Wright Wrangles 13th O'Reilly ASCoT Win of 2007 with West Plains Triumph
by Lonnie Wheatley

WEST PLAINS, Mo. (Sept 29, 2007) – With the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series resuming action on Saturday night, it was the most familiar of faces reaching victory lane as Gary Wright captured his 13th series win of the year in the 25-lap feature at West Plains Motor Speedway.

Wright emerged from a torrid three-way duel for the lead with Brian Brown and Marshall Skinner over the first half of the race before ultimately taking the checkered flag in front of Tim Crawley in the non-stop feature event that took just under eight minutes to complete.

With his 119th career ASCS National win, "The Texan" moved one step closer to a fourth consecutive series title by extending his points lead to 68 markers over Wayne Johnson with just two weekends of action, including the Devil's Bowl Speedway Winter Nationals on October 12-13 and I-30 Speedway's Short Track Nationals on October 25-27, remaining on the 2007 slate.

Wright gridded the feature field third aboard the Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction/Southwest Express/Whiteco Commercial Funding No. 9 Maxim with Pole Dash winner Brown and Skinner leading the way to the green flag.

Brown gunned into the early lead, but the race was soon on as Skinner and Wright began challenging for the lead. Brown catfished his way around the bottom in the early going while Skinner worked the high side to surge into the lead upon the completion of the fifth lap with Wright nipping on the lead duo's heels.

Brown edged back into the lead the next time by, only to have Skinner return the favor the next lap as the trio sliced and diced in three-wide formation over much of the opening dozen rounds.

Into lapped traffic by the tenth round, the frenzied pace soon worked to Wright's advantage as he took command on the 14th circuit and never looked back.

While Brown began to fade in the final half of the race, it was seventh-starter Tim Crawley on the move in Mike Ward's CnB Mushroom Farms No. 88 Maxim. Crawley, a two-time O'Reilly ASCoT winner at West Plains, took third from Brown by the 16th round and then snuck around Skinner on the white flag lap to take runner-up honors.

Skinner settled for the show position aboard the CnB Mushroom Farms No. 26 J&J.

Making his first career O'Reilly ASCoT National feature start, 16-year-old Derek Hagar raced among the top five all the way and made a late move around Brown to snare fourth aboard the Dynotech-powered Motorstands.com #9JR entry.

Brown rounded out the top five aboard Tim and Gina Doogs' Ostrich-powered Ditzfield Transfer No. 21 Maxim with past ASCS National champions Wayne Johnson and Zach Chappell in sixth and seventh, respectively. While it was Chappell's 246th career O'Reilly ASCoT National feature start, it was his first of 2007.

Jason Johnson, the 2006 National Driver of the Year, climbed from 13th to eighth, with Jerrod Hull and 20-year-old Brad Bowden completing the top ten.

Travis Rilat, who along with Jason Johnson made the 12-hour trek from Friday night's ASCS Gulf South event in Beaumont, TX, was eleventh. Sean McClelland passed the most cars in the feature event by racing from 21st to 13th with Nick Smith advancing seven positions by climbing from 19th to 12th.

Twenty-two of the 24 starters took the checkered flag in the non-stop event, with only Kaley Gharst and leading Brodix Rookie of the Year contender Foster Landon pulling to the infield along the way.

Forrest Sutherland tagged the turn three wall on the opening round of the first heat race and scratched for the balance of the program.

Jesse Hockett grenaded an engine in his heat race but was able to return for feature action after swapping out powerplants.

 

O’Reilly ASCoT Results from West Plains Motor Speedway:

Heat Races:

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 3. 12-Jerrod Hull, 4. 1p-Curtis Evans, 5. 41-Jason Johnson, 6. 04-Brad Graham, 7. 19s-Steven Cross, 8. 22-Dustin Barks, 9. 85-Forrest Sutherland.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 26-Marshall Skinner, 2. 14c-Mike Trent, 3. 88-Mike Ward, 4. 94-Wayne Johnson, 5. 3*-Kaley Gharst, 6. 86-Josh Fisher, 7. 16-Dewayne Prince, 8. 75-Jesse Hockett.



Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 92-Zach Chappell, 2. 15-Brad Bowden, 3. 21-Brian Brown, 4. 11F-Foster Landon, 5. 29-Travis Rilat, 6. 15s-Nick Smith, 7. 1-Sean McClelland, 8. 2-Kenneth Walker.

Pole Dash (Finishing Order Determines Front Three Rows of “A” Main):

Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 26-Marshall Skinner, 3. 9-Gary Wright, 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 5. 92-Zach Chappell, 6. 12-Jerrod Hull.

O’Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Results from West Plains Motor Speedway:

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 26-Marshall Skinner, 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 5. 21-Brian Brown, 6. 94-Wayne Johnson, 7. 92-Zach Chappell, 8. 41-Jason Johnson, 9. 12-Jerrod Hull, 10. 15-Brad Bowden, 11. 29-Travis Rilat, 12. 15s-Nick Smith, 13. 1-Sean McClelland, 14. 86-Josh Fisher, 15. 14c-Mike Trent, 16. 04-Brad Graham, 17. 2-Kenneth Walker, 18. 75-Jesse Hockett, 19. 1p-Curtis Evans, 20. 16-Dewayne Prince, 21. 22-Dustin Barks, 22. 19s-Steven Cross, 23. 11F-Foster Landon, 24. 3*-Kaley Gharst. DNS: 85-Forrest Sutherland.

Lap Leaders: Brian Brown 1-4, Marshall Skinner 5, Brian Brown 6, Marshall Skinner 7-13, Gary Wright 14-25.

O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Twenty): 1. Gary Wright 3,990, 2. Wayne Johnson 3,922, 3. Jason Johnson 3,876, 4. Travis Rilat 3,712, 5. Foster Landon 3,280, 6. Darren Stewart 2,512, 7. Nick Smith 2,008, 8. Eric Baldaccini 1,701, 9. Andy Shouse 1,559, 10. Kenneth Walker 1,485.