Jason Johnson picks up Brodix Tournament of Champions Win at Knoxville Raceway
Monday, August 4, 2008
By Bob Wilson
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 3) Jason Johnson completed what might be called the Johnson & Johnson (J & J) weekend as he led nearly all the way to claim the 10th annual Brodix Tournament of Champions at Knoxville Raceway Sunday night. J & J because he had won the Thursday night feature, Wayne Johnson (no relation) had claimed Friday and Saturday and now he placed his name in the books on Sunday.
Second row starter Gary Taylor looked excellent in the beginning stages of the 30-lap event when he took the lead running the low line in turns three and four on the first circuit. He continued to run the bottom with Tim Crawley and J. Johnson in tow.
Suddenly on the fourth go around Taylor slowed as he coasted around turn four and stopped just past the pit gate. Rear end problems were encountered and he did not restart. One more lap was run and the yellow flag was shown once again for Wayne Johnson, who just 24 hours earlier had won the Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals on this very track. A dirt clod had lodged under the foot throttle and he was able to restart.
Two more laps and a third yellow waved for Jack Dover. He did not restart.
Once the race went green again it stayed that way for a number of laps. The top five cars all stayed on the cushion which had moved precariously close to Knoxville’s tall fences. On that restart, Alley was able to gain the runner-up spot with a slider in turn three. The top five at this point showed J. Johnson, Alley, Crawley, Brian Brown and Randy Martin.
At the five mile mark Johnson had managed to create a 15 car-length advantage between himself and Alley. Oddly, Johnson tried the low side in turns three and four. This strategy allowed Alley to catch him, or at least trail at a short distance. On lap 14, as Johnson and Alley pulled away from their nearest competitor, they began to encounter lap traffic. Quickly Brown made a pass of Crawley to gain the third running spot.
The last yellow appeared on laps sixteen when fourth running Crawley lost a right rear tire, sending him into the fence between the turns 3-4 scoreboard. It did not severely damage his car but he was unable to restart.
On the restart the top five stayed the same as all were running the high groove once they sorted it out from turns one and two. Johnson had pulled out to a 20 car-length advantage with ten laps to go in his Lanny Row Eagle.
Lap traffic again appeared on lap twenty-three, but Johnson was able to maneuver through it with masterful ease and began to pull away from Alley. Incredibly, Wayne Johnson, who had gone to the tail of the 30-car field after lap five, was now in seventh place.
The 28th circuit saw W. Johnson gain fourth, but that was as far as he would get on this night. At the end of 30 circuits it was J. Johnson winning by 15 car lengths and gaining a payday of $5,000. Alley was second for $3,000, Brown took third and $2,000 while W. Johnson settled for fourth and $1,500. Fifth went to Don Droud, Jr. Rounding out thetop ten finishers were Randy Martin, Dustin Daggett, Travis Rilat who started 22nd, David Hall and Josh Higday.
In the race for association point standing for the tournament, first went to ASCoT, second to Knoxville Cup and third to ASCS Midwest.
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