Saturday, May 17, 2003 - Park Jefferson Speedway
Heat - John would start 5th in a heat race that included Denny Johnson, Charlie Clark, and USMTS point leader Justin Boney who joined the field at Park Jefferson for the first time. John was in the 3rd row of 3 with Boney and quickly moved into the 2nd spot at the start of the race behind front row starter Johnson. John & Denny would drive away from the field and John would come in 2nd as Boney finished 3rd really appearing to struggle with handling on the PJ track.
A Feature - The O.K. One Stop car would set out from the 12th spot in the field and John had a great car on the dry track. But clearly Justin Boney was the class of the field as his #18 Harris modified would take the lead on lap 6 from a 17th place start. John & Denny Johnson would again battle for position in the feature. John caught Johnson who held the 4th spot and the two were running the same line on the bottom of the track. Johnson gave John a half a lane and John put his nose in there. The two would trade paint while going side by side for a couple of laps as John would eventually claim that spot to finish 4th behind Boney, Rich Hesse and Derek Smith. If there had been a few more laps in the race John would have challenged Smith for that position, but it was a great showing for the team on a dry track.
Standings - The two positions Hesse held on John at the finish would enable Hesse to pull even with John tied atop the point standings. Only 3 points races are down for the season, but we continue to hold a share of the spot we want to hold at year-end. |
