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 BAKERSFIELD,
CALIFORNIA (November 8, 2011)
– Exactly one week after sweeping the top-three in qualifying and
taking the top two finishing positions for the SRL Southwest Tour at
the Las Vegas Bullring, JRC returned to Vegas again sweeping the
top-three in qualifying before Derek Thorn would win the $10,000
feature. Thorn took the win and quick-time on back-to-back weeks at
Las Vegas aboard the new JRC Gen 1 Truck Arm Chassis with primary
sponsorship from Eibach Springs and Sigma Engineering Solutions,
Inc.
What made Thorn’s win impressive was that he and the JRC
organization had been told all week that they would be at a
disadvantage racing an SRL Tour car against the wider local Super
Late Models. Even more impressive was Thorn winning the show from
the rear of the 26 car field for the 150 lap contest.
“The decision to start Thorn at the back was discussed early in the
day among all three teams with Junior Joiner developing the winning
team strategy,” said team competition director Marty Melo.
“Everyone involved is top notch and we could not do it without the
talented team members such as Scott Franchimone, Carl “Pops” Joiner,
Jake Koens, Stanley Fisher, Kevin Disney, Kevin Williams, Rick
Thorn, Jim Kennedy, and Kevin Posey to just name a few.”
42 Super Late Models lined the pits for the weekend’s races with
qualifying and heat races rained out on Friday night. The JRC
entries of Joe Farre, Blake Williams, and Derek Thorn timed in early
Saturday morning. Thorn took quick-time with a 14.386 second lap
over Williams with a 14.487 and Farre with a 14.551 around the fast
three-eights mile paved oval.
The race was slated to start “straight-up” with no invert for the
top 16 qualifiers, but Farre would assume the pole after Thorn
elected to start at the rear of the field. This would set the stage
for an all JRC front row with Blake Williams starting on the outside
of Farre.
Farre jumped out to an early lead. Showing his experience and the
solid car he had underneath him, Farre mixed it up with several Las
Vegas regulars throughout the first half of the race. While Farre
set the pace Williams dropped back to team up with Thorn and the two
of them ran consistently around the top-fifteen in the first half of
the event.
Farre took the lead back on lap 75 before the event went under a 10
minute break on lap 90 for teams to make adjustments. Coming out of
the break, Farre maintained the lead while Thorn and Williams made
their move through the field. A caution on lap 116 set-up a battle
between Farre and Thorn, with Thorn taking over the lead on lap
126.
Thorn never looked back on his way to the win after a dominating
performance and Farre landed a podium finish with an impressive
third place finish in the #54 Sigma Engineering / LVI Services
Chevrolet. Williams, with a few late race passes, finished fourth
in the #56 McClintock & Turk/JRC Chevrolet to give the JRC
organization three of the top four finishing positions along with a
JRC car in the lead the entire second half of the race.
“The success of the JRC team tonight was in large part due to the
planning and efforts put forth by Junior Joiner and our shop staff
earlier in the week along with the incredible driving by Derek,”
Farre said. “These guys put their heart and soul into the cars we
are very fortunate to have such a great team behind us. This one
belongs to the entire JRC team.”
After a pair of successful outings at Las Vegas, the JRC team will
switch gears to the state-of-the-art half-mile TOYOTA Speedway in
Irwindale, CA. JRC will enter multiple cars in the “California
Classic” for Super Late Models with the exact driver line-up to be
announced at a later date.
“Ryan Reed and Blake Williams both drove very impressive races in
our JRC cars,” Farre said. “They helped show what a successful
driver development program can do when you pair talented drivers
with the experience of Junior Joiner and our JRC team. We look
forward to seeing these young up and coming drivers back with us in
the near future.”
JRC 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 JRC 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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