Bryan Hulbert - Lebanon, Oregon (July 13, 2012) After a week that Wayne Johnson would rather forget, the Oklahoma native roared back to life in the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV debut at the recently re-built Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon on night one of the 2012 ASCS Bully Dog Northwest Speedweek presented by Contingency Connection
“You know what I was here 3 or 4 years ago and my hats off to these guys who spent all this money on this racetrack.” Commented Johnson.
Asked about the pass for the lead, Johnson replied, “That was awesome. We just got into traffic and he [Roger Crockett] pulled off the curb and that was the place you needed to be and my car was still good enough to slide from the middle to the top and still catch enough grip and get off the corner.”
Lining up forth on the night’s 25 lap feature event, the Missile Motorsports No. 77x spent the first seven laps where he started as Crockett assumed the race lead. Catching slower traffic on lap six, the SKS Racing No. 11 would get held up slightly; allowing second running Travis Rilat to begin closing in.
Able to maneuver around slower cars with ease, Crockett would maintain a ten car length advantage over Rilat.
With lapped traffic mingling amongst the top five, Johnson would begin his march forward; passing Mitch Olson for third on lap nine then Travis Rilat for second on lap fourteen.
Quickly closing in on the No. 11, slower traffic would present the perfect opportunity as Johnson pulled to the back bumper of Crockett. Taking the battle three wide as the field completed lap sixteen, Johnson would use the surrounding cars as picks, pulling by Crockett to lead lap seventeen.
Pulling to the infield with mechanical problems, Roget Crockett would see his night end eight laps from the checkered flag.
Slowing on a lap nineteen for Jason Johnson who suffered a flat left rear tire, the race would resume with lapped cars intertwined throughout the top five, allowing Wayne Johnson enough of an advantage to pull away to his fifth win of the 2012 season.
Travis Rilat would take second with Mitch Olson scoring a career best third with the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV. Brady Bacon would secure the fourth spot to round out the cars locked into Saturday’s feature event after starting eighth with Logan Forler advancing four positions to complete the top five.
Henry VanDam would take sixth with Brad Loyet seventh after starting fourteenth. Eighth belonged to Johnny Herrera with Reece Goetz ninth and Dustin Morgan earning the PitstopUSA.com Hard Charger award with a tenth place showing after starting twentieth.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV
Willamette Speedway - Lebanon, Oregon
2012 ASCS Bully Dog Northwest Speedweek presented by Contingency Connection
July 13, 2012
Car Count: 32
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33v-Henry VanDam[3]; 2. 45x-Johnny Herrera[5]; 3. 9R-Reece Goetz[4]; 4. 12p-Randy Pierce[2]; 5. 99d-Shawn Wright[1]; 6. 26-Sammy Wright[6]; 7. 9a-Luke Didiuk[7]; DNF 88-Jesse Whitney[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[3]; 2. 10-Kyle Miller[1]; 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[4]; 4. 77x-Wayne Johnson[8]; 5. 21s-Zack Spaulding[2]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 7. 9-Gary Wright[6]; 8. 10J-Jake Waddell[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Roger Crockett[3]; 2. 51-Jason Solwold[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 4. 5h-Logan Forler[7]; 5. 12-Cody Ridge[1]; 6. 26F-Shane Forte[5]; 7. 22-Garren Linder[8]; 8. 17-Cam Smith[6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 98m-Mitch Olson[2]; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[5]; 3. 39c-Travis Rilat[7]; 4. 31-Colton Akerstrom[8]; 5. 56-Justin Youngquist[3]; 6. 88k-Brent Hoover[4]; 7. 2-Dustin Morgan[1]; DNF 11ak-Justin Martin[6]
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 2. 12-Cody Ridge[4]; 3. 9-Gary Wright[11]; 4. 2-Dustin Morgan[15]; 5. 26F-Shane Forte[7]; 6. 22-Garren Linder[8]; 7. 88-Jesse Whitney[12]; 8. 10J-Jake Waddell[14]; 9. 17-Cam Smith[16]; 10. 88k-Brent Hoover[9]; 11. 26-Sammy Wright[5]; DNF 56-Justin Youngquist[1]; DNF 99d-Shawn Wright[3]; DNF 21s-Zack Spaulding[2]; DNF 9a-Luke Didiuk[10]; DNS 11ak-Justin Martin
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 77x-Wayne Johnson[4]; 2. 39c-Travis Rilat[2]; 3. 98m-Mitch Olson[3]; 4. 99-Brady Bacon[8]; 5. 5h-Logan Forler[9]; 6. 33v-Henry VanDam[5]; 7. 05-Brad Loyet[14]; 8. 45x-Johnny Herrera[7]; 9. 9R-Reece Goetz[12]; 10. 2-Dustin Morgan[20]; 11. 51-Jason Solwold[10]; 12. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[13]; 13. 41-Jason Johnson[6]; 14. 23-Seth Bergman[17]; 15. 22-Garren Linder[22]; 16. 12-Cody Ridge[18]; 17. 31-Colton Akerstrom[15]; 18. 26F-Shane Forte[21]; 19. 12p-Randy Pierce[16]; DNF 11-Roger Crockett[1]; DNF 9-Gary Wright[19]; DNF 10-Kyle Miller[11]
Lap Leader(s): Roger Crockett (1-16), Wayne Johnson (17-25)
Pitstopusa.com Hard Charger of the Night: Dustin Morgan +10
FSR Radiator High Point Driver: Henry Van Dam
Provisional(s): N/A
2012 Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-8, Wayne Johnson-5, Brady Bacon-4, Tony Bruce Jr.-3, Brian Brown-1, Seth Bergman-1, Danny Lasoski-1, Jason Martin-1, Dustin Morgan-1, Danny Wood-1, Cody Baker-1, Jordan Boston-1, Brock Lemley-1
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV Points (top 10): 1. Jason Johnson 3,814; 2. Wayne Johnson 3,768; 3. Brady Bacon 3,642; 4. Johnny Herrera 3,494; 5. Brad Loyet 3,401; 6. Tony Bruce Jr. 3,381; 7. Seth Bergman 3,127; 8. Dustin Morgan 3,009; 9. Logan Forler 2,964; 10. Gary Wright 2,938
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV is scheduled to compete 66 times in 15 states throughout the United States with drivers competing for their share of a $250,000 point’s fund.
The 2012 season marks the 21st year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. For information regarding availability and listings in your area log onto www.mavtv.com.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MavTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire, Brodix, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, K&N Filters, PitstopUSA.com, FSR Radiator and Racing Proucts, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Simpson, Wesmar Racing Engines, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.
Photo Credit: Jimmy Jones (Jones Sports Media)