From J&J
McKENZIE, TN (April 23) – It was a busy weekend of Sprint car racing all around the globe and a number of J&J Auto Racing drivers were busy picking up wins on dirt tracks both in the United States and Australia. Daniel Pestka and Danny Holtgraver each scored two while Donny Schatz, Doug Esh, Tim Shaffer, Derek Hagar, Danny Wood, Jake Beard-Miller and Shannon Barry all raced to victory as well.
DANIEL PESTKA
Daniel Pestka had a great Easter Trail weekend driving Mathew Eastham’s No. 88 J&J. Pestka opened the three-race event at Avalon Raceway by earning the most points through the heat action and then the youngster raced to victory in the main event. Night two followed suit with Pestka setting quick time in Mt. Gambier at Borderline Speedway. He was once again the high point total driver through the heats and won the 30-lap feature event in thrilling fashion establishing a new 30-lap track record as well. He closed the event by finishing sixth in Warnambool and ended up second overall in the points.
DANNY HOLTGRAVER
Danny Holtgraver opened the 2014 Lernerville Speedway season with a victory in the Hunter Racing NO. 10H J&J. Holtgraver took the lead from fellow J&J racer, Carl Bowser (No. 10 J&J) officially on lap 12 and stayed in front the final eight laps to earn his eighth career Sprint car victory at Lernerville.
The Pittsburgh, Pa., native made it two in row on Saturday night with his victory at Mercer Raceway Park. Holtgraver took the lead on the opening lap and held the spot throughout the 30-lap race that paid $4000 to win.
“It’s awesome to come back home and get to see all of the fans I grew up racing around, and when we can pull off two wins in the weekend, it’s a lot of fun,” Holtgraver said. His new team, fielded by Rob Hunter, and wrenched by Andrew Barman, and Dan Holtgraver, is starting to jell. “We’ve been making a little bit of changes here, and I think we found some stuff the past couple of weeks and we’ve been going pretty good.
DONNY SCHATZ
FIve-time World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz won his third WoO A-Feature of the season Friday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas. Schatz raced the Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 STP/Armor All/Crimsafe J&J from the third starting spot and led the final 15 laps to earn his historic 150th career WoO A-Feature triumph.
DOUG ESH
Doug Esh made J&J two for two at historic Williams Grove Speedway last Friday night with his victory in the feature event aboard Gary Heckman’s No. 8H J&J. Esh was making his second start in Heckman’s machine and he made it memorable by earning the $7,500 prize by winning the 30-lap Tommy Hinnershitz Classic. Esh started on the front row and led from the opening lap. He set a good pace and worked lapped traffic perfectly en route to his 21st career victory.
“We just put this team together, and I knew they had good stuff,” said Esh, following the victory. “Having [crew chief] Rob Peters with me, Gary and his son Michael, I think we will be pretty good this season. I’m just fortunate to have a good team. Dick and Leslie Leach are helping Gary [Heckman] out, and it’s the perfect situation. It’s not a lot of pressure, and it just feels like family to me.”
TIM SHAFFER
Tim Shaffer proved to be the class of the field Friday night in Attica Raceway Park in the opener of the F.A.S.T. (Fremont/Attica Sprint Title) campaign. Shaffer started Brian Grove’s No. 45 J&J fifth in the 30-lap feature event and drove to victory. He was chased to the finish by Caleb Griffith (No. 40DD J&J) to give J&J the top two positions.
DEREK HAGAR
Derek Hagar put on a good show this past Saturday night at Riverside International Raceway behind the wheel of his No. 9jr Dyno-tech powered J&J. The reigning USCS champion had a rocky start to the night by crashing in his heat, but after his crew made repairs he went on the win the heat and earn the pole for the main event. In the feature, he took the lead at the start, but had to deal with more drama midway through the race when he collided with a lapped car. Contact damaged his top wing, but he was able to save the car and win his fourth feature in six 2014 starts.
“It’s our hometown track,” he said. “We live five minutes from there. Any time you can make the fans happy you’re doing something right. It was pretty exciting,” he said. “They were doing the video deal for the reality show. They got some good footage and we made it pretty exciting for the fans. We had a real good car.”
DANNY WOOD
Danny Wood raced to victory in Saturday nights NCRA main event at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, KS. Wood raced his No. 81 J&J from the outside pole and led all 20 laps around the half-mile, dirt oval. The victory was his first of 2014 and the Norman, Okla., driver became the seventh different winner in the last eight NCRA main events dating back to 2013.
JAKE BEARD-MILLER
Jake Beard-Miller had an exciting night at Perth (Australia) Motorplex. He started the evening by setting the pace in qualifying aboard his No. W32, but in the fourth heat Beard-Miller, who was leading at the time, couldn’t avoid a lapped car and flipped hard. He would make repairs and start the main event 10th. The driver put on a show racing to the point and leading the rest of the way to score the Chamberlain Tribute 2014 and his first feature win of 2014.
SHANNON BARRY
Shannon Barry raced the No. 83 J&J to victory last Friday in the South Australia 360 Sprintcar Country Series at Tolmer Speedway in Bordertown, SA. Barry finished second in the opening heat and won heat two before wining the main event.
Other recent winners… Tyler Bear raced the NO. 25 J&J to victory in the 305 Feature event at Port Royal Speedway on April 5. Tyler Ross won the 358 Sprint car main event at Susquehanna Speedway Park on April 13. Josh Fisher won his first feature of 2014 taking the Winged Outlaw Warrior Series main event at LA Raceway driving the Curtis Boyer Racing J&J.
Other J&J news… David Burns announced recently that Stephan Nix will drive the No. 52nm J&J sponsored by CarQuest Santa Fe, Lawson and Hal Burns Truck and Equipment in the New Mexico Motor Racing Association events at Motiva Speedway in Albuquerque.