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Henry followed up his ALMS win by winning the Eldora Speedway Championship the next day.
Jon Henry recently had the sort of stellar weekend that makes all those late hours in the garage totally worth it. On Saturday the K&N sponsored driver raced at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio, in the Sunoco American Late Model Series (ALMS), 43 entries prepped to win the race, but 28 laps later it was all Henry, holding on to clinch his first ALMS title of the season.
Jon Henry Racing got their first ALMS victory of the season at Oakshade Raceway.
"The racing surface was to my liking, smooth and slick, but a little bit of moisture on the bottom. To win a race in the ALMS series everything always has to go right," explained Henry. "Oakshade Raceway has been a good track for me, it really fits my driving style. With a long green flag run I was able to hit my marks and just stay focused on being smooth."
Without much time for celebration Henry packed it up and headed to Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, for two races on Sunday. The first race at Eldora was another ALMS event.
K&N sponsored driver Jon Henry has now won four championships in four years.
"With the race track so fast at the top it made passing difficult and I wasn't able to advance a position and would have to run the B-main," remarked Henry.
He started second in the B, but after a quick 12 laps he would later say that his car was just really not there. "I fell back to third and missed the show by one spot."
Perhaps it's safe to speculate that Henry also had his focus on the bigger picture for Sunday, the second race of the day, which was a Modified class contest. There were 51 cars in attendance, Henry drew a 60 which put him eighth in the third heat race.
"I had one mission in mind, to be smooth and consistent and bring home my first Eldora championship."
Henry wasted little time getting after it, on the first lap he shot into third, and was all over on the leaders.
"I played it conservative, with a second place finish I was locked into the A-main. Eldora has bitten me hard the last several races, which has put me in this pressure situation of being one point out of the points lead. Starting in eighth in the main my one goal was just to finish the race," commented the Ada, Ohio resident.
Henry went on to finish a solid sixth place and locked up his very first Eldora Speedway Championship. The icing on the cake for Jon Henry Racing is that makes it four years with four straight championships, on three different tracks.
In 2007 he won the Modified Championship at Waynesfield Raceway Park, in 2008 it was the Modified Championship at Limaland Motorsports Park, and in 2009 it was the Sunoco American Late Model Series Champion. And now the 2010 Eldora Speedway Modified Championship.
"My racing career wouldn't feel complete without an Eldora Speedway Championship. It is one of the greatest dirt tracks in the country and it really means a lot to me. I couldn't be happier to be a part of their history."
We wondered what sort of challenges Henry faced switching from a Late Model to Modified in one day.
"The biggest difference is how you attack the corner. With such a wide tire on the Late model you really have to drive these cars into the corner, where the Modified has to be more controlled with the throttle. The other big difference is that the Late Model is 100 pounds lighter with about 200 more horsepower, which gives you a huge speed adjustment. When I jump from one car to another I really try to focus on which car I'm in. It's really easy to over drive the Modified after being in the Late Model because everything slows down so much. It takes time but it helps to be mentally prepared."
Henry thanked K&N and all his sponsors for their continuing support. Up next for John Henry Racing is the World 100.
Brad Lovell's bonus drop. Yeah, and you thought parallel parking was tough.
Before reading any further take note of the photograph that looks as though the Lovell brothers are attempting to park perpendicular. Kinda makes parallel parking woes look feeble doesn't it? At the inaugural running of the Ultra 4 Stampede race held just east of Reno, Nevada, that particular maneuver was referred to as a "bonus drop."
The general consensus was that three laps of the Ultra 4 Stampede was every bit as challenging as King of the Hammers.
"We had to do it three times during racing," remarked Brad Lovell, "I'll tell you, that race was brutal."
And that's how he felt after a few weeks of rest, one of his earlier quotes was - "The brutality of this race redefines rock racing," and "King of the Hammers now has a sister, and she isn't pretty."
The race was held on private land, three laps, 66 miles each. The brand new course elements included rough and rocky desert roads and three untamed canyons. There were no wide open sections of desert, or rounded rock canyons for even a hint of relief, every rock was a tire and vehicle killer.
Every bit of the course was rock, the Lovell brother's tactic was just to survive and finish.
