|
Johnson Deposits Over $11G’s At IRA’s Summer Sizzler
Antigo, WI - August 5: The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series
made it’s annual stop in Antigo (WI) this weekend in a special 2-day event,
the Forest County Potawatomi’s Summer Sizzler. In one of the richest
race on the IRA’s schedule, Wayne Johnson took command of the weekend and
was able to walk away with over $11,000 of the over $13,000 in prize and bonus
money available. In the process, picked up his 100th career win as well
as celebrating his birthday in victory lane.
In Friday night’s preliminary event, John Sernett got things started off on
the lightening fast track demolishing the three year old track record with the
track’s first sub-17 second lap, registering a 16.911 second lap around the
.6 mile facility. The heavy racing surface only got faster as the night
went on, with Billy Balog, Dave Uttech, Wayne Johnson and Scott Young
registering heat race wins. Sernett would bounce back to win the B-Main,
only to see his #91 go sailing over the guardrail in turns 1 and 2 during the
20 lap A-Main, landing outside of the track. John was not hurt in the
incident, but did get the wind knocked out of him. Other competitors
involved in incidents during the night’s A-Main included Tommy Sexton, Mike
Reinke, Joe Roe, Charlie Osborn, K.J. Skelton, Billy Warren and Scott Biertzer.
No drivers were hurt in the numerous separate incidents, but a lot of repair
work lay ahead overnight for many teams.
Wayne Johnson started the A-Main in the third position and at the drop of the
green flag, worked to put himself in a position to challenge later in the race
as Steve Meyer was certainly race ready and looking for a win and a shot at a
$5,000 bonus for the weekend. Meyer would set the pace, however, after
several separate red-flag periods on lap seven, the race finally saw a yellow
flag period shortly after Johnson put the nose of his #14AJ under Meyer.
The restart saw Meyer go high once again and Johnson was able to capitalize,
getting under Meyer and passing exiting turn two. Johnson never looked
back after taking the point and went on to collect his 100th career victory,
plus a $1,000 bonus from local ATV dealer Verne’s Kawasaki/Artic
Cat/Suzuki/Honda for winning his heat race and the feature. “He (Steve
Meyer) had the better car. I thought sure I was done after that
yellow”, Johnson stated. “I showed him my nose, then the yellow came
out and I figured for sure that he’d block me on the restart. When we
went back green, he slid up and opened it up so I went for it. I just
can’t believe how fast this track was tonight.”
Preliminary Results: (Aug 4th, 2006)
Osborn & Son Trucking Time Trials: John Sernett (MCI Paint &
Drywall #91): 16.911 seconds (NTR) ($200 plus $50 bonus from Two Angels
Restaurant)
Weld Racing Heat: Billy Balog (RJS Racing #1H)
MPD Race Products Heat: Dave Uttech (Uttech Heating & Air
Conditioning #68)
Lane Automotive Heat: Wayne Johnson (Stone Mountain Access Systems #14AJ
VMAC Racing Heat: Scott Young (Oddesy Batteries #3)
Behling Race Equipment B-Main: John Sernett (MCI Paint & Drywall
#91)
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts A-Main (20 laps): Wayne Johnson (Stone
Mountain Access Systems #14AJ/$2200 plus $1000 bonus), Steve Meyer,
Billy Balog, Kim Mock, Scotty Neitzel, Scott Young, Travis Whitney,
Jerry Richert Jr., Donny Goeden, Dave Uttech, John Haeni, Tim Sernett, Mike
Stefka, Brian Kristan, Howie Gleason, Tommy Sexton, K.J. Skelton, Charlie
Osborn, Scott Biertzer, Billy Warren, John Sernett, Wayne Modjeski, Joe Roe,
Mike Reinke
On Saturday Night’s Main Event for the Forest County Potawatomi’s Summer
Sizzler, a lot of extra cash contingencies were on the line as well as an
increased payout that could see a single driver win over $4,800 in total
winnings. That is, anyone except Wayne Johnson. Johnson was
looking at the potential of $9,800+ for the night by winning Friday night’s
preliminary race.
