[i Lonnie Wheatley, BEAUMONT, Texas (September 18, 2009)]
Jason Johnson picked off his eighth overall American Sprint Car Series feature win of the year by racing to victory lane in Friday night's 25-lap ASCS Gulf South main event at Golden Triangle Raceway Park.
The current Lucas Oil Sprint Car National points leader took the lead away from Aaron Reutzel on the second round and then fought off nemesis Gary Wright to snare his third Gulf South score of the year aboard Marvin Pearson's No. 11 entry.
Johnson and Wright flashed under the checkered flag in the top two positions, with Travis Rilat earning Hard Charger honors by racing from 16th to third.
After current ASCS Gulf South points leader Reutzel exited at the midway point, Tommy Bryant took a bite out of his advantage by snaring fourth, with Eric Baldaccini rounding out the top five.
Travis Elliott was sixth, with 16-year-old Klint Angelette posting his top run of the year by crossing the stripe in seventh. Past series champ Gary Watson was eighth, two-time and defending Gulf South king Brandon Berryman raced from 18th to ninth and Scottie McDonald completed the top ten.
Jimmy Brooks, Baldaccini, Reutzel and Watson topped heat race action for Friday night's 28-car field, with Kent Lewis, Jr., winning the "B" Main.
ASCS Gulf South Results from Golden Triangle Raceway Park:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 2. 15T-Travis Elliott, 3. 74-Brandon Corn, 4. 71-Channin Tankersley, 5. 35-Greg Rilat, 6. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 7. 87a-Andrew Marshala.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 2. 93-Chris Sweeney, 3. 9x-Gary Wright, 4. 2-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 1b-Kent Lewis, Jr., 6. 29-Travis Rilat, 7. 12x-Logan Bledsoe.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 2. 11-Jason Johnson, 3. 88-Scottie McDonald, 4. 19-Klint Angelette, 5. 5-Chris Buhler, 6. 52-Roger Oakes. DNS: 30x-Bean Elliott.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 3-Gary Watson, 2. 21T-Tommy Bryant, 3. 20-Terry Monroe, 4. 5m-Glenn Martin, 5. 2T-Todd Fayard, 6. 31-Brandon Berryman, 7. 79-Charlie McDonald.
"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 1b-Kent Lewis, Jr., 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 35-Greg Rilat, 4. 31-Brandon Berryman, 5. 5m-Glenn Martin, 6. 2T-Todd Fayard, 7. 12x-Logan Bledsoe, 8. 17-Bruce Griffith, Jr., 9. 79-Charlie McDonald, 10. 5-Chris Buhler, 11. 2-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 12. 52-Roger Oakes, 13. 87a-Andrew Marshala. DNS: 30x-Bean Elliott.
"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 11-Jason Johnson, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 21T-Tommy Bryant, 5. 4-Eric Baldaccini, 6. 15T-Travis Elliott, 7. 19-Klint Angelette, 8. 3-Gary Watson, 9. 31-Brandon Berryman, 10. 88-Scottie McDonald, 11. 93-Chris Sweeney, 12. 51-Jimmy Brooks, 13. 5m-Glenn Martin, 14. 1b-Kent Lewis, Jr., 15. 35-Greg Rilat, 16. 20-Terry Monroe, 17. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 18. 71-Channin Tankersley, 19. 2T-Todd Fayard, 20. 74-Brandon Corn.
ASCS Gulf South Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Aaron Reutzel 2,898, 2. Tommy Bryant 2,862, 3. Channin Tankersley 2,746, 4. Scottie McDonald 2,706, 5. Kent Lewis, Jr. 2,656, 6. Brandon Berryman 2,633, 7. Greg Rilat 2,579, 8. Gary Watson 2,471, 9. Ray Allen Kulhanek 2,421, 10. Jimmy Brooks 2,399.
- Lonnie Wheatley on Sep 21, 2009
- Article Date: 9/21/2009