JOANIDES SILENCES CRITICS WITH FIRECRACKER 100 WIN!
(07-04-08) A week ago, driver Nick Joanides and his J&M Racing Team with Jackson Race Cars won their seventh race in the premier AC Delco Super Late Model division at Toyota Speedway of Irwindale. But it seemed that all anyone wanted to talk about, was that they had not had the same level of success in the Auto Club Late Model division. Joanides was quick to point out that the team did have six podium finishes in the first eight races of the season, but without the actual wins, the critics were not satisfied.
Joanides
and his team silenced them with a dominant, wire to wire win in
Friday’s 4th of July Firecracker 100. It was their second
win in the past three Late Model races. The win also brought the teams
winning percentage to an even 50 percent since team owner, Loyd McGhee
hired Joanides as the driver and Jackson Race Cars to house and manage
the team late last season. This combination has competed in 26 races and
produced 13 wins and 23 top five finishes, including 21 podium finishes.
They are also three for three in the 100 lap major races, winning both
season ending Open Comp events at Irwindale and Las Vegas Speedway last
year. “The Jackson’s have dominated for years, but Nick and I have
both prospered since coming together”, said McGhee.
The teams only blemish this season in the Late Model division was an electrical failure that resulted in a 21st place finish, dropping Joanides 52 points behind point leader Andrew Myers. On the strength of their two wins to go along with second and third place finishes in the past four races, Joanides now trails by just 10 points with eight races remaining.
“The whole team put in a lot of effort to win this race” said Joanides. Bill Loe completed a new engine for the event and the team put in more testing laps than usual to get the car dialed in. The hard work paid off as they posted the fastest practice time of the day. Joanides was the 11th car out of 28 to qualify and quickly jumped to the top of the board on his first lap. Jace Meir, who was the 26th car out to qualify, knocked Joanides off the pole, but his time did hold up for a front row starting position.
After a three wide first lap, when third starter Colin Fleming dove to the inside of Joanides and Meir in the first turn, Joanides was able to pull in front coming off of turn four. From there on out, he pulled out to a comfortable lead and saved the tires. Four caution flags erased his early leads. The final 57 laps were run under green with Joanides coming to the finish 1.04 seconds ahead of Ryan Kaplan. Point leader Andrew Myers finished third, 5.09 seconds behind.
The team would like to offer a special thank you to all of their sponsors for making this incredible run possible: Mr. Crane, Santa Rosa Developers, Western Concrete Pumping, J&M Construction, White Cap Construction Supply, NMC Group, Ahern Equipment Rentals, Kramer & Lawson, Malins Pools & Performance Motorsports.
SEE VIDEO ON THE "VIDEOS" PAGE
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