Cajun Rages to O'Reilly ASCoT Victory Lane at Crawford County
BY: Lonnie Wheatley

DENISON, Iowa (June 16, 2007) – Louisiana's Jason Johnson kicked off the inaugural ASCS Northern Plains Speedweek with a commanding wire-to-wire victory in Saturday night's 25-lap O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National feature at Crawford County Speedway.

Johnson gunned into the lead from the pole position at the outset and paced the field all the way aboard Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports/Custom Equipment Design No. 41 Eagle, ultimately taking the checkered flag with a half straightaway advantage over Travis Rilat to strengthen his position in the series $50,000 championship points race.

After starting fifth, Rilat battled past 22-year-old Natalie Sather for second on the third round and tried to chase down "The Ragin' Cajun". But even when lapped traffic came into play after eleven rounds, Rilat could come no closer than ten car-lengths.

Johnson weathered one caution along the way, a quick yellow for Jason Danley who came to a stop in turn four after 14 laps. It was the only caution of the night in a cleanly executed program.

Johnson set sail on the restart and raced to his fourth ASCS National Tour win of the season and 23rd of his career unabated to close to within 53 points of current leader Gary Wright and 29 points of second-ranked Wayne Johnson.

After making the 26-hour drive from Alger, WA, after Thursday night, Rilat crossed the stripe second in the Motor Mike-powered F&J Construction No. 29 Triple XXX.

Sather held the show position until the final corner, when Wayne Johnson snuck by to snare third in Mike and Tim Hammers' Wesmar-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Eagle, with Sather settling for fourth in Brad Sather's Shaver-powered Gateway Chevrolet No. 94s J&J. Sather took over the ASCS Midwest Region points lead with her second top-five National Tour finish of the year.

Three-time series champion Gary Wright rounded out the top five in the Wesmar-powered Whiteco Commercial Funding/Richwood Construction No. 9 Maxim, with reigning ASCS Northern Plains Region champion Chuck Swenson crossing the stripe sixth.

Wade Nygaard, as ASCS Midwest vs. Northern Plains Regional winner at Crawford County last year, slipped around Lee Grosz in the final laps to claim seventh, with 19-year-old Grosz settling for eighth.

Defending ASCS Midwest Region champion Toby Chapman was ninth, with Ryan Anderson advancing a half-dozen positions to complete the top ten.

Jason Johnson, Sather and Swenson each topped heat race action.

The inaugural ASCS Northern Plains Speedweek featuring the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series resumes on Tuesday night at I-90 Speedway in Hartford, SD, before moving on to North Central Speedway in Brainerd, MN, on Wednesday and then concluding next Saturday night at Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, SD.

O’Reilly ASCoT Northern Plains Speedweek Round 1 Results from Crawford County Speedway:



Heat Races:

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 4J-Lee Grosz, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 11F-Foster Landon, 5. 82-Jason Danley, 6. 71R-Ryan Anderson.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 94s-Natalie Sather, 2. 94-Wayne Johnson, 3. 9n-Wade Nygaard, 4. 7m-Chad Meyer, 5. 13-Seth Brahmer, 6. 5-Eric Lutz.

Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. X-Chuck Swenson, 2. 9-Gary Wright, 3. 84-Toby Chapman, 4. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 5. 9L-Micah Schliemann, 6. 30-Joe Miller, 7. 20-Casey Frederickson.

Pole Dash (Finishing Order Determines Front Three Rows of “A” Main):

Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 94s-Natalie Sather, 3. X-Chuck Swenson, 4. 94-Wayne Johnson, 5. 29-Travis Rilat, 6. 9-Gary Wright.

O’Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Results from Crawford County Speedway:

“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 94-Wayne Johnson, 4. 94s-Natalie Sather, 5. 9-Gary Wright, 6. X-Chuck Swenson, 7. 9n-Wade Nygaard, 8. 4J-Lee Grosz, 9. 84-Toby Chapman, 10. 71R-Ryan Anderson, 11. 7m-Chad Meyer, 12. 9L-Micah Schliemann, 13. 11F-Foster Landon, 14. 13-Seth Brahmer, 15. 30-Joe Miller, 16. 5-Eric Lutz, 17. 82-Jason Danley, 18. 11x-Gregg Bakker, 19. 20-Casey Frederickson.

Lap Leaders: Jason Johnson 1-25.

O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Ten): 1. Gary Wright 2,108, 2. Wayne Johnson 2,084, 3. Jason Johnson 2,055, 4. Travis Rilat 1,997, 5. Foster Landon 1,782, 6. Darren Stewart 1,781, 7. Andy Shouse 1,559, 8. Chris Schmelzle 1,318, 9. Johnny Miller 1,047, 10. Nick Smith 832.

ASCS Midwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Natalie Sather 664, 2. Chuck Swenson 639, 3. Toby Chapman 606, 4. Jason Danley 582, 5. Don Droud, Jr. 538, 6. Brian Brown 528, 7. Rick Ideus 473, 8. Mike Boston 424, 9. Ryan Anderson 414, 10. Mark Pace 401.