Upper Midwest Ramblings from the ASCS North
Friday, June 22, 2007
by Justin Zoch - Although it may not have been the rousing success they were courting (a decent but meager crowd, a lower-than-anticipated car count of 21), the ASCoT National Tour stop at North Central Motor Speedway, just to the south of Brainerd, eventually produced a race for the lead, a charge from the back and a little on-track intrigue between a young man and a young lady from North Dakota. I use eventually because for hot laps, three heats, a dash and a myriad of modified events, the track was parched, dusty and utterly useless and nearly untraceable. But, as with most events, produce a good feature and all is forgiven.
Wayne Johnson earned the victor’s spoils by passing fellow front row starter Jason Johnson on the first lap and he settled in to take the win. The win was Wayne’s third ASCS tour win of the year but his first since Oklahoma City on March 24. Johnson now has seven wins total for H&H Enterprises but he’s still looking to get one in the FattFro 410 car… The top four Wayne Johnson, Jason Johnson, Gary Wright and Travis Rilat have now accounted for 16 of the 19 wins on the tour this year [Jason has five, Wayne has three, Wright has six and Rilat has two] and only wins by Terry McCarl at East Bay, Jake Peters at Devils Bowl and Chuck Hebing at Black Rock have stained the foursome’s record… Jody Rosenboom made the most prolific charge through the field, treading lightly on the high side of turns one and two to make up the most ground, but his charged stalled in seventh after a spirited duel with Curt Lund. Rosenboom was in the Layton K9 and spent his night on the phone with his father Randy, who was running his USMTS Modified at Huset’s (which was well attended from reports). Rosenboom has won half of the 360 features at Huset’s this year and has added wins at Lake County and Rock Rapids, too.
Clint Garner finished fifth at Brainerd in Jason Johnson’s Mighty Mouse 27. Garner is a proud papa, as of last Saturday when he welcome Cole into the world. Congrats to the Garners… Clint was one of several drivers planning to run Owatonna’s Thursday night program before the race was canceled due to eminent rain showers (in addition to the four inches they had Wednesday night). Travis Rilat, Jake Leighty, Rosenboom, Bill Balog and Ryan Bickett were also on hand before the cancellation. The next event there is a Tri-Star Late Model challenge race on Monday, July 9… The last time Sye Anderson raced at his home track in Brainerd was against the IRA, where he put his 360 into the A-main against the traveler’s 410s… Nice to see John Franzen hanging around the pits again and he relates that he still has some Sprint parts laying around his shop but it does not sound like we’ll see the 35 out on the track again anytime soon… Roger Rager was also in the pit area and he said there is a chance he’ll return this year with the help of Tom Loucks of Loucks & Associates, who is still sorting out the aftermath of Lindquist quitting Guy Forbrook’s ride. Time will tell when, and if, Rager returns to the racetrack.
Lots of destruction at Cedar Lake most likely kept away Tony Norem, Scott Winters and Leigh Thomas, who survived one of the wildest rides the photogs present had seen in a long time… Speaking of wild ones, Foster Landon took his 11F out of the track in the first heat and landed down the banking. Aside from being a little woozy and very temporary blindness, Landon was alright and they put the car back together for the A-main. Afterwards, he was limping slightly as he climbed out of the car… Chuck Swenson had a rough night and was a non-factor after his throttle stuck in the heat race (Swenson spun the car intentionally before ‘he killed himself or someone else”) and started near the rear of the field. Swenson was headed home to ready for Saturday’s ASCS race at Huron… Natalie Sather was visibly upset with Mike Sitzman Jr. after an on track tangle that left Sather looking for a wrecker. She jumped out of the car and wagged an angry finger at Sitzman when he rolled by under yellow… Adam Main has towed across the Rockies for the first time and he’ll be racing around the Upper Midwest for the next month or so and plans to stay until the Knoxville 360 Nationals. The youngster brought a trailer full of a Sprint Car parts and a head fresh to learn new tracks, new tricks and will be a nice addition to fields, including Knoxville and Eagle this week.
That’s it for now. Will try to get back to regular columns again after taking a few weeks off to prepare the latest FlatOut and, well, go to the beach. Keep me posted of what I should be writing about in this space at jzoch@threewidemedia.com.
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