JACKSONVILLE, NC – Abby Jolly capped off a milestone week in her life with her first career U-CAR victory at New River All-American Speedway on Saturday night.
Jolly, 23, from Cape Carteret, North Carolina, had been running in third for much of the race within striking distance of Ricky Heigl, Sr., and Joe Lanier. On the last lap of the 20-lap race, Heigl wrecked off the front bumper of Lanier on the backstretch, which allowed Jolly to inherit the lead and the win.
“I don’t really have words right now,” Jolly said in victory lane. “I’m just really proud to be here. I’ve got to thank everybody for sticking with us all these years. I appreciate everybody I race with so much, I have so much respect for them, and I’m just so happy to be here.”
Jolly, who began racing in 2018, picked up the win just days after getting engaged to longtime boyfriend Zac Reimer, who himself races in Mini Stocks.
“It’s always a plus to be able to race with the man I love,” Jolly explained. “Even when we are disagreeing with car setups, I’m still grateful to have race weekends with him. But the trophy is going to be sitting between us on the dinner table until he gets another win, or I do.”
Prior to racing, Jolly was a standout athlete at Croatan High School, where she played softball before getting accepted to Fayetteville Tech Community College, where she also played softball. She and Reimer moved to Georgia for a couple of years, where they continued to race on occasion, before recently returning to North Carolina.
Now, with her first win in her rearview mirror, Jolly’s hoping for more.
“I feel like it’s the first of many,” Jolly continued. “I think that, because this win came as a result of a caution, I need to push harder. I’m not 100 percent satisfied and feel the need to win the next win undisputed, but regardless, I’m proud to have finally parked the no. 11 in victory lane.”
Jolly’s victory, which came shortly after midnight, was the nightcap of a 12-race program which also saw T.J. Barron extend his Late Model win streak to six with a sweep on the evening.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Barron said. “Wins are hard to come by, especially when you get up to the Late Model ranks. We don’t have that many cars but these are good quality cars. All these guys put their best foot forward to come out here and we just worked a little bit harder I guess. We’ve got this car dialed in.”
Carson Haislip and Landon Burbage each swept in INEX Legends and Bandoleros respectively, while Eddie Humphrey and Hunter Brown each scored wins in the Swansboro Liquidations Bomber division. Showtime Sammy Pacitti picked up the victory in the first U-CAR feature. In Champ Kart action, Keith Webb and Corey Lucas split twin features.
New River All-American Speedway returns to action on Saturday, July 1, with the Independence Bash kicking off Summer Speedweeks 2023.
New River All-American Speedway is Jacksonville’s Action Attraction featuring racing and other events. For more information about New River All-American Speedway, check out the speedway’s website, like/follow “New River Speedway” on Facebook, follow @newriverswy on Twitter, or follow the track on Instagram.
