From J&J
McKENZIE, TN – With racing taking center stage during the Memorial Day weekend, several J&J Auto Racing teams came out victorious on dirt tracks across the United States. Mike Kertscher was victorious with the IRA, Chris Graf earned a UMSS victory, Lane Whittington topped the CAJUN Sprinters Association in Alabama, JJ Grasso beat the URC field in Delaware and Tommy Barber raced to victory in South Dakota.
Interstate Racing Association – Wilmot Raceway
Mike Kertscher piloted the No. 80k Captain Jim’s Yaht Sales sponsored J&J with Kistler power to victory on Friday night at the Wilmot (Wisc.) Raceway in the annual Wayne Daun / AL & Marie Winker Memorial. Matt Vandervere and Mike Reinke took turns leading early before Kertscher took command and went on to score his second victory of the season.
Upper Midwest Sprint Series
Chris Graf was up to the challenge last Saturday night in the 20-lap Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series (UMSS) feature at Rice Lake (Wisc.) Speedway. Graf raced the No. 20G J&J past Brad Barickman to capture his first UMSS win of the season and fifth of his career.
“I think that late race caution may have helped us, but it was great to race with Brad for the lead and end up getting my first win of the season,” said Graf, following the victory.
Graf started the evening by collecting the most points through qualifying races, but he drew the six for inversion and started the main event on the outside of row three. Graf quickly work his way to Barickman’s bumper and the two swapped the lead from lap 11 to lap 15. Graf used a restart on lap 18 to take the lead for good and raced away to claim the win.
CAJUN Sprinters Association
Lane Whittington scored last weekend’s CAJUN Sprinters Association feature win on Saturday night at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala. Whittington wheeled his familiar yellow and black No. 9 J&J sponsored by Tim’s Engines to pick up the victory.
United Racing Club – Georgetown Speedway
JJ Grasso was victorious in Sunday night’s Rislone URC Sprint Series event at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway. Grasso raced the Palladino Motorsports No. 99 BK Leasing backed J&J past fellow J&J racer, Robbie Stillwaggon (No. 89 J&J) on lap seven of the 25-lap feature event. From there it was a race for second place as Grasso raced away from the field to capture his second URC feature event win of the season and 18th of his career.
Stillwaggon, who started on the pole and led the first six circuits, finished second and was joined in the top-five by Randy West (No. 56 J&J), who finished fifth.
Huset’s Speedway
Tommy Barber was the class of the IMCA 360 Championship Sprints field on Sunday night at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. Barber wheeled his No. 75 J&J to victory in the first heat and dominated the feature event to score his second victory of the season.
Other recent winners…
Midwest Sprinters Association
TJ Luedke used patience to earn the May 20th Midwest Sprinters Association 30-lap feature event Manitowoc (Wisc.) County Expo. Luedke raced his No. 21t J&J into the lead on lap 25 after starting the race in third.
J&J Auto Racing would like to wish Jan Howard a speedy recovering after being involved in an accident at Riverside International Speedway at West Memphis, Ark.