Jason Johnson must be living right, as he walked away from Interstate Auto Centers I-90 Speedway with his fifth O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National feature win of the season following Tuesday night’s 25-lap feature.
And he collected the winner’s $3,000 share for the second time an as many legs of the inaugural ASCS Northern Plains Speedweek after taking the checkered flag in second place.
Johnson was awarded the win aboard Lanny Row’s Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports/Custom Equipment Design No. 41 Eagle after apparent race-winner Sam Hafertepe, Jr., crossed the scales at 1,460 pounds, fifteen below the required 1,475 pound minimum.
It was “The Ragin Cajun’s” second career win at I-90 Speedway, as he beat Hafertepe to the line in an ASCS Northern Plains Regional event last year.
Taking advantage of an off night for the World of Outlaws, Hafertepe, a past ASCS Rookie of the Year and last year’s ASCS Sooner Region champion, was gunning for his first career ASCS National Tour feature win in his 83rd career National Tour feature start.
And after charging by Gordy Vogelaar on the eighth round to take command, it looked as if Hafertepe would successfully capture that elusive first win. By the time Johnson had battled into second position on the 17th lap after starting seventh, Hafertepe held a half straightaway advantage.
That advantage was erased by a caution with five laps to go. But Hafertepe survived that and one more caution that set up a two-lap dash to the stripe to flash underneath the checkered flag in first place.
But the scales would deny any celebration in the Hafertepe camp, instead handing the victory to Johnson.
Johnson had gained one position to climb to sixth in the opening ten circuits, then cracked the top five one lap later when Vogelaar came to a stop. Vogelaar, who paced the opening seven rounds, rejoined the field after surrendering the runner-up position.
With Hafertepe leading the way in front of Wayne Johnson, Travis Rilat, Chuck Swenson and Jason Johnson on the restart, Swenson made a quick charge into second on the 12th round with Jason Johnson disposing of Wayne Johnson and Rilat to snare third by the 14th lap.
Johnson battled past Swenson for second on the 17th round and chased Hafertepe the rest of the way before collecting his 24th career series win in surprising fashion.
As Swenson backed up several positions in the final laps, Wayne Johnson outdueled Rilat to snare his fifth runner-up finish of the season aboard Mike Hammers’ Wesmar-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Eagle.
Rilat took the show position in the Motor Mike-powered F&J Construction No. 29 Triple X, with Jake Peters snaring fourth in the Weseman-powered Folkens Brothers Trucking No. 57x Schnee.
Swenson rounded out the top five in the Fisher-powered K&C Conversions No. X Maxim, with Gary Wright charging from 15th to claim sixth and retain the series point lead.
Mitch Runge raced from 18th to seventh, while Vogelaar recovered to finish eighth. Micah Schliemann crossed the stripe ninth, with Leading Brodix Rookie of the Year contender Foster Landon completing the top ten.
Swenson, Hafertepe, Vogelaar and Peters topped heat race action for the 34-car field, with Wright and Chad Meyer winning the twin “B” Mains.
Troy Vink got upside down in the third heat, while Bryan Dobesh and Joe Riedel both experienced top wing damage in an opening lap feature scramble.
The inaugural ASCS Northern Plains Speedweek featuring the O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series continues Wednesday night at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, MN, then concludes Saturday night at Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, SD.
O’Reilly ASCoT Northern Plains Speedweek Round 2 Results from I-90 Speedway:
Heat Races (Top 14 in passing points to “A” Main; Balance to Twin “B” Mains)
Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. X-Chuck Swenson, 2. 11F-Foster Landon, 3. 9L-Micah Schliemann, 4. 9n-Wade Nygaard, 5. 94s-Natalie Sather, 6. 35a-Adam Main, 7. 15x-Joe Riedel, 8. 99-Shawn Van Wyhe, 9. 9a-Clint Anderson.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 4. 27-Clint Garner, 5. 28-Mitch Runge, 6. 75-Corey Brink, 7. 20-Dusty Ballenger, 8. 42-Kevin Flowers, 9. 2-Neil Stevens.
Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 99v-Gordy Vogelaar, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 3-Donovan Peterson, 4. 87-Curt Lund, 5. 7-Chad Meyer, 6. 85-Justin Saathoff, 7. 2k-Kevin Ingle, 8. 77-Troy Vink.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 57x-Jake Peters, 2. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 5. 9-Gary Wright, 6. 92-Mike Sitzmann, Jr., 7. 4J-Lee Grosz, 8. 10-Danielle Ossenfort.
Pole Dash (Finishing Order Determines Front Three Rows of “A” Main):
Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 99v-Gordy Vogelaar, 2. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 3. 57x-Jake Peters, 4. X-Chuck Swenson, 5. 29-Travis Rilat, 6. 94-Wayne Johnson.
Twin “B” Mains – Top 4 From Each Advance to “A” Main
First “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 87-Curt Lund, 3. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 4. 75-Corey Brink, 5. 92-Mike Sitzmann, Jr., 6. 35a-Adam Main, 7. 9a-Clint Anderson, 8. 99-Shawn Van Wyhe. DNS: 2k-Kevin Ingle, 77-Troy Vink.
Second “B” Feature (10 Laps): 1. 7-Chad Meyer, 2. 28-Mitch Runge, 3. 4J-Lee Grosz, 4. 15x-Joe Riedel, 5. 20-Dusty Ballenger, 6. 42-Kevin Flowers, 7. 2-Neil Stevens, 8. 10-Danielle Ossenfort, 9. 85-Justin Saathoff. DNS: 27-Clint Garner
O’Reilly ASCoT “A” Main Results from I-90 Speedway:
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 57x-Jake Peters, 5. X-Chuck Swenson, 6. 9-Gary Wright, 7. 28-Mitch Runge, 8. 99v-Gordy Vogelaar, 9. 9L-Micah Schliemann, 10. 11F-Foster Landon, 11. 87-Curt Lund, 12. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 13. 3-Donovan Peterson, 14. 75-Corey Brink, 15. 94s-Natalie Sather, 16. 4J-Lee Grosz, 17. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 18. 9n-Wade Nygaard, 19. 7-Chad Meyer, 20. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 21. 15x-Joe Riedel, 22. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
Lap Leaders: Gordy Vogelaar 1-7, Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 8-25.
Note: Sam Hafertepe, Jr., was disqualified after taking the checkered flag in first after weighing in 15 pounds below the 1,475 minimum.
O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Ten): 1. Gary Wright 2,246, 2. Wayne Johnson 2,230, 3. Jason Johnson 2,205, 4. Travis Rilat 2,141, 5. Foster Landon 1,912, 6. Darren Stewart 1,781, 7. Andy Shouse 1,559, 8. Chris Schmelzle 1,318, 9. Johnny Miller 1,047, 10. Chuck Swenson 932.
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