Jess Williams Racing Press Releases/Past News
2008 season finishes
November 14th and 15th, 2008, The Super Truck Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park. The weekend was gloomy and cold. The same was true for the JWR team as the weekend started off with getting hit in the practice session of Friday, tearing up the nose. Saturday wouldn't prove any different as it started sleeting as the 55 Chevrolet took to the track and was only able to turn in a 6th place qualifying effort. The race however was the worse part. When the green flag dropped, Jess went into turn one only to get turned coming off turn two head on into the wall and severely damaging the truck. On later inspection, the truck was deemed "killed". A disappointing way to end a good season.
September 27, 2008, This Saturday night was the last race of the 50th Anniversary year at the Music City Motorplex, and maybe the last, ever. It was a good one to the JWR Team. The 55 Chevy rolled around the fast high banked 5/8ths mile track to post a time good enough for 5th place in qualifying. That would work out great for Jess, with a 5 being rolled for the invert placing him on the pole. When the green flag dropped the 9 of Daniel Bolden rocketed to the lead with the 55 of Williams and the 99 of Hayes in toe. Jess got to and rubbed the back bumper of Bolden throughout the 40 lap run, but in the end it wasn't enough. Jess came in 2nd concluding the 2008 season placing 4th in points." I want to Thank my Mom and Dad, Jimmy, Mr. George, Stevie, and everyone involved this year. Things didn't start off good for us, but man we we're here the last half of the year. It's hard with no sponsors and not much help. It's really rewarding knowing we can do this much with as little as we have," quoted Jess.
August 24,2008, A Near miss in the first practice with a spinning truck set the tone for the night. The truck was just a little off for the night as Jess was only able to manage a 5th place qualifying run. The race was no different. From the start, Jess dropped back into the 7th and 8th positions. Jess managed to find a little something and moved up into the 5th spot with a few laps remaining, where he would finish the race. After post race inspection the 3rd place finisher of Blake Williams was DQ'd. That moved Jess to 4th in the finishing order, and tied for 3rd in the points.
August 8,2008, The third and final Friday double points race. The day started off bad, with carburetor problems all through practice. Jess still qualified third, only 5 one hundredths off the pole. When the race started Jess lost spots because he couldn't get up to speed with the junk carb. He managed to pick up a few spots during the race, moving up to 4th and going side by side for third at the line.
July 11,2008, The first and only race of July was the second of three double points nights, the first ended ended with the 55 Chevrolet of Jess Williams in victory lane. This night started off very similar to last time, with Jess putting his self into the third starting position. However, when the green flag dropped it wouldn't turn out the same way. After battling hard all night for the 5th spot, Jess finally secured it with a three wide move coming out of turn 4. When the winner failed to pass post race inspection that moved Jess up to 4th in the final rundown.
June 28, 2008, Finishing out the month of June this weekend, which has been really good to JWR so far with a win, a second, an 8th(running third before hitting the wall), and a third place finish last night. Jess qualified the 55 chevrolet in the third spot to start off the night. The invert only changed the top 2 spots, so the rest of the field started like they timed in. The race went green flag to flag with Jess falling to 4th at the start then taking over 3rd at the halfway point and trying to run down the top 2 the rest of the race.
June 21, 2008, The 4 week long hot streak came to an end this weekend after a promising start to the night. Jess had been fighting to get a pole timing in second the past 3 weeks, but tonight he finally put the 55 chevrolet on the pole with a time of 20.666, his fastest time to date. Jess pulled a 4 on the invert, so he took the green from the forth position. He quickly moved to third and was vying for the second spot on lap 4 when the truck broke loose and Jess slammed the wall coming off turn 2. Jess tried to keep up the rest of the night but with a bent rear end he fell back to the 8th position.
June 14,2008, JWR is keeping the strong runs coming. After a win a week ago, Jess backed it up this weekend pulling off a strong 2nd place finish. Jess posted a lap of 20.683 in qualifying, his fastest lap so far, but was only good enough for 2nd fastest, for the third week in a row. Jess started the race in third position after a 4 was rolled for the invert. The race went caution free, and Jess ran down the leader with 10 to go. However, it was not to be as Jess tried to pass for the win, he had to settle for second.
