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ASCS Notebook… |
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Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (April 3, 2008) – The UCLA Bruins are in the Final Four again. Allegations of F1 presidential involvement in a nazi-themed orgy are flying. The likeness of scoring legend Wilt Chamberlain, also noted for his basketball prowess, is being considered for a postage stamp. A-Rod makes more money than the entire Marlins roster. Jason Johnson and Jeremy Sherman won last weekend's American Sprint Car Series feature events. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary this week. ---Jason Johnson is batting .400 thus far in 2008 after winning Saturday night's Inaugural Josh Lofton Memorial at Champion Park Speedway in Haughton, LA. It was his second win in three ASCS Gulf South tries to go along with a pair of wins in seven ASCoT National events, making him 4-for-10 in ASCS starts this year. Which is right about on par with what he's done the past two seasons. In 2006, "The Ragin' Cajun" won 17 times in 39 ASCS starts (43.6%). Last year, Johnson added another 17 wins in 50 ASCS starts (34.0%). In total, since the start of the 2006 season, Johnson has won at a .384 clip with 38 wins in 99 starts. He'll try to up that a bit with two more ASCS Gulf South starts this weekend. By comparison, Gary Wright has won 17 features in 76 overall ASCS starts over the same time frame for a winning percentage of 22.4%, although not entirely comparable since Wright has run very few Regional events. Either way, "The Texan" still gets the last laugh. At least so far. Since 2006, Wright has claimed two $50,000 ASCS National championships and is in the early lead this year. Johnson is still looking for that first title. ---Arizona fans raved about the opening ten laps of side-by-side action for the lead between Jeremy Sherman and Josh Pelkey in Saturday night's Discount Tire Co. ASCS Canyon Region feature on Manzanita Speedway's ½-mile. Sherman eventually staked his claim on the lead and never surrendered it, picking off his second series win in three starts this year. "The Shermanator" has now reached ASCS Canyon Region victory lane in 14 of 23 starts (60.9%) since the beginning of 2006. A point of debate is exactly how many Manzanita wins Sherman has collected over the course of his career. After counting, recounting and then recounting again, Arizona authorities now assert that last Saturday's win was Sherman's 100th at Manzanita. It's an assertion that will have difficulty standing, even under the slightest amount of scrutiny. At least five of those wins counted among the 100 took place at tracks other than Manzanita, with three USA Race Park (Tucson) triumphs and two Casa Grande victories over the past two years. Why they are included in the "Manzanita" total is unclear, but the 100-win total would seem to be more accurately deemed "100 Arizona wins". And, those five only came from the latest 30 of Sherman's wins. How many of the first 70 came at venues aside from Manzanita? For the sake of comparison, Kevin Eckert's Open Wheel Times database contains 88 Sherman victory marches at Manzanita. Seventeen of those wins came in Midgets, so that would put Sherman at 71 career Sprint Car feature wins at Manzy. No class distinction was made in arriving at the total of 100 wins however, just as there was no "true" track distinction either. The total of 88 career Manzanita wins is probably very close to the correct mark, although it is possible that the Open Wheel Times data may be missing a few random races here or there. Either way, if he hasn't already done so, it will just be a matter of time before Sherman reaches the century mark at Manzy. Just for the record, Open Wheel Times shows Sherman with 104 career feature wins (Sprint Cars and Midgets) at any and all tracks. ---Travis Elliott broke up the trifecta at Champion Park Speedway. Jason Johnson's Gulf South win at Champion Park wouldn't exactly rank as an upset, although he had to claw his way forward for ten laps before taking command. And Sam Hafertepe, Jr., finishing in second couldn't be considered a surprise either, although a friendly re-draw didn't hurt his cause. "We were junk in the heat race," Hafertepe commented after a third-place heat race finish. That put Sam eighth in passing points and he ended up drawing front-row outside for the feature, leading ten circuits before Johnson sailed by up top. But who picked Travis Elliott to finish third? Making just his third Sprint Car start, the Micro grad started the feature in 18th. He was up to 14th by a lap four caution and then tenth when another yellow came out three laps later. With traffic two and three-wide behind the leaders the rest of the way, Elliott worked his way forward and took third position from Skip Wilson in the race's final laps. Johnson, Hafertepe and Elliott were each presented with a trophy by Josh Lofton's son, who is the little fella' wearing the red sweater in the victory lane photos. ---Frank Lofton had the No. 4x Sprint Car on display in front of the stands for the kids to get a good look at. Frank has been busy taking the car to different schools as part of the "Stay in School" Program. ---Brandon Berryman's night was over before it ever