Jason Johnson
While Johnson officially led all 30 circuits, he had to withstand heavy pressure through traffic much of the way before collecting a series’ best seventh feature win of the season aboard Lanny Row’s Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports/Custom Equipment Design No. 41 Eagle.
“I let one get away from us here a couple of months ago so I had to make this one to the crew,” Johnson explained in reference to the May 3 event in which he led until the white flag lap.
Just as in the May 3 event, Johnson gridded the feature field outside the front row. And after outgunning polesitter Garry Lee Maier for the point at the drop of the green, “The Ragin’ Cajun” tried to check out.
But Maier had other ideas. As did Gary Taylor, who surged from 12th to fourth in the opening three laps, along with Jack Dover and Wayne Johnson, all of whom were in the mix over the final half of the race.
Maier proved to be Johnson’s biggest threat, slicing away at an early six car-length advantage as lapped traffic came into play ten laps in. Looking for his first series win of the year, Maier shadowed Johnson through traffic with Washington state native Taylor making it a three-car breakaway by the midway point.
Looking for the ideal opportunity for several rounds, Maier was finally able to pull alongside Johnson through turns three and four on the 21st circuit in a bid for the lead. But Johnson fought off the challenge and then made a swift maneuver between a pair of cars a lap later to open a bit of breathing room.
“Last time, I stayed up high and gave the race away,” Johnson explained. “Then I saw Garry Lee there underneath me and knew I had to search around some. I did that for a little bit but it didn’t seem quite as good so I decided to get back up top and pound the cushion the last few laps.”
That strategy, coupled with a pair of cautions over the final seven laps, proved good enough for Johnson to post his 35th career ASCS National Tour victory.
Johnson initially slipped away from the field after a lap 23 caution for Kenneth Walker’s cut right rear tire. Maier’s strong outing aboard Scott Brown’s ASI-powered Lubbock Wrecker Service No. 11x Maxim came to a premature end soon after when he lost power in turn four on the 27th lap.
Johnson dashed away to nearly a half straightaway victory over the final three-lap charge to the stripe, with Gary Taylor recording a career-best ASCoT National finish of second aboard Mike and Megan Eubanks’ Wesmar-powered Tel-Star Communications No. 5* Triple-X.
Wayne Johnson slid around Dover in the final stages to snare the show position in Mike and Tim Hammers’ Wesmar-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Maxim, with Dover fourth in the Eckley-powered 3D Auto Transport No. 53 Eagle.
Gary Wright gained a pair of positions to round out the top five in the Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction/Whiteco Commercial Funding No. 9 Maxim. Wright gave up ten more points to Jason Johnson in the series $50,000 championship points race and now enters the 16th Annual Toyota Tundra ASCS Speedweek with a meager eight point lead.
Zach Chappell was in the mix all the way before finishing sixth, with Josh Fisher racing from 14th to snare seventh.
Competing in the event held in honor of his departed cousin, Daniel McMillin, Jesse Hockett utilized a provisional starting position for the “A” Main and blitzed the top side of the track to race from 25th to eighth.
Kyle Bellm crossed the stripe ninth, with Jonathan Cornell completing the top ten.
Wright, Chappell, Jason Johnson, Dustin Barks and Mike Trent topped heat race action for the 41-car field, with Jon Corbin and Eric Baldaccini winning the twin “B” Mains.
O’Reilly ASCoT Daniel McMillin Memorial Results from Lake Ozark Speedway:
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to “A” Main; Balance to Two “B” Mains):
Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 3. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 4. 14-Randy Martin, 5. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 6. 6-Bryan Grimes, 7. 88-J. Kinder, 8. 29-Eric Todd, 9. 19s-Steven Cross.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 1p-Curtis Evans, 5. 48-David Brown, 6. 10T-Clint Todd, 7. 1-Brad Roberts, 8. 8-Jeff Wingate.
Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 4J-Jon Corbin, 4. 86-Josh Fisher, 5. 75-Tyler Blank, 6. 88e-Jason Evans, 7. 4-Evan Martin, 8. 9c-Tony Crank.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 22-Dustin Barks, 2. 21h-Terry Hinck, 3. 15s-Nick Smith, 4. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 23F-Matt Fox, 6. 77-Jesse Hockett, 7. 2-Ryan Marsch, 8. 1x-Brad Ryun.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Trent, 2. 2w-Kenneth Walker, 3. 5*-Gary Taylor, 4. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 5. 04-Brad Graham, 6. 13-Kathryne Minter, 7. 38-Cody Baker, 8. 72-Curtis Boyer.
“B” Mains – Top 3 From Each to “A” Main:
First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 4J-Jon Corbin, 2. 14-Randy Martin, 3. 1p-Curtis Evans, 4. 88e-Jason Evans, 5. 38-Cody Baker, 6. 77-Jesse Hockett, 7. 4-Evan Martin, 8. 19s-Steven Cross, 9. 8-Jeff Wingate, 10. 04-Brad Graham, 11. 48-David Brown, 12. 88-J. Kinder. DNS: 1x-Brad Ryun.
Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 2. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 3. 23F-Matt Fox, 4. 6-Bryan Grimes, 5. 29-Eric Todd, 6. 10T-Clint Todd, 7. 13-Kathryne Minter, 8. 2-Ryan Marsch, 9. 75-Tyler Blank, 10. 9c-Tony Crank, 11. 72-Curtis Boyer, 12. 1-Brad Roberts.
O’Reilly ASCoT “A” Main Event:
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 5*-Gary Taylor, 3. 94-Wayne Johnson, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 9-Gary Wright, 6. 50z-Zach Chappell, 7. 86-Josh Fisher, 8. 77-Jesse Hockett, 9. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 10. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 11. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 12. 10-Mike Trent, 13. 22-Dustin Barks, 14. 2w-Kenneth Walker, 15. 15s-Nick Smith, 16. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 17. 4J-Jon Corbin, 18. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 19. 14-Randy Martin, 20. 21h-Terry Hinck, 21. 1p-Curtis Evans, 22. 9c-Tony Crank, 23. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 24. 13-Kathryne Minter, 25. 23F-Matt Fox.
Lap Leaders: Jason Johnson 1-30.
Note: Kathryne Minter utilized an ASCoT provisional, Tony Crank utilized a WOW provisional and Jesse Hockett utilized a McMillin Memorial provisional to start the “A” Main.
O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Fifteen): 1. Gary Wright 2,249, 2. Jason Johnson 2,241, 3. Wayne Johnson 2,177, 4. Zach Chappell 2,107, 5. Garry Lee Maier 1,968, 6. Eric Baldaccini 1,829, 7. Nick Smith 1,713, 8. Jack Dover 1,648, 9. Kenneth Walker 1,615, 10. Travis Rilat 1,364, 11. Kathryne Minter 1,341, 12. Gary Taylor 1,263, 13. Aaron Berryhill 1,174, 14. Jason Sides 1,130, 15. Don Droud, Jr. 902.