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10/12/10 UPDATE
2010 Points finish for the 53 Team
Sundance vacation
speedway 8th
Shangri-la 2
9th
10/9/10 Sundance
Vacation Spedway
We returned to Sundance vacation
speedway for the first time since July to
race the king of the mountain race, but with
a twist. Joe was going to be driving the #88
for Joe Polny of RPM fabrications. Our plans
were to only run a few laps so we could
finish in the top 10 in points for the year.
Joe settled in the car rather fast. He was
driving a car that was not set up for him
had 200+lap tires on it but made the show.
When Joe went out for the feature he was
starting in the rear of 21 cars to just run
in the back for a few laps. As Joe went on
the track we found out he needed to finish
18th or better to make the top 10 in points
only problem is there are no radios at this
track to tell him that. The plan was to run
a few cautions and come in. Joe stayed out
till lap 25 our so and came in. We told him
he needed to go back out and had to finish
in the top 18 to get 10th in points. Now
driving a car with no tires left on it he
took it up though the field to a 12th place
finish. NOT BAD!!. this landed the team an
8th place finish in points for the year at
Sundance.
Joe will be driving the # 88 for RPM
one more time this year on Oct 23 for the
NELMA 100 lap race
A big Thanks To Joe
Polny Rpm Fabrications
9/11/10 Shangri-la
The last points race of the season
proved to be a great race again for the
team. Joe started the race in 4th but fell
back on the first race due to some contact
in the front of the field. Joe moved forward
and on around lap 12 he took over the second
place from Travis Fischer. Joe was running
down the leader when the caution came out
with 9 to go. Starting on the outside pole
Joe got shoved up on the restart. He was
able to fall back in 3rd but ran out of time
to advance any further. A 3rd place finish
the teams best yet. this gave Joe a 9th
place points finish for the year. not bad
for 4 races at the track.
We will be running the fall brawl 50
lap race this coming sat the 16th at
Shangri-la looking to better a 3rd.
in car video of 9/11
http://www.vimeo.com/14909372
8/14/2001
ANOTHER GREAT NIGHT AT A
GREAT TRACK
The car and Joe performed
at there best again last night taking home
another top 5 finish. Joe crossed the finish
line in 5th with now brakes. The racing
between 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th was so hard that
Joe lost the brake in the car from
overheating them. We are faster just need to
figure out how to pass at Shangri-la 2. Fast
track but passing is not easy but I am sure
will come with more seat time for Joe then
there going to be chasing us( We Hope)
In car video
http://www.vimeo.com/14168699
8/7/2010
WOW WHAT AN AWESOME
NIGHT!!!
The 5js team has moved
to a new track in Tioga County, NY. We
have left Sundance speedway due to the
officials not making calls when it is
needed and not enforcing their own rules.
We have moved to Shangri-la 2 a brand new
1/2 mile cement race track in up state
NY. We tested last weekend there and
found we had a bunch of changes to make in
the the car to be able to run a bigger and
MUCH faster track.
After spending every night
till almost 10 in the shop we took off for
the track yesterday morning. With really
bad traffic we got to the track just as
the gates opened so we had to rush to get
ready for warm ups. Joe hit the track and
found the car to be great and fast. Joe
started 6th in the heat race when he was
making a pass for 4th place and spun the
car. He rejoined the rear of the field
with 2 to go and finished 4th. We rolled
out to an 8th place start in the feature
race and Joe quickly moved up to 4th then
into 3rd were he spent most of the race.
The last caution came with 9 to go I asked
how the car felt and Joe said car was good
but he was tired. With a late charge from
the #55 Joe was unable to hold him off and
finished 4th a great start at our new home
track. It was nice to be treated with
respect for a change. Every one at the
track was helpful and glad to have another
team join there facility.
It was Nascar night at
the track with
When Joe came in he was
asked if one of them could use his car for
2 match races. (really cool). Matt Kenseth
took the wheel of the 53 machine and won
both races. It was awesome to see one of
today's professional drivers be able to
take our car and put it anywhere on the
track and win with it.
A big thanks to the track
and all the teams and officials that made
us feel welcome and give us a hand at what
will now be our home track Shangri-la 2.
