Update #27 Race #48 & #49

KJ Motorsports

Update #27

Race #48 & #49

By Kenny Johnson
22 Sep 2008

WOW! I’ll start off by saying not a very good weekend of racing for KJ Motorsports. We were at Skyline for 2 days and 2 complete Road Warrior Tour shows. The Road Warrior Tour Championship was on the line & we had a 23 point lead of Dave Defibaugh and a 25 point lead over Louie Krushansky. Saturday night started out great. We set fast time in our group and 3rd fast overall. We won our heat and that put us starting 4th in the feature. Louie was starting on the pole and Defibaugh was starting 18th. In the end we finished 8th, Louie finished 4th and Defibaugh finished 10th. This changed the point lead down to 17 points over Louie and 27 points over Defibaugh. So with us finishing 8th, I felt like we definitely needed to make some changes to the car to improve for Sunday’s races. The track was even slicker than it was on Saturday. As many of you know, I really despise slick track racing, but I know we were all on the same track. We set 4th fastest time in our group and wound up finishing 4th to start us 16th in the feature. Louie started 8th in his heat and made it to 3rd, but was penalized for a jump start and that forced him to run the consi, in which he finished 2nd to start him right behind us in 18th. Defibaugh finished 2nd in his heat to start him 8th in the feature. Mathematically any of the 3 of us could win the Road Warrior Tour Championship at this point. The way I had it figured is if Louie finished 9 positions ahead of us, he would win the championship and Defibaugh had to finish 14 positions ahead of us. So the race started and I intended to race hard and get to the front. It wasn’t long into the race that I knew I was in no way a contender and I was just trying to keep my nose clean and salvage a finish. Well Louie unfortunately caught a uke tire and took out his power steering, so he was trying to hang on also. Dave was conservatively working his way up after falling back several positions. Then what we feared happening happened, we got caught up in a wreck and it flattened our right front tire and took us out of the race giving us a 19th place finish. So now all we could do is sit and wait for the end of the race to see what the other 2 would do. Well, again misfortune struck Louie and he also got caught up in a wreck that tore his car up and he would finish 17th. So now it was waiting to see where Defibaugh finished. It was getting nerve racking, but Defibaugh finished 7th and they announced that we won the Road Warrior Tour Championship points by 9 points. What a relief, for this past week and weekend played havoc on my nerves and that was the exact reason I approached the entire season as I did but not following points. We just raced to be racing and did not worry about the points. Well when it got down to the wire, I worried. The other point’s battle was also on the line for National points. We were in a close battle with Jeremy Berwanger. The way it played out, is if I got a 2nd place or better, we’d win the points. If Jeremy got a 2nd place or better, then we would go into next weekend at the Valley to decide the point’s champion. Saturday night Jeremy fell short in his heat race to start him deep in the field. Although this did not slow him down, he made it all the way to a 3rd place finish. So now he had Sunday to accomplish a top 2 finish. But as he was working his way into the top 3 a car pinched him off and he spun out and was forced to the tail. Once there and with the track conditions not being very racy he did not advance very far and he finished in 10th place. So “unofficially” we have also sewed up the National point’s championship as well. Like I said in the beginning, this was a not a very good weekend for racing stats, but an outstanding weekend for KJ Motorsports, Hassy Chassis, Racersmate, Dickson Racing Shocks, Billy Lloyd Racing Engines, K-Graphics, H&S Construction, Zemba Bros., Laurita Excavating, Balderson Construction, Gene’s Trailer Sales, Wrisco Aluminum, Billy Joe and Wanda Hammett.

I need to thank some key people that helped us obtain these 2 Championships. First is Tod Buckhalter at Hassy Chassis, for supplying us with the Hassy Chassis House car. Second is Tim Cooper who has spent many hours in the garage and many hours on the road going to the races. Jason Canepari who has helped to identify the various set ups that have helped us win races this year. Many fans that have become followers of KJ Motorsports, such as Billy Joe and Wanda Hammett, Carl and Sharon Walker, Ralph Whited, Michael Willoughby, Jake Cooper, Loretta Shortridge, Tom and Pam Lemon and of course Mom and Dad. Although Mom doesn’t go very much, I know she thinks of me often, because when it doesn’t rain out, I know she didn’t do a rain dance. And Dad, well there is not a bigger supporter of KJ Motorsports around. Hats off to Team #23 and team #44J whom we have built a good friendship over this past season and I am already looking forward to racing them in 2009. But Team #77, #23 & #44J brought it down to the wire for the point’s battle and I have the up most respect for all 3 of them and can appreciate everything they had worked for! Thanks for making this year an all round good year.

Next weekend, we will be at Ohio Valley racing the “Finale at the Valley”. Hope to see you there! Remember! To make this work, support those that support us!

Thanks again for your support,

KJ