Kiemele launches Jr Late Model season with eighth place finish

Two days before his 14th birthday, Cody Kiemele steered the Toyota of Redlands #48 51FIFTY Jr. Late Model to a top-ten finish at Madera Speedway on Saturday night. The long-awaited season opener for the series drivers ages 10-16 years old attracted 18 entries for a 70-lap contest on the one-third mile asphalt oval.
 
Kiemele had a successful birthday weekend in 2019 as well when he finished fourth in the Pro Late Model feature at his home Orange Show Speedway. This year, he traveled five hours north to Madera Speedway in the heart of the agricultural part of the central valley. The team was greeted by temperatures which soared above 100 degrees during both Friday practice and Saturday’s racing.
 
Kiemele hovered around the top-ten in practice both days then followed that with tenth position in qualifying. The outside groove proved treacherous in the first 40 laps of the main event. Restarting tenth on lap 11, Kiemele was freight trained back to 16th position. He regrouped on a lap 23 restart when he started on the inside row from 13th. He took advantage and drove up to tenth at the lap 40 break for adjustments.
 
The Amelia Earhart Middle School student emerged from the break again pinned to the outside line, falling back to the 14th position in the process. He worked his way forward steadily, and narrowly missed an incident on lap 51 which slid him into the 11th position for a restart. Using the inside line once again, Kiemele drove forward to eighth. He ran his best lap of the main event on lap 64 and solidly ran eighth at the checkered flag to open 2020.
 
Cody Kiemele Racing will quickly return to action on July 11th for the second round in the nine race Jr. Late Model Series. Events are taped for a future broadcast on MAVTV, with Madera’s timeslot on Mondays at 5pm and 6pm Pacific time. Air dates for the 2020 series will be announced soon. Live streaming is also offered for the series on YouTube when available.
 
Toyota of Redlands is a 15-time Presidents Award winner, matching their product quality with fine service. They emphasize the entire ownership experience for the life of the vehicle with state-of-the-art facilities and customer sales and service satisfaction. They can be found online at: https://www.toyotaofredlands.com/
 
Race fans can keep up on Cody Kiemele Racing on Facebook with a direct link from www.CodyKiemeleRacing.com
 
Cody Kiemele Racing is proudly presented by: Toyota of Redlands, Burgesons Heating and Air, Unlimited Landscaping, GPS Modeling & Mapping Solutions,Inc. Advantage General Engineering, Inc. WTG Chassis, Tri City Towing, E.R Block Plumbing, Swift Springs, Pathfinder Chassis, SAG Graphics, Race Car Factory, Earnest Performance Shocks, and Blakesley Sports Media.

CKR PR