In car
video 30 lap race Joe driving then the
switch to Matt Kenseth and the 2 8 lap
match races
http://www.vimeo.com/13989642
         
7/11/10
After a month off and
Joe's graduation the 53 hit the track once
again. It was a Madhouse day at Sundance
Vacation Speedway. The car and Joe
were fast all day long. Unfortunately Joe
wound up in the wrong grove all day. The
heat race was a 3rd place and the feature
after going from the back to 5th 2 times
Just to get dumped running 5th with 5 laps
to go was depressing to say the least. It is
a shame that some teams have to tarnish
racing that way. We are still looking for
our first feature win and will try again on
the 24th of July
6/10/10
First win
With the car handling the best it ever
has Joe started 4th in the heat race and by
the end of lap 2 Joe was in the lead and
never looked back. For the feature race Joe
lined up 4th again. On the drop of the green
Joe was on the move. By the time they
crossed the line Joe was in 2nd but the
caution came out due to an oil pan being torn
open, it took about 20min to get it all
cleaned up and then it started to rain. It
was our race to win this week but
unfortunately the rain took care of that.
The race was rescheduled for Jun 26th the
race we were going to miss due to Joes
graduation we will now miss 2 races ouch gona hurt in the points. In car vid
soon.
Pics from 5/31/2010 by Trish Sahler
http://gallery.me.com/triciamergeleft#100139
In
car video of heat race win view
1
http://vimeo.com/12572500

view 2
http://vimeo.com/12570927
5/31/2010
7Th
Rough night
Not such a great night.
Joe finished 2nd in the heat race and
started 5th in the feature race. The feature
race was a rough race cars bouncing off each
other and checking up on the starts. All of
this caused Joe to take a beating front and
rear. At one point there was a car up on his
Left rear quarter panel. Joe finished the
race in 7th place and jumped to 5th in
points.
A TEAM OF FAMILY AND
FRIENDS.

5/16/2010
5th
Another great day of racing for
team 5Js. The weather was great and we had
for the first time a full crew of 8 guys on
hand to help out. The car and Joe were 4th
fastest car all day long. Joe started in the
back of the 2nd heat race due to handy
capping from the 3rd finish last race. It
was a rough heat race and we did not
qualify. Joe had to start at the rear of the
feature but quickly started moving up
through the field. There was one caution on
lap 8 then they ran 22 green flag laps. Joe
moved into 5th place by lap 15 or so and set
his sights on 3rd and 4th. Closing a few car
lengths per lap he was reeling them in but
the car was starting to pick up a push.
Unfortunately to much of a push to run them
down so He had to settle for 5th this race.
All in all it was another great week for the
entire team. Thanks to all that were on hand
to help out with all the work that needed to
be done
Heat race
http://vimeo.com/11823437
Feature race
http://vimeo.com/11825158
ACE #2 Full field video Shot by Big Jims
Video www.
bigjimsvideos@aol.com
http://vimeo.com/11854936
5/5/2010
RACE 2 WOW!!!
A much better
day for the team and Joe. We were able to
get the push out of the car with the changes
we made on the scales in the shop and small
stagger changes at the track. We started 5th
in the heat race and finished 3rd. Joe made
a last lap move for second but the door got
slammed on him going into turn 3. We started
5th in the race and got pushed back to 7th
on the 2nd restart due to a car not going in
front of us. Joe made some nice moves to
pass cars in front of him. Some moves on the
outside and some on the inside. After moving
into 4th place Joe ran 10 or so hard laps
with Mike Sweeny the 11d. There was some
great and CLEAN racing between the 2 of
them, on the last lap Joe sent the car into
turn3 under Mike hopping the car would stick
and it did. Joe beat Mike by a bumper at the
line for a career best finish of 3rd. He
also set a career fast lap of 14.666 in the
heat race. All in all it was a great day for
the team. We moved from 10th in points
to 6th.
We would also like to thank new
team members Bryan Coon and his son Shaun
they were a Huge help this week and we look
forward to them joining the team much more
often.
Check out the in car feed.
http://www.vimeo.com/11442823
4/19/10
Not Such A Great Start.
