J&J Auto Racing weekly news 2005-06-07

J&J AUTO RACING TEAMS CONTINUE WINNING WAYS

McKENZIE, TN - As the calendar turned to June and the temperature begins to rise, J&J Auto Racing teams continue to show the way in sprint car action across the country. Young hot-shoe Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. picked up a win for the second consecutive week leading the J&J brigade of young stars winning last weekend that included Mike Linder, Jim Siegel Kevin Welsh and Jason Johnson. Veterans Ed Lynch, Jr. and Lane Whittington were also victorious.

O'Reilly United Sprint Car Series

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made it two wins in two weeks about the #40R Fast Effects/Dynotech J&J. The 17 year-old Olive Branch, MS racer took the lead on lap 14 of the 30-lap feature event at North Alabama Speedway.

The win also placed Stenhouse on top of the O'Reilly USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional point standings. In four Mid-South starts, the 17-year-old SpeedMart Young Gun has two wins, a second, and a fifth-place effort.

FREMONT SPEEDWAY

Mike Linder added a career first win at Fremont Speedway on the same track where his father picked up 58 feature victories and seven championships.

"Boy this is my dream, to be standing on the front stretch at Fremont Speedway. This is home," explained Linder, following the win in his Andy James Motorsports/Beaverdam Contracting #3 J&J.

Linder took command of the feature on lap six and rode the cushion all the way to victory lane.

"I knew if I kept it around the top I'd be alright, but I about gave it away there the last couple of laps. I almost got over the bank in two. It's a fine line between winning and disaster when you run up there."

Bobby Clark came home fifth in the #8 J&J.

LINCOLN SPEEDWAY

Jim Siegel doesn't have a ton of experience, but the 25 year-old put on an impressive display of will power as he led every lap of Saturday's 25-lap feature event that included nine cautions. Siegel debuted a new J&J and built several big leads including advantages of five seconds on several occasions before taking his second career win.

"All those yellows, you hear every little noise in the car and you just keep looking at the leader board," said Siegel, who earned $3,000 for his win. "It's easy starting on the front row. You're supposed to stay up front but it's just nice to finally get another win because it seems like we've struggled ever since we won the first one. Hopefully we can be consistent now and finish races. I am inexperienced and we just need more track time."

Eric Stambaugh brought home the #4 Swope Racing J&J fourth ahead of Greg Hodnett in the Hamilton Motorsports #77 J&J and Fred Rahmer in the Joe Harz Racing #88h J&J.

MERCER RACEWAY PARK

Ed Lynch, Jr. was part of a three-car show at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday night. The Apollo Rocket used his #2L Indy Recycling/Commercial Truck & Trailer-J&J to get the best of Rod George and Jimmy Seger.

"I hope the fans saw a nice race," remarked Lynch. "The track came to us. We set up for late in the race. I think lapped traffic helped us. Rod had to be careful where he was going and I just didn't care!"

Lynch started seventh and joined the fight late in the race as he climbed into second on lap 22 and the following lap he made the winning move. Following a late caution, Lynch rode the cushion and held off George to win his 12th career feature at the track.

"It's always nice to be part of history," stated Lynch referring to his Western PA Sprint Championship victory. "You're either good or old. We're out here trying to put on a good show and I hope everyone enjoyed it."

United Racing Club

Kevin Welsh was the class of the field in the Frank Davis #2 J&J in Saturday's URC event at Delaware International Speedway, winning his heat race event then leading the entire twenty-five laps of the Advance Auto Parts URC Sprint car feature race.

CAJUN SPRINTERS ASSOCIATION

A standout field of J&J racers led the way on Saturday night in Gulfort, MS. Lane Whittington took the lead on lap four of the feature from Lincoln Gatwood in the #38 Briggs & Stratton J&J and never looked back. Whittington was victorious in the #9 J&J. Five J&J runners crossed the finish line first as the final round down was Whittington, Gatwood, Tracy Brown in the #R14 J&J, Robert Casada #K9 J&J and Shane Morgan #01 J&J.

WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY

Jason Johnson scored his first career win at the famous Williams Grove Speedway on Sunday night in the Jim and Sandy Kline #22 J&J. Johnson used the experience of his crew chief Ray "Moon" Byers and followed his advice of running the bottom line around the track.

"I generally run the cushion all the time, but when I came back (to Pennsylvania), Moon told me I had to learn how to run the bottom so it's a little different," said Johnson following the win. "I was just concentrating on trying to hit my marks and get through the turns."

Johnson started fifth, took the lead on lap 22 and held off veteran Donnie Kreitz to claim the win. Fred Rahmer came home third in the Joe Harz Racing #88h J&J.

WORLD OF OUTLAWS

Craig Dollansky picked up his first World of Outlaws victory at Williams Grove Speedway on May 26 in the #7 Karavan J&J. Donny Schatz charged from 11th to second on May 30 at Lebanon Valley Speedway in his #15 ParkerStore J&J.

Other Strong J&J performances:

Keith Kauffman came home second in the Middleswarth #7 J&J at Port Royal Speedway...Scott Young led early on in the IRA feature event at Hartford Raceway Park in his #3 J&J before finishing second...Lynton Jeffrey raced his #4au J&J to a runner-up finish at Huset's Speedway...Blane Heimbach raced the #12 GOFF Racing J&J to a third place and fourth place finish over the weekend and Cory Haas finished sixth at Selinsgrove...At Knoxville, AJ Weaver was running third in the Master's Classic before losing a tire. He charged from the tail of the field to finish sixth. Ricky Logan set fast time on Saturday night at Knoxville in the #10 Lucas Oil J&J owned by Mike VanderEcken.

-j&j-