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JASON JOHNSON WINS $56,000 IN OLLIE?S BARGAIN OUTLET CHALLENGE
MECHANICSBURG, PA ? Jason Johnson scored the richest victory in the storied history of Williams Grove Speedway Tuesday night in the Ollie?s Bargain Outlet 360 Challenge to benefit the Kasey Kahne Foundation.
This was the third and final event in a three-race series sponsored by Ollie?s. If one driver could win two of the three races Ollie?s was offering a $50,000 bonus. Donny Schatz won the first race at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, and Jason Johnson won the second race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Johnson entered the Grove race with plenty of pressure since he had never earned anything close to $56,000 for a sprint car victory.
He started fourth while NASCAR star Tony Stewart started on the pole and took the early lead.
Johnson fell back to fifth in the early going, but motored into the top three by lap ten, trailing Stewart and Stevie Smith.
With the three cars running under a blanket, Smith took the lead from Stewart on lap twelve with Johnson in tow.
Johnson got a run on Smith exiting the second corner on lap 14 and drove by on the backstretch.
Fred Rahmer, who started 9th, took third from Stewart on lap 16