June 6,2008, First win of 08'!!! Jess started off the night posting a time of 20.848 which was good enough for the pole by over two tenths of a second, until the last truck posted a time of 20.838 relegating Jess to 2nd. They rolled a 4 putting Jess inside of row two for the start of the race. When the race started Jess tried to go to the inside of the front two trucks coming off turn 4. The front two trucks got together on the front straight away setting off a big wreck. Jess started 1st when the race went back to green and would stay there for the last 39 laps picking up his first win of the year!
May 31, 2008, For the second straight week, Jess turned in a solid top 5 run. Jess timed in his truck in the third spot, and for the first few laps the top 4 ran in formation 2 wide, 2 deep around the super fast track. Those 4 stayed tied together and ran sideways beating and banging on each other 40 caution free laps. The exciting race ended with 2nd, 3rd and 4th place crossing the line 3 wide.
May 03, 2008, Jess started the race in the eight spot. In the first 5 laps, the first 6 trucks were nose to tail, two by two. Jess pushed his way to the 4th spot, challenging for 3rd. After a long green flag run, a caution flew with 7 laps left. Jess tried to move by the 3rd place truck and in doing so messed up and let a couple spots go and fell back to 6th spot, although he did move up a position in points to 5th.
May 4th, 2008, Jess and his mom Cindy and dad Chuck were able to attend Emmanuel Baptist Church in Greeneville, MS. on behalf of MRO (Motor Racing Outreach). The children of the church put on a musical "Race to Win" with a NASCAR theme. "We were able to take one of our trucks down there for the kids. They were able to look, get in, and take pictures with it. It was a lot of fun for me, and for a great cause, said Jess."
April 26, 2008, The third weekend on the 08' schedule finally shed a light at the end of the bad luck tunnel. With the first two weeks having bad luck strike, JWR put their heads down and pushed forward. Not only did Jess qualify 6th, but with a roll of the die, Jess found himself on the pole. Confident in a good run before the race, Jess shot off to a quick lead. Then on lap 7 Jess dropped to 2nd, where he rode for the next few circuits, until falling to the 7th spot where he finished for the second week. "I thought we had a better truck than that tonight but evidently something is wrong with this thing and we're going to figure it out and fix it, we'll be back!," said Jess after the race.
2007 season finishes
October 13th &14th, Southern 300 weekend started Saturday Oct. 13th with practice and qualifying. Practice went well posting good times both sessions, and the truck had a good feel to it. When qualifying came around Jess posted a good lap, surprisingly sitting 5th in the final rundown. Sunday Oct. 14th was race day. The weather was nice for the 100 lap event. The race went green and on the first lap Jess jumped to the 4th spot. There he rode for the first few laps and then settled into 5th where he rode until a lap 38 caution. After a pit stop for adjustments, Jess restarted 6th. The race went green from there to the end, which was bad for Jess not being able to stop for tires, finishing the race in 7th.
"I really like to Thank everyone for helping us this year, we couldn't do it without the help. We really need a major sponsor to come on board though. I'd love to have the chance to represent and help a company through my racing. It would be a successful partnership with the determination and work ethic we have at JWR. Finding someone to invest in a deal like this is just the hard part," quoted Jess after the race.
August 18th, 2007 Geared up for a long night, with the main event being a 75 lap race, Jess timed in the 9th spot. When the green flag dropped and racing started Jess stayed right in the 8th, 9th,and 10th spot for the first half of the race. As the race neared the lap 50 mark Jess started moving up. With 15 to go Jess was in 6th place, a straight away behind the 4th and 5th place trucks. Badly needing a caution Jess tried to run them down, but failing to get a caution he couldn't make up the difference finishing 6th.
August 10th, 2007 With the bad luck last week Jess pulled out his old truck for this weeks race. Practice didn't show as much promise as expected, but when qualifying came along Jess put it in the forth spot. With a 4 rolled for the invert, Jess started on the pole for the first time this season. Jess took the early lead and looked like a rocket for the first 5 laps. After a restart on lap 6 Jess fell to 4th with a very loose truck. He rode there for most of the race until finishing 5th.
