16-Year-Old John Hunter Nemechek Wins First Career Late Model Race In The Chevrolet Performance 125
JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Starts Fourth Year of Competition with an Action-Packed Event
Cordele, Georgia (January 26, 2014) – The fourth season of racing for the predominant
template bodied / crate motored traveling series in the country; the JEGS/CRA All-Stars
Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance kicked off the 2014 racing season as part of the
traditional non-points door opening weekend for Champion Racing Association (CRA)
Powered by JEGS; the 10th annual Zaxby's SpeedFest 2014 with the running of the
Chevrolet Performance 125 over the weekend of January 24-26th.
The fast 4/10s (0.400) mile semi-banked paved oval of Watermelon Capital Speedway,
located south of Macon and north of the Florida / Georgia state line in Cordele, Georgia
served as hosts as the JEGS/CRA event kicked off a beautiful Sunday afternoon of racing
on January 26th. A strong 31-car field took the green flag and at the end of 125 laps, it
would be 16-year-old John Hunter Nemechek standing in victory lane after winning not
only his first career JEGS/CRA event, but the Mooresville, North Carolina driver scored his
first ever win in a Late Model.
"Man this is awesome. We finally got one. I can't believe this, it's about time," The jubilant
teenager remarked in victory lane after climbing out of his #8 Pellet Wood Grills / Chevrolet. "We've been trying so hard since I've started racing Late Models and it seemed like it was taking forever to get here. But man we made it. It was such an awesome day and I can't thank everyone enough." Nemechek added.
After qualifying fourth fastest the previous day in Luke Yoder Construction Qualifying, the inversion draw was the maximum of a 10 which placed Nemechek on the inside of the fourth row to start the 125-lap main. Patiently, he worked his way up into the top five and soon found himself on the back bumper of early race leader, pole-sitter, Hunter Robbins just 15 laps into the race. A caution on lap 22 bunched up the field and on the double file restart, Nemechek was able to inch out ahead of Robbins and officially took the lead on lap 29.
From there, it was all Nemechek despite a series of caution flags that nullified his chances on numerous occasions late in the race. The Tar Heel State teenager, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran, Joe Nemechek, was up to the task on each ensuing restart and would hold off a series of late charges from 15-year-old Spencer Davis to score his first career win in his first ever JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour start. In previous seasons, Nemechek had made several appearances in the premier series within CRA; the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS, but this event was his first JEGS/CRA try.
"We had a really good car all weekend long. Both cars actually were really good Friday and Saturday and that made this a really fun and relaxing weekend," Nemechek continued during his post-race celebration surrounded by his NEMCO Motorsports Team, family and friends. "Just so happy to finally have this monkey off of our backs. We've been working so hard since I started running full-bodied cars and we finally got one. Great way to start the new year." He ended. In addition to a $4,000 payday, Nemechek also collected the PitBoxes.com Halfway Leader Award for leading at lap 63.
Davis, who started 13th, gave Nemechek all he could handle in the late stages of the 125-lap race, but would settle for second in his #129 OvernightWraps.com / Ford. The Dawsonville, Georgia teenager, who won a Pro Late Models Feature the previous weekend at New Smyrna Speedway (FL) during the Pete Orr Memorial, part of the Florida Triple Crown Series, was making only his second ever appearance in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour as his previous showing was a fourth place effort at Lucas Oil Raceway (IN) back on July 26th, 2013. Davis earned the Racing Electronics Second to None Award for his run.
Rounding out the podium was Headland, Alabama native, Korey Ruble as the Two-Time Defending Viper Pro Late Model Series Champion at South Alabama Speedway (AL) worked his way through the field from his 17th starting spot and challenged Davis late in his #66 Gay's Logging / Ford, but the 28-year-old would settle for a third place showing. Ruble has made three career appearances in JEGS/CRA competition, all at Watermelon Capital Speedway during each of the past three SpeedFest's and has garnered finishes of sixth (2012), fourth (2013) and now a third in this years' version.
14-year-old J.J. Haley, one of the expected contenders for the 2014 Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year title in his #99 Braun Ability / Chevrolet, took advantage of the non-points race in Georgia to gather seat time and the Winamac, Indiana teenager, a CRA Late Model Sportsman Series graduate, came away with an impressive fourth place finish after starting 15th. Veteran Dwayne Buggay rounded out the top five in his #45 America's Auto Auction / Ford as the Canton, Georgia native started on the outside of the front row next to Robbins and has challenged early for the lead.
A second son of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, 13-year-old Harrison Burton, whose Father is Jeff Burton, came away with a solid sixth place effort after starting 11th while Robbins, who led the first 28 laps of the 125-lap main, finished seventh over VDL Fuel Systems Fast Qualifier, Jeff Cannon who came away with an eighth place showing drawing a 10 for an inversion.
Outlaw Super Late Models standout in the Great Lakes region of the country, Terry Senneker Jr., finished ninth in his JEGS/CRA debut picking up the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race of the Award in the process after coming back from two laps down while 13-year-old Christopher Tullis, who started shotgun on the field in 31st, earned the Racing Electronics Hard-Charger Award by completing the top 10.
The Luke Yoder Construction Fast Qualifier Award went to Kouts, Indiana traveler, Jeff Cannon who turned in a 15.930 the previous afternoon over the 35-car field and collected a bonus $400 for his efforts. The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Track Record at Watermelon Capital Speedway is a 15.839, which equals out to 90.915mph and was set by Three-Time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour SpeedFest Winner, Chase Elliott back on January 28th, 2012.
The cars and stars of the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance will begin their quest for the 2014 Championship on Saturday-Sunday, May 3-4th as the fast 3/8s (0.375) mile semi-banked paved oval of Springport Motor Speedway, located north of Jackson and south of Lansing in Springport, Michigan serves as hosts of the Cabin Fever 100 Presented by JEGS.com.
For more information about all four touring series’ within Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS, please go to the series website at: www.cra-racing.com You can also follow CRA on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ChampionRacingAssociation as well as Twitter at www.twitter.com/CRAracing Finally for more information about Springport Motor Speedway, the host facility for the first points race of the Fourth season of JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance racing, go to the track website at: www.springportmotorspeedway.com
