CJ Johnson claims NCRA Sprint victory at 81 Speedway

[rebelracewriter]

CJ Johnson Claims NCRA Sprint Victory at 81 Speedway

Park City, Kansas June 20, 2015 - C. J. Johnson took the lead at the races midway point and cruised to his first series victory of the season as the National Championship Racing Association of Park City, Kansas presented by Precise Racing Products sprint car division made their second appearance of the season at 81 Speedway in Park City on Saturday night.

Luke Cranston and Don Droud, Jr. started on the front row for the twenty-five lap feature and after an aborted start, took the lead on the complete restart and quickly opened up a ten car length lead. Cranston settled into the runner up position after the first lap was completed but quickly fell back to third when Johnson took over the runner up position one lap later.

Johnson cut Drouds advantage to five car lengths by lap five and that deficit continued as Droud, aboard the Ochs Brothers #1x, began approaching the slower cars on lap nine. Then on lap eleven Johnson set Droud up, cutting the leaders advantage to two car lengths before driving underneath Droud going down the backstretch on lap twelve.

Johnson quickly opened up a full straightaway lead while behind him, sixth starting Jeremy Campbell began making his move into the top three, taking over that position on lap fifteen from Cranston and set his sights on Droud. With two laps to go Campbell would pass Droud for the runner up position and while Johnson had kept his full straightway lead, Campbell tried making things interesting as he closed the deficit to eight car lengths entering turns three and four.

But there was no stopping Johnson on this night he would go on to claim his first victory of the season aboard his familiar #45x and became the fourth different feature winner in the four events that have been held thus far this season.

Droud settled for third while Cranstons strong performance earned him a fourth place finish. J.D. Johnson would round out the top five.

After the original start was nullified, the rest of the twenty-five lap feature went caution free.

In heat race action, former 1994 tour champion Kevin Ramey slid high in turns one and two, hit the back stretch wall and rolled over. Forrest Southerland had nowhere to go and collected Ramey. Both drivers were uninjured and were able to make repairs for the nights $2000 to win feature finale.

The NCRA sprint car division will be back in action this Fathers Day, Sunday, at the famed Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas with race time scheduled for 7:00 PM.

NCRA Sprints - 81 Speedway/Park City, Kansas - June 20, 2015

 

19 Cars

1st Heat: 1) CJ Johnson (Quinter, Ks), 2) Don Droud Jr. (Lincoln, Ne), 3) Jeff Stasa (Kingman, Ks), 4) Josh Fairbank (Wichita, Ks), 5) Danny Jennings (Norman, Ok), 6) Keith Meyer (Norman, Ok), 7) Jake Greider (Haysville, Ks)

2nd Heat: 1) Luke Cranston (Ness City, Ks), 2) J.D. Johnson (Wichita, Ks), 3) Fred Mattox (Drumright, Ok), 4) Michelle Decker (Guthrie, Ok), 5) Kevin Ramey (Fort Worth, Tx), 6) Forest Sutherland (Cherryvale, KS)

3rd Heat: 1) Jon Freeman (Salina, Ks), 2) Jeremy Campbell (Wichita, Ks), 3) Raymond Seeman (Jetmore, Ks), 4) Brian Herbert (Dodge City, Ks), 5) Gavin Stout (Haysville, Ks), 6) J.R. Topper

A Feature: 1) CJ Johnson (Quinter, Ks), 2) Jeremy Campbell (Wichita, Ks), 3) Don Droud Jr. (Lincoln, Ne), 4) Luke Cranston (Ness City, Ks), 5) J.D. Johnson (Wichita, Ks), 6) Kevin Ramey (Fort Worth, Tx), 7) Jon Freeman (Salina, Ks), 8) Jeff Stasa (Kingman, Ks), 9) Raymond Seeman (Jetmore, Ks), 10) Danny Jennings (Norman, Ok), 11) Michelle Decker (Guthrie, Ok), 12) Josh Fairbank (Wichita, Ks), 13) Forest Sutherland (Cherryvale, KS), 14) Gavin Stout (Haysville, Ks), 15) Fred Mattox (Drumright, Ok), 16) Brian Herbert (Dodge City, Ks), 17) Keith Meyer (Norman, Ok), 18) Jake Greider (Haysville, Ks), 19) J.R. Topper