Lady Luck Shines on Jason Johnson in O’Reilly ASCoT
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Texarkana, Ark.
Apr 28, 2007
O'Reilly ASCoT
Louisiana’s Jason Johnson wasted little time cashing in on a friendly nod from Lady Luck to collect his first O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National feature win of the season with a triumph in Friday night’s 30-lapper at Sixty-Seven Speedway.
While Johnson caught the lucky break, it was Darren Stewart on the receiving end of the bad luck as he was forced to surrender the point when his car mysteriously lost power under a late caution after leading the opening 21 circuits in an effort to score his first National win since June of 2005.
With Stewart sidelined, Johnson revved up his pursuit of a first $50,000 ASCoT National championship by setting sail aboard Lanny Row’s Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports/Custom Equipment Design No. 41 Eagle over the final nine laps, beating past National champs Tim Crawley, Wayne Johnson, Gary Wright and Travis Rilat to the checkered flag.
“It’s nice to get this first one, it just took way too long, “ Johnson commented after becoming the series fifth different winner in nine feature events this year. “Darren had us covered though, maybe I could have got him in lapped traffic but on open track we didn’t have anything for him. “
Rilat and Stewart led the feature field to the green flag with Stewart edging into the early lead after the pair raced in wheel-to-wheel fashion the opening round. After starting fourth, Johnson battled past Rilat for second on the third round and set his sights on Stewart.
But Stewart held a lead of several car-lengths until Johnson was able to close when lapped traffic came into play after six laps. Stewart kept Johnson at bay, with the action interrupted after eight laps when Ronny Howard slid over the top of turn one.
Stewart reestablished an eight car-length lead as action resumed, only to have Johnson close in again when the leaders reached lapped traffic on the 13th round. Stewart made some swift moves though to maintain the lead aboard Bobby Sparks’ Ostrich-powered Sparks Construction/RESM Transport No. 91 Eagle until the yellow flew on the 15th lap for Canada’s Chris Schmelzle, who spun to a stop in turn two with front end damage.
It was more of the same on the ensuing restart, with Stewart holding strong in front of Johnson, Rilat and Crawley until the yellow lights flickered on the 22nd lap when seventh-runner Ray Allen Kulhanek and Kenneth Walker tangled in turn three. Kulhanek, a past ASCS Gulf South Region champion, was done for the night while Walker returned after a quick trip to the work area.
The caution period proved to be Stewart’s undoing when his mount suddenly lost power in turn three as crews worked to separate the Kulhanek and Walker machines. “It just died, we’re not sure what happened, “ Stewart explained afterward.
The following restart was waved off when sixth-runner Sam Hafertepe, Jr., was turned around in turn two by Andy Shouse. Hafertepe earned an express ticket to the pit area for his retaliatory tactics under the caution.
