From Bryan Hulbert
LAWTON, Okla. (June 13, 2018) – Rolling into Lawton Speedway with a Speedweek that has kicked him at every turn, Wayne Johnson kicked back and brought his own confetti to the party. Grabbing the lead from the second starting spot, Wayne led start to finish aboard the Outlaw Wings No. 2c with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com.
Johnson’s second score of the season with the National Tour of the American Sprint Car Series, the Oklahoma City native held off Sammy Swindell on the closing lap for his 52nd career triumph. Four races into the 2018 ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek, just as many drivers have earned a win.
Tiptoeing around the cushion of the quarter-mile oval, Johnson was cautiously aggressive as he and Swindell began working slower traffic. Only leaving the high-side a couple times to slide the lapped cars, each time allowed Swindell to close in but didn’t allow the A.G. Rains owned No. 3 enough room to make a move.
“There just wasn’t a lot of room around the bottom to make anything happen and even these lapped cars are pretty fast. With about three or four to go, I ran up on Harli White and I just decided to follow here. I figured if Sammy wanted to get around me, he could, but you know A.G. helped me earlier. I had a bad shock and my dyno is broken, and he pointed it out. We got is switched and had a completely different car tonight,” explained Johnson.
Red to start things off as Skylar Gee went for a ride off the second turn, the restart was followed by several cautions. Starting with a yellow on Lap 2 for Sam Hafertepe, Jr. who collided with the back straightaway wall battling for third with Roger Crockett, the No. 15h was unable to return to competition.
Red on Lap 4 for Kyle Clark, a pair of cautions followed to keep the race to five laps complete. Back underway with Johnson stalked by Swindell and Crockett, the race went caution free the rest of the way.
Grabbing the win by 0.746 seconds, Sammy Swindell’s runner-up finish is his fifth podium run in as many nights and second silver finish in a row.
On the last lap charge, Sammy explained, “I probably could have pinched him there pretty good. I had enough room to get up there, but I wouldn’t have been able to get off there clean with him so once I got there, I wanted to let him see me and maybe he’d look and jump the cushion a little bit, but he didn’t.”
Continuing a strong run through Speedweek, Blake Hahn raced to the final podium step in the Griffith Truck and Equipment No. 52. Rolling across fourth was Seth Bergman. With Hafertepe ending up with a 21st place finish, the No. 23 closed the gap to 15 points for the top of the championship standings. Rounding out the top-five, John Carney II was the night’s CP-Carrillo Hard Charger of the Night with a run from 13th to fifth.
Roger Crockett ended up sixth with Johnny Herrera battling back to seventh after falling to 10th early on. Chris Martin from 14th ran to eighth with Jake Bubak and Travis Rilat making up the top-ten.
Rolling north to Creek County Speedway, the 2018 ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek goes for Round 5 on Thursday, June 14 with gates opening at 5:00 P.M. and racing at 8:00 P.M. (CT). Thursday includes the USAC Wingless Sprints of Oklahoma and Dwarf Cars. Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for Senior and Military, $6 for kids 11-14, and free for kids 10 and under. More information, directions, and more can be found at http://www.creekcountyspeedway.co.
For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the Regional Tours that make up the over 150 across the ASCS Nation in 2018, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Lawton Speedway – Lawton, Okla.
Speedweek Round 4
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Car Count: 27
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points transfer to the A-Feature. Top 8 Redraw)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [1]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, [3]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [6]; 5. 5J-Jamie Ball, [5]; 6. 44-Chris Martin, [8]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, [7]; 8. 11X-Nick Bates, [9]; 9. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [1]; 2. 28-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 3. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 4. 74B-Jake Bubak, [6]; 5. J2-John Carney II, [7]; 6. 31-Casey Wills, [5]; 7. 9$-Kyle Clark, [4]; 8. 20G-Jake Greider, [8]; 9. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Sammy Swindell, [1]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [9]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [5]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell, [6]; 5. 90-Lance Norick, [3]; 6. 1-Travis Rilat, [8]; 7. 29-Tanner Berryhill, [4]; 8. (DNF) 33M-Mason Daniel, [2]; 9. (DNF) M1-Mark Smith, [7]
BMRS B-Feature (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [3]; 2. 33M-Mason Daniel, [9]; 3. 90-Lance Norick, [1]; 4. 9$-Kyle Clark, [4]; 5. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [7]; 6. 20G-Jake Greider, [6]; 7. 11X-Nick Bates, [8]; 8. (DNF) 31-Casey Wills, [2]; 9. (DNF) 29-Tanner Berryhill, [5]; (DNS) M1-Mark Smith, ; (DNS) 77X-Alex Hill,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [2]; 2. 3-Sammy Swindell, [4]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [7]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman, [6]; 5. J2-John Carney II, [13]; 6. 11-Roger Crockett, [1]; 7. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 8. 44-Chris Martin, [14]; 9. 74B-Jake Bubak, [9]; 10. 1-Travis Rilat, [15]; 11. 17W-Harli White, [12]; 12. 5J-Jamie Ball, [16]; 13. 90-Lance Norick, [19]; 14. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [21]; 15. 28-Scott Bogucki, [8]; 16. 8-Alex Sewell, [10]; 17. 95-Matt Covington, [11]; 18. 20G-Jake Greider, [22]; 19. 9$-Kyle Clark, [20]; 20. 33M-Mason Daniel, [18]; 21. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [3]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee, [17]
Lap Leader(s): Wayne Johnson 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: John Carney II +8
FSR High Point Driver: Wayne Johnson
Provisional(s): N/A
2018 ASCS National Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr, 1,555; 2. Seth Bergman 1,540; 3. Blake Hahn 1,527; 4. Wayne Johnson 1,519; 5. Johnny Herrera 1,468; 6. Matt Covington 1,383; 7. Scott Bogucki 1,346; 8. Skylar Gee 1,295; 9. Roger Crockett 1,291; 10. Jamie Ball 1,253; 11. Harli White 1,240; 12. Chris Martin 1,182; 13. Sammy Swindell 1,110; 14. Travis Rilat 1,083; 15. Alex Hill 1,060;
2018 ASCS Speedweek Points (Top 15): 1. Sammy Swindell 427; 2. Blake Hahn 508; 3. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 491; 4. Scott Bogucki 488; 5. Wayne Johnson 477; 6. Seth Bergman 476; 7. John Carney II 463; 8. Travis Rilat 459; 9. Matt Covington 458; 10. Harli White 444; 11. Johnny Herrera 439; 12. Roger Crockett 436; 13. Chris Martin 436; 14. Skylar Gee 409; 15. Jamie Ball 408;