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Jason Johnson Takes Another Lucas Oil Sprint Car Win in Hockett/McMillin Memorial!

Lonnie Wheatley, WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 24, 2011) – Tim Crawley had designs of sweeping the weekend’s Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway, but Eunice, Louisiana’s Jason Johnson had other ideas as he denied Crawley the top step on the podium in Saturday night’s 30-lap Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters main event at the “Diamond of Dirt Tracks”.

“The Ragin’ Cajun” gunned into the lead at the outset and then held off some fierce challenges form Crawley in the closing rounds in the fast-paced, non-stop affair to secure the $6,000 triumph aboard the Don Ott-powered Haynes/Mesilla Valley Transport/Pope Properties No. 41 Maxim.

Johnson’s 54th career ASCS National win and sixth of the year marked his fourth win in the Memorial event after topping the initial three editions of the Daniel McMillin Memorial in 2007, 2008 and 2009 before Zach Chappell topped last year’s Hockett/McMillin Memorial.

“This is the first Jesse and Daniel Memorial that I’ve won and that JJR has won, I’m at a loss for words,” Johnson explained in victory lane. “I wish those guys were here.”

Starting from the pole position, Johnson paced all 30 circuits although Crawley threatened to take his third win in a row atop the Lucas Oil Speedway clay oval in the nightcap that took just over eight minutes to complete after a rain delayed the start of the program by three hours earlier in the night.

Johnson outgunned Brian Brown at the drop of the green flag and began working through traffic at the 1/3-mark as Brown and Crawley diced for second position. Crawley picked up the pace at the midway point aboard Mike Ward’s Lucas Oil/Boater Sports No. 88 GF1, taking second away from Brown on the 16th lap and quickly moving in on Johnson for the lead.

With Johnson working the low side, Crawley motored about the upper portion of the track and challenged for the lead on the 19th circuit. But the savvy Johnson fended off the challenge by taking Crawley’s line entering turn three on the 20th round and then used traffic to his advantage over the final circuits to take the win by a 0.687-second margin.

“I saw him up there so I went up there the next time and then traffic just fell right the rest of the way,” the reigning Lucas Oil Sprint Car champion explained.

After winning Friday night’s preliminary feature, Crawley was forced to settle for runner-up honors, commenting that, “Lapped traffic really didn’t go my way, it got us a little bit here and there.”

Brown took the show position in the FVP No. 21 Maxim, conceding that, “We just got beat by two better cars tonight.”

Nebraska’s Jack Dover held down the fourth position throughout and finished there for the second night in a row aboard the Shaver-powered Thorpe’s Body Shop/Homepride Roofing No. 53 Eagle, with Jeff Swindell fifth for the second night in a row aboard the Roush/Yates Ford-powered No. 28 Maxim.

For the second night in a row, Dustin Morgan rallied from deep in the field to claim sixth, this time from 17th. Gary Wright earned a seventh-place finish, while Shane Stewart overcame a broken front end in a heat race incident to race into a transfer in “B” Main action and then climbed from 20th to eighth in the main event to preserve his Lucas Oil Sprint Car points lead.

Tony Bruce, Jr., was ninth, with Johnny Herrera completing the top ten.

Swindell, Bruce, Jr., Randy Martin, Herrera, Seth Bergman, Ty Williams, Mark Shirshekan and Jordan Boston won Saturday night’s heat races, with Morgan, Matt Covington and Nick Smith winning the “B” Mains.

Jesse Frazier flipped in turn three on the opening lap of the first “B” Main, Miranda Arnold flipped in turn two on the opening round of the second “B” Main and Josh Fisher got upside down in a turn four tangle with Tony Crank and R.J. Johnson five laps into the third “B” Main. There were no injuries.

A total of 72 different drivers competed in the Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial event over the course of the weekend including 66 in Friday’s preliminary event and 68 in Saturday night’s finale.

Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters
Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial
Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, MO)

Locked in from Friday’s Preliminary Feature:

88-Tim Crawley, 21-Brian Brown, 41-Jason Johnson, 53-Jack Dover.

Heat Races (Top 12 in Passing Points, including each heat race winner, to "A" Main; Balance to Three “B" Mains):

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 28-Jeff Swindell, 2. 12-Tyler Drueke, 3. 24-Lanny Carpenter, 4. 54-Evan Pardo, 5. 04-Brad Graham, 6. 35g-Barry Gifford, 7. 92j-J.R. Topper, 8. 71-Channin Tankersley.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 38-Cody Baker, 3. 71x-R.J. Johnson, 4. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 5. 7c-Chris Morgan, 6. 0m-Steven Richardson, 7. 5-Matt Close, 8. 2a-Randy Hibbs.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 14-Randy Martin, 2. 6-Bryan Grimes, 3. 76-Jay Russell, 4. 2-Dustin Morgan, 5. 1a-Adam Jones, 6. 11-Chad Corken, 7. 32-Charles Tankersley, 8. 17k-Kyle Carpenter.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 0-Zach Chappell, 3. 11cx-Matt Covington, 4. 81-Danny Wood, 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 6. 7j-J.D. Black, 7. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 8. 612-Isaac Schreurs.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 2. 11s-Patrick Stasa, 3. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 4. 86-Kyle Bellm, 5. 4-Evan Martin, 6. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 7. 4j-Jon Corbin, 8. 57-Shane Stewart.

Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 1-Ty Williams, 2. 9-Gary Wright, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 33-Austin Alumbaugh, 5. 9m-Josh Fisher, 6. 81au-Gavin Punch, 7. 11w-Wyatt Burks, 8. 23j-Junior Jenkins.

