From J&J
McKENZIE, TN (Feb. 16) – As a solid summer season of Sprint car action in Australia begins to wind down, action on dirt tracks in North America begins to pick up. On both continents, J&J Auto Racing teams continue to succeed.
AUSTRALIA
ROBBIE FARR
After finishing second in the Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars season, Robbie Farr and the Eastcoast Pipeline Team continue their solid 2009-10 campaign.
A string of seven podium finishes, including five wins, in the No. 7q Eastcoast Pipeline J&J earned Farr the Sprintcars Australia award as the February TopGun. The wins came in WSS competition at Toowoomba, twice at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway, and the Kings Challenge.
STEVE LINES
After collecting his third consecutive South Australian Title in January, Steve Lines continues to improve on the track behind the wheel of David Challon’s No. 45 H.A. Young Plumbing supported J&J . He recently scored fourth and sixth place finishes in the Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars final events at Perth Motorplex.
JAMIE MAILO
Jamie Maiolo continues adding points in his journey to capture a record fifth AHG Sprintcar Series Championship. Behind the wheel of the No. 99 J&J, he recently notched three podium finishes and now holds a 129-point advantage in the standings. Maiolo raced from 13th to ninth in round three of the Hydraulink Southern Thunder Sprintcar Series event at Collie Speedway.
Luch Monte (No. 17 Monte Motorsport J&J) ranks fourth in the AHG Championship.
BRYAN MANN
Bryan Mann successfully completed the 14-race Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars recently with a ninth place finish at Perth Motorplex. It marked the second straight year he followed the tour driving the No.16 Capalaba Wreckers/Qld Speedway Spares J&J.
“We had a lot of confidence going into the Series after winning a couple of races at home in Queensland early in the season,” said Mann. “I think the first part of the Series showed that. There’s no doubt that World Series is a tough thing to do, it does wear you out a bit especially if results don’t go your way but it also makes you a better racer and it helps the whole team become stronger and more in tune with how to get the best out of these race cars.”
Mann finished fourth on Saturday night at Collie Speedway in the Hydraulink Southern Thunder Sprintcar Series event.
RYAN FERRELL
Ryan Farrell and the Monte Motorsports #95 team closed the Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars campaign with a couple of runner-up finishes and a third in the No. 95 Monte Motorsport J&J.
“We are as happy as you can be with seconds and thirds I guess. We were hoping to win a round or two of World Series this season, but they’ve been very hard to come by. Heading home we have had a good run in this car in the last six to eight shows and we were in high spirits to win one of the last three nights. We came close but not close enough.”
UNITED STATES
John Carnery II swept the weekend’s non-wing Sprint action at White Sands Speedway in New Mexico driving a J&J while 2009 defending champions Donny Schatz (World of Outlaws) and Tim Shaffer (All-Star Circuit of Champions) began defending their titles during the Florida Speedweeks recently.
WHITE SANDS SPEEDWAY
John Carney II was the class of the field this weekend at White Sands Speedway in Tularosa, N.M. He drove the No. 3 CSR Garage/Amp Energy/Carnery Race Engines J&J to a pair of non-wing Sprint victories. In Saturday’s opener, he led most of the race and only a late caution slowed his dominant run, and in Sunday’s feature he took the lead late to finish off the weekend sweep.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS
Donny Schatz began his 14th WoO season and third behind the wheel of Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 Armor All/STP J&J last weekend at Volusia Speedway Park. Schatz battled fellow J&J racer Tim Shaffer in Saturday’s season-opening 30-lap feature event. Shaffer started on the pole and exchanged the lead with Schatz during the opening two laps. He then led until lap 11 when Schatz took over. Shaffer finished fifth in the feature event.
The victory was Schatz’ 101st career WoO and marked the third time he won the Outlaws season opener at Volusia Speedway Park (2007 and 2009).
In Sunday’s finale, Schatz qualified second in the field of 34 cars before racing from sixth to fourth in the 30-lap feature. The two finishes have him on top of the WoO championship standings.
ALL-STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS
Defending the All-Star Circuit of Champions title is goal number one for Tim Shaffer and the C&H Motorsports team. The quest for a second straight title began at Ocala (Fla.) Speedway on Jan. 29. the same track where Shaffer won to start the 2009 campaign. Shaffer finished second.
Schatz competed at Ocala and Volusia and finished ninth at Ocala and third in the Volusia opener.
Shaffer looked strong in last Thursday night’s opener at East Bay Raceway near Tampa. The driver of the No. 83 C&H Motorsports J&J and fellow J&J racer, Brandon Wimmer, in Rick Ferkel’s No. 0 J&J, shared the front row for the 30-lap main event. Shaffer paced the field and Wimmer followed during the first portion of the race. Turn two ended up being a bad spot for both later in the race.
On lap 12, Wimmer hit the wall and relinquished the second spot. During a restart on lap 24, Shaffer was involved in an accident with Terry McCarl ending his race.