"Every bit of the course was rock. The high speed roads were lined with boulders and the canyons were littered with jagged boulders. There was little room for any missteps. Being that it was a new event, I don't know that the media latched on like they should, from my perspective as a driver, this race was every bit as grueling as King of the Hammers," remarked Lovell.
There were several nasty silt hole sections, but between the K&N Filter, pre-filter, and air cleaner grease, there was no evidence of dirt inside their air cleaner during post race inspections.
The team's tactic was simply to finish and keep moving at all costs. Rocks, silt and dust flew. Boulders churned under the truck and Mother Nature battered the under-carriage. The AMSOIL Ford held and the brothers kept their focus.
At the top of the second rock canyon, everything went wrong for the Lovell brothers. The drive train started a horrific clanging and the rear axle lost all its lubrication. With the win now out of sight, the team returned to their initial objective - finish. The banging of steel continued but the team kept a strong pace and saved what was left of the truck for the silt and rock climbs near the finish line. In the end, the effort was good enough for second place. Only 35 percent of the vehicles that started - finished - a mere 18 vehicles in all.
"There were a couple nasty silt holes out there. We hit one really hard. A wave came over the front of the truck and I could feel the impact push on the floorboards. Short of air, the engine choked, but then recovered. Between the K&N Filter, pre-filter, and air cleaner grease, there was no evidence of dirt inside the air cleaner. Pretty impressive," commented Lovell.
"We just returned from the We-Rock Grand Nationals at Miller Motorsports Park where we took third place. Not the repeat championship that we were looking for, but a good end to our season," adds Lovell.
"It's now time to do some testing before everything gets torn apart in preparation for 2011. We have a couple important things coming up this fall, I will be racing the Baja 1000 with the Torchmate Class 7 team and heading to Skip Barber Racing School with BFGoodrich. After that, there is not much time before King of the Hammers and a whole new season."
The team has now won a total of four races halfway through the season.
In the overall European motorsports scene endurance kart racing ranks high, both in popularity and prestige, and few teams are anymore the rage than the number one Dutch team of SignMind Racing.
Team SignMind Racing's K&N advantage became very obvious on the rain soaked Berghem circuit, where the team was able to keep their carburetor dry by casing the airfilter with a matching K&N rain cover.
"One of our teammates owns a company called SignMind. He does car-wrapping. Since he started sponsoring and driving five years ago, we decided to call our team SignMind Racing. This name is known by everyone in our karting scene right now, as also the blue color of our suits and kart-bodywork are very visible," explains team spokesman Dennis Kneckt.
In European endurance kart racing teams compete in five six-hour races and two three-hour races during a season. As Kneckt points out, it's very important to have your equipment in perfect condition at all times and to always finish races.
SignMind Racing is the only endurance race team currently being supported by K&N, they are also sit in first place in the championship points standing.
It's not surprising therefore that the team leading in points is currently the only team supported by K&N Filters.
"We had a sponsor who had a contact with K&N in the Netherlands and we were allowed to drive with a K&N airfilter. We liked them very much and asked for some material sponsoring, which was no problem. Hopefully we can extend our sponsoring and benefits with K&N for the next karting season," remarked Kneckt.
SignMind Racing kicked off their season on the Veldhoven circuit in the Netherlands, faced with difficult weather conditions ranging from dry to extremely wet, six total tire changes, and engine problems, the team still managed to pull out the first win of the season.
In the second event contested on the Berghem circuit, also in the Netherlands, rain once again clouded the race. Team SignMind racing credits K&N in large part for winning that event, as they were able to keep water out of their carburetor by covering their RC2310 airfilters with matching K&N rain covers. The other competitors didn't have that advantage in their parts bin.
The third and fourth races, a three-hour event and six-hour event, were contested on the same weekend on the Emsbüren circuit in Germany. SignMind nearly won the three-hour race on Saturday, finishing a close second. Then, in the four-hour race on Sunday, the team once again took the checked, despite having to overcome mechanical obstacles.
As Kneckt says, "We experienced heavy engine problems and had no time to fix them." The team's next closest competitors also experienced problems, which apparently were more severe, allowing SignMind Racing to roll away with their fourth race win of the season.
There are three races left, one at the scenic Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, and two races at Hahn in Germany.
"We have some high expectations for the rest of this season since we are currently leading the board as the only team with support of K&N Air filters," adds Kneckt.
