From J&J
McKENZIE, TN – Thrilling wins by Mike Kertscher and Cory Haas highlighted last weekend’s Sprint car action for J&J Auto Racing. Kertscher used a final corner pass to score his victory in Interstate Racing Association (IRA) action in Wisconsin, while Haas earned his first triumph of the year in the tough central Pennsylvania region at Lincoln Speedway.
INTERSTATE RACING ASSOCIATION
In racing most of the time, all that matters is who gets to the checker flag first. The winning margin rarely matters and on Saturday night in the season opener of the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series it was only a couple of feet that separated the top two. Mike Kertscher raced the Captain Jim’s Yacht Sales sponsor No. 80K powered by Kistler Engines J&J to victory at Beaver Dam Raceway.
Kertscher began the evening by setting fast time and winning his heat race. In the main event, he ran in second most of the race trailing leader Scotty Neitzel. On the final lap, Kertscher used the high line to gain as much momentum as he could and squeeze outside of Neitzel as they raced to the flagstand. The two made contact and it was Kertscher crossing the finish line first to complete the clean sweep.
Mike Reinke (No. 02 J&J) raced from 17th to finish third and John Haeni (No. 21J J&J) finished sixth.
LINCOLN SPEEDWAY
Cory Haas scored a much-needed win on Saturday night racing Mike Barshinger’s Embee & Son/York PB Truss/Tailgaters sponsored No. 11C J&J to the win. Haas started fourth and worked his way into second on lap 14 of the 30-lap feature event. Five laps later, Haas took command of the race and would lead the final 10 laps to earn his first victory of the season.
“We got off to a great start this year, but then all of sudden we were racing for tenth,” said Haas, following his third career win at Lincoln. “I want to thank Mike and the crew for all their hard work. The car was perfect tonight.”
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