Lonnie Wheatley, ELMA, Wash. (July 17, 2010) – Louisiana’s Jason Johnson is definitely enjoying the cool Northwest air, as he completed a sweep of the weekend’s Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters National action at Grays Harbor Raceway by taking the $10,092 winner’s share in Saturday night’s 35-lap Fourth Annual Fred Brownfield Memorial championship feature event.
The 2008 series champion battled past Ricky Logan on the seventh circuit and checked out for his third Lucas Oil Sprint Car win of the year aboard the JJR Don Ott-powered Haynes/Pope Transportation No. 41 Maxim, besting the stout field that numbered 59 competitors over the weekend.
“I can’t say enough about my team, they gave me a great car all weekend and I was just the beneficiary,” Johnson explained in victory lane after his 46th career ASCS National triumph.
While Johnson added the Brownfield Memorial sweep to an Eagle Nationals victory last month, his advantage in the $60,000 championship points chase grew only minimally as defending series champion Shane Stewart slipped past Logan for runner-up honors in the final rounds to stay within 53 markers of the “Ragin’ Cajun” entering next weekend’s Cottage Grove double.
After finishing fourth in Friday night’s preliminary feature to lock into Saturday’s finale, Logan started from the pole position and gunned into the early lead ahead of Johnson.
After a shaky pair of opening laps that included a pair of red flags, Logan held off the trio of Johnson, Stewart and Jack Dover as a four-way duel for the lead broiled atop the 3/8-mile oval.
But, when Johnson finally slipped around Logan for the point upon the completion of the seventh round, the battle for the top spot was essentially done.
While a caution after 17 laps and then another with just four rounds remaining offered new life to his chasers, Johnson proved untouchable as he raced to the checkered flag with a healthy straightaway advantage.
In Johnson’s wake, Logan successfully fended off Stewart and Dover, at least most of the way. With three lapped cars between Johnson and the battle for runner-up position on the lap 32 restart, Stewart finally got the best of Logan and took the runner-up slot aboard Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered Rock Star Energy Drink No. 57 A.R.T.
Logan claimed the show position aboard the Lucas Oil No. 10a machine, with Dover crossing the stripe fourth in the Shaver-powered 3D Auto Transport No. 53 Eagle.
Less than a month from his 19th birthday, Oregon’s Chadd Noland represented the ASCS Northwest ranks well by rounding out the top five in the No. 13 entry.
After posting a tenth-place in his first Lucas Oil ASCS National start of the year on Friday night, Gary Taylor drove Nubby Peterson’s No. 23n to sixth on Saturday, with Jayme Barnes edging Tim Crawley at the stripe for seventh. Crawley had rebounded from a lap two fracas in turn two that eliminated Jason Solwold and Glenn Borden.
Unable to fire for his heat race and then missing the feature cut by one position in “B” Main action, Brady Bacon used his first provisional of the year and rallied from 23rd to ninth.
Jared Peterson completed the top ten.
Taylor, Solwold, Danny Wood, Jay Cole, Noland and Garen Linder topped Saturday night’s heat race action, with Billy Nutter, Justyn Cox and Crawley winning the “B” Mains.
After racing his way into the feature redraw, Wayne Johnson took a nasty ride down the backstretch on the second lap of the feature event. Johnson was transported to a local hospital with leg injuries, but is expected to recover after undergoing surgery.
The Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters National Series concludes the 2010 North by Northwest Swing with two nights of action along with the ASCS Northwest Region at Oregon’s Cottage Grove Speedway next Friday and Saturday, July 23-24.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters
Fourth Annual Fred Brownfield Memorial Championship Finale
Grays Harbor Raceway Saturday Results:
Locked in from Friday Night’s Preliminary Feature:
41-Jason Johnson, 7n-Jayme Barnes, 57-Shane Stewart, 10a-Ricky Logan
Heat Races (Top 12 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to 3 “B” Mains):
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 23n-Gary Taylor, 2. 44-Kyle Miller, 3. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 4. 6n-Billy Nutter, 5. 11-Roger Crockett, 6. 11w-Shane Broers, 7. 95-Matt Covington, 8. 08-Steve Vague. DNS: 99-Brady Bacon.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 39c-Jason Solwold, 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 98m-Mitch Olson, 4. 5h-Justyn Cox, 5. 99v-Randy VanAagten, 6. 6-Kyle Hirst, 7. 93-Dustin Morgan, 8. 9j-J.J. Dishneau, 9. 96-Mack Brown.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 94-Danny Wood, 2. 55-Trey Starks, 3. 35a-Wayne Johnson, 4. 50z-Zach Chappell, 5. 8r-Travis Jacobson, 6. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 7. 31-Colton Akerstrom, 8. 26-Sammy Wright, 9. 27dd-David Hoiness.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 0j-Jay Cole, 2. 9p-Jared Peterson, 3. 2L-Logan Forler, 4. 73-Danielle Huson, 5. 5d-Josh DeWitt, 6. 15-Dan Dunlap, 7. 19-T.J. Hartman. DNS: 10j-Jake Waddell.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 13-Chadd Noland, 2. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 3. 7a-J.J. Hickle, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 71-Channin Tankersley, 6. 23-Seth Bergman, 7. 3g-Darren Long, 8. 26f-Shane Forte.
Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 22-Garen Linder, 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 72-Glenn Borden, 4. 25c-Chad Groves, 5. 87a-Andrew Marshala, 6. 38-Jake Mann, 7. 94T-Steven Tiner, 8. 44w-Austen Wheatley.
“B” Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Main):
First “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 6n-Billy Nutter, 2. 55-Trey Starks, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 71-Channin Tankersley, 5. 98m-Mitch Olson, 6. 93-Dustin Morgan, 7. 73-Danielle Huson, 8. 9j-J.J. Dishneau, 9. 31-Colton Akerstrom, 10. 11w-Shane Broers, 11. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr. DNS: 44w-Austen Wheatley, 27dd-David Hoiness.
Second “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 5h-Justyn Cox, 2. 94T-Steven Tiner, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 23-Seth Bergman, 5. 3g-Darren Long, 6. 38-Jake Mann, 7. 15-Dan Dunlap, 8. 96-Mack Brown, 9. 25c-Chad Groves, 10. 44-Kelly Miller, 11. 7a-J.J. Hickle, 12. 11-Roger Crockett. DNS: 87a-Andrew Marshala.
Third “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 50z-Zach Chappell, 3. 5d-Josh DeWitt, 4. 8r-Travis Jacobson, 5. 6-Kyle Hirst, 6. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 7. 95-Matt Covington, 8. 99v-Randy VanAagten, 9. 26f-Shane Forte, 10. 19-T.J. Hartman, 11. 26-Sammy Wright. DNS: 08-Steve Vague, 10j-Jake Waddell.
Grays Harbor Raceway “A” Main Event – $10,092 to win Fourth Annual Fred Brownfield Memorial:
“A” Feature (35 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 57-Shane Stewart, 3. 10a-Ricky Logan, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 13-Chadd Noland, 6. 23n-Gary Taylor, 7. 7n-Jayme Barnes, 8. 88-Tim Crawley, 9. 99-Brady Bacon, 10. 9p-Jared Peterson, 11. 94-Danny Wood, 12. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 13. 94T-Steven Tiner, 14. 5h-Justyn Cox, 15. 55-Trey Starks, 16. 50z-Zach Chappell, 17. 6n-Billy Nutter, 18. 0j-Jay Cole, 19. 22-Garen Linder, 20. 33v-Henry Van Dam, 21. 2L-Logan Forler, 22. 72-Glenn Borden, 23. 39c-Jason Solwold, 24. 35a-Wayne Johnson.
Lap Leaders: Ricky Logan 1-6, Jason Johnson 7-35.
Note: Brady Bacon and Tony Bruce, Jr., both utilized provisionals to start the main event. It was Bacon’s first provisional and Bruce’s third.
Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Points (Top 20): 1. Jason Johnson 1,553, 2. Shane Stewart 1,500, 3. Brady Bacon 1,446, 4. Jack Dover 1,427, 5. Zach Chappell 1,342, 6. Tim Crawley 1,334, 7. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,328, 8. Danny Wood 1,303, 9. Kyle Hirst 1,266, 10. Ricky Logan 1,259, 11. Matt Covington 1,184, 12. Travis Rilat 1,152, 13. Darren Long 1,081, 14. Channin Tankersley 1,011, 15. Justyn Cox 993, 16. Austen Wheatley 991, 17. Dustin Morgan 972, 18. Gary Wright 911, 19. Andrew Marshala 823, 20. Johnny Herrera 501.
ASCS Northwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Roger Crockett 1,312, 2. Jason Solwold 1,258, 3. Mitch Olson 1,234, 4. Jayme Barnes 1,174, 5. Henry Van Dam 1,142, 6. Seth Bergman 1,137, 7. Trey Starks 992, 8. Garen Linder 970, 9. T.J. Hartman 915, 10. Steven Tiner 881.
