From J&J
McKENZIE, TN (JUNE 16) – With the summer Sprint car racing season picking up, a number of J&J Auto Racing teams were victorious last week. Defending All-Star Champion Tim Shaffer won in New York, Mark Dobmeier was victorious in North Dakota, Keith Kauffman and Tyler Bear won in Pennsylvania, Dennis Moore, Jr. won in Iowa, Joe Ramaker won in Montana, Jared Zimbardi won in Canada, and Cris Graf won in Minnesota.
ALL-STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS
Style points were the theme of the week and Tim Shaffer started it off with an All-Star triumph at Fonda (N.Y.) Speedway. Shaffer started the 30-lap feature 11th and raced the CH Motorsports No. 83 Kistler-powered J&J to the front. He made a final lap pass of Fred Rahmer to earn his 37th career All-Star victory.
“We’ve been wanting to win real bad,” said Shaffer following the win in the car owned by Aaron Call and Janet Holbrook. “Maybe I was trying a little too hard and ended up flipping this car at Fremont and bent it a little bit, but it didn’t seem to matter tonight. The guys work so hard on this thing…it’s just great to be here. The J&J chassis and VRP Shocks have been working great.”
Shaffer finished 6th at Williams Grove and fifth at Lincoln Speedway the following two nights.
Defending Ohio Speedweek champion David Gravel finished fifth at Fonda in the No. 89g J&J. He’ll begin defending his Speedweek championship on Friday.
RIVER CITIES SPEEDWAY
To say persistence pays off would be an understatement for North Dakota’s Mark Dobmeier. The Grand Forks native made a lot of miles last Friday, but the important ones came at River Cities Speedway. He raced the Dobmeier/Lunstra No. 13L J&J to victory in the 25-lap Sprint car main event.
Dobmeier was scheduled to race with the World of Outlaws at Knoxville Raceway, but when the event was canceled early in the afternoon, he turned around and headed back home to race at River Cities. The team arrived 20 minutes before the heat races started and he was strong all night lapping up to fifth place.
“We put a 920 miles on the truck today,” said Dobmeier. “It’s fun to come out and win races. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY
“The Man from Mifflintown” was certainly the man of the evening last Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Kauffman drove Gary Heckman’s No. 8h J&J to his 129th career Sprint car victory at “The Port” and thrilled the local fans.
Despite threatening weather, Kauffman was able to lead all 25 laps of the feature event and held off numerous challenges during the race. It was his first win driving for Heckman.
KNOXVILLE RACEWAY
Veteran Sprint car ace Dennis Moore, Jr., put on a show Saturday night at the family Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. The Iowa native drove Doc Sloan’s all-black No. D12 J&J to a heat race victory and in the feature event used a late restart to score his third career 360 feature win.
“I messed up a bit on the first (green-white-checker) restart,” said Moore Jr. “I was able to hit the bottom there in three and four, and I knew I had miles per hour on him. It’s been a long time. I think I have one win since my injury and that was in California. This is a good thing for the family and for my team. We’ve got a good car.”
BIG SKY SPRINT SERIES
“Smokin” Joe Ramaker kicked off the 2011 Big Sky Sprint season in style by racing to victory at Gallatin Valley Speedway on June 10. Ramaker wheeled his familiar No. 98 Ostrich powered J&J from the pole position and he took the lead at the start of the main event. He kept a strong pace and was able to work through traffic to capture the win.
“We are more than excited to get a win with this new J&J right out of the box,” said Ramaker following the win. “Weather has stopped us from turning any laps so far this year so a lot of things, driver included, were untested. Practice was snowed out. Races were snowed or rained out. It has been a long time since last season but these chassis are so drivable and consistent that everything felt right.”
David Hoiness finished fourth driving the No. 27DD Ideal Manufacturing/Wesmar powered J&J.
On Saturday night, Ramaker was hoping to make it two straight in Big Sky Sprint competition at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls. He started the main event sixth and worked his way to second. The finish enabled him to maintain the point lead heading into the next race on July 1 at Belegrade, Mont.
UPPER MIDWEST SPRINT SERIES
Cris Graf will remember last Saturday night’s Upper Midewst Sprint Series (UMSS) feature event at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn., for a long time. The driver of the No. 20 J&J had a spirited battle with Jerry Richert, Jr., on the final lap as the two raced sided by around the 3/8-mile dirt oval. Graf held his line and was the first to finish line as he picked up his second feature event win of 2011.
“I saw Jerry underneath me in turn two, and I told myself I cannot lose this race on the last lap,” explained Graf. “We raced tight in turn three and four, had a little contact, and I was barely able to get to the finish line first. We certainly put on a show for the fans in that one.”
WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY
Tyler Bear won the PA 305 Sprint Series main event Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway in the No. 25 J&J.
“After running second last week at Port, we were thrilled to win Williams Grove on Friday,” said Bear. “It’s also Jim and Sandy Kline’s first win in 2011. We want to thank J&J for building such great cars…they just keep getting better with age.”
OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY
Jared Zimbardi led the final 16 laps on Saturday night to capture the CORR/PAK Merchandising Sprint Cars main event at Ohsweken Speedway. He started third driving the No. 35 J&J and went to to score his second victory of 2011.
“I didn’t know who was running where or anything,” admitted Zimbardi following the victory. “I knew we were good on the bottom, but I didn’t know who was running up top, so that can kind of play games in your head.”
OTHER RECENT WINNERS….Kyle Moffit drove his J&J from the second starting position and dominated the June 3 A-Feature at Ohsweken (Ontario) Speedway. Moffit led the entire race and lapped up to second place……Eddie Gallagher, Jr. has won three 305 non-wing feature events at Riverside International Speedway in W. Memphis, Ark., driving Buzz Herrington’s No. 1x J&J.