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 BAKERSFIELD,
CALIFORNIA (November 1, 2011)
– Joiner Race Cars made a big splash in the season finale for the
SRL SPEARS Southwest Tour, dominating competition at the Las Vegas
Bullring to sweep the top-two finishing positions in the “Sigma
Engineering 154” at the three-eights mile bullring. Lakeport’s
Derek Thorn won his third SRL race of 2011 in the #26 Superior
Crankshaft/JRI Shocks Toyota Camry with the debut of the Gen 1 JRC
Truck Arm chassis underneath him with teammate Ryan Reed of
Bakersfield bringing the #56 JRC/Racehard.com Camry to a second
place finish.
Joiner Race Cars were on top throughout the event that was sponsored
by JRC co-team owner Joe Farre of Sigma Engineering.
“I couldn’t be happier with the success of the JRC race cars,
drivers, and crews during the Sigma Engineering Solutions 154,”
Farre said. “Junior Joiner and the JRC shop staff delivered winning
race cars to our drivers, and our drivers delivered winning results
for the JRC team; I don’t think you can ask for much more than
that!”
JRC made a big statement in Friday night’s practice by taking three
of the four top positions on the speed charts. Thorn led practice
over Reed followed by Farre in the #54 Sigma Engineering / LVI
Services Chevrolet posting fourth on the charts. 16 year-old Blake
Williams of Spokane, WA made his series debut this weekend and also
gained valuable seat time in the #55 JRC/McClintock & Turk Chevrolet
in Friday’s nights practice.
Saturday’s action saw Thorn pick up an unprecedented seventh
consecutive fast-time in the series, timing in with a 14.393 second
lap to narrowly beat Farre and Reed for the top spot. Williams
qualified 16th out of the 23 car turnout but was only one
tenth of a second from a top-ten effort his first outing.
An 11 car invert meant the JRC cars would have some work to do to
navigate the tough SRL field, but Reed made quick work of the
leaders and took the lead by lap 10 with Farre in tow and Thorn up
to fourth. On the next restart, Thorn took over the third position
to give JRC a 1-2-3 effort as the three JRC cars pulled away from
the majority of the field. Thorn eventually took second from Farre
before Farre spun in an incident involving a lapped car.
Under the caution, Thorn made a trip to the pits which gave the lead
back to Reed. Pit stop strategy was critical in this race as teams
were allowed a two-tire stop at any point in the race. A halfway
break for fuel saw Reed leading while Thorn ran in the ninth
position.
Reed had a strong restart after the break while Thorn moved forward
to fifth by lap 90. Pit stops shuffled the order around when Reed
ducked into the pits costing him the lead. But by lap 100 he was
already back up into the second position and challenging for
victory.
Reed took the lead back on lap 110 and Thorn moved into second
shortly thereafter. On lap 140, Thorn finally made his move,
passing Reed for the lead. Reed was unable to challenge Thorn and
they coasted with a straightaway lead to bring home the JRC 1-2
finish.
Williams kept his nose clean throughout the race and handled the pit
stop format to finish 13th in his series debut. Farre,
however, was unable to finish making for an early night for the 54
team.
“I was very impressed with the performance of our guest drivers Ryan
Reed, and Blake Williams with Ryan dominating the race for most of
the laps,” Farre said. “ Both drivers did a phenomenal job
adapting to the JRC cars and we hope to see both of these drivers
back with JRC in the future.”
JRC will now look to translate the successful weekend in the SRL
event into a strong weekend in the Super Late Models as the team
will return to Las Vegas this Saturday night for the $10,000 to win
Fall Classic. The JRC drivers will climb back into their cars with
Williams driving the #56 JRC/McClintock & Turk Camry with Thorn
carrying new primary sponsorship from Eibach Springs and Sigma
Engineering. Farre will be supported by Sigma Engineering and LVI
Services for the prestigious 150 lap race.
Joiner Race Cars is proud to carry sponsorship of Sigma Engineering
and a number of marketing partners. Among the many contributors are
JRI Shocks, Eibach Springs, PepperJack Kennels, Joe’s Racing
Products, ARP Bodies, Finishline Signs, Fastenal, and Joiner
Motorsports.
For additional
information about Joiner Race Cars look them up online at
www.joinerracecars.com
Seats are still available for the 2012 season in the SRL SPEARS
Southwest Tour and interested parties can contact Marty Melo at
(530) 941-5642.
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