Media Results for 6/17/2023 at New River All-American Speedway – Jacksonville, NC
NASCAR Late Models | Race 1| 40 Laps | 00:12:07.000
1. 44-T J Barron[4]; 2. 4-Adam Resnick[3]; 3. 15-Clay Jones[6]; 4. 61-Michael O’Brien[7]; 5. 29-Paul Williamson[1]; 6. 40-Brian Thomas[5]; 7. 21-Gerald Benton[2]
NASCAR Late Models | Race 2| 40 Laps | 00:11:54.925
1. 44-T J Barron[7]; 2. 15-Clay Jones[5]; 3. 4-Adam Resnick[6]; 4. 40-Brian Thomas[2]; 5. 29-Paul Williamson[3]; 6. 21-Gerald Benton[1]; 7. 61-Michael O’Brien[4]
Swansboro Liquidation Bombers | Race 1| 20 Laps | 00:07:24.000
1. 14-Eddie Humphrey[1]; 2. 33-Nathan Hall[2]; 3. 011-Timothy Brown[7]; 4. 41-Kevin Wrenn[6]; 5. 5-Haley Brown[5]; 6. 83-Robert Drum[4]; 7. 77-Richard Smith[3]; 8. 88-Dale Drum[15]; 9. 34-Michael Withrow[11]; 10. 4-Chad Cunningham[8]; 11. 79-Dominic Baez[13]; 12. 3-Johnny Floyd[12]; 13. 97-Justin Brooks[14]; 14. 29-Shawn Padgett[10]; 15. 51-Evan Bryan[9]
Swansboro Liquidation Bombers | Race 2 | 20 Laps
1. 011-Timothy Brown[6]; 2. 41-Kevin Wrenn[5]; 3. 14-Eddie Humphrey[8]; 4. 33-Nathan Hall[7]; 5. 5-Haley Brown[4]; 6. 83-Robert Drum[3]; 7. 4-Chad Cunningham[10]; 8. 77-Richard Smith[2]; 9. 88-Dale Drum[1]; 10. 97-Justin Brooks[13]; 11. 34-Michael Withrow[9]; 12. 79-Dominic Baez[11]
INEX Legends | Race 1 | 20 Laps | 00:06:24.000
1. 08-Carson Haislip[1]; 2. 18-Alex Meggs[4]; 3. B1-Brenton Irving[2]; 4. 88-Phoenyx Kimball[6]; 5. 71-Aiden McConnaughey[3]; 6. 3-Shane Irving[5]; 7. 51-Raven Kimball[7]; 8. 99-Carsyn Gillikin[9]; 9. 14-Mike Ridenour[8]
INEX Legends | Race 2 | 20 Laps | 00:06:23.697
1. 08-Carson Haislip[8]; 2. 18-Alex Meggs[7]; 3. 3-Shane Irving[3]; 4. B1-Brenton Irving[6]; 5. 88-Phoenyx Kimball[5]; 6. 99-Carsyn Gillikin[1]; 7. 14-Mike Ridenour[9]; 8. 51-Raven Kimball[2]
INEX Bandoleros | Race 1 | 10 Laps | 00:03:37.000
1. 3-Landon Burbage[2]; 2. 84-Delaney Gray[1]; 3. 38-Aidan Zschiedrich[3]; 4. 22-Joshua Culbreth[4]
INEX Bandoleros | Race 2 | 10 Laps | 00:03:36.164
1. 3-Landon Burbage[1]; 2. 38-Aidan Zschiedrich[3]; 3. 84-Delaney Gray[2]; 4. 22-Joshua Culbreth[4]
Champ Kart | Race 1 | 20 Laps | 00:07:11.000
1. 08-Keith Webb[5]; 2. 28-Corey Lucas[2]; 3. 211-Jacob Tingen[4]; 4. 28E-Josh Eubanks[3]; 5. 10-Ashley Keaton[12]; 6. 18S-Carlton Sullivan[6]; 7. 8-Hunter Gonia[7]; 8. 13-Miles Rochelle[11]; 9. 20-Herbert Keaton[13]; 10. 27-Josh Pearson[9]; 11. 127-Jimmie Whitehurst[10]; 12. 2-Aaron Layden[1]; 13. 85-Jonah Lind[8]
Champ Kart | Race 2 | 20 Laps | 00:07:10.266
1. 28-Corey Lucas[7]; 2. 10-Ashley Keaton[4]; 3. 28E-Josh Eubanks[5]; 4. 20-Herbert Keaton[9]; 5. 27-Josh Pearson[10]; 6. 7X-Tripp Dail; 7. 211-Jacob Tingen[6]; 8. 2-Aaron Layden[12]; 9. 127-Jimmie Whitehurst[11]; 10. 13-Miles Rochelle[1]; 11. 18S-Carlton Sullivan[3]; 12. 8-Hunter Gonia[2]; 13. 08-Keith Webb[8]; 14. 85-Jonah Lind[13]
U-CAR | Race 1 | 20 Laps | 00:06:50.000
1. 43P-Sam Pacitti[6]; 2. 2-Joe Lanier[5]; 3. 28-Ricky Heigl[4]; 4. 11-Abby Jolly[1]; 5. 19-Logan McCallister[2]; 6. 58-Summer Sullivan[3]
U-CAR | Race 2 | 20 Laps | 00:06:15.614
1. 11-Abby Jolly[3]; 2. 58-Summer Sullivan[5]; 3. 19-Logan McCallister[4]; 4. (DNF) 28-Ricky Heigl[2]; 5. (DNF) 2-Joe Lanier[1]
