Jenkins Brothers Racing

Jenkins Brothers Racing Scores Top-5 Finish In
Pro 4X4 At Crandon International Raceway

Crandon, WI (June 20, 21)—Jenkins Brothers Racing made their first appearance at the legendary Crandon International Raceway as TORC competitors in Rounds 5 and 6 of the premier short-course racing series, and over 24,000 of off-road racing’s most enthusiastic fans turned out for the action. Mike and Mark Jenkins battled mechanical gremlins in addition to the punishing track and a full field of off-road’s fastest drivers, but Mike stayed in the fight to score a top-5 finish in Sunday’s Round 6 action.

Mike Jenkins: Pro 4X4
Mike Jenkins' and his number 47 Traxxas Pro 4X4 had mixed results over the weekend with a mechanical failure in Saturday's Round 5 followed by a top 5 finish in Sunday's Round 2. On Saturday, a radiator fan failure lead to overheating by the half-way point of Round 5 and Mike had to take the truck off the track to spare the engine as his water temperature neared 300 degrees. The Crandon International Speedway has no mercy for the trucks with it long fast straights and blistering turns that keep the engines and the drivers constantly at the red line. The trucks simply can't survive without the cooling system fully intact. Only completing 5 laps of Saturday's race put Mike on the outside of the back row of the starting grid for Round 6, but that didn't stop him from racing aggressively up to sixth place at the start. With Scott Douglas in front and Johnny Greaves behind, Mike had to attack and defend simultaneously just to maintain his position. After avoiding Scott Douglas' dramatic rollover just before the competition yellow, and a crash under yellow that sent Adrian Cenni back to the pits, Mike was able to gain another position on the restart. Scott Douglas rejoined the field under yellow to remain on the lead lap behind the Traxxas truck. Mike pushed the truck hard all the way up to fourth position by lap 7 maintaining a steady gap to third with Scott Douglas behind. Unfortunately, the black flag flew for Mike when officials ruled he had jumped the restart. After being held back for the stop-and-go penalty in the final laps of the race, there was little time for Mike to regain lost ground before the checkered flag came out. In the end, Mike pressed on hard to still finish in the top five. Mike said of the weekend "We love Crandon. The track and the fans are fantastic, the racing is world class, and the event is unlike anything else in short course racing. Being able to bring the Traxxas TORC series to Crandon just makes it that much more exciting. Mitch Covington and Ricky Johnson are to be commended for uniting short course racing in this way and speaking for Traxxas, we are truly happy to be a part of that success."

Mark Jenkins: Pro 2WD
Mark Jenkins launched the weekend off with an incredibly aggressive start, tearing off laps just one-tenth off Todd LeDuc's first-place pace and faster than the trucks running third through fifth. Mark powered his number 25 Traxxas Pro 2WD from tenth place to sixth in just two laps establishing a pace that seemed sure to land him on the podium. Mark's driving skill just keeps getting stronger and the start of this race was one of his best performances to date. Mark maintained his position through the mid-point of the race until his truck caught a deep rut in the turn-two sweeper which violently pitched his truck back to the right and straight into the wall. The race was over for Mark at that point with the collision crumpling the front end and destroying the right front suspension. Fortunately Mark was not injured in his Simpson-equipped truck.

Due to the extensive damage from Saturday's race, Mark campaigned the backup truck in Round 6 on Sunday. The backup truck did not have the benefit of the testing and suspension setup for Crandon that went into the primary truck, and it last saw action at Glen Helen for a brief pre-season practice. Also absent from the backup truck were the fantastic King Shocks that run on the primary truck. As a result, the team attempted to compensate with some major set-up changes on the truck that were outside of the shock tuning window and resulted in earth-jarring "pancake" impacts when jumping. Additional distraction came with managing a hot-running engine that reached water temps just under 300F, and excessive header temps gave a whole new meaning to hot-footing it around the track as the heat scorched his right foot and created grape-sized blisters. Not even the raw driving fury that Mark was laying down for the weekend could overcome the limitations of the backup truck's setup. Mark played it smart to preserve the equipment, finish the race, and add to his points tally for the season. Mark commented after the race "Racing that backup truck makes me appreciate even more the effort the crew puts into the preparation and tuning of the primary truck, and what a night and day difference there is in shocks. King Shocks has worked closely with us to get the setups right and it really shows."

Forest County Potawatomi Chairman’s Cup
A Crandon fan favorite, the Chairman’s Cup pits Pro 2WD and Pro 4WD trucks against each other at the same time, with a staggered start that sets the Pro 4X4s loose to chase down the 2WD trucks in a battle for the $25,000 prize purse. In addition to taking on the rest of the field, the Chairman’s Cup gave the Jenkins brothers a rare chance to go wheel to wheel with their Traxxas trucks. Mark put in a literally red-hot run to finish ninth overall and fourth among the Pro 2WD trucks, driving with new renewed confidence thanks to aggressive setup changes that gave Mark a much better suited truck for the full-throttle Crandon track. Mark was 1.2 seconds faster and clicked off laps competitive with the leaders in the previous Pro 2WD race, and had ample speed to hold off the hard-charging Pro 4X4 of Scott Douglas until Douglas made contact with Mark’s 25 truck, knocking its radiator fan out of commission and causing Mark’s truck to overheat. Mike Jenkins also set a blistering pace among the Pro 4X4s, pushing his truck as high as third place in the 4X4 running before falling back to sixth with overheating issues.

Rounds 5 and 6 of THE Traxxas Off-Road Championship will air on June 28, 12:30pm - 1:30pm Eastern on . For the full racing and television coverage schedule, visit TORCseries.com.

The next stop for the Traxxas TORC Series is in Bark River, MI July 11-12. Get advance tickets at TORCseries.com.

For more information about Traxxas, The Fastest Name In Radio Control®, visit Traxxas.com.