Johnson & Coniam Enter Clean-O World Challenge
Friday, June 24, 2005
It’s hard to believe, but recent Clean-O World Challenge entrants Jason Johnson of Eunice, Louisiana, and Ryan Coniam of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, will both be ‘event rookies’ in this year’s $10,000-to-win international invitational at Knoxville Raceway on Friday night, August 12. Johnson is a fan favorite in Australia and Coniam is considered one of eastern Canada’s young guns, but neither has ever competed in the world-class pageantry of the Clean-O World Challenge during the Knoxville Sprint Car National Championships in Iowa.
The entries by Johnson and Coniam, combined with the previously received twelve entries, makes 2005 appear to be a record-breaking year for the $40,000 event that previously was known as the Kele World Challenge. Seventeen international driving stars competed in the largest-ever 2002 affair, which is traditionally the finale of the Friday night Nationals program. This year, it will be entirely possible to find twenty-two drivers from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand take Doug Clark’s green flag in the ninth point-paying round of the Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Southern Iowa SprintWeek “Mr. Sprint Car” title chase.
Jason Johnson will compete in the special challenge race in the Jim and Sandy Kline-owned J&S Fabrications/Randy Shearer Heating & Plumbing-sponsored Ott-powered J&J number 22J sprinter. Ryan Coniam will be competing in the BanCon Racing-owned Eagle sprint car number 46. The Kriner-powered sprinter sports sponsorship from BanCon Racing, Kriner’s Racing Engines, Quaker State, and Eldorado Logistics. Both drivers are hoping to secure starting spots in the front eight rows of the field, which will be inverted based on qualifying night Nationals points. Both Clean-O World Challenge rookies will be joined by fellow event rookies, and native New Zealanders, Jamie McDonald, Bill Clarkson, Jr., and Ben Finemore.
For more information on the Clean-O World Challenge at the Knoxville Raceway, individuals should visit the websites at www.fleetbuyinggroup.com and www.knoxvilleraceway.com , respectively.
Clean-O World Challenge entrants (as of 06/23):
#1X, Randy Hannagan, Pittsboro, Indiana, USA, Hurricane/Gaerte, 1st – 1999.
#2AU, A.J. “Skip” Jackson, Sydney, NSW, AUS, J&J/Shaver, 1st – 1995, ’97, ’98.
#NZ3, Jamie McDonald, Birkenhead Point, North Island, NZ, TBA/TBA, Rookie.
#4AU, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, AUS, J&J/Kinser, 6th – 2002.
#6NZ, Bill Clarkson (Jr.), Auckland, North Island, NZ, Maxim/TBA, Rookie.
#15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, J&J/Shaver, 1st – 2001, ‘02.
#20, Stevie Walsh, North Shore City, North Island, NZ, J&J/Frey, 13th – 2004.
#21, Daryn Pittman, Pittsboro, Indiana, USA, Maxim/Titan, 1st – 2004.
#22, Billy Alley, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, Eagle/Wesmar, 14th – 2004.
#22J, Jason Johnson, Eunice, Louisiana, USA, J&J/Ott, Rookie.
#26, Shane Stewart, Bixby, Oklahoma, USA, Maxim/Wesmar, 16th - 2004.
#46, Ryan Coniam, Burlington, Ontario, CAN, Eagle/Kriner, Rookie.
#55, Kerry Madsen, Sydney, NSW, AUS, Cool/Wesmar, 6th – 2000.
TBA, Ben Finemore, Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand, TBA/TBA, Rookie.
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