September 22, 2002
The race for the points championship finally came to an end tonight after a long season of racing. John came into the night in fourth 14 points behind Billy Wicker. The night started for John in the dash heat where he started on the pole and led all six laps to take home the trophy and the victory.

Back to racing for points, John started on the inside of row four in the third heat. John moves into third after Gordon Weaver and Chris Schoon tangle on the first lap. Jay Morris then makes a mistake and John is able to move into second. John then had to hold off a hard charging Shannon Shutter while trying to track down Don McCarty. John came up short on the latter, but was able to hold on to second and pick up a few precious points.

By feature time, John had third place locked up because Billy Wicker was unable to qualify for the feature. The start points would give John enough to move back a head of Wicker, but John had a bigger idea. He started on the outside of row three. John cuts through a bunch of traffic and comes out in fourth after one lap. John works his way to third after passing Jake Howard. John then started to make a move on race leaders Don McCarty and Darrin Kohler. The race went down to the last lap when Kohler bumped McCarty unintentionally and John moved to second behind Kohler who took over the point. That wouldn't hold however as John slipped just a little coming out of turn two and Kevin Lenzen was right there to take second spot. Shannon Shutter also gained significant ground and before it was over, took third from John.

Overall, another solid outing from the 05 team in a season they should be proud of. There's still one race left the second weekend in October where Kankakee Motor Speedway will put up $2000--to-win for the Street Stocks!

September 20, 2002
Racing action was postponed at Kankakee tonight due to inclument weather. The race will be made up this Sunday with gates opening an hour. As it sits right now, John is in fourth place only 14 points behind Billy Wicker and 41 points behind Jay Hamilton in third. He holds a 50 point lead over Darrin Kohler in fifth.

September 13, 2002
In crunch time at Kankakee Motor Speedway and John and the 05 Team spent the week gearing up for the stretch run. John started on the inside of row one of the second heat. Darrin Kohler jumped out to the early lead, but John put himself on Kohler's bumper ready to make a move. That move comes on the white flag lap as John started to slide under Kohler in turn one. By turn four, they were side-by-side and it was an all out dash back to the checkered flag. John got out there by the slightest of margins and took home the heat race victory!

The feature saw John lined up on the outside of row number one. He falls into second place, but unfortunately, can't stay there long. Before the first lap is over, teammate Kevin Lenzen takes the second place spot. Right behind him is Billy Wicker charging hard and John eventually loses third place to him. John's still sitting good at fourth early in the race when the first caution comes out on lap three for Jay Morris. On the restart, Jake Howard got a good jump and worked around John who fell to fifth. On the next cation two laps later, John still stood in the top five with the leaders in site. With five laps to go, Shannon Shutter challenges John for the fifth spot. Shutter takes the spot, but John isn't willing to give it up so easily. John battles Shutter two more laps before Shutter gets the edge. The checkered flag flies with John in sixth place behind Shutter, Kohler, Cleary, Wicker and NEW track champion, teammate, Kevin Lenzen