Our
first 2 test sessions did not go as well as
we expected. The first time out we had
ignition problems and the 2nd time we tested
we blew the motor. OUCH! The engine
came back on Thursday and we had to be at
the track sat morning. We got it all
together and headed to the track. We still
had not gotten the car up to speed yet so we
had no idea what it was going to do. The 1st
2 practices at the track we had carburetor
issues but got it fixed. We had the car
running pretty well in the last practice
before qualifying. Joe went out and ran the
best he could not knowing what the car was
going to do. It was not the best run but we
qualified 11th. Sunday morning we made a few
changes in the car and hit the track. Car
was ok but picked up a bad push now. Thought
we had it ok when we started the race but
after 5 laps it started pushing again. All
Joe could do was drive it the best he could.
With 2 laps left Joe was running 4th not
bad. On the last lap the car pushed up out
of turn 2 and 2 cars went under Joe. We
wound up with a 7th place finish but the
car was in one piece. All in all not a bad
outing for the first race. We are making
changes for the next race on the 2nd of May,
at Sun Dance Vacation Speedway. We are
looking for a better day.
Link to in car cams of 1st race.
http://vimeo.com/11215921
THE NEW CAR IS
HERE.
The 5js race team will field a new
car at Sundance Vacation Speedway for the
2010 season. They will also be heading south
for a few shows with the PASS south series.
Stay tuned for all the exciting news to come
from the 5Js team.

11/06/2009
The first full season of running
the late model was a great year. We learned
and grew as a team and Joe was able to tune
his driving skills. We ran all but 2 races a
Sundance Vacation Speedway. We had only 1
DNF all year. Our only major wreck cam in
the last points race, but we were able to
finish the race. Joe's best finish was a 4th
and worst was a 13 in the last race.
The payoff was a 5th place finish in the
points.
We have started rebuilding for
the 2010 season. As of today we are looking
at building a new car for next year and
keeping this car for a back up car and for
Johnny to get his feet wet in a high power
late model.
A few people we need to thank
for this great season.
Andy Lotto Crew
Troy Dillon For all the
great set up help (Chassis Builder)
Mike Pettit Racing engines
for the Awesome HP its a rocket!!
Steve DeGaray Pyramid flooring
Sponsor
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Late Models |
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Car |
Driver |
Total |
|
1 |
D11 |
Mike Sweeney |
1362 |
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2 |
88 |
Jerry Hildebrand |
1243 |
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3 |
20 |
Joe Hoffman |
1149 |
|
4 |
76 |
Zane Zeiner |
1036 |
|
5 |
35 |
Joseph Burns |
834 |
|
6 |
42 |
Jennifer Kutz |
803 |
|
7 |
16 |
Kyle Harvell |
776 |
|
8 |
27 |
William Schneider |
701 |
|
9 |
8 |
Travis Fisher |
671 |
|
10 |
17 |
Mitch Hawk |
645 |
|
11 |
23 |
Kevin Metzger |
550 |
|
12 |
31 |
Justin Onderko |
378 |
|
13 |
66 |
Austin Kochenash |
375 |
|
14 |
34 |
Paul Monkoski |
355 |
|
15 |
61 |
Mike Coll |
276 |
|
16 |
9 |
Larry Fisher |
268 |
|
17 |
13 |
Rob Koller |
237 |
|
18 |
O |
Geno Steigerwalt |
202 |
|
19 |
59 |
Don Holland |
183 |
|
20 |
13 |
Jason Zatsko |
171 |
|
21 |
7A |
Jimmy Wismer Jr. |
166 |
|
22 |
O7 |
Tommy Spencer |
144 |
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23 |
18 |
Bill Catania |
138 |
|
24 |
42NY |
Dave Macomber |
127 |
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25 |
40 |
Todd Geist |
88 |
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26 |
13X |
Phil DeFranco |
82 |
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27 |
11A |
Tony Volpe |
81 |
|
28 |
38 |
Ed Bauer |
75 |
|
29 |
61 |
Doug Bell |
66 |
|
30 |
39 |
John Loftus |
0 |
9/12/2009 A LONG OVER DUE UPDATE:
The 5js team has been running Mountain
speedway this season. We currently are
holding on to 6th in points and Finished
4th for our first top 5 last
week. With 2 races remaining we are
looking forward to maybe 2 more top 5
finishes and maybe top 5 in points for the
season. Check out there web site at
http://www.mountainspeedway.com/
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