Fort Worth, TX:

The opening round of the series was treated to beautiful weather all day that made for impressive track conditions on Friday evening and a perfect night of racing excitement for the fans. In Pro 4X4, Mike Jenkins hit the track with a dialed-in set up on his new truck and qualified in the fourth position on the second row. Mike was running a strong race and staying with the field when Kyle Leduc’s truck flew sideways off the lip of a jump entering turn 1 and landed on the rear fender of Jenkins’ 47 Traxxas truck. Mike was already set up for the high speed sweeper in turn one and the push from Leduc sent his no. 47 Traxxas machine into a spectacular cartwheel that brought out a red flag to stop the race. Mike was not injured in the crash, and Leduc later apologized to Mike after the race. Said Mike of the incident, "That’s racing. Curt unfortunately got a strange kick off that jump and I happened to be in the landing zone. There was not really anything Curt could have done differently. It was definitely a ride, but I would have rather been racing. The crew put an awesome setup on this new truck, and the BFG tires were right on. It’s certainly disappointing that I did not have the opportunity to unleash the full potential of this truck on a great track.” The Jenkins Brothers Crew worked late into the night repairing the Pro 4X4 for Satruday’s racing. Mike said “I couldn’t be more proud of our crew. By mid day Saturday all traces of the previous night’s crash were erased. Their dedication and passion is unsurpassed.” For Round 2, Mike was relegated to a back-of-field starting position due to the Round 1 DNF. The starting position combined with the track’s muddy conditions after a day of rain before Round 2 made it all but impossible for Mike to make up any ground. It was a disappointing start for the season, but his strong qualifier and blistering start on Friday shows a team that’s ready for success at the next race.

In Pro 2WD, Traxxas’ Mark Jenkins continues where he left off at the end of last season with a fifth place qualifier in Round 1’s Pro 2WD action. As the field of fifteen drivers charged the green flag, Mark was required to fight for two lost positions as he missed a shift at the start. Unrattled by the action, Mark went to work and regained his fifth-place position shortly into the race. Surrounded by the premier talent of short-course competition, Mark raced the #25 Traxxas Pro 2WD in fifth while contending with Todd LeDuc the entire race for fourth place. Meanwhile, veteran drivers Scott Taylor, Ross Hoek and Evan Evans made their presence felt as they challenged Jenkins for position. However, Mark was set on racing forward and skillfully defended his position while maintaining pace with LeDuc. In his first start of the 2009 season, Mark demonstrated he’s prepared to challenge the best in class. Jenkins’ fifth-place finish matches his best and last finish from 2008, showing he has quickly become a podium threat in short-course racing.

After a strong fifth-place finish in Round 1, The Round 2 inversion put Mark Jenkins’ no. 25 Traxxas truck on the outside of the front row, but the first-turn shake out closed the door on the inside line and pushed Mark back to fourth. Mark ran on pace and was maintaining his position until loose conditions in the infield caused his truck to push hard to the outside, costing him three more positions. Just a few laps later, The No. 25 had to come to a full stop to avoid a head-on collision as Evan Evans’ had spun-out, costing Mark four more positions. With little time left in the race to advance, Mark finished Round 2 in twelfth place. Mark said, “We had a good run Friday night. King shocks worked closely with us in testing on our set-up as did BFGoodrich Tires. The truck worked well and the tires looked great post race. We made some small adjustments Saturday to optimize an already good set-up. The truck actually performed better on Saturday than Friday but the challenges found racing in heavy mud and some unfortunate incidents around me shuffled me backwards tonight.” Smiling, Mark quipped “I really CAN turn right and just got 100 percent more seat time than I have had in these muddy conditions. Don’t think I won’t be prepared for the same conditions in the future.”