"Ragin Cajun" Cooks ASCoT Again at Lucas Oil Speedway
by: Lonnie WheatleyWHEATLAND, Mo. (April 19, 2008) – Louisiana's Jason
Johnson bested a field of 51 entries to snare his third O'Reilly American
Sprint Cars on Tour National series feature win of the year in Saturday
night's 25-lap main event at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Advancing from the fifth starting position aboard Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered
The Shop Motorsports/Custom Equipment Design No. 41 Eagle, Johnson battled
past Brian Brown on the twelfth round and led the rest of the way to reach
victory lane at the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks."
"That really was racer's racetrack tonight," Johnson commented after his
sixth overall ASCS feature win of the season including three Regional
triumphs. "You could run high, you could run low, and you could cut across
in the middle of the corners or do anything you needed to do."
With Johnson starting the feature in the third row, it was Missouri's Brown
and Tennessee's Jason Sides leading the way to the green flag from the front
row. And after a pair of early incidents, the final 23 laps ran off in
non-stop fashion.
After the initial start was waved off for Josh Fisher's turn three spin, the
caution appeared after two laps for a multi-car tangle in turn four that
forced Natalie Sather, Jay Russell and Fisher pitside.
Brown, who topped the O'Reilly ASCoT National series at Lucas Oil Speedway
in 2006, outdueled Sides for the early lead, with Zach Chappell taking
second from Sides by the fifth lap as Johnson climbed to fourth.
Johnson wrestled third from Sides on the seventh lap, and then dove
underneath Chappell entering turn three on the tenth round to take over
second. Slicing through traffic two laps later, Johnson used the high side
of turns one and two to surge past Brown, who pulled the front end up in the
air half the length of the backstretch, to take command.
Once in front, there was no stopping Johnson as he lapped up to eleventh
place in the process of notching his 31st career ASCS National Tour feature
win.
While Johnson disappeared in traffic over the final half of the race, Brown
faded in the latter stages. Chappell took second from Brown on the 18th
circuit with seventh-starter Danny Lasoski putting Brown another position
back two laps later.
Lasoski battled past Chappell for second on the 22nd round and held the
position to the line, with four lapped cars separating race-winner Johnson
from Lasoski's American Compressed Steel No. 33.
Chappell claimed the show position in the Legend's Bar-B-Que No. 50z Maxim,
with Sides racing by Brown in the final moments to take fourth in the Sides
Motorsports WTS No. 7s Maxim.
Brown settled for fifth in Tim and Gina Doogs' Super Clean No. 21 Maxim,
with Nebraska's Jack Dover in sixth. Wayne Johnson charged from 18th to
seventh, with Kenneth Walker, 19th-starter Travis Rilat and current series
points leader Gary Wright completing the top ten.
Lasoski, Sides, Dover, Jason Johnson, Kathryne Minter and Brown topped heat
race action, with Don Droud, Jr., and Wayne Johnson winning the twin "B"
Mains.
Terry Hinck flipped midway through the second "B" Main while battling for a
transfer position with Rilat. Hinck utilized a provisional to start the main
event.
O’Reilly ASCoT Lucas Oil Speedway Results:
Heat Races (Top 16 in passing points to “A” Main; Balance to 2 "B" Mains)
Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 33-Danny Lasoski, 2. 88-J. Kinder, 3. 50z-Zach
Chappell, 4. 11-Tyler Thompson, 5. 1p-Curtis Evans, 6. 75-Tyler Blank, 7.
5ma-Mallory Armfield, 8. 22-Dustin Barks, 9. 71-Chris Tarrant.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 7s-Jason Sides, 2. 14-Randy Martin, 3.
15s-Nick Smith, 4. 76-Jay Russell, 5. 04-Brad Graham, 6. 97-Sean McClelland,
7. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 8. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 9. 18-Tim Norman.
Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 86-Josh Fisher, 3.
94s-Natalie Sather, 4. 21T-Eric Todd, 5. 91-Don Droud, Jr., 6. 5*-Gary
Taylor, 7. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 8. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 9. 43-Frank Brown.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 23F-Matt Fox, 3.
21h-Terry Hinck, 4. 33a-Autin Alumbaugh, 5. 93-Taylor Walton, 6. 9m-Dale
McCarty, 7. 44-Mike White. DNS: 1-Brad Roberts.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 13-Kathryne Minter, 2. 61a-Toby Brown, 3. 11x-Garry
Lee Maier, 4. 8-Jeff Wingate, 5. 65au-Gavin Punch, 6. 29-Travis Rilat, 7.
2x-Ryan Marsch, 8. 10-Clint Todd.
Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 01-Gary Wright, 3. 2-Kenneth
Walker, 4. 94-Wayne Johnson, 5. 4J-Jon Corbin, 6. 19s-Steven Cross, 7.
72-Curtis Boyer, 8. 9c-Tony Crank.
"B" Mains – Top 3 From Each Advance to “A” Main
First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 91-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3.
76-Jay Russell, 4. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 5. 11-Tyler Thompson, 6. 14k-Kyle
Bellm, 7. 75-Tyler Blank, 8. 33a-Austin Alumbaugh, 9. 04-Brad Graham, 10.
65au-Gavin Punch, 11. 18-Tim Newman, 12. 9c-Tony Crank, 13. 5ma-Mallory
Armfield, 14. 2x-Ryan Marsch, 15. 21h-Terry Hinck, 16. 4J-Jon Corbin. DNS:
22-Dustin Barks, 1-Brad Roberts.
Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 94-Wayne Johnson, 2. 11x-Garry Lee Maier,
3. 5*-Gary Taylor, 4. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 21T-Eric Todd, 6. 97-Sean
McClelland, 7. 8-Jeff Wingate, 8. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 9. 19s-Steven Cross,
10. 72-Curtis Boyer, 11. 44-Mike White, 12. 43-Frank Brown, 13. 93-Taylor
Walton, 14. 10-Clint Todd, 15. 71-Chris Tarrant, 16. 1p-Curtis Evans. DNS:
9m-Dale McCarty.
O’Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Event:
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 33-Danny Lasoski, 3. 50z-Zach
Chappell, 4. 7s-Jason Sides, 5. 21-Brian Brown, 6. 53-Jack Dover, 7.
94-Wayne Johnson, 8. 2-Kenneth Walker, 9. 29-Travis Rilat, 10. 01-Gary
Wright, 11. 91-Don Droud, Jr., 12. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 13. 14-Randy Martin,
14. 61a-Toby Brown, 15. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 16. 15s-Nick Smith, 17. 5*-Gary
Taylor, 18. 13-Kathryne Minter, 19. 88-J. Kinder, 20. 71-Chris Tarrant, 21.
21h-Terry Hinck, 22. 23F-Matt Fox, 23. 94s-Natalie Sather, 24. 76-Jay
Russell, 25. 86-Josh Fisher.
Lap Leaders: Brian Brown 1-11, Jason Johnson 12-25.
Note: Eric Baldaccini and Chris Tarrant utilized O'Reilly ASCOT provisionals
and Terry Hinck used an O'Reilly Winged Outlaw Warriors provisional to start
the "A" Main.
O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Fifteen): 1. Gary Wright 853, 2. Wayne Johnson
813, 3. Jason Johnson 795, 4. Jason Sides 756, 5. Garry Lee Maier 721, 6.
Zach Chappell 717, 7. Travis Rilat 678, 8. Eric Baldaccini 659, 9. Don Droud,
Jr. 624, 10. Jack Dover 613, 11. Brian Brown 593, 12. Kenneth Walker 542,
13. Nick Smith 536, 14. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 522, 15. Kathryne Minter 476.
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