From J&J
McKENZIE, TN – With the American Sprint car season nearing its conclusion, the dirt tracks in Australia are beginning their new year. With only three World of Outlaws races remaining, Connecticut youngster David Gravel made headlines by earning his first-career WoO triumph on Saturday night in Talladega. On the other side of the world Jamie Veal and Mark Wells were early-season winners behind J&J machines.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS
David Gravel continues to become a better racer every time he hits the track. Last Saturday night the driver of the No. 89g DDR Motorsports Kistler-powered J&J did something he always dreamed of doing. He beat the World of Outlaws stars driving from the sixth starting spot and racing past several WoO standouts en route to a dominating victory.
“This is just unbelievable,” said Gravel. “I just needed to be patient when it came to passing Jason (Meyers). We had a really good car all night long and the bottom seemed to work really well for us. I knew I wanted to get clear of him before I got into lap traffic. We passed a lot of big names tonight. It’s still just so surreal. We are just winding down our season and this is our first 410 win of the season. We’ve got the World Finals coming up which is a huge event so we’re certainly looking forward to that.”
Gravel started the evening by qualifying 12th, and then finished second in the third heat. He raced to sixth in the dash despite spinning out once the first time he charged from 10th to sixth.
In the main event, he made the bottom groove work to race past NASCAR star and fellow J&J racer, Tony Stewart (No. 14 J&J) to crack the top-five early on. He then used a restart to his advantage and took his time running down leader Jason Meyers. Once in front, he drove away for a convincing victory.
Donny Schatz raced the Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 STP J&J to a second-place finish to help J&J sweep the top two positions.
Eureka Garages and Sheds SRA Sprintcar Series
Jamie Veal scored an exciting win last Saturday night at Tolmer Speedway in Australia. Veal raced the No. V35 SWI Engineering, Lucas Oil sponsored J&J past Brett Milburn in the final corner to take home the Eureka Garages and Sheds SRA Sprintcar Series win.
“I don’t think we had the best car here tonight but we got the win, we led the lap that counted. Brett just wasn’t sure about that lapped car and he got held up there for a bit and I don’t think he expected me to go to the top on that final turn but we got there.”
PERTH MOTORPLEX
Mark Wells scored the opening night victory of Super Speedway at Perth Motorplex in Kwinana. Wells campaigned his No. 21 J&J from the fourth-starting position in the AHG Sprintcar Series main and quickly worked his way into second. Once in front, Wells wasn’t going to be denied the victory.
“It’s great to start the season with a win,” admitted the winner.
Fellow J&J racer Jamie Maiolo (No. 99 J&J) kept pace with Wells for most of the race, but couldn’t mount a move on the leader. The finish gave J&J a one-two sweep of the top placings and fourth of the top-five as Carl Dowling (No. W6 J&J) was fourth and Sheldon Brady (Flex Motorsports No. W89 J&J) finished fifth.