Wright Rumbles to O'Reilly ASCoT Win at The Mag

Lonnie Wheatley, COLUMBUS, Miss. (April 21, 2007) – Three-time and reigning series champion Gary Wright of Hooks, TX, padded his current O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National point lead by racing to victory lane in Saturday night's 30-lap Boll Weevil Rumble at Magnolia Motor Speedway.

Wright chased down early leader Jason Johnson on the 16th round and lapped all the way up to fifth place as he picked off his fourth ASCS National Tour feature win of the year aboard the Wesmar-powered Richwood Construction/Whiteco Commercial Funding No. 9 Maxim.

"This is a really nice place, you can really get around here in a hurry," Wright commented of the ASCS National Tour's first visit to the 3/8-mile clay oval.  "There was so much lapped traffic that you really couldn't tell if anybody was close or not so I just had to keep picking 'em off as fast as I could."

While Wright will officially be credited with passing zero cars in his 110th career series win after starting from the pole, "The Texan" actually passed 37 machines including his race-winning pass of Johnson along with eight cars that he lapped once, another eight cars two laps off the pace and one car down three laps along with lapping the only car to drop out of the fast-paced event.

Wright led the feature field to the green flag with young shoe Brad Bowden alongside.  But with Wright sticking to the low side on the opening circuit, it was third-starter Johnson moving to the topside of the track exiting turn two and motoring past Wright exiting turn four to lead the opening round.

Gunning for his first ASCS National triumph of the year after nine trips to National Tour victory lane in 2006, Johnson set a scorching pace in the early laps aboard Lanny Row's Wesmar-powered The Shop Motorsports/Custom Equipment Design No. 41 Eagle, reaching lapped traffic by the fifth round.

Johnson sliced through lapped traffic with ease in the early stages, with seven lapped cars and a substantial amount of real estate between himself and Wright by the eighth lap.  But Wright soon picked up the pace and began closing the gap as the midway point approached.

Wright had on unobstructed view of Johnson at the lap 15 mark and then charged past "The Ragin' Cajun" exiting turn four on the 16th lap to take command.  Once in front, Wright wasted little time stretching his lead out as he continued to put laps on most of his rivals.

But just as Wright took the white flag, the race's only caution appeared when Brodix Rookie of the Year contender Foster Landon came to a stop on the front straightaway with a cut right rear tire, setting up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag.  Landon had been running as the sixth and final car on the lead lap when his tire went down, limping around for two laps before finally running out of steam.

With four lapped cars separating Wright from Johnson on the restart and a clear racetrack in front of him, Wright cruised to the checkered flag in easy fashion, with Johnson settling for runner-up honors.

Tenth-starter Travis Rilat and fourth-row starters Wayne Johnson and Darren Stewart diced for the show position much of the way, with Wayne Johnson making a move past Rilat following the lap 28 restart to snare third in Mike Hammers' Wesmar-powered H&H Enterprises No. 94 Eagle.

Rilat crossed the stripe fourth in the Motor Mike-powered F&J Construction No. 29 Triple X, with Stewart rounding out the top five aboard Bobby Sparks' Ostrich-powered RESM Transport No. 91 Eagle.

Bowden claimed sixth in his ASCS National Tour debut, with Aaron Berryhill in seventh.  Danny Martin, Jr., was eighth, with Rookie of the Year contender Andy Shouse and 17th-starter Terry Gray completing the top ten.

Another Rookie of the Year contender, Canada's Chris Schmelzle, narrowly missed out on his first career ASCS National Tour top-ten feature finish by crossing the stripe in eleventh.

Current ASCS Coastal Region point leader and 2002 ASCS National Tour runner-up Michael Dupuy advanced the most positions in the feature by climbing from 23rd to twelfth.  Dupuy was forced pitside in heat race action when his car jumped out of gear.

Jason Johnson, Landon and Wright each scored heat race victories.

Sixteen-year-old Kathryne Minter of Bedford, TX, scratched from the "A" Main due to mechanical woes, with 22 of the 23 features starters still on track as the checkered flag flew.

All Photos by Scott Oglesby

O’Reilly ASCoT Magnolia Motor Speedway Boll Weevil Rumble Results:

Heat Races

Brodix Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 27-Andy Shouse, 3. 94-Wayne Johnson, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 6. 10-Terry Gray, 7. k9-Robert Casada, 8. 86-Buster Dickerson.

Wesmar-Shaver Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 11F-Foster Landon, 2. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 3. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 4. 64J-Johnny Miller, 5. 93-Chris Sweeney, 6. 1h-Tommy Hall, 7. 2-Todd Fayard, 8. 94c-Stephen Chevallier.

Brodix Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 15-Brad Bowden, 3. 91-Darren Stewart, 4. 01-Shane Morgan, 5. 7-Michael Herrington, 6. 09-Timmy Thrash, 7. 13m-Kathryne Minter, 8. 12-Michael Dupuy.

Pole Dash (Top 6 in Passing Points from Heat Races; Finishing Order Determines Front Three Rows of “A” Main):

Pole Dash (5 Laps):  1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 15-Brad Bowden, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 5. 11F-Foster Landon, 6. 00-Danny Martin, Jr.

O’Reilly ASCoT Magnolia Motor Speedway Boll Weevil Rumble "A" Main Event:

“A” Feature (30 Laps):  1. 9-Gary Wright, 2. 41-Jason Johnson, 3. 94-Wayne Johnson, 4. 29-Travis Rilat, 5. 91-Darren Stewart, 6. 15-Brad Bowden, 7. 97-Aaron Berryhill, 8. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 9. 27-Andy Shouse, 10. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 11. 57c-Chris Schmelzle, 12. 12-Michael Dupuy, 13. 64J-Johnny Miller, 14. 7-Michael Herrington, 15. 01-Shane Morgan, 16. k9-Robert Casada, 17. 86-Buster Dickerson, 18. 93-Chris Sweeney, 19. 09-Timmy Thrash, 20. 1h-Tommy Hall, 21. 2-Todd Fayard, 22. 94c-Stephen Chevallier, 23. 11F-Foster Landon, 24. 13m-Kathryne Minter.

Lap Leaders: Jason Johnson 1-15, Gary Wright 16-30.