Heat Seven (8 Laps): 1. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 2. 775-Nick Smith, 3. 26-Rafe Essary, 4. 0x-Jeff Osborn, 5. 81a-Tony Crank, 6. 3p-Rusty Potter, 7. 28a-Jonathan Cornell, 8. 5m-Miranda Arnold.

Heat Eight (8 Laps): 1. 4b-Jordan Boston, 2. 27-Jesse Frazier, 3. 5$-Danny Smith, 4. 22-Dustin Barks, 5. 14T-Andrew Turley, 6. 8w-Jordan Whitehead. DNS: 10-Mike Trent, 09-Josh Stephens.

"B" Mains (Top 2 from Each Advance to "A" Main):

First "B" Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2-Dustin Morgan, 2. 57-Shane Stewart, 3. 6-Bryan Grimes, 4. 54-Evan Pardo, 5. 81-Danny Wood, 6. 76-Jay Russell, 7. 4-Evan Martin, 8. 14T-Andrew Turley, 9. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 10. 38-Cody Baker, 11. 0m-Steven Richardson, 12. 3p-Rusty Potter, 13. 24-Lanny Carpenter, 14. 27-Jesse Frazier. DNS: 77x-Wayne Johnson, 612-Isaac Schreurs, 71-Channin Tankersley, 10-Mike Trent.

Second “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 11cx-Matt Covington, 2. 86-Kyle Bellm, 3. 33-Austin Alumbaugh, 4. 0-Zach Chappell, 5. 26-Rafe Essary, 6. 7c-Chris Morgan, 7. 04-Brad Graham, 8. 7j-J.D. Black, 9. 11-Chad Corken, 10. 0x-Jeff Osborn, 11. 8w-Jordan Whitehead, 12. 32-Charles Tankersley, 13. 17k-Kyle Carpenter, 14. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 15. 5m-Miranda Arnold. DNS: 4j-Jon Corbin, 2a-Randy Hibbs.

Third “B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 775-Nick Smith, 2. 22-Dustin Barks, 3. 2d-Bryan Dobesh, 4. 1a-Adam Jones, 5. 11s-Patrick Stasa, 6. 5$-Danny Smith, 7. 11w-Wyatt Burks, 8. 5-Matt Close, 9. 35g-Barry Gifford, 10. 23j-Junior Jenkins, 11. 81au-Gavin Punch, 12. 92j-J.R. Topper, 13. 71x-R.J. Johnson, 14. 81a-Tony Crank, 15. 9m-Josh Fisher. DNS: 28a-Jonathan Cornell, 09-Josh Stephens.

Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial “A” Main:

“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 21-Brian Brown, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 28-Jeff Swindell, 6. 2-Dustin Morgan, 7. 9-Gary Wright, 8. 57-Shane Stewart, 9. 18-Tony Bruce, Jr., 10. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 11. 11cx-Matt Covington, 12. 23-Seth Bergman, 13. 4b-Jordan Boston, 14. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 15. 22-Dustin Barks, 16. 99-Brady Bacon, 17. 0-Zach Chappell, 18. 14-Randy Martin, 19. 12-Tyler Drueke, 20. 86-Kyle Bellm, 21. 1-Ty Williams, 22. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 23. 775-Nick Smith.

Lap Leaders: Jason Johnson 1-30.

Note: Zach Chappell utilized his mid-season bonus full-point provisional to start the main event. It was his final provisional of the year.

Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Shane Stewart 2,367, 2. Johnny Herrera 2,270 3. Jeff Swindell 2,226, 4. Tim Crawley 2,140, 5. Brady Bacon 2,125, 6. Gary Wright 2,047, 7. Seth Bergman 1,956, 8. Jason Johnson 1,951, 9. Tony Bruce, Jr. 1,889, 10. Aaron Reutzel 1,852, 11. Zach Chappell 1,671, 12. Wayne Johnson 1,326, 13. Dustin Morgan 1,121, 14. Logan Forler 1,091, 15. Jack Dover 1,087.

Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars presented by K&N Filters Owner Points (Top 15): 1. Jason Johnson Racing #41 – 2,503, 2. Paul Silva #57 – 2,367, 3. Herrera/Main #45x – 2,270, 4. Swindell Group #28 – 2,226, 5. Mike Ward #88 – 2,140, 6. Bacon/Tel-Star #99 – 2,125, 7. Petersen Motorsports #23 1,956, 8. Bruce Racing #18 – 1,889, 9. Kenny Reutzel #87 – 1,852, 10. Randy Washburn #0 – 1,671, 11. Gary Wright #9 – 1,451, 12. Bryan Sundby #38 – 1,196, 13. M&M Motorsports #2 – 1,121, 14. Steve Forler #2L – 1,091, 15. Danny Wood #81 - 904.

Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Brad Loyet 2,022, 2. Randy Martin 1,931, 3. Kyle Bellm 1,891, 4. Jonathan Cornell 1,857, 5. Mark Shirshekan 1,817, 6. Cody Baker 1,759, 7. Josh Stephens 1,532, 8. Austin Alumbaugh 1,310, 9. Tyler Blank 1,229, 10. Miranda Arnold 1,202.

*Photo - Jason Johnson is joined in Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters victory lane by Forrest Lucas (left), Jack Hockett (second from left) and a host of Hockett and McMillin family members after winning Saturday night's 30-lap Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial feature event at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO. (Joe Orth photo)

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