July 28th, 2007 The Jess Williams Racing team continues to carry that dreaded monkey on their back. After a very pleasing practice session, it was time to qualifying. Jess has had very poor qualifying all year and unfortunately it continued this weekend timing in 14th on the grid. The race was a different story. After picking his way through the field and getting up to 6th place. Jess was looking for a third top 5 in a row. With 8 laps to go, Jess was poised to take advantage on the restart. When the green flag dropped Jess got a good jump on the field and with the 3rd and 4th place trucks slowing, Jess jumped to the outside and that's when he missed a shift which shoved him back to 9th. He was only able to come back to 8th place before the checkers.
August 4th, 2007 Practice and qualifying had no change, fairly quick in practice and total junk for qualifying. The race was even that much worse. It started to drizzle when the green flag dropped. On lap three Jess found the wall coming off turn two which really hurt the truck. When the race went to red on lap 6 for rain, Jess surveyed the damage, with a new tire and starting on the tail of the field Jess restarted the race. Surprisingly, it wasn't handling bad. Jess moved up two positions on the first lap and then was black flagged for jumping the start and had to serve a pass through penalty which trapped him a lap down. Since the race went green the rest of the way Jess didn't advance any.
July 21st, 2007 Practice started off good for Jess. Unfortunatly, It was probably the high point of the day. After a poor starting position put him tenth on the grid for the 55 lap event, Jess came up to 7th place in the first 20 laps. The trucks handling started to go away as has been the case much to often in 2007, and Jess could only hang on to an 8th place finish.
July 13th, 2007. Friday the 13th, The JWR team wondered what kind of night it would be. Lucky or Unlucky? Fortunately luck was on our side. Jess qualified 8th. At the start of the race Jess tried the outside, but something wasn't right. The trucks handling was off. Jess hung on until the lap 25 caution and came in for adjustments. After the restart Jess came up to the third position, then started to fade again due to an ill handling truck. Hanging on to get his second top 5 in a row coming in 5th place. After the race, the team discovered the reason for an ill handling truck. The right front tire had a leak and was losing pressure.
July 1, 2007 The first top 5 of the year. Jess started the race from the 11 position, by lap 10, he was knocking on 7th place's rear bumper. Apperenatly he knocked to hard and spun out the truck in front of him, sending Jess to the back. After comming back thru the feild strong, passing the 5th place truck of Blake Carter, Jess spun his self out. Jess once again restarted the race at the tail of the field. With 10 laps to go Jess made his charge. When the checkers fell Jess rolled past the third place truck of Josh Mullins, to bring home a strong third place finish.
JJune,16 2007 Comming off last weekends good run, Jess was confident going into the weekend. After a good run in practice, Jess was ready to qualify. The feild was set, and Jess would take the green from the 8th position. A hot track made for a follow the leader type race. Jess could only make it to 7th by the fall of the checkers.
June 8, 2007. For the second week in a row, the JWR team picked up a little more momentum. Jess started the day fast in practice. Unlike every other weekend so far, the speed stayed in the truck for qualifying, after turning an impressive 20.85 second lap Jess timed in 3rd. Not only his best starting spot of the year ,but the fastest lap ever turned in his new truck. With a roll of the dice, which put Jess on the outside pole, the field was set. Jess and pole sitter , Daniel Victory, ran the first six laps door to door with Jess snagging the lead at the line three times. After fading to forth, by the first and only lap 14 caution, Jess would lose two more spots throughout the race to bring home a 6th place finish. The best of the year to date.
April 28th, 2007, Jess started the day fast in first practice, but still dealing with the troubles of a new truck, qualifying was less than satisfactory with a 16th place time in. At the start of the race, Jess worked his way through the back portion of the field. The first and only caution fell on lap 24. Jess was in 11th place for the restart. He worked his way up to 8th place but lost two positions on the last lap to take home 10th place.
October
September
2005