By Lonnie Wheatley
GREENWOOD, Neb. (September 16, 2011) – Louisiana’s Jason Johnson reached the century mark in career American Sprint Car Series feature wins with a $3,000 triumph in Friday night’s wild Speedway Motors ASCS Midwest card at I-80 Speedway.
The reigning Lucas Oil ASCS National champion took command on the fifth round and ultimately was awarded his 11th overall ASCS win of the year in a feature event that was shortened to 17 laps from the originally scheduled 25 laps after a grinding crash that sent Taylor Velasquez to the hospital and left the track without a safety crew as drizzle began to fall.
Johnson’s sixth Regional score of the year to go along with five National wins ran his career total to 100 ASCS wins, including 53 in National action. Only Gary Wright has more overall wins with 148 (127 National).
With Johnson starting fourth, Ryan Roberts and Jack Dover led the way to the green flag with Roberts pacing the initial round before Dover and Johnson slipped by. This was only after the initial pair of starts were waved off, including one for Ryan Anderson’s turn one flip.
After a caution four laps in for Brian Brown’s turn two spin, Johnson rallied past Dover for the lead in turns three and four on the fifth circuit to take command aboard the Don Ott-powered Haynes/Mesilla Valley Transport/Pope Properties No. 41 Maxim.
Dover battled back though, with the pair dicing for the point for several more rounds before Jason Danley’s blown engine brought out a caution after 12 laps.
With Johnson leading the way, the red flag flew after 17 rounds when Justin Henderson tagged the wall and flipped in turn one and then one last time on the restart when Velasquez took a nasty ride in turn three.
With an impending lengthy delay and questionable prevailing weather conditions, the race was declared complete with Johnson taking the win over Dover, Jordan Boston, Danny Lasoski and Roberts. Jason Martin was sixth, with Don Droud, Jr., Seth Bergman, Garry Lee Maier and Clint Garner completing the top ten.
Velasquez, a 20-year-old from Turpin, OK, regained consciousness after arriving at an area hospital, and, despite being stiff and sore, reportedly had no broken bones.
Velasquez was the second driver of the night transported to a hospital, as Lee Grosz was admitted after a heat race crash with Brian Brown. Grosz was back at the track spectating by feature time with a reported concussion.
Roberts, Bryan Dobesh, Droud, Jr., and Garner topped heat race action for the 38-car field, with Bryan Gossel winning the “B” Main.
Speedway Motors ASCS Midwest Results from I-80 Speedway:
First Heat (10 Laps): 1. 18-Ryan Roberts, 2. 71r-Ryan Anderson, 3. 4b-Jordan Boston, 4. 36-Jason Martin, 5. 98-J.D. Johnson, 6. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 7. 93a-Alan Ambers, 8. 0-Steven Richardson, 9. 91x-Jeff Stasa, 10. 6-Nick Bryan.
Second Heat (10 Laps): 1. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 23-Seth Bergman, 4. 51-Mike Peters, 5. 82-Jason Danley, 6. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 7. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 8. 44k-David Kubart, 9. 4-Ryan Jones.
Third Heat (10 Laps): 1. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 24a-Jeremy Campbell, 4. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 5. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 6. 12-Rod Richards, 7. 21-Brian Brown, 8. 4j-Lee Grosz, 9. 91-Taylor Milton.
Fourth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 40-Clint Garner, 2. 45c-Russ Hall, 3. 1m-Danny Lasoski, 4. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 5. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 6. 19-Patrick Stasa, 7. 47-Brandt O’Banion, 8. 1-Ty Williams, 9. 0x-Jeff Osborn, 10. 12t-Tyler Drueke.
Dash: 1. 18-Ryan Roberts, 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 4b-Jordan Boston, 4. 41-Jason Johnson, 5. 1m-Danny Lasoski, 6. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 7. 71r-Ryan Anderson, 8. 36-Jason Martin.
“B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 2. 98-J.D. Johnson, 3. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 4. 21-Brian Brown, 5. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 7. 47-Brandt O’Banion, 8. 0-Steven Richardson, 9. 93a-Alan Ambers, 10. 1-Ty Williams, 11. 91-Taylor Milton, 12. 0x-Jeff Osborn, 13. 6-Nick Bryan, 14. 44k-David Kubart, 15. 19-Patrick Stasa, 16. 12-Rod Richards. DNS: 4-Ryan Jones, 4j-Lee Grosz, 91x-Jeff Stasa, 12T-Tyler Drueke.
“A” Feature (25 Laps – Shortened to 17 Laps after Red Flag): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 4b-Jordan Boston, 4. 1m-Danny Lasoski, 5. 18-Ryan Roberts, 6. 36-Jason Martin, 7. 2-Don Droud, Jr., 8. 23-Seth Bergman, 9. 1x-Garry Lee Maier, 10. 40-Clint Garner, 11. 45c-Russ Hall, 12. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 13. 21-Brian Brown, 14. 98-J.D. Johnson, 15. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 16. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 17. 6g-Bryan Gossel, 18. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 19. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 20. 24a-Jeremy Campbell, 21. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 22. 82-Jason Danley, 23. 51-Mike Peters, 24. 71r-Ryan Anderson.
Speedway Motors ASCS Midwest Points (Top 10): 1. Jack Dover 2,314, 2. Jordan Boston 1,844, 3. Bryan Gossel 1,747, 4. Lee Grosz 1,675, 5. Brian Brown 1,461, 6. Wayne Johnson 1,344, 7. Billy Alley 1,244, 8. Gregg Bakker 1,222, 9. Jeff Osborn 1,185, 10. Danny Lasoski 1,182.