|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
Butler Finishes 5th after leading for half the race. |
|
Date: May 17, 2008 Series: Checkered Flag Sprint Series Location: Charlotte County Motorsports Park, Punta Gorda, FL Start/ Finish: 5th/5th (Running, completed 30 of 30 laps) Winner: David Slawiak This weekend The KJ Motorsports Team competed in a Checkered Flag Sprint Series sanctioned race at Charlotte County Motorsports Park in Punta Gorda, FL. A total of 16 cars showed up to qualify. Keith started on the pole of his heat race. Keith pulled away from the field on the start and was able to dominate the heat race. As the cars lined up for the feature, Keith was positioned in the 5th spot. The green flag flew and the cars in front of Keith got a very slow start. After the first lap, Keith had passed the top four cars and was leading the race. Keith continued to lead with only one car providing him competition. It was his brother Shane Butler. Pulled away from the field, Shane knocked on Keith's rear bumper for about 13 laps. On lap 17, restarting after a caution, Keith took the green and lead into turn one. Unfortunately, Keith slid up in the third turn and Shane was able to get on the inside of him. At that point Keith and Shane touched wheels and sent Keith spinning. His spin ended with no damage and not being collected by any other car. After his spin Keith restarted in the rear and Shane was also sent to the rear for his involvement in the incident. On the next restart, Keith began to pick his way through the field. One by one, Keith moved his way through the field, when the checkered flag flew Keith finished in 5th position. David Slawiak took the win, for his second win of the season. Gary Gimmler finished second and Scott Adema finished third. After the fourth points race of the Checkered Flag Sprint Series Season, Keith is 4th in points with 3 top 10's and 2 top 5 finishes.. Next Race: KJ Motorsports will next compete on June 7th back with the Checkered Flag Sprint Series at Charlotte County Motorsports Park in Punta Gorda, FL. Operation: Race for Freedom KJ Motorsports conducted its second event for the Operation: Race For Freedom program. Through this program Keith and Jennifer Butler are using the exposure of their racing team to collect and distribute needed items to United States Service Members in Iraq and Afghanistan. These items include razors, deodorant, shampoo, baby wipes, gum, baby powder, etc. They are also collecting monetary donations to defray the costs shipping these items overseas. Also names and addresses of family members and friends that are in Iraq and Afghanistan are being collected to receive future packages. To help promote the program, Keith displayed two of the team cars at the local Wal-Mart Supercenter in Punta Gorda, FL. The manager of this Wal-Mart is great supporter of motorsports and was very willing to support the efforts of Operation: Race for Freedom. The cars were on display from 10am-1pm that afternoon and a collection box was setup to collect donations. After wrapping up at Wal-Mart, the team packed up and moved over to Charlotte County Motorsports Park to race that evening. As with last month, the race track went out of its way to help promote the program. Keith and the KJ Motorsports team collected donations during the night and the track announcer also made special mention of the program during the night. The fans and customers of Wal-Mart were very generous with donations. In products and cash collected the total for the weekend was over $200. To date the team has sent out over 60 pounds in care packages and another 5 packages are scheduled to leave this week. KJ Motorsports will continue promoting this program at their Checkered Flag Sprint Series races on June 7th and July 4th. Based in Riverview, FL, KJ Motorsports fields the No. 19 Chevrolet Sprint Car. With Sponsorship from JB Banta Enterprises, Eagle Jet International, Gulf American Contracting, Four Star Products and Ram Engineering, the team will run a select schedule in Florida and the Southeast and and compete in national sprint car events.The program now in its 8th year utilizes racecars developed in-house and in conjunction with Shaw Racing Products. |
