Jason Johnson is ASCS Knoxville King
Friday, June 20, 2008
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 20) Jason Johnson of Eunice, Lousianna captured the 25-lap American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) feature event at Knoxville Raceway Friday night. The event was part of the American Sprint Cars on Tour (ASCoT) National series northern swing. The event was also paired with the 7th annual Knoxville Midget Nationals.
Johnson got the jump on fellow front row starter Jesse Giannetto when the green flag dropped to start the race. Right away Wayne Johnson (no relation) filled in right behind him from a second row start. Giannetto ran a close third.
A brief but steady shower prior to the six o’clock hour forced the racing to get a late start as the first flight of hot laps were not pushed off until 8:05 p.m. With a full slate of midget races being contested, the mighty Knoxville half mile became hard and dry slick. Most drivers found the high cushion to be the fastest way around on this night.
By lap five, Johnson had moved into lap traffic as he headed into turn three. W. Johnson began to try various ways to pass for the lead including sliders in turns one and two. He was never more than five car lengths behind as he trailed the top spot.
It was lap 10 which saw W. Johnson take the lead in lap traffic as he rode the high side in traffic. J. Johnson had chosen the bottom but W. Johnson’s momentum out of turn four gave him the push he needed to take the lead as he shot down the front stretch. It was right after that lead change that he began to blow smoke from his sprinter.
The backmarkers proved to be an asset to Johnson as he was able to place at least two cars between himself and the runner-up car. He began to put some distance between himself and W. Johnson.
Lap 17 proved to be the demise of Wayne Johnson as his engine went up in smoke going into turn three. The yellow came out and he was pushed to the infield gaining an 18th position finish.
With lap cars left in the realignment, Jason Johnson was able to pull away from the field on the restart. By the 20th circuit he had an entire chute gap between himself and second place. In the waning laps of the race, Brian Brown was able to pass Giannetto to take the runner-up spot.
As Johnson took the $3,000 checkered flag, Brown was flying into turn three. Giannetto held for third, Garry Lee Maier was fourth and Jake Peters came from a 12th position start to take fifth. Amazingly Josh Higday drove from the tail of the 24-car field to finish sixth. Rounding out the top ten were Zach Chappell, Gregg Bakker (from 22nd), Gary Wright (from 21st) and Dustin Selvage (from 17th). Fifty-three cars took part in the events.
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