began. The defending ASCS Gulf South Region champion popped an engine in hot laps and was reduced to the role of spectator for the rest of the night. Berryman will be back in action this weekend when the Gulf South Region hits Golden Triangle Raceway Park (formerly Motorama) in Beaumont, TX, on Friday and then 105 Speedway in Cleveland, TX, on Saturday. ---Ray Allen Kulhanek won his first career ASCS Gulf South Region feature at Champion Park Speedway at the outset of his 2005 championship season. After a rough start to the 2008 season four weeks earlier, Kulhanek came to Champion Park with high hopes. And for a few laps in his heat race, all looked good. Then the engine began to sour. Kulhanek held on to take the heat race win but rather than risk further damage, the decision to scratch from the feature was made. ---Collected by an early Jerry Bell spin, 2006 ASCS Gulf South champion Gary Watson of Beaumont, TX, made a nice recovery by charging back through the field to finish fifth. ---Making the move from the Modified ranks, Billy Melton posted his first top-ten finish in just five Sprint Car starts by finishing tenth at Champion Park on Saturday night. Melton's mount looks much like a Gary Wright car. And for good reason, as it is an old GW ride. ---Blake Roberts made his first Sprint Car start at Champion Park but was the first car out of the feature after getting tangled up with Travis Knighton early. ---While Jason Johnson holds the ASCS Gulf South point lead, Chris Sweeney leads the series regulars into this weekend's double. ---After a pair of outings on the third-mile, at least a couple of drivers were seemingly happy to hit Manzanita Speedway's half-mile last Saturday night. Yuma's Mike Martin and Litchfield Park's Mike Leslie both finished among the top ten for the first time this year with runs of fourth and fifth, respectively. ---R.J. Johnson is one of three drivers to finish among the top ten in all three ASCS Canyon Region events thus far in 2008. He's currently second in points, 28 points off Sherman's pace. ---Thomas Ogle is the third driver to finish among the top ten in all three ASCS Canyon Region events. His consistency is notable, with finishes of tenth, tenth and tenth. Three tenths currently equates to eighth in points. ---After an early exit in the season opener, Charles Davis, Jr., has posted back-to-back top-five finishes including a runner-up showing on Saturday after charging from the eighth row. ---Following a runner-up finish in the ASCS Southwest Region opener on March 22, Ronnie Clark clipped his wings and was back in Canyon Region action on Manzanita's half-mile. ---Nobody won the $400 bonus posted for winning both their heat race and the feature in Saturday's ASCS Canyon Region event so the money was split up among Hard Luck drivers (Bryan Swinehart and Chris Bonneau), Longest Tow (Bobby Taylor and Ronnie Clark), "B" Main winner (Shon Deskins) and Hard Charger (Charles Davis, Jr.). ---The ASCS Canyon Region returns to the 1/3-mile this weekend. Casey Shuman won the series most recent event on Manzy's smaller oval. ---The American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region opens the 2008 campaign with a pair of Texas events this weekend. Waco's Heart O' Texas Speedway hosts the series on Friday, with Cowtown Speedway near Fort Worth set for Saturday. ---Heart O' Texas Speedway is unique in that it is the only track in the country that hosts two different ASCS Regions on separate occasions. Following Friday night's Sooner Region event, the ASCS Gulf South Region takes to the Waco ¼-mile on May 25. With both Regions getting an early look, they square off at Waco on August 22 for the annual Sooner vs. Gulf South Shootout before moving north to Devil's Bowl Speedway the next night. ---With Texas Motor Speedway hosting the whole NASCAR scene this weekend, one never knows who could be spotted prowling about Cowtown Speedway on Saturday night. Or even driving. Two years ago, Carl Edwards climbed into a Mike Sanders-owned Sprint Car and earned a tenth-place Sooner Region finish. ---Jason Johnson has his National ride (Lanny Row's No. 41) and his Regional ride (Marvin Pearson's No. 11). Look for something similar from Zach Chappell. The former ASCS National champ pilots the familiar No. 50z in ASCoT National events, but he is expected to be aboard Terry Henry's No. 92 entry for ASCS Sooner Region events beginning with this weekend's double. ---Kenny Adams leads the ASCS Rebel Region to Green Valley Speedway in Glencoe, AL, this Saturday night. Adams, who won the Rebel vs. Coastal Region season opener at Deep South Speedway on February 2, won four of the 13 ASCS Rebel Region features last year. Adams has three Green Valley Speedway victories to his credit, last winning there in 2003. Wade Oliver and Brad Bowden split Rebel Region wins at Green Valley last year. The nation's most prominent Sprint Car sanctioning body with 14 different Regions throughout the United States in addition to the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series, the American Sprint Car Series' (ASCS) 17th year of activity will include approximately 250 nights of racing at more than 100 different race tracks throughout 28 different states and Canada. Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com. |
