2000 RACE RESULTS
O.K. One Stop Racing Modified
Heat - John started fifth in his heat race, and was unable to move past the third place car on the very wet Park Jefferson racing surface. The muddy conditions combined with the hinderance of having run out of tear offs on the second lap made him quite thankful to have brought the O.K. One Stop modified home in 4th, qualified for Saturday's A Feature.
Race of Champions - The 15 car field was made up of 2000 A feature winners, heat race winners, and then down the Park Jefferson point standings. John qualified for the race, based on his 12th place points position. The field was set by a random draw and John started 9th in the 12 lap race. John did not get a very good start as a few of the cars in front of him had trouble in turn one, and he had checked up to avoid a wreck. He had fallen back as far as 12th in the field, but then the car seemed to come alive on lap 4, he was quickly moving up through the field, until lap 7 when the caution flew. At that point John had made it up to 8th in the running order. When the green came back out, John continued his charge to the front, by lap 10 John was in 5th. With two to go he had advanced to 4th, and coming out of turn 4 to the white flag he moved into the 3rd spot. Rich Hesse & Jim Thies who had battled the entire race for the top spot were about 5 car lengths in front of John at the white flag and he caught them going into turn 1. Following them out of turn 2 and down the backstretch, John positioned himself to make a move to the inside in 3 & 4, but as the cars were entering turn 3, Thies made a move from the top to the bottom to the inside of Hesse and took away John's line. John lost his momentum and the 4th place car of Mark Wenzlaff was able to slide by John on the outside and take away the third spot, but John still had a great run in coming home 4th in this non-points race.
A Feature - History is made! After an exhausting two weeks of racing, and working on the car, John and the crew were finally able to reap the fruits of their labor! John started the A feature in the third position behind the #1DK of Kelly Harmelink and the #77x of Ken Fridrich, and alongside the #55 of Jimmy Cole. Harmelink moved out to the lead in turn one, as John battled side-by-side with Jimmy Cole for the second spot. John won that battle off turn 4 of the first lap and moved to the inside of Harmelink in turn 2 to take the lead. That was the hardest racing John would need to do in the feature. John and his Harris modified cruised to a comfortable lead, and started lapping the last few cars by lap 7, when the race was slowed for the first and only caution of the race. When the race got going again, John again opened up a comfortable lead, the biggest challenge of the night came as he was battling through lapped traffic. We all held our breath for the last lap as the race nearly slipped away when the lapped car #88R spun immediately in front of him in turn 4 as he was coming to the checkers. He lapped 3 cars enroute to his first career modified feature win! It was a rout, he beat the second place car by nearly a full straightaway, in driving a flawless race. A note for those who've been following John's career since the beginning, John's first Charger feature win at PJ also came on the night of the O'Reilly All Star Tour's visit to the track, also when Joe Kosiski captured that feature.
Standings - When you win the A feature, you're not going to lose any ground in the points! In fact, John's win combined with a sixth place finish by Mark Wenzlaff, allowed John to cut 10 points off Wenzlaff's lead. He will now trail by just 44 points. John will move up to about 7th in the season point standings -- our charge back to the top has begun!
Ritts Racing #57 Late Model
Heat - John started his heat race in the back, and was unable to move up on the slimey racing surface. He finished the race 7th.
Friday Night A Feature - John started the feature in 14th in the 16 car late model field. The car was ill-handling throughout the feature, and John was again unable to move up in the field. He finished the race in 13th. After the race, John and Al made the decision to lock up the rearend to give full-time posi-traction. That change should give John a feel more consistent with that of his Modified.
Time Trials - John was about the 20th car scheduled to go out for his timed lap, and as he was in the line-up to go out, the car stalled, and he needed to wait until all cars had run their laps to get a push start, as the starter on the car had gone out. When he did go out he clocked the 23rd fastest time of the 26 cars making a qualifying attempt. The car was not running well for his qualifying effort having carburetor trouble once again.
O'Reilly Qualifier - John started the second O'Reilly qualifier in 13th. He moved by a few cars in the first few laps, eventually battling with Bobby Moore for the 8th position, before giving up that position and coming home in the 9th spot. The car ran well, and John got to enjoy some good side-by-side racing in the Late Model. The posi-traction made the car much more consistent and smooth running.
O'Reilly All Star Tour 50 Lap Feature - After winning the modified feature, John needed to climb into the late model to saddle up for the 50 lapper. He had some extra time to make the move to the late model, as the O'Reilly tour had a lot of pre-race action, including driver introductions and a line up of the cars on the front straightaway. The fans were treated to a fireworks display during the parade laps and a grand finale to the fireworks during the first few laps of green flag racing, it was an awesome spectacle as 26 of the best dirt track racers in the Midwest set out for 50 laps with fireworks going off overhead. John started 20th on the outside of none other than Joe Kosiski. He ran the first few laps very strong holding his position in the pack, but coming out of turn 4, the #15 of Landon Smith got sideways and the two cars made contact. John's car got airborne and bottomed out when it came down, and packed the underbody with dirt. The car stalled and brought out the first and only caution of the race. John came in on the hook, and called it a night. Joe Kosiski went on to win the 50 lapper leading the last 26 laps and lapping all but the 2nd & 3rd place cars.