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JJ
Pack Wins the Battle and the War at Jennerstown Super Cup 2014
Finale
Skyland,
North Carolina (September 15, 2014) – It has been no secret
that Bealeton, Virginia’s JJ Pack has been the driver to beat
during the 2014 Super Cup Stock Car Series season.
Leading into the Flight 93 National Memorial race weekend at
Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway, Pack had finished no worse
than second throughout the year.
The Cal
Richardson-owned and Black Draft Distillery/IceBoxx
Customs-sponsored No. 16 Chevrolet driven by Pack claimed the Pole
Award once again heading into the 75-lap feature presented by
Mignogna Collision Center. After
the redraw, Jeff Zillweger led the field to green for the second
time this season with Pack starting fifth.
Outside front row starter Brian Harrison was even with
Zillweger through the first two turns and then pulled ahead.
Zillweger got loose and looped his car on the inside of turn
four to bring out the first caution with one lap complete.
It did not take
long for Pack to make his way to the front as he passed Brent Nelson
for second one lap after the restart and then by lap five worked
under Harrison for the lead. Nevertheless,
the race for the win would be far from over as Harrison remained
within striking distance of Pack.
After the field was slowed another time, Harrison would get
around the outside of Pack and led the race past halfway.
During this portion
of the event, the front four cars consisting of Harrison, Pack,
first-time series competitor Dan Bainey, and Nelson set the pace and
pulled away from the remainder of the field.
Nearing 30 laps to
go Pack closed within a car length of Harrison and took the top spot
back.
Inside 10 laps
remaining, late cautions would give Harrison two more opportunities
at Pack with the double-file restart option introduced in the last
race at CNB Bank Raceway Park. Pack
would get the advantage both times on his way to his third win of
the season.
“I was pretty
excited for this race,” said Pack.
“I’ve been wanting to win Jennerstown since I raced Pro
Cup. It felt great.
I was really happy with the result.”
Despite not being a
driver accustomed to running for points, Pack knew going in that he
could achieve success once he teamed up with Richardson.
After their first full season together they hoisted their
first career Super Cup Stock Car Series championship trophy.
“I can’t thank
my owner Cal enough,” noted Pack.
“He did a great job of giving me the best stuff I wanted
anytime I needed it. My
crew did a great job always helping keep the car together.
When I actually got the car from him it was a pretty rusty
and pretty nasty looking car. I
opened the hood up and it was a fantastic car so I knew that we
could win some races with this.”
Brian Harrison had
his best run in a season full of ups and downs.
On the track he finished in the top five every time out, but
an injury outside of the race car sidelined him for two races and
took him out of championship contention.
“As far as the
race goes, I figured about halfway I had a pretty good car, but just
kind of went to the tight side,” recapped Harrison.
“JJ really had the better car.
He’s been dominant all year.
Only way I was going to get him was to be on the outside,
because on that bottom he was good.”
Nelson and Bainey
were involved in quite the battle during the closing laps and came
home in that order in third and fourth.
For Nelson, 2014 started off on a high note with a win at
Columbus Motor Speedway but one race set him back.
“The season was
real good,” said Nelson. “The
car has been consistent week in and week out until we ran
Jennerstown (in July). A
dollar part literally put us on the trailer.
We broke a roll pin in the distributor.
We got it fixed, and of course have been trying to play catch
up with JJ pretty much all season.
He’s had the field covered.
Once we got in the center the car would wash up and I would
have to wait until the car was set, and then it would finally bite
and turn left. We gave
it all we had.”
Bainey turned in an
impressive result during his inaugural Super Cup and Jennerstown
start, and looks forward to future races with the series.
“I’ve been here
to Jennerstown quite a few times just watching, and probably watched
over 10,000 laps sitting in the stands playing with Matchbox cars
the entire time,” recalled Bainey.
“It’s a little different, because I’ve been crew chief
for 15 years and getting to drive here is a lot of fun with the
Super Cup guys; a lot of hard racing.”
New grandfather
Kevin Kromer rounded out the top five after some changes to the car
did not work out in his favor, but managed to hold on to the runner
up spot in the point standings.
It was the second time in his Super Cup career he was one
position short of the title.
“It’s okay,”
said Kromer. “We
wanted to win the points, but it was pretty much out of reach.
We had a bad finish at Columbus.
I think that was the difference right there.”
At the post-season
trophy presentation following the race, several special awards were
handed out in addition to recognition of the top 10 points
finishers. Rookie
Contender of the Year went to both Bill Ashton and Chris Wenzel,
while Ashton also was named the Charlie Canterbury Hard Charger.
Wenzel and family were awarded the Car Owner of the Year as
well for their commitment to the series notably bringing the No. 69
from their home in Saddle Brook, New Jersey to Columbus, Ohio for
Megan Reitenour to drive despite Chris not being able to make the
trip due to a work conflict. Sportsman
of the Year went to Kevin Kromer for his ongoing assistance and
expertise to other competitors in need, and Most Improved were Jeff
Zillweger and team. Zillweger
finished a best career sixth in the standings with his first career
pole award and top five finish earlier in the season.
For the third year
in a row, sponsor Boschett Timepieces provided watches to each of
the past series race winners in attendance and company president
Keith Boschetti was presented with a plaque signed by each of the
competitors in appreciation for his support and dedication to the
series.
A seventh season of
“racin’ the way it used to be” is in the books, but the Super
Cup Stock Car Series will have many announcements regarding the 2015
schedule and news from drivers planning to compete available on the
official web site supercupstockcarseries.com
and Facebook page (facebook.com/SCSCSRacing)
throughout the upcoming months away from the race track.
Click
here for race results...
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