrow WSORR points lead even after an early race black flag during round 8 of the U.P. Off-Road 100 at Bark River, MI. Johnny was running in 5th when he made his move and had position on the 4th place running Kent Brascho. Johnny stuck the nose of his Monster Energy Potawatomi Toyota Pro-4x4 into the turn when he and the Brascho machine got tangled up sending Brascho off the track, but Johnny continued on taking an apparent fourth place running position. When the third place running Adrian Cenni pulled off for mechanical problems, it looked like another Greaves march to the front. That’s when WSORR issued the black flag to Johnny for the so-called “rough driving” incident with Brascho. Greaves took a trip through the hot pits for his penalty and within a couple of laps was able to take third place, but well behind the front runners, Scott Douglas and Carl Renezeder. In an effort to save the motor, Greaves didn’t push too hard and settled for a third place.

To add to Greaves’ issues, he had a tough decision to make in the race concerning his engine. During the pre race inspection by TRD, they noticed some irregularities in the engine – with little time to make adjustments. This left Greaves with the option to either “go for it” and hope all worked out, or take it easy on the motor during round 8 in hopes of saving the engine for Sunday’s race.

Greaves was non-explicit about the decision. “I ran her pretty hard because I wanted to win as always. When racing against these guys you can’t take it too easy you know,” said Greaves after the race. Greaves went on to comment about the black flag incident, “I don’t really know if it was a fair call by the officials or not – these things happen in a good race and I guess they made the call the way they saw it – no hard feelings about it. I am just glad I was able to finish as high as I did today.”