Brian Brown Wins Cowtown Nationals!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Brown Bags ASCoT Bucks in Inaugural Cowtown Sprint Nationals!
Lonnie Wheatley, KENNEDALE, Texas (October 11, 2008) – Brian Brown's first weekend of O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series competition as both car owner and driver paid dividends in the form of the Inaugural Cowtown Sprint Nationals championship following a stirring victory in Saturday night's 35-lap main event.
And, the Grain Valley, MO, racer snared the $5,000 winner's share in dramatic fashion to boot, wrangling the lead away from current series points leader Jason Johnson as the white flag flew over the high-banked, ¼-mile Cowtown Speedway clay oval.
Brown held on over the final circuit to secure a narrow win over Johnson, with Nebraska teen Jack Dover rallying from ten rows deep to claim the show position.
Brown led the feature field to the green flag from the pole position aboard his Ostrich-powered Super Clean No. 21 Maxim and paced the opening round in front of fellow front row starter Jason Johnson after the initial start was waved off.
Brown's early lead was short-lived however, as Johnson charged by on the topside of the track to take command on the second round.
Pursuing an eleventh ASCoT National win of the year, Johnson reached lapped traffic by the seventh round as he slipped away from Brown, with Kenneth Walker, Nick Smith and Gary Wright dicing for third.
With the leaders navigating heavy lapped traffic, Zach Chappell replaced Smith in the top five by the 15th circuit only to have 19th-starting Dover take fifth away from Chappell by the time the race's first caution flew after 17 rounds for Eric Baldaccini's stalled mount in turn one.
Three more cautions slowed the proceedings over the next half dozen rounds, including one for a turn three spin by Chappell, with Dover blasting past Walker for fourth along the way and then taking third away from Wright by the 23rd lap.
While Dover and Wright swapped the third position a pair of times behind the leaders, Brown moved in on Johnson's tail tank once again following the race's final caution after 31 rounds for Travis Rilat.
Johnson again set sail as action resumed and appeared to be destined for victory lane until moving to the upper reaches of the track on the 34th lap. Johnson's lead quickly vanished as Brown took quick advantage, pulling alongside exiting turn four on the low side and into the lead as the white flag flew.
Brown surged in front through turns one and two on the final circuit and worked the final corners to perfection to become the 14th different driver of the year to post an ASCS National Tour victory through 29 nights of action.
Brown's fourth career ASCS National Tour feature win came in front of Johnson, who settled for runner-up honors in Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports No. 41 Eagle after leading 32 of the 35 laps.
Dover, the 18-year-old ASCS Midwest Region champion from Springfield, NE, climbed 16 positions to finish third in the Eckley-powered 3D Auto Transport No. 53 Eagle, with Wright fourth in the Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction No. 9 Maxim.
Wayne Johnson earned Hard Charger honors by racing from 22nd to round out the top five in Mike and Tim Hammers' Fisher-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Maxim, with Kenneth Walker, Nick Smith, Ray Allen Kulhanek, 23rd-starter Gary Taylor and Brian McClelland completing the top ten.
McClelland earned his second consecutive American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region championship with the tenth place finish, earning the title by a scant seven-point margin over eleventh-place finisher Kolt Walker.
Matt Covington, Chappell, Baldaccini, Garry Lee Maier, Kulhanek and Brad Welborn each posted heat race victories on Saturday night, with Trey Robb, Billy Melton and Jack Dover victorious in the "B" Mains.
Chad Wilson got upside down in turn four in the third heat race and was done for the night.
O'Reilly ASCoT Inaugural Cowtown Sprint Nationals Results:
Locked in from Friday Night's Preliminary Feature:
81au-Gavin Punch, 21-Brian Brown, 9-Gary Wright, 41-Jason Johnson.
Heat Races (Top 12 in Passing Points to "A" Main; Balance to 3 "B" Mains):
Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 2. 1r-Scott Reneau, 3. 11-Justin Melton, 4. 94-Wayne Johnson, 5. 53-Jack Dover, 6. 45-J.P. Bailey, 7. 79h-Ryan Hall, 8. 55-David Doyle.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 50z-Zach Chappell, 2. 2-Kenneth Walker, 3. 187-Billy Melton, 4. 22-Koby Barksdale, 5. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 6. 80-James McNeil, 7. 69h-Larry Howery.
Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 2. 15s-Nick Smith, 3. 45k-Kolt Walker, 4. 0-Dusty Murray, 5. 5*-Gary Taylor, 6. 20-Chad Wilson. DNS: 9*-Brian Parker.
Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 2. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 1s-Trey Robb, 4. 35-Greg Rilat, 5. 14b-Robert Byrom, 6. 39-Marvin Lough, 7. 85-Jerry Bell.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 14-Michael Lang, 4. 13-Kathryne Minter, 5. 20x-Jamie Will, 6. 15b-Michael Brown, 7. 74e-Claud Estes.
Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 17w-Brad Welborn, 2. 87x-Brian McClelland, 3. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 4. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 5. 76-John Ricketts, 6. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 7. 31-Matt Clevenger.
"B" Mains (Top 2 From Each Advance to "A" Main):
First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 1s-Trey Robb, 2. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 3. 45-J.P. Bailey, 4. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 5. 39-Marvin Lough, 6. 79h-Ryan Hall, 7. 35-Greg Rilat, 8. 0-Dusty Murray, 9. 74e-Claud Estes. DNS: 5*-Gary Taylor, 9*-Brian Parker.
Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 187-Billy Melton, 2. 22-Koby Barksdale, 3. 11-Justin Melton, 4. 69h-Larry Howery, 5. 13-Kathryne Minter, 6. 31-Matt Clevenger, 7. 15b-Michael Brown, 8. 80-James McNeil, 9. 20x-Jamie Will, 10. 1r-Scott Reneau.
Third "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 4. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 5. 76-John Ricketts, 6. 14b-Robert Byrom, 7. 55-David Doyle, 8. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 9. 85-Jerry Bell. DNS: 20-Chad Wilson.
O’Reilly ASCoT Cowtown Sprint Nationals "A" Main Event:
“A” Feature (35 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 9-Gary Wright, 5. 94-Wayne Johnson, 6. 2-Kenneth Walker, 7. 15s-Nick Smith, 8. 41k-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 9. 5*-Gary Taylor, 10. 87x-Brian McClelland, 11. 45k-Kolt Walker, 12. 1s-Trey Robb, 13. 95-Matt Covington, 14. 50z-Zach Chappell, 15. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 16. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 17. 29-Travis Rilat, 18. 81au-Gavin Punch, 19. 11x-Garry Lee Maier, 20. 22-Koby Barksdale, 21. 13-Kathryne Minter, 22. 14-Michael Lang, 23. 187-Billy Melton, 24. 17w-Brad Welborn.
Lap Leaders: Brian Brown 1, Jason Johnson 2-33, Brian Brown 34-35.
Note: Gary Taylor and Kathryne Minter utilized ASCoT provisionals to start the "A" Main.
O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Fifteen): 1. Jason Johnson 3,547, 2. Gary Wright 3,454, 3. Wayne Johnson 3,399, 4. Zach Chappell 3,341, 5. Garry Lee Maier 3,077, 6. Eric Baldaccini 2,925, 7. Nick Smith 2,858, 8. Kenneth Walker 2,586, 9. Travis Rilat 2,529, 10. Gary Taylor 2,347, 11. Kathryne Minter 2,160, 12. Jack Dover 2,017, 13. Matt Covington 1,729, 14. Aaron Berryhill 1,324, 15. Brian Brown 1,323.
American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region Points (Final Top Ten): 1. Brian McClelland 2,527, 2. Kolt Walker 2,520, 3. Joe Wood, Jr. 2,450, 4. Matt Covington 2,402, 5. Justin Melton 2,100, 6. Michael Brown 2,058, 7. Gary Taylor 2,038, 8. Eric Baldaccini 1,657, 9. Sherman Davis 1,543, 10. Zach Chappell 1,372.
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