Friday, June 8, 2001 - Park Jefferson Speedway NKF (Jefferson, SD)
Heat - Returning to Park Jefferson for the first time this season, the team returned for it's first outing of the season with our backup car. After engine problems at Alta on June 6, we went to the backup which already had an engine ready to go, but still needed new graphics applied. John worked late on Thursday night to get the car ready to go for the National Kidney Foundation Special at Park Jefferson. John started 6th in his heat race, and battled a loose car, it was really the first time this chassis had been run on Hoosiers. He was able to come home in the 5th position, missing an inversion position but advancing to the A feature.
A Feature - John started 15th in the feature on a track that was extremely dry and dusty. The car performed pretty well, and by lap 10 he had moved up to the 10th spot. He continued to advance, moving into the 8th position before a caution slowed the field. Having equipped the car with the hard compound Hoosiers for the feature, John lost a couple spots on the restart to cars that pretty clearly had the soft compound tires. The race went green the rest of the way, and John was able to move back up into the 9th spot at the finish. Considering the fact we were in our backup car and the extremely dry track, we were happy with our run. It would have been nice to have the 2001 Harris at Park Jefferson, but we take what we can get.
We won't return to Park Jefferson until the August 30 Harris Auto Racing USMTS Special. |
