From Lonnie Wheatley
Little Rock, AR — (October 26, 2012) — Jason Johnson made a dramatic late race move to top the opening portion of I-30 Speedway’s 25th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires that was postponed by rain to Friday night.
A native of Eunice, LA, “The Ragin’ Cajun” dove underneath race-long leader Paul McMahan entering turn one on the 23rd round of the 25-lapper to take the win in the JJR/Stenhouse Jr. Roush-Yates Ford-powered No. 41 Maxim.
Johnson took the win to lock into Saturday’s $15,000-to-win, $2,500-to-start STN championship event along with runner-up McMahan in the Cooper Racing No. 01 and rookie STN contender Christopher Bell, who claimed the third and final lock-in position.
“I really was just searching around, trying to find something that would work and I finally did coming off of four there,” the 2006 Short Track Nationals champion explained.
And search around he did quite nicely, diamonding off the top of turn three and four to get a powerful run off of four that ultimately led to victory lane after chasing 2002 STN kingpin McMahan most of the way.
With Dixon Road U-Pull-It STN Rookie of the Year contender Bell of Norman, OK, leading the way to the green flag after accumulating the most points through heat race and qualifying race on Thursday night and then into Friday after Mother Nature intervened, it was front row outside starter McMahan gunning into the early lead with Bell holding off fourth-starter Johnson for second until the fifth round.
Working the low side and reaching traffic by the tenth round, McMahan found clear track again when the red flag flew at the midway point when Gary Taylor flipped in turn four after contact with another car.
McMahan took off on the restart with Johnson in pursuit as another pair of cautions flew over the next half dozen circuits, including one after 15 laps when sixth-runner Sam Hafertepe, Jr., biked it in turn four and came to a stop and then one final interruption for a three-car tangle in turn four involving Shawn Dancer, Jimmy Hurley and Randy Hannagan.
Johnson continued searching the track on the final restart and finally dove underneath McMahan entering turn one on the white flag lap for what proved to be the winning pass. Johnson locked into his seventh career STN finale with the win while McMahan earned an STN championship event starting berth for the fourth time in five tries.
Just 17 years old, Bell rounded out his strong I-30 Speedway Sprint Car debut with a podium finish that will put him into Saturday night’s Dash for Cash.
Ohio’s Greg Wilson finished one spot out of a lock-in position in fourth, while Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon advanced from 11th to take the fifth position in the final circuits. Derek Hagar was sixth, with the rest of the top ten including Travis Rilat, Ray Allen Kulhanek, Kevin Swindell and Seth Bergman.
With 44 cars on hand for the opening portion of the 25th Annual Short Track Nationals, Jan Howard, Gary Taylor, Jason Johnson and Paul McMahan topped heat races before rain interrupted six laps into the fifth heat race on Thursday night. Greg Wilson finished off the fifth heat when action resumed on Friday evening with Jason Johnson, Seth Bergman, Kevin Swindell, Randy Hannagan and Paul McMahan winning the Qualifying Races.
Brian Bell and Dustin Morgan topped “B” Main action.
Hannagan got upside down on the frontstretch in Thursday night’s opening heat race but continued on to salvage a sixth-place finish before ultimately racing into the main event.
25th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires Thursday Night Results (Conclusion of Fifth Heat on postponed to Friday by Rain):
Heat Races:
First Heat (10 Laps): 1. 46-Jan Howard, 2. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 3. 21w-Wes Wofford, 4. 58w-Wade Oliver, 5. 23s-Seth Bergman, 6. 22h-Randy Hannagan, 7. 74e-Claud Estes, 8. 11c-Matt Covington. DNS: 17g-Cody Gardner.
Second Heat (10 Laps): 1. 4t-Gary Taylor, 2. 49-Shawn Dancer, 3. 2-Dustin Morgan, 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 17w-Cole Wood, 6. 10-Terry Gray, 7. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 8. 0m-Andy McElhannon, 9. 09-Timmy Thrash.
Third Heat (10 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 3. 11m-Justin Melton, 4. 39s-Kevin Swindell, 5. 35-Jimmy Hurley, 6. 16-Koty Adams, 7. 93-Chris Sweeney, 8. 57c-Kyle Chady, 9. 66-Geoff Dodge.
