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Johnson & Shuman Score on Friday at 45th Annual Western World!
Lonnie Wheatley, PEORIA, Ariz. (November 16, 2012) – Jason Johnson and Casey Shuman posted victories in the second night of qualifying action at the 45th Annual FVP Western World Championships presented by Sands Chevrolet at the 1/3-mile Canyon Speedway Park clay oval on Friday night.
While Johnson essentially put the wraps on his third Lucas Oil ASCS National title by topping Friday’s feature winged feature event, native Arizonan Shuman held off Brady Bacon to put the Hockett Racing entry in victory lane in ASCS Canyon wingless action.
In the winged portion, “The Ragin’ Cajun” worked forward from the seventh starting position to ultimately take the lead away from FVP entry Brian Brown on the 20th round en route to the checkered flag in the 25-lapper aboard the Roush Yates Ford-powered JJR/Stenhouse, Jr. No. 41 Maxim.
With Johnson starting seventh, Brown gunned into the lead at the outset from the pole and paced the early rounds ahead of fellow front row starter Justin Henderson. Henderson first succumbed to the Ford power of Tony Bruce, Jr., who took over second on the fifth round, and then Johnson who rallied into third the next time around.
Johnson reeled in Bruce, Jr., to take over second by the tenth circuit and was beginning to challenge Brown for the point when the caution flew after 16 laps when Henderson came to a stop in turn four.
Johnson worked on Brown for the point over the next several laps before taking command on the low side of turns one and two on the 20th circuit. Johnson checked out over the final circuits to take the checkered flag in comfortable fashion ahead of Brown.
“I was never gonna clear him around the top,” Johnson explained. “He (Brown) seemed a little indecisive after that restart, I knew I just needed to put some pressure on him to get an opening on the bottom.”
Bruce, Jr., settled for the show position, with Christopher Bell and Jeff Swindell rounding out the top five. Johnny Herrera, 15th-starter Seth Bergman and 12th-starter Danny Lasoski also locked into Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win Western World winged finale by finishing among the top eight.
The winged feature got off to a rough start when Lance Norick looped it in turn two on the opening circuit, leaving Lucas Wolfe with nowhere to go and taking a tumble. Shawn Peterson got upside down as well in the fracas, making it two on the night after tripping over the cushion and flipping solo in his qualifier.
Joshua Hodges held down the fourth position until a cut right rear on the lap 16 caution ultimately resulted in a ‘DNF’.
In the ASCS Canyon Region wingless portion, Shuman pulled off what could be termed an ‘upset’ after two-time Western World wingless winner Brady Bacon was dominant in heat race and qualifying race action to earn the pole position.
But, when Bacon, who also won Thursday’s winged feature, missed the bottom of turns one and two on the opening circuit, fellow front row starter Shuman was there to pounce on the opportunity.
Shuman withstood relentless pressure from Bacon the rest of the 25-lap distance to secure a front row starting spot in Saturday’s $5,000-to-win wingless main event.
“It surprised me when he missed that corner, but I didn’t mind taking it,” Shuman commented. “I know we probably weren’t the fastest car tonight, but we’ll take it.”
After Shuman grabbed the early lead, action was interrupted soon after when Shon Deskins came to a stop off the top of turn four after just two laps. Back under way, Bacon repeatedly tried to slip under Shuman, but the Rattlesnake Bend shoe would have none of it.
Working through traffic from lap ten on, Bacon kept the pressure on unsuccessfully and finally tried to make a run on the top side on the 20th round just as a final caution flew for Bryan Swinehart’s turn four flip.
After one more final caution a lap later for Dalten Gabbard’s stopped machine, Shuman stayed true to the low line and denied Bacon’s late bid for the win by taking the checkered flag with a two car-length advantage.
Mike Martin raced from eighth to claim the show position behind Shuman and Bacon, with Oval Nationals champion Mike Spencer and Michael Bonneau rounding out the top five. Twelfth-starter Dave Darland and Jerry Coons, Jr., were the next two across the stripe to round out the seven drivers locked into Saturday’s wingless finale.
The 45th Annual FVP Western World Championships presented by Sands Chevrolet concludes on Saturday night with racing action getting under way at 7:00 p.m. The evening will conclude with a $5,000-to-win ASCS Canyon Region non-wing Sprint Car main event and then a $10,000-to-win winged Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Car feature event.
