ASCoT Devil's Bowl Prelim results 2006-10-13

Jason Johnson Strikes Again in O'Reilly ASCoT Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Prelim

MESQUITE, Tex. (October 13, 2006) -- There was nothing unlucky about Friday the Thirteenth for Louisiana's Jason Johnson, as he scored his ninth O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National feature victory of the season by topping Friday night's 33rd Annual Devil's Bowl Speedway Winter Nationals 20-lap preliminary main event.

Johnson completed a sweep of the night's racing action with a dominant, wire-to-wire drive aboard Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Diesel Service No. 41 Eagle, comfortably taking the checkered flag ahead of Tony Bruce, Jr., 15th-starter Chuck Swenson and 13th-starter Foster Landon, each of whom also locked themselves into Saturday night's season finale.

Meanwhile, Hooks, TX, veteran Gary Wright very nearly locked up his third consecutive ASCS National championship in his 300th career ASCS National Tour feature start, a series record. After utilizing a provisional starting position for the main event, Wright advanced from 23rd to seventh by race's end to maintain a 44-point advantage over Johnson in the series $50,000 championship points chase.

Wright can secure the crown with a finish of 21st or better in Saturday's finale.

After posting decisive victories in both heat race and Pole Dash action, Johnson led the feature field to the green flag with Mike Chadd alongside. After the initial three attempts to start the race were waved off for minor incidents, Johnson gunned into the lead and immediately checked out on the field.

Johnson opened up nearly a straightaway lead in little more than a lap, with his rivals getting a reprieve when the caution flew for Scott Winters, who slowed in turn two to bring out a caution on the second round.

Johnson checked out again on the ensuing restart, then once again following a lap six caution precipitated by a tangle in turn four involving Danny Jennings and Natalie Sather. Johnson's rapid pace wasn't even deterred when he encountered lapped traffic several laps later.

By the time the caution flew after 15 laps for Zach Chappell, who came to a stop in turn four, Johnson had four lapped cars separating himself from his closest rival. After one final caution two circuits later, Johnson cruised to his 17th overall ASCS victory of the season.

While Johnson was seemingly in an area code all his own throughout, the battle for position in his wake was a wild one. Chadd, Travis Rilat and Brian Brown diced for second early on before fifth-starter Bruce, Jr., climbed to second by the third round.

Aaron Berryhill advanced from eighth to third by the race's midway point, only to retire pitside before the checkered flag flew.

Chuck Swenson, recently crowned the inaugural ASCS Northern Plains Region champion, climbed to fifth from his eighth row starting slot by lap ten and eventually battled into the show position. Also racing from deep in the field was Landon, who recorded his best career ASCS National Tour finish by crossing the stripe in fourth.

Brown rounded out the top five, with 16-year-old Nebraska shoe Jack Dover snaring sixth. Wright advanced to seventh, with 16th-starter Nick Smith, Jesse Hockett and John Carney, Jr., completing the top ten.

Rilat was battling for a top five position when he tangled with Sather's lapped car in turn two on the final round. Rilat was credited with twelfth.

Johnson, Bruce, Jennings, Chadd and Rilat topped heat race action for the 43-car field, with Sather and Sean McClelland splitting victory honors in "B" Main competition.

O'Reilly ASCoT Devil's Bowl Winter Nationals Night One Results:

Heat Races (Top 16 in passing points to "A" Main -- Top 6 to Pole Dash; balance to Twin "B" Mains)

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 8-John Carney, Jr., 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 11F-Foster Landon, 5. 15s-Nick Smith, 6. 18x-Lorne Wofford, 7. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 8. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 9. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 3. 14-Michael Lang, 4. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 5. 83s-Larry Neighbors, 6. 2w-Kenneth Walker, 7. 11-Tyler Thompson, 8. 91-Darren Stewart, 9. 92-Zach Chappell.

Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 61J-Danny Jennings, 2. 21-Brian Brown, 3. 94s-Natalie Sather, 4. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 5. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 6. 9-Gary Wright, 7. 65-Skip Wilson, 8. 98-J.D. Johnson, 9. 1s-George White.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 4-Mike Chadd, 2. 53-Jack Dover,   .
3 1-Sean McClelland, 4. X-Chuck Swenson, 5. 64J-Johnny Miller, 6       .
5e-Brandon Erwin, 7. 44-Preston Peebles II, 8. L23-Landon Brown        .

Brodix Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 12-Trey Robb, 3      .
15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. R19-Scott Winters, 5. 25-Derek Cottrell, 6   .
22-Koby Barksdale, 7. 51-Mike Peters, 8. 14b-Robert Byrom              .

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

Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 4-Mike Chadd, 3. 21-Brian Brown, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 61J-Danny Jennings.

"B" Mains -- Top 3 From Each Advance to "A" Main

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 94s-Natalie Sather, 2. R19-Scott Winters, 3. 5e-Brandon Erwin, 4. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 2w-Kenneth Walker, 6. 44-Preston Peebles II, 7. 55-Donnie Ray Crawford, 8. 98-J.D. Johnson, 9. L23-Landon Brown, 10. 83s-Larry Neighbors, 11. 1s-George White, 12. 65-Skip Wilson, 13. 85s-Forrest Sutherland. DNS: 9-Gary Wright.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland, 2. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 3. 92-Zach Chappell, 4. 64J-Johnny Miller, 5. 18x-Lorne Wofford, 6. 22-Koby Barksdale, 7. 25-Derek Cottrell, 8. 11-Tyler Thompson, 9. 14b-Robert Byrom, 10. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 11. 91-Darren Stewart, 12. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 13. 51-Mike Peters.

O'Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Event:

"A" Feature (20 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 3. X-Chuck Swenson, 4. 11F-Foster Landon, 5. 21-Brian Brown, 6. 53-Jack Dover, 7. 9-Gary Wright, 8. 15s-Nick Smith, 9. 75-Jesse Hockett, 10. 8-John Carney, Jr., 11. 4-Mike Chadd, 12. 29-Travis Rilat, 13. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 14. 1-Sean McClelland, 15. R19-Scott Winters, 16. 5e-Brandon Erwin, 17. 94s-Natalie Sather, 18. 91-Darren Stewart, 19. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 20. 61J-Danny Jennings, 21. 92-Zach Chappell, 22. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 23. 12-Trey Robb, 24. 14-Michael Lang.

Lap Leaders: Jason Johnson 1-20.

Note: Gary Wright and Darren Stewart utilized O'Reilly ASCoT provisionals for the "A" Main.

O'Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Fifteen): 1. Gary Wright 3,020, 2. Jason Johnson 2,976, 3. Jesse Hockett 2,937, 4. Nick Smith 2,899, 5. Travis Rilat 2,856, 6. Sean McClelland 2,720, 7. Darren Stewart 2,556, 8. Trey Robb 2,511, 9. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 2,404, 10. Tony Bruce, Jr. 2,246, 11. Zach Chappell 1,954, 12. Jan Howard 1,940, 13. Abe Sherwood 1,862, 14. Jerrod Hull 1,340, 15. Kevin Ramey 1,338.

-ascs