Off-road racers are a hardy lot. That is an example of understatement, we toss that out right up front because the more successful the off-road racer, the more understated they become. Case in point, John Holmes, the Riverside, California, Pro Buggy Unlimited racer and owner of Holmes Motorsports. Even the buggy part sounds gentle - when in reality it's anything but placid.
K&N sponsored John Holmes won both his races in round five of the Lucas Oil Regional Off-Road Series.
Here's another example of understatement, "Had a pretty good weekend." And by pretty good weekend Holmes means he won both races of round five of the Lucas Oil Regional Off-Road Series run at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California.
"We fell back to third in points from that crash at the previous race, I believe we should be real close to the points leader at this point though. I'm going to have to pick it up and keep the pace if we're going to win another championship," adds Holmes.
Holmes Motorsports sits atop the points standings with only one race to go.
And by crash Holmes means a spectacular double flip with a perfect landing a gymnast would envy, only it was in a buggy.
"I was chasing down first place and made a move to the right to try to make the pass, the right front wheel caught some soft dirt and turned the car sideways right before I was to hit a six foot jump. The car did two complete flips and landed back on all four wheels, never touching the roll cage. It knocked the wind out of me and I thought the car was damaged." Turns out there wasn't a scratch on the car, the only damage was to Holmes.
"I got it started and finished the race with two bruised ribs and fell to third in points," adds Holmes.
But that was so the last race, after his dominating performance at Glen Helen, Holmes has once again regained the points lead going into the last race of the season.
Holmes started racing over thirty years ago on motorcycles. At age fifteen, in order to make payments on his new dirt bike, he got a job working for Dave Callaway, owner of Callaway Motorsports.
"That's when Dave asked me to race the Baja 500 with him on a KX 250. We finished fifth, and then raced the 1000 five months later and got a third. Dave and I stayed in touch and in 1992 we started racing buggies. It took a few years for us to quit braking parts, and in '97 we won our first Score Off-road points championship."
Holmes and Callaway won it again the following year, both wins came in a two seat Class-12 buggy. "The Baja 1000 win in '98 was one of our most memorable," says Holmes. "Dave and I raced off and on for a few more years, we got a fourth place in the Baja 2000."
Holmes got out of racing for a short time, he claims he just wanted to enjoy going to the desert with his family and friends, but the race retirement thing didn't take.
"I had to race something and Glen Helen looked like a great place to do it. In '09 I bought my unlimited super buggy and I was able to win our first short course championship, I'm kind of hooked now, because we are on our way to a second points championship. My mind set has all ways been to look smooth and be fast and have fun. I believe you could ask anyone who has seen me race, I love side-by-side racing, it's a rush!"
I've had K&N Filters on everything I had ever raced," adds Holmes. "Nobody had to tell me that their filters were the best!"
The last race of the season for Holmes Motorsports is November 13th.
Lafayette, Indiana drag racer Brian Browell is a very busy man. When he's not racing and winning, as he did in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Southeast Division event at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia - he's running Browell Bellhousing.
Lafayette, Indiana Drag Racer Brian Browell
In the final of the round five eliminations in the Competition Eliminator division Browell matched up with Glen Treadwell. Treadwell had a 0.07 CIC penalty, Browell had a 0.03. Treadwell hit it late and it cost him, as Browell got the hole-shot victory.
"I was pretty sure once I put it in high gear that I had him," remarked Browell, "but you're never really sure until the light comes on."
Browell says there are only two things on his mind when he hits the line ready to get-it-on, "I try to stay calm and focus on my lane only."
Browell Racing has been in five finals in seven races, he won two of those. He has the D3 points lead and sits in the number three spot in the national points race.
Off the track Browell busies himself making other racers more successful. Browell Bellhousing manufactures precision aluminum and steel bellhousings, and components for motorsports plus many other applications. Many of the most well-known names in motorsports rely on Browell Bellhousing to deliver durable, lightweight and reliable bellhousings and components to help them set records and win championships. The list of top-tier racers using his products is really quite staggering.
"We are now casting our own blocks and heads so making more power should be right around the corner," adds Browell.
The K&N sponsored racer won his first career NHRA national event title in 1999 on the same Commerce, Georgia Dragway.
"We'll definitely be using K&N filters again this year and every year," says Browell.
