Bryan Hulbert - Beaumont, TX (April 13, 2012) - The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV returned to Golden Triangle Raceway Park in Beaumont, Texas for the first time since 2002 and added a fifth different winner to the season with Oklahoma’s Wayne Johnson earning the $4,000 payday.
“We won the race here last time (Gulf South Regional event) and started with that same set up. We wasn’t very good and let Tony [Bruce] beat us there but I’m not sure what happened to him but I really thought we would’ve had something for him once we got into traffic” commented Johnson when reflecting on getting his first national tour victory of 2012. Commenting on slower traffic and searching for lines, Johnson mentioned he was good on the high side but added, “I dang sure wasn’t going to give up that bottom.”
Starting twelfth on the field, the City Vending 77x of Johnson wasted little time moving through the field; advancing into the top five on lap 10 while the 15t of Travis Elliot and 18 of Tony Bruce Jr. battled for the race lead.
With numerous cautions keeping the leaders out of slower traffic, Elliot and Bruce battled several times for the bottom groove with the Oil Medics 18 working past the 15t of Elliot on lap 8. Holding the race lead by as much as a straight-a-way at times, the 18 would begin cutting in and out of slower traffic until the rear end assembly gave up with 9 laps to run. Having moved into the runner up spot on lap 12, Johnson would restart with sixth stating Brady Bacon on his heels.
Stalking the 77x into slower traffic, the Fat Headz Eyewear 99 of Bacon would move in for the pass on several occasions but would be unable to get the run needed to overtake the 77x of Johnson as cautions continued to plague the night’s feature event to the point that a fuel stop of was called with eight laps to run.
Returning to competition, the race would finish without additional cautions as Wayne Johnson took the win. Brady Bacon would take second with Gary Wright charging from thirteenth to third.
After flipping in his B-Feature, the MVT 41 of Jason Johnson be forced to take his first provisional of the season; starting the 41 twenty-third on the field. Jumping into tenth on lap ten, Johnson would charge to fourth at the checkered flag. Brad Loyet would round out the top five; fighting back after falling back as far as ninth on the line-up.
Aaron Reutzel climbed from seventeenth to sixth with Brandon Berryman seventh. Kevin Ramey finished seventh after stating nineteenth with Danny Wood overcoming a mid-race flat to take ninth. Jack Dover unveiled a new Roush/Yates engine and proceed to advance from twenty to tenth.
Event Car Count: 36
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV - April 13, 2012
Golden Triangle Raceway Park
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon[1]; 2. 28-Tommy Bryant[3]; 3. 31-Brandon Berryman[6]; 4. 25M-Michael McNeil[7]; 5. 19-Klint Angelette[8]; 6. 5h-Logan Forler[4]; 7. 8-Bruce Crockett[2]; 8. 17-Bruce Griffith Jr[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[2]; 2. 77x-Wayne Johnson[1]; 3. 11c-Matt Covington[4]; 4. 45x-Johnny Herrera[6]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson[5]; 6. 53-Jack Dover[7]; 7. 35-Greg Rilat[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Dustin Morgan[2]; 2. 2-Wes Miller[6]; 3. 24-Brandie Jass[1]; 4. 69-Larry Howery[7]; 5. 3-Gary Watson[4]; 6. 7W-Dustin Welch[3]; DNF 02-Harry Yerrington[5]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[5]; 2. 81-Danny Wood[2]; 3. 15T-Travis Elliott[6]; 4. 51-Beau Smith[3]; 5. 51b-Jimmy Brooks[4]; DNF 4x-Shawn Petersen[1]; DNF 12B-Logan Bledsoe[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[3]; 2. 9-Gary Wright[1]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 5. 7m-Kevin Ramey[5]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 7. 15-Andrew VanBlarcum[6]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 7m-Kevin Ramey[4]; 3. 51b-Jimmy Brooks[5]; 4. 5h-Logan Forler[7]; 5. 51-Beau Smith[3]; 6. 8-Bruce Crockett[6]; 7. 24-Brandie Jass[2]; 8. 35-Greg Rilat[9]; DNS 7W-Dustin Welch; DNS 4x-Shawn Petersen
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 53-Jack Dover[5]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 4. 3-Gary Watson[4]; 5. 17-Bruce Griffith Jr[10]; 6. 69-Larry Howery[1]; 7. 12B-Logan Bledsoe[7]; 8. 02-Harry Yerrington[8]; 9. 15-Andrew VanBlarcum[9]; DNF 41-Jason Johnson[3]
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 77x-Wayne Johnson[12]; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[6]; 3. 9-Gary Wright[13]; 4. 41-Jason Johnson[23]; 5. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[17]; 7. 31-Brandon Berryman[7]; 8. 7m-Kevin Ramey[19]; 9. 81-Danny Wood[11]; 10. 53-Jack Dover[20]; 11. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[8]; 12. 45x-Johnny Herrera[15]; 13. 5h-Logan Forler[24]; 14. 2-Wes Miller[5]; 15. 25M-Michael McNeil[10]; 16. 19-Klint Angelette[16]; 17. 17-Bruce Griffith Jr[25]; DNF 15T-Travis Elliott[1]; DNF 2-Dustin Morgan[2]; DNF 18-Tony Bruce Jr[3]; DNF 28-Tommy Bryant[9]; DNF 51b-Jimmy Brooks[21]; DNF 11c-Matt Covington[14]; DNF 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[22]; DNF 23-Seth Bergman[18]
Lap Leaders: Travis Elliot (1-7); Tony Bruce Jr. (8-21); Wayne Johnson (22-30)
PitStopUSA.com Hard Charger of the Night: Jason Johnson +20
Provisional(s): Jason Johnson, Logan Forler
Promoters Choice: Bruce Griffith Jr.
2012 Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-2, Tony Bruce Jr.-1, Wayne Johnson-1, Dustin Morgan-1, Danny Wood-1
Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV Points (top 10): 1. Jason Johnson 826; 2. Wayne Johnson 807; 3. Brady Bacon 786; 4. Tony Bruce Jr. 709; 5. Gary Wright 702; 6. Johnny Herrera 683; 7. Dustin Morgan 683; 8. Danny Wood 662; 9. Brad Loyet 626; 10. Jack Dover 619
The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV is scheduled to compete 68 times in 15 states throughout the United States with divers competing for their share of a $250,000 point’s fund.
The 2012 season marks the 21st year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. For information regarding availability and listings in your area log onto www.mavtv.com.
Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire, Brodix, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, General Tire, PitstopUSA.com, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, and Hilborn Injection Systems.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.
Photo Credit: Tim Aylwin
- Bryan Hulbert on Apr 14, 2012
- Article Date: 4/14/2012 by Bryan Hulbert