Fourth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 01m-Paul McMahan, 2. 39c-Travis Rilat, 3. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 4. 3h-Brandon Hanks, 5. 23b-Brian Bell, 6. 36b-Jonathan Beason, 7. 19-Klint Angelette, 8. 64-Scotty Thiel, 9. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr.
Fifth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 20-Greg Wilson, 2. 40b-Christopher Bell, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 5k-Jerry Kamer, 5. 33-Mark Huddleston, 6. 1x-Rickey Hood, 7. 76-John Ricketts. DNS: 21k-Ryan Kitchen.
Qualifying Races – Top 14 in Combined Passing/Finishing Points to “A” Feature; Balance to “B” Mains
First Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. W20-Greg Wilson, 3. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. 36b-Jonathan Beason, 5. 64-Scotty Thiel, 6. 11m-Justin Melton, 7. 1x-Rickey Hood, 8. 5k-Jerry Kamer. DNS: 57c-Kyle Chady.
Second Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 23s-Seth Bergman, 2. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 3. 21t-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 4. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 5. 10-Terry Gray, 6. 2-Dustin Morgan, 7. 4t-Gary Taylor, 8. 19-Klint Angelette, 9. 09-Timmy Thrash.
Third Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 39s-Kevin Swindell, 2. 40b-Christopher Bell, 3. 39c-Kevin Swindell, 4. 93-Chris Sweeney, 5. 11c-Matt Covington, 6. 17g-Cody Gardner, 7. 21w-Wes Wofford, 8. 76-John Ricketts, 9. 17w-Cole Wood.
Fourth Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 22h-Randy Hannagan, 2. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 3. 58w-Wade Oliver, 4. 23b-Brian Bell, 5. 21k-Ryan Kitchen, 6. 46-Jan Howard, 7. 74e-Claud Estes. DNS: 33-Mark Huddleston, 66-Geoff Dodge.
Fifth Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 01m-Paul McMahan, 2. 35-Jimmy Hurley, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 5. 49-Shawn Dancer, 6. 3h-Brandon Hanks. DNS: 16-Koty Adams, 0m-Andy McElhannon.
“B” Features – Top 3 from Each Advance to “A” Feature
First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 23b-Brian Bell, 2. 35-Jimmy Hurley, 3. 36b-Jonathan Beason, 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 5. 11c-Matt Covington, 6. 11m-Justin Melton, 7. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 8. 93-Chris Sweeney, 9. 64-Scotty Thiel, 10. 76-John Ricketts, 11. 5k-Jerry Kamer. DNS: 16-Koty Adams, 74e-Claud Estes, 0m-Andy McElhannon, 66-Geoff Dodge.
Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 2-Dustin Morgan, 2. 46-Jan Howard, 3. 49-Shawn Dancer, 4. 58w-Wade Oliver, 5. 3h-Brandon Hanks, 6. 10-Terry Gray, 7. 17g-Cody Gardner, 8. 17w-Cole Wood, 9. 21k-Ryan Kitchen, 10. 21w-Wes Wofford, 11. 33-Mark Huddleston. DNS: 1x-Rickey Hood, 19-Klint Angelette, 57c-Kyle Chady, 09-Timmy Thrash.
“A” Feature – Top 3 Finishers Locked into Saturday night’s $15,000 to win STN Finale.
A Feature (25 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 41-Jason Johnson (4), 2. 01m-Paul McMahan (2), 3. 40b-Christopher Bell (1), 4. W20-Greg Wilson (6), 5. 99-Brady Bacon (11), 6. 9jr-Derek Hagar (8), 7. 39c-Travis Rilat (7), 8. 21t-Ray Allen Kulhanek (9), 9. 39s-Kevin Swindell (5), 10. 23s-Seth Bergman (12), 11. 2-Dustin Morgan (16), 12. 28-Jonathan Cornell (10), 13. 22h-Randy Hannagan (13), 14. 35-Jimmy Hurley (17), 15. 23b-Brian Bell (15), 16. 49-Shawn Dancer (20), 17. 46-Jan Howard (18), 18. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (3), 19. 4t-Gary Taylor (14), 20. 36b-Jonathan Beason (19).
Lap Leaders: Paul McMahan 1-23, Jason Johnson 24-25.