Podium Finish at the Opening Round at VIR!
Apr 25, 2009
Hello!
Again, an incredible day! Words, again, have a tough time describing the emotions I went through today! Starting on the outside front row of today's opening round of the VW Jetta TDI Cup was incredible. Before we got out on track, we were able to practice a standing start at pit-out as we took our warm up lap on track. It got me a little more familiar with the launch control that comes stock with the Jetta TDI's with the DSG transmission.
We then lined up on the starting grid, were given the 5 second board, the lights illuminated, they went out, and we were off! Got a great start and filed behind Joey Atterbury in the pole sitting TDI Cup car. We stayed that way until I got a run on him coming out of Oak Tree. I used the draft to my advantage to lead the first lap of the race. From then on, there were multiple passes for the lead between myself, Joey, and Jake Thompson, who, unfortunately, ran off track about 3-4 laps into the race. Joey, myself and Timmy Megenbier battled the rest of the race with some clean, close racing the entire event. With the draft being a huge factor on track, I knew I didn't want to lead the race on the last lap. I was hoping to get a run out of Oak Tree on the last lap to make a pass for the lead. As Joey was leading, I did get a run. I popped out to attempt a last minute pass but I then witnessed a debris flag at T14 and ran over the carcass left over from a blown tire from Ryan Ellis' car which was then followed by a yellow flag. I ran over the carcass and had to abort the pass attempt. I filed back behind Joey and took second place by a .5 second margin of victory with another 2 seconds separating me from Timmy in third. A great run on my opening round debut!
The post race ceremonies were incredible with tons of media coverage while being on the podium. It was so cool to see all the fans who came out to support me during the race. Just awesome! I did get a chance to give a shout out to all of them along with all of the other major supporters for the event. Too cool for words!
We put on a great show and hope to do the same for tomorrow's race. I'll be starting P5 for the event and hope to make my way to the front early to hopefully put myself on the podium yet again!
Again, thank you ALL for your support...it's what motivates me to the best I can be!
Take care and talk soon!
AJ Nealey
Tremendous supporters this season:
Jess Hewitt @ Hyperfuels (official fuel supplier of the VW Jetta TDI Cup)
Jeremy Lucas @ FASTtech Limited
Matt Kessler @ Kessler Engineering
RoadRaceAutoX.com - “Where the Cool Kids Hang Out”
Jane Watkins @ Watkins PR
Darrin Dingman @ Banyan Business Partners
Jim Nealey @ Storyboardnow.com
AJ Nealey
443-220-4019
Driving Sales and Building Relationships with AJ Nealey in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup - Sponsorship Proposal Here - http://tinyurl.com/AJNRTDI
