Jordan Finishes 4th at Grundy in Illinois1Jun2009Source: ..

All around it was a good day for Jordan Sims and the Lorz Mortorsports Team. Jordan had never been to Grundy Speedway before Sunday, May 24th but that didn't seem to matter as he adapted very well. The car was fast right off of the trailer. In the first practice session, Jordan was 7th fastest but after some adjustments to the car by crew chief, Danny Lorz, Jordan was able to move to 3rd fastest in the second round of practice. Luck was on our side early, as we finally drew a good qualifying position - 21st of 23 cars. Jordan qualified 9th with a time of 15.389 on the third mile oval. ASALMS then drew an 8 for the invert for starting position and Jordan missed it by one position! Qualifying in the top 10 is so important as it would be proven in this race. The ASALMS George Appleton Memorial 125 had to restart the race 3 times to finally get a full lap in. Between the first and second restart all cars behind Jordan were involved in one of the accidents. The race was marred with cautions - so many that they had to start counting the caution laps part way through the race or some cars would have run out of fuel before finishing the race.

The best battle of the night was probably between Jordan and Joey King. Jordan had the faster car, but Grundy Speedway is a one groove track and it is hard to pass unless you use the bumper. Jordan worked him hard on the inside and King didn't want to give up the spot. Jordan had the nose under him a few times but King kept chopping him. Jordan finally got under him and made the pass and started to run down the leaders. As the race went on the track got greasier and the cars were fighting loose conditions. ASA stopped counting the caution laps at lap 115 to stage the race for a 10 lap shoot out for the checker flag. By this time Joey King had made his was back to 5th place - right behind Jordan. The top five were Chris Eggleston (22), Eddie Hoffman (8), Anthony Danta (51), Jordan Sims(99) and Joey King (29). It looked like the 3rd place car, Danta, was having brake issues. Jordan got a good start and it looked like he might challenge for the 3rd spot but after 5 laps, the car's handling started to go away and settled in to a 4th place finish.

This was Jordan's first top 5 finish in the ASA Late Model Series. The Lorz Mortorsports Team did another fantastic job to giving him a competitive race car. This will move Jordan up in the point standings, as well as, the rookie points.

The next ASALMS race is at Berlin Speedway in Marne, Michigan (just outside of Grand Rapids) on Saturday, June 20th. This is the first of 3 Michigan races this summer. The Berlin Track is a tough track. Jordan ran his first ASALMS race at Berlin Speedway in 2008 and finished 16th on the lead lap.