The Osborn & Son Trucking time trials proved that the track surface had
changed from the heavy surface experienced the night before to a wider
“racier” surface that would offer fans even more racing than they saw the
night before. Wayne Johnson picked up right where he left off the night
before by setting the qualifying mark at 19.396 seconds. Johnson’s
quest for the sweep of the night ended early however as he finished second in
his heat race to Scotty Neitzel. Neitzel however was now in contention
for the $1,000 bonus money being offered again by Verne’s Kawasaki, the same
bonus that Johnson had scored on Friday night. Joining Neitzel in that
bonus quest was Jerry Richert Jr. and John Sernett. All three also
scored $100 bonus money for their heat race wins courtesy of Two Angels
Restaurant and Contract Furnishings. Two Angels Restaurant also awarded
John Sernett a $50 bonus for his new track record on Friday night, since no
one was able to break his record on Saturday night. Contract Furnishings
also paid a $100 bonus to Joe Roe for winning the B-Main.
Todd King lead the 4-abreast field in the parade lap among the cheering crowd
and fireworks in his first IRA pole. When the green flag dropped, King
wasted little time putting his #97 to the front. King would lead the
first two laps until John Haeni moved his #21J to the lead in turn #3 on the
third circuit. While the leaders were battling, Wayne Johnson was on the
move from his 8th starting spot and was 3rd by the 4th lap. While Haeni
lead, Donny Goeden had also moved his #78 up to second, but Johnson would put
a textbook slide job on the former IRA Champion exiting turn two that
relegated Goeden to third and Johnson had his sights set on Haeni and an
$8,000 payday! By lap eleven, Johnson pulled to within striking distance
of Haeni and using lapped traffic, Johnson threaded the needle in turn three,
somehow slipping between Haeni in the high groove and a lapped car on the
bottom. This pass then gave way to a fierce battle for second as Haeni,
Goeden and Scott Young would battle 3-wide at times for the position over
several laps. A caution for an incident between Joe Symoens and Scott
Biertzer allowed everyone to catch their breath and also allowed Travis
Whitney, who was on the move from his 13th starting position to formulate an
attack of his own. Using the outside groove, Whitney entered the battle,
but Scott Young was having no part of it as he began to put some distance
between himself and what was now a battle for third. As the laps wound
down, Johnson’s lead would begin to narrow slightly, however, Young was
unable to mount a challenge allowing Johnson to win the 25 lap Summer Sizzler
and collect the $5,000 bonus awarded by the FATTFro Challenge to any driver
who win both nights of the Summer Sizzler. Johnson collected a total of
$11,400 for the two nights in addition to prizes put up by Pepsi of
Antigo. “I can’t believe it”, stated a jubilant Johnson in victory
lane. “The car was perfect tonight, the track was great and everything
just worked the way it needed to. To top it all off, it’s also my
birthday. This is too good to be true. We just put a fresh motor
in the car on Friday. It’s our only motor. We had a few problems
with it last night and got it taken care of. This is a great way to go
into the (Knoxville) Nationals this week. This was just a great
weekend!” as the champaign bath ensued in victory lane by the team and
second place Scott Young.
4th Annual Forest County Potawatomi Community “Summer Sizzler” (Aug 5, 2006)
Osborn & Son Trucking Time Trials: Wayne Johnson (Stone Mountain
Access Systems #14AJ) 19.396 seconds ($200)
Two-Angels Restaurant Heat #1: Scotty Neitzel (T&D Jewelry #2W)
Contract Furnishings Heat #2: Jerry Richert Jr (Frattelone Excavating
#55)
Two-Angels Restaurant Heat #3: John Sernett (MCI Paint & Drywall
#91)
Contract Furnishings B-Main: Joe Roe (Captain Jim’s Yacht Sales #48H)
Forest County Potawatomi “Summer Sizzler” (25 laps): Wayne Johnson
(Stone Mountain Access Systems #14AJ/$3000 plus $5000 bonus), Scott Young,
Travis Whitney, John Haeni, Donny Goeden, Scotty Neitzel, Jerry Richert Jr.,
John Sernett, Kim Mock, Billy Balog, Steve Meyer, Joe Roe, Brian Kristan, Todd
King, Dave Uttech, Tim Sernett, Tommy Sexton, Ryan Irwin, Andy Hunt, Ty Bartz,
Billy Warren, Mike Stefka, Scott Biertzer, Joe Symoens.
|
|
|
