By Lonnie Wheatley, Joe Orth photo
McCOOL JUNCTION, Neb. (September 11, 2010) – A different ASCS Region netted a familiar result on Saturday night as Louisiana’s Jason Johnson racked up yet another American Sprint Car Series Regional triumph by topping the 25-lap ASCS Midwest main event at Junction Motor Speedway.
“The Ragin’ Cajun” slid past Lee Grosz for the lead on a lap 17 restart in the $3,000-to-win affair and went on to collect his 14th overall ASCS triumph of the 2010 season aboard the JJR Don Ott-powered Haynes No. 41 Maxim and first in Midwest action.
While Johnson gridded the feature field inside the fourth row, Grosz gunned into the lead from the pole position at the outset and paced the early circuits in front of Chad Humston with Johnson getting by Brian Brown for third by the seventh circuit.
Johnson took second away from Humston one lap later and after the red flag appeared after 16 laps when Dustin Selvage and Kyle Hirst tangled in turn three, Johnson slid past Grosz for the lead in turns one and two with Brown following suit in the next pair of corners.
Johnson survived another pair of late cautions to take the win over Brown, with 12th-starter Billy Alley, 14th-starter Jack Dover and Grosz rounding out the top five.
Humston crossed the stripe sixth, with 16th-starter Gregg Bakker, 18th-starter Tony Bruce, Jr., Brady Bacon and 19th-starter Russ Hall completing the top ten.
Grosz, Selvage, Dave Hall, Jake Martens and Hirst topped heat race action for the 34-car field, with Bacon and Dover winning the twin “B” Mains.
ASCS Midwest Region Results from Junction Motor Speedway:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 4J – Lee Grosz, 2. 12D – Dennis Moore Jr., 3. 24A – Don Droud Jr., 4. 53 – Jack Dover, 5. 5 – Eric Lutz, 6. 44 – Doug Lovegrove. DNS: 14 – Josh Riggins.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 7 – Dustin Selvage, 2. 1M – Chad Humston, 3. 4 – Jordan Boston, 4. 11x – Gregg Bakker, 5. 14N – H.J. Norman, 6. 6G – Bryan Gossel, 7. 44K – David Kubart.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 51 – David Hall, 2. 22 – Billy Alley, 3. 41 – Jason Johnson, 4. 45c – Russ Hall, 5. 99 – Brady Bacon, 6. 21K – Ryan Kitchen, 7. 17 – Gage Dorr.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 0 – Jake Martens, 2. 21 – Brian Brown, 3. 35 – Trevor Grossenbacher, 4. 91 – Mitchell Moore, 5. 12 – Tyler Drueke, 6. 57 – Don Stoutner. DNS: 82 – Jason Danley.
Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 5H – Kyle Hirst, 2. 18 – Ryan Roberts, 3. 18T – Tony Bruce Jr., 4. 47 – Brant O’Banion, 5. 7G – Mike Gabelhouse, 6. 36 – Rick Hansen.
First “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 99 – Brady Bacon, 2. 4 – Jordan Boston, 3. 5 – Eric Lutz, 4. 45c – Russ Hall, 5. 91 – Mitchell Moore, 6. 21K – Ryan Kitchen, 7. 7G – Mike Gabelhouse, 8. 36 – Rick Hansen. DNS: 47 – Brant O’Banion, 44K – David Kubart, 14 – Josh Riggins.
Second “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 53 – Jack Dover, 2. 11x – Gregg Bakker, 3. 18T – Tony Bruce Jr., 4. 12 – Tyler Drueke, 5. 44 – Doug Lovegrove, 6. 17 – Gage Dorr, 7. 6G – Bryan Gossel, 8. 57 – Don Stoutner, 9. 14N – H.J. Norman. DNS: 35 – Trevor Grossenbacher, 82 – Jason Danley.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41 – Jason Johnson, 2. 21 – Brian Brown, 3. 22 – Billy Alley, 4. 53 – Jack Dover, 5. 4J – Lee Grosz, 6. 1M – Chad Humston, 7. 11x – Gregg Bakker, 8. 18T – Tony Bruce Jr., 9. 99 – Brady Bacon, 10. 45c – Russ Hall, 11. 51 – David Hall, 12. 7 – Dustin Selvage, 13. 0 – Jake Martens, 14. 5 – Eric Lutz, 15. 18 – Ryan Roberts, 16. 12D – Dennis Moore Jr., 17. 12 – Tyler Drueke, 18. 4 – Jordan Boston, 19. 5H – Kyle Hirst, 20. 24A – Don Droud Jr.
ASCS Midwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Eric Lutz 2,088, 2. Doug Lovegrove 1,802, 3. Jack Dover 1,789, 4. Brian Brown 1,506, 5. Lee Grosz 1,345, 6. Tyler Drueke 1,253, 7. Jason Danley 1,207, 8. Chad Humston 1,163, 9. Gage Dorr 1,160, 10. Ryan Roberts 1,022.