Swenson Swipes ASCS Regional Showdown Finale at I-80 Speedway
by: Lonnie Wheatley

GREENWOOD, Neb. (April 15, 2007) – Brian Brown had his sights set on a sweep of the weekend's American Sprint Car Series Midwest vs. Northern Plains Region double at Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway, but Chuck Swenson was quick to capitalize on Brown's early misfortune and went on to win Sunday night's 20-lap feature.

Swenson assumed the point when Brown surrendered the lead with a broken rear end on the fifth circuit, then held off a closing Don Droud, Jr., by five car-lengths to secure the win aboard the Fisher-powered K&C Conversions/Nichols Construction No. X Maxim.

“I like tracks like this!" Swenson exclaimed in victory lane. "It was dry but it was fast. Everyone ran clean tonight and no one really tore anything up to bad and that’s good. The key to this deal is to draw good and then qualify through your heat. The crew did a great job and the car was real good tonight.”

Swenson and Brown led the feature field to the green flag, with Brown gunning into the early lead. It was a short-lived lead however, as mechanical woes denied Brown a sweep of the weekend's action on the fifth lap.

Out in front, Swenson began working lapped traffic on the ninth round and held a half straightaway lead with five laps to go. With the reigning ASCS Northern Plains Region champion mired in heavy traffic over the final two rounds, Droud closed to with a handful of car-lengths but was unable to make a move on Swenson.

Wayne Johnson chased the lead duo to the stripe, with Mike Boston snaring fourth. Jack Dover climbed from eleventh to round out the top five, with Wade Nygaard, Scott Winters, Rick Ideus, 14th-starter Garry Lee Maier and Preston Peebles II completing the top ten.

Lee Grosz passed the most cars in the feature by advancing from 19th to finish twelfth.

Droud, Boston, Ideus, Brown and Johnson topped heat race action for Sunday night's 48 car field, with Dover and Winters winning the twin "B" Mains.

Adam Gullion's night was cut short when he flipped in hot laps. Gullion was uninjured.

ASCS Midwest vs. Northern Plains Region Results from I-80 Speedway:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Don Droud, Jr., 2. X-Chuck Swenson, 3. 94S-Natalie Sather, 4. 99V-Gordy Vogelaar, 5. 98-J.D. Johnson, 6. 00-Larry Pinegar II, 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 8. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 9. 57-Allan Unruh, 10. 7-Roger Sundquist.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 51x-Mike Boston, 2. 2D-Stu Snyder, 3. 82-Jason Danley, 4. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 5. 43-A.J. Selenke, 6. 76-Jay Russell, 7. 28-Ken Klabunde, 8. 31-Mark Pace, 9. 8B-Bobby Becker. DNS: 9M-Ricky Montgomery.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 5-Rick Ideus, 2. 11P-Preston Peebles II, 3. 4J-Lee Grosz, 4. 53X-Joe Beaver, 5. 87-Curt Lund, 6. 27-Patrick Bourke, 7. 31RB- Derek Drown, 8. 5X-Dave Glennon, 9. 5L-Eric Lutz, 10. 1M-Skip Jackson.

Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 53-Jack Dover, 3. 18-Ryan Roberts, 4. 4-Mike Chadd, 5. 81-Jon Freeman, 6. 17-Gage Dorr, 7. 9J-Mark Schmidt, 8. 20G-Chris Graf. DNS: 96KX-Adam Gullion.

Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 94-Wayne Johnson, 2. 11X-Garry Lee Maier, 3. 40-Clint Garner, 4. 6-Jody Rosenboom, 5. R19-Scott Winters, 6. 84-Toby Chapman, 7. 51-Mike Peters, 8. 20G-Chris Graf, 9. 99-Shawn Van Wyhe.

First B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 4-Mike Chadd, 3. 43-A.J. Selenke, 4. 53X-Joe Beaver, 5. 4J-Lee Grosz, 6. 87-Curt Lund, 7. 6-Jody Rosenboom, 8. 82-Jason Danley, 9. 51-Mike Peters, 10. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 11. 5L-Eric Lutz, 12. 31RB- Derek Drown, 13. 76-Jay Russell, 14. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 15. 27-Patrick Bourke, 16. 57-Allan Unruh, 17. 7-Roger Sundquist. DNS: 20G-Chris Graf, 9M-Ricky Montgomery.

Second B Feature (12 Laps): 1. R19-Scott Winters, 2. 40-Clint Garner, 3. 11X-Garry Lee Maier, 4. 00-Larry Pinegar II, 5. 1M-Skip Jackson, 6. 81-Jon Freeman, 7. 98-J.D. Johnson, 8. 84-Toby Chapman, 9. 99-Shawn Van Wyhe, 10. 20-Dusty Ballenger, 11. 31-Mark Pace, 12. 17-Gage Dorr, 13. 5X-Dave Glennon, 14. 8B-Bobby Becker, 15. 18-Ryan Roberts, 16. 9J-Mark Schmidt, 17. 99V-Gordy Vogelaar, 18. 28-Ken Klabunde. DNS: 96KX-Adam Gullion.

A Feature (20) Laps): 1. X-Chuck Swenson, 2. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 3. 94-Wayne Johnson, 4. 51x-Mike Boston, 5. 53-Jack Dover, 6. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 7. R19-Scott Winters. 8. 5-Rick Ideus, 9. 11X-Garry Lee Maier, 10. 11P-Preston Peebles II, 11. 2D-Stu Snyder, 12. 4J-Lee Grosz, 13. 1M-Skip Jackson, 14. 4-Mike Chadd, 15. 40-Clint Garner, 16. 00-Larry Pinegar II, 17. 53X-Joe Beaver, 18. 94S-Natalie Sather, 19. 43-A.J. Selenke, 20. 21-Brian Brown.



Lap Leaders: 1-4 Brian Brown, 5-20 Chuck Swenson.

ASCS Midwest Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Chuck Swenson 294, 2. Wayne Johnson 290, 3. Don Droud, Jr. 286, 4. (tie) Rick Ideus and Mike Boston 274, 6. (tie) Clint Garner and Skip Jackson 268, 8. Brian Brown 266, 9. Jack Dover 256, 10. (tie) Mike Chadd, J.D. Johnson and Preston Peebles II 246.

ASCS Northern Plains Region Points (Top Ten): 1. (tie) Wayne Johnson and Chuck Swenson 296, 3. Scott Winters 284, 4. Clint Garner 282, 5. Wade Nygaard 278, 6. (tie) Natalie Sather, Jody Rosenboom and Lee Grosz 268, 9. Curt Lund 260, 10. Dusty Ballenger 252.