45th Annual FVP Western World Championships presented by Sands Chevrolet Friday Results:
Winged Portion (Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour)
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson[7]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[3]; 4. 1-Christopher Bell[6]; 5. 94-Jeff Swindell[5]; 6. 45X-Johnny Herrera[9]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman[15]; 8. 1M-Danny Lasoski[12]; 9. 17W-Cole Wood[11]; 10. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[14]; 11. 22X-Mike Rux Jr[16]; 12. 15X-Bud Goodwin[18]; DNF 74X-Joshua Hodges[4]; DNF 82-Justin Henderson[2]; DNF 89-Rico Abreu[17]; DNF 9-Gary Wright[10]; DNF 90-Lance Norick[8]; DNF 57X-Lucas Wolfe[13]; DNF 4X-Shawn Petersen[19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Cole Wood[2]; 2. 1-Christopher Bell[4]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell[3]; 4. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[7]; 5. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[5]; 6. 15X-Bud Goodwin[1]; 7. 4X-Shawn Petersen[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 90-Lance Norick[1]; 2. 74X-Joshua Hodges[2]; 3. 1M-Danny Lasoski[3]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 6. 22X-Mike Rux Jr[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 2. 82-Justin Henderson[3]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[5]; 4. 9-Gary Wright[2]; 5. 57X-Lucas Wolfe[6]; 6. 89-Rico Abreu[4]
Qualifier #1 (8 Laps): 1. 82-Justin Henderson[2]; 2. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[1]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell[5]; 4. 90-Lance Norick[3]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera[6]; 6. 57X-Lucas Wolfe[7]; 7. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[8]; 8. 17W-Cole Wood[4]; 9. 89-Rico Abreu[9]; DNF 4X-Shawn Petersen[10]
Qualifier #2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 2. 74X-Joshua Hodges[1]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[2]; 4. 1-Christopher Bell[4]; 5. 9-Gary Wright[7]; 6. 1M-Danny Lasoski[5]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 8. 22X-Mike Rux Jr[8]; 9. 15X-Bud Goodwin[9]
Non-Wing Portion (ASCS Canyon Region)
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 77S-Casey Shuman[2]; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[1]; 3. 16-Mike Martin[8]; 4. 7M-Mike Spencer[7]; 5. 29-Michael Bonneau[3]; 6. 8D-Dave Darland[12]; 7. 12C-Jerry Coons Jr[9]; 8. 97-Kyle Hirst[11]; 9. 4JR-Shane Cottle[13]; 10. 93X-Dustin Morgan[5]; 11. 20-Shon Deskins[15]; 12. 20L-Matt Lundy[19]; 13. 53-Tom Lee[21]; 14. 17K-Kyle Danielson[17]; 15. 6JT-Michael Curtis[20]; DNF 6-Ronnie Clark[4]; DNF 77-Dalten Gabbard[16]; DNF 6B-Bryan Swinehart[10]; DNF 14-Darrell Sickles[18]; DNF 5X-Jody Wirth[14]; DNF 93-Justin Quinn[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93X-Dustin Morgan[4]; 2. 16-Mike Martin[2]; 3. 6B-Bryan Swinehart[3]; 4. 7M-Mike Spencer[5]; 5. 17K-Kyle Danielson[1]; 6. 5X-Jody Wirth[7]; 7. 6JT-Michael Curtis[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Ronnie Clark[2]; 2. 29-Michael Bonneau[1]; 3. 77S-Casey Shuman[6]; 4. 12C-Jerry Coons Jr[7]; 5. 20-Shon Deskins[4]; 6. 4JR-Shane Cottle[5]; 7. 53-Tom Lee[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon[2]; 2. 93-Justin Quinn[1]; 3. 77-Dalten Gabbard[7]; 4. 97-Kyle Hirst[6]; 5. 8D-Dave Darland[5]; 6. 20L-Matt Lundy[4]; 7. 14-Darrell Sickles[3]
Qualifier #1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Michael Bonneau[2]; 2. 77S-Casey Shuman[3]; 3. 6B-Bryan Swinehart[1]; 4. 4JR-Shane Cottle[6]; 5. 93X-Dustin Morgan[4]; 6. 20-Shon Deskins[5]; 7. 53-Tom Lee[7]
Qualifier #2 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Mike Spencer[1]; 2. 93-Justin Quinn[2]; 3. 6-Ronnie Clark[4]; 4. 12C-Jerry Coons Jr[3]; 5. 5X-Jody Wirth[5]; 6. 14-Darrell Sickles[7]; 7. 20L-Matt Lundy[6]
Qualifier #3 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon[4]; 2. 8D-Dave Darland[1]; 3. 16-Mike Martin[3]; 4. 97-Kyle Hirst[2]; 5. 77-Dalten Gabbard[7]; 6. 17K-Kyle Danielson[5]; 7. 6JT-Michael Curtis[6]
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