July 29, 2008; ImageFIRST [befirstnow.com]
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Until this past Saturday night it had been nearly eight months since Jerame Donley last sat in a Late Model Stock Car, busy graduating from college with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree and working for Hendrick Motorsports. Good thing is, he hasn’t lost it. This past Saturday at Caraway Speedway Jerame Donley not only won the Bud Pole but he went on to win the feature event in his first race since last November.
The season didn’t start like Donley Motorsports had hoped. While Jerame was finishing college, Cory, his younger brother, was running the Limited Sportsman Division at Motor Mile Speedway. Cory ran strong and was in contention to win on several occasions, but bad luck bit, and in two races he was involved in major wrecks. With Cory’s car destroyed, the team decided to build a new car for Jerame and turn his old Late Model Stock into a new Limited Sportsman for Cory. Jerame, Cory, and the entire Donley Motorsports team had hoped to return to the track in June, but unfortunately, with Jerame at school the work mounted and the car took longer than expected to complete. Luckily, thanks to his brother’s hard work, Jerame was finally able to get on the track last week for testing.
“We knew when I made the first laps with the car on Wednesday it was going to be a good car. [We] laid down some good times on older tires and [the car] responded to the adjustments we made, the sign of a good car,” commented Jerame. Testing continued on Thursday in preparation for Saturday night’s race, the entire team wanted to be as prepared as possible for the new car.
And that they were. Jerame qualified on the Bud Pole with a lap of 17.237 seconds and after the top-6 qualifiers were inverted Jerame ended up second on the starting grid for the 75 lap event. On the start Jerame fell back into second, patiently learning the characteristics of his new Hedgecock chassis #5 LJM Machine Chevrolet Impala. He fought Randy Burnett for the top spot and was able to wrestle his away by as he put the Donley Motorsports machine on the point. Without major contention Jerame was able to hold onto the lead and win his first race of the season, in just his first start.
Jerame was happy to be back in the driver seat and even happier to be back in victory lane. "This is great coming right out of the trailer with a brand new car and taking it to victory lane, especially since this was my first race for 2008. I would like to thank my dad (Craig Donley) and my papaw (Buddy Donley) for giving me the opportunity to race and enjoy my hobby. I would also like to thank my brother, Cory, for all his hard work the last few weeks getting the car together. Thanks to LJM Machine Company, DnB Humidifiers, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Mike Jewell (crew chief), Jay Hedgecock for all his chassis support, Billy Banks for a great engine, ImageFIRST for the awesome graphics, and everyone that has made this possible. I can't wait to get back to the track again in 2 weeks and go for two in a row.”
Donley Motorsports and Jerame Donley will return to Motor Mile Speedway for the first time since 2007 in just two weeks on Saturday, August 9th as they prepare for the 2008 season ending races. Keep your eyes on JerameDonley.com for the latest news and information regarding Jerame and Cory Donley and the entire Donley Motorsports team.
