Brian Brown Bags O'Reilly ASCoT Triumph at Lucas Oil Speedway
by: Lonnie Wheatley

WHEATLAND, MO. (Sept. 30, 2006) – Brian Brown snared his second O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National feature victory of the season by besting a stellar field of 57 entries in Saturday night's 30-lap Winged Sprint Challenge versus the O'Reilly Winged Outlaw Warriors feature event at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Brown battled past Sean McClelland to take command on the fourth round then held off the defending ASCS Sooner Region champion to record the win aboard Tim and Gina Doogs' Ostrich-powered American Compressed Steel/Ditzfield Transfer No. 21 Maxim.

Playing partisan to the largely Missouri-based WOW crowd, Brown exclaimed that, "How about that, one of the WOW guys puttin' it on the ASCS guys here tonight", much to the crowd's delight. An interesting comment in that Saturday night marked Brown's 16th overall ASCS start of the 2006 season versus a dozen in WOW competition. It marked Brown's fifth overall ASCS feature victory of the season and his eighth in WOW action.

After racing from fifth to win the evening's second of six heat races, Brown earned the pole position for the feature event with a dominant performance in the Pole Dash.

As the green flag flew on the feature, Brown and fellow front row starter McClelland engaged in a spirited duel for the point, with McClelland holding a slight edge each time across the stripe the first three times around. All the while, Randy Martin, Jesse Hockett and Jason Johnson diced for position just behind the lead duo, with the handful racing in tight formation until Travis Rilat's turn three spin on the fourth lap precipitated a caution.

"I didn't need that caution, it killed me," McClelland explained afterward. "I was a sitting duck on that restart."

True, as Brown shot to the high side exiting turn two and raced into the lead on the backstretch before ducking back down to the bottom side to retain command. With lapped traffic in play by the eleventh round, McClelland later surrendered the runner-up slot to Johnson on the 13th round, but successfully recaptured the spot two laps later.

Brown and McClelland then distanced themselves from the rest of the pack, holding a near straightaway advantage over third-runner Johnson by the 22nd lap. A lap later, Martin battled past Johnson for third, moments before Johnson coasted to a stop in turn three with a flat right rear tire resulting from bleeder valve failure. Johnson rejoined the action after a quick tire change but could only muster a 19th-place finish.

Back under way, Brown kept McClelland at bay until approaching the tail of the field with just two laps to go. McClelland closed to Brown's rear bumper as the white flag flew but was unable to mount a challenge, settling for second aboard Wade and Allisha Wisely's Wesmar-powered Oil Capital Transportation/Rush Truck Center No. 1 Maxim.

Martin put the wraps on a second consecutive Winged Outlaw Warriors championship with a third place run aboard the Diamond Pet Foods No. 14 Maxim, with Hockett snaring fourth in the Wesmar-powered VKCC Motorsports No. 75 DRC. Aaron Berryhill rounded out the top five in the Wesmar-powered Americash Advance No. 97 Eagle.

Gavin Punch claimed sixth, with Gary Wright taking full advantage of Jason Johnson's misfortune by stretching his O'Reilly ASCoT National point lead to 58 points with a seventh place showing.

Darren Stewart crossed the stripe eighth, with Sam Hafertepe, Jr., and Jon Corbin completing the top ten.

Mike Peters, Brown, Johnson, Hockett, Stewart and Berryhill each claimed heat race wins, with Terry Hinck, Rilat and Zach Chappell capturing victory honors in the 12-lap "B" Mains.

O’Reilly ASCoT Lucas Oil Speedway Results:

Heat Races (Top 16 in passing points to “A” Main – Top 6 to Pole Dash; balance to Three "B" Mains)

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 51-Mike Peters, 2. 14-Randy Martin, 3. 21h-Terry Hinck, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 86-Eric Schrock, 6. 69p-Mike Pearson, 7. 24-Lanny Carpenter, 8. 4-Mike Chadd, 9. d12-Doc Sloan, 10. 18-Tim Newman.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 61a-Toby Brown, 3. 92-Zach Chappell, 4. 15x-Jon Corbin, 5. 1m-Skip Jackson, 6. 15s-Nick Smith, 7. 43-Frank Brown, 8. 75x-Tyler Blank, 9. 48-David Brown, 10. 72x-Tony Crank.

Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 6-Bryan Grimes, 3. 3p-Rusty Potter, 4. 5ma-Mallory Armfield, 5. 2-Ryan Marsch, 6. 12-Trey Robb, 7. d121-Casey Barnhouse, 8. 14x-Jerrod Wilson, 9. 8-Jeff Wingate, 10. 9m-Dale McCarty.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 9-Gary Wright, 3. 23F-Matthew Fox, 4. 71-Mike Trent, 5. 11-Stan Boch, 6. 15b-B.J. Fay, 7. 72-Curtis Boyer, 8. 73-Ed Wagner, 9. 7c-Chris Morgan.

Brodix Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 91-Darren Stewart, 2. 1-Sean McClelland, 3. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 4. 23-Eric Jobe, 5. 11F-Foster Landon, 6. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 7. 2a-Randy Hibbs, 8. 26-Rafe Essary, 9. 38F-Devin Frisbie.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Six (8 Laps): 1. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 2. 81au-Gavin Punch, 3. 19-Tracy Nichols, 4. 1*-Kent Buckley, 5. 53-Joe Beaver, 6. 3b-Robert Black, 7. 14v-Sean Walden, 8. 07h-Rob Hartman, 9. 11T-Tyler Thompson.

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

Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 1-Sean McClelland, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 14-Randy Martin, 5. 91-Darren Stewart, 6. 75-Jesse Hockett.

"B" Mains – Top 2 From Each Advance to “A” Main

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 21h-Terry Hinck, 2. 86-Eric Schrock, 3. 1m-Skip Jackson, 4. 12-Trey Robb, 5. 15b-B.J. Fay, 6. 3p-Rusty Potter, 7. 43-Frank Brown, 8. 26-Rafe Essary, 9. 5ma-Mallory Armfield, 10. 3b-Robert Black, 11. 48-David Brown, 12. 75x-Tyler Blank, 13. 72x-Tony Crank. DNS: 38F-Devin Frisbie.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 11F-Foster Landon, 3. 15s-Nick Smith, 4. 71-Mike Trent, 5. 2-Ryan Marsch, 6. 14x-Jerrod Wilson, 7. 14v-Sean Walden, 8. 9m-Dale McCarty, 9. 8-Jeff Wingate, 10. 72-Curtis Boyer, 11. 07h-Rob Hartman, 12. 69p-Mike Pearson. DNS: 2a-Randy Hibbs, 11T-Tyler Thompson.

Third "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 92-Zach Chappell, 2. 19-Tracy Nichols, 3. 23-Eric Jobe, 4. 53-Joe Beaver, 5. d121-Casey Barnhouse, 6. 24-Lanny Carpenter, 7. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 8. 18-Tim Newman, 9. 7c-Chris Morgan, 10. d12-Doc Sloan, 11. 73-Ed Wagner, 12. 4-Mike Chadd, 13. 11-Stan Boch.

O’Reilly ASCoT "A" Main Event:

“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 1-Sean McClelland, 3. 14-Randy Martin, 4. 75-Jesse Hockett, 5. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 6. 81au-Gavin Punch, 7. 9-Gary Wright, 8. 91-Darren Stewart, 9. 15-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 10. 15x-Jon Corbin, 11. 6-Bryan Grimes, 12. 12-Trey Robb, 13. 61a-Toby Brown, 14. 51-Mike Peters, 15. 21h-Terry Hinck, 16. 11F-Foster Landon, 17. 29-Travis Rilat, 18. 19-Tracy Nichols, 19. 41-Jason Johnson, 20. 86-Eric Schrock, 21. 3p-Rusty Potter, 22. 92-Zach Chappell, 23. 23F-Matthew Fox, 24. 15s-Nick Smith, 25. 1*-Kent Buckley.

Lap Leaders: Sean McClelland 1-3, Brian Brown 4-30.

Note: Nick Smith and Trey Robb utilized O'Reilly ASCoT provisionals for the "A" Main, while Curtis Boyer utilized an O'Reilly Winged Outlaw Warriors provisional for the "A" Main.

O’Reilly ASCoT Points (Top Fifteen): 1. Gary Wright 2,884, 2. Jason Johnson 2,826, 3. Jesse Hockett 2,805, 4. Nick Smith 2,765, 5. Travis Rilat 2,730, 6. Sean McClelland 2,598, 7. Darren Stewart 2,442, 8. Trey Robb 2,407, 9. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 2,280, 10. Tony Bruce, Jr. 2,100, 11. Jan Howard 1,940, 12. Abe Sherwood 1,862, 13. Zach Chappell 1,846, 14. Jerrod Hull 1,340, 15. Kevin Ramey 1,263.