JDS Racing

2009 Jefferson Speedway Heat Win

2011 JDS Racing Photos

#53 JDS Racing Report

Welcome to our 10th season of Late Model racing with the #53.

First off there has been an official name change to JDS Racing. JDS stands for Johnson, Duerst, Soenksen. We felt that Dakota should be recognized for his excellent help in the pits and at the shop. He has kept the bug in Joel's ear to get back out to the track this season and he is also the official "Snack Coordinator" of the race team.

So after almost 10 months away from the track the #53 headed out to the Columbus 151 Speedway on Friday June 22nd. After a short practice and Joel reporting that the car was tight (would not turn) we made a pretty large adjustment for qualifying. That proved to be an adventure since we went too far and the car was loose in qualifying. Even with a not so good handling car Joel turned a 13.649 which was good for 8th of 20 cars. It is Joel's 2nd best qualifying lap that he has turned at 151 over the past 10 years.

This set Joel up to start outside row 3 or 6th for the heat. Joel used the heat race to figure out the car for the feature along with running through 3 full bags of Oil Dry that were left on the track after the 1st Late Model Heat Race of the night. Outcome of the race was 6th.

The feature saw Joel starting in 2nd on the outside of the front row. Outside at Columbus is not an easy place to run so he got back in line in 8th. That is where he ran till there was 5 to go when the car went sideways in the 3/4 corner and he lost one spot to 9th. Overall a good start to the year for starting 8 weeks into the season.

The next night out on July 29th started with 3 laps of practice, a small adjustment and Joel setting his personal best 3 qualifying laps at 151 to date. With a 13.620, 13.608 and 13.594 it was good enough for qualifying 5th.

The car was still a tick tight, a pretty uneventful heat and a 7th place we made some additional changes for the feature.

In the feature Joel started 5th / inside row three and after one lap had made his way into 3rd. Then a wreck with the P14, P15 and P16 cars at the start of lap 2 brought out a lengthy caution and a race line up putting Joel 4th. During the caution the discussion was if going to the outside was going to be a benefit or a bust. At 151 until there is 5 laps to go in the feature on cautions a cone is placed at the start finish line. When the cone is out the leader gets the 1st row and everyone after that gets to chose high or low. Joel took the chance and went high. That moved him from 4th to 3rd for the start but on the outside. At the restart Joel was able to stay even with the inside row and was able to work down to the inside in front of the 54 car. Joel battled with the #81 and #76 for the rest of the race going from 3rd to 5th back to 3rd and eventually finished 5th.

The third week out July 6th was a short night since the track called the races for safety concerns due to the high heat. The plan is to be back out next Friday at Columbus 151.

In other news there are two new associate sponsors to welcome aboard on the #53 this year. The first one is Man Cave Bait Company of Franklin, WI. Interested in hand made muskie bait check it out at www.mancavebaitcompany.com. The second is Bluecreeper from Vernon, CT. It gets stuff moving. Check them out at www.bluecreeper.com.

Thank you for the support and see you at the track.

JDS Racing