‘88 Mike’ takes home win in first ChampTruck race weekend: Photos, crash video and more from the races

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Updated Aug 30, 2016
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Mack tech Mike Morgan, middle, won the inaugural ChampTruck World Series points championship last season.
Mike Morgan (center) raced his No. 88 Mack to victory in ChampTruck’s inaugural race weekend. See more photos of this weekend’s races below. And click here to read more on Morgan and his Mack racer. Racer Ricky Proffitt, left, drove the No. 14 Peterbilt for Jupiter Enterprises. Stunt driver and longtime racer Mike Ryan, right, drove multiple trucks during the weekend.Mike Morgan (center) raced his No. 88 Mack to victory in ChampTruck’s inaugural race weekend. See more photos of this weekend’s races below. And click here to read more on Morgan and his Mack racer. Racer Ricky Proffitt, left, drove the No. 14 Peterbilt for Jupiter Enterprises. Stunt driver and longtime racer Mike Ryan, right, drove multiple trucks during the weekend.

Nashville-based Mack technician Mike Morgan won the first-ever Meritor ChampTruck World Series race this weekend in Millville, N.J., where the series’ inaugural race weekend hit the New Jersey Motorsports Park.

All told the weekend featured seven races, with the main event, the Podium Race, taking place Sunday afternoon. That race determined the weekend’s points winner for the series’ season championship.

Morgan won both a heat on Saturday and the Podium Race on Sunday, earning him the weekend crown.

Sunday’s finale was “by far the most exciting of the day,” said ChampTruck director John Condren, as it had four different leaders and multiple lead changes.

“I don’t know if we exactly set the bar to beat,” Morgan said of his Powershift Performance team’s showing this weekend. “But the other guys are going to be going home and making a few changes. I guarantee by the time we make California,” the location of the next event at the Thunder Hill raceway in Willows, competition will “be a lot tougher” for everyone.

The Podium Race also featured ChampTruck’s first crash. Towards the end of the race, small fleet owner Allen Boles, who was racing his No. 3 black and green Peterbilt 359, slid through a difficult turn and into the path of the No. 11 Optima Batteries Freightliner, driven at that time by Brad Klemmensen.

Here’s video of the crash posted by Minimizer this weekend:

ChampTruck’s next race weekend is in late May in Willows, Calif., at the Thunderhill Raceway, which will be held in conjunction with an Overdrive’s Pride & Polish show.

Stay tuned for more coverage from this weekend’s races.

Here’s another video and a photo gallery from the weekend races:

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Left, Ricky Proffitt, driver of one of the Jupiter Enterprises Peterbilts. Middle, Mike Morgan, Mack tech out of Nashville and winner for the weekend's races. Right, Mike Ryan, stunt driver and longtime truck racer, who drove a Freightliner sponsored by Optima Batteries.Left, Ricky Proffitt, driver of one of the Jupiter Enterprises Peterbilts. Middle, Mike Morgan, Mack tech out of Nashville and winner for the weekend's races. Right, Mike Ryan, stunt driver and longtime truck racer, who drove a Freightliner sponsored by Optima Batteries.

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