Joey Takes 6th in 3rd Race of the
2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series

The 3rd race of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series was held on the West Course of the beautiful Miller MotorSports Park Raceway in Tooele, UT, some 25 mile southwest of Salt Lake City. The weather was excellent and the facility at Miller was absolutely incredible. Joey had the 5th fastest time in practice and then took another half a second off his practice time during the qualifying session, but the eleven fastest cars were separated by only 1.24 seconds which placed Joey in 10th for the start.

The West Course at Miller is 2.183 miles in length and is notable for a sequence of very fast corners (Turns 1, 2, 3, & 4) that lead into the heaviest braking and slowest corner (Turn 5). The remainder of the West Course features several multiple-radius and complex turns designed to challenge drivers’ skills. Joey had a very strong start, moving up to 8th place by the completion of the first turn. Joey drove the track very well and within a few laps, took full advantage of the wide entrance into Turn 5 by taking the inside line and passing two more cars to take possession of 6th place.

As the race continued, the top six cars moved farther out ahead of the rest. Joey was moving up to overtake the 5th place car of Taylor Broekemeier when problems with both of his front tires motivated Joey to back off and make sure to finish the race. His decision was made easier by the fact that he had built a large gap between him and the 7th place car of Mark Pombo. Joey drove very conservatively for the remaining laps and the tires held giving Joey a 6th place finish for the race. This puts Joey in 3rd place for the total points standings this year, a great start for the 10-race series.

Joey’s next VW Jetta TDI Cup Race is at Mid-Ohio on 20-21 June.