Newbury Park truck racer takes checkered flag

Newbury Park's Jeff Williams raced to another victory and his third straight championship in his Ford powered F-150 West Coast Pro Truck at I-10 Speedway.

Williams is the first driver in the history of the series to win three championships.

The JW Racing team arrived in Blythe for practice with a lot on their minds. The final race of the season was changed to a double-points event, which put JW Racing in jeopardy of losing its points lead if Williams didn't finish strong.

Williams was first to qualify on the quarter-mile asphalt track. He piloted his yellowflamed red Ford truck as it flew around the track and cranked out an impressive 14.74-second lap time that earned him the No. 1 spot. It was two-tenths faster than the old track record.

Next on the schedule was the Trophy Dash, which consists of the top four trucks running a fourlap feature to get the crowd excited for the main event. Williams hung back a little knowing that he needed to keep his truck in one piece for the next race.

Williams started the main event on the pole and led all 50 laps. He earned bonus points for leading a lap and leading the most laps. The 28 truck hooked so well around the entire track, Williams gained a substantial lead over the rest of the field of trucks and kept pulling away the entire race.

A late red flag flew with three laps to go for a small fire on another truck. The late restart placed the 16 truck of Dalton Kuhn on Williams' bumper, but it didn't matter as Williams pulled away as soon as the green flag dropped.

After the race, Williams held the checkered flag out the window of his truck for a victory lap going the wrong direction.

JW Racing finished in the top five in every race this season with five victories and multiple pole positions.

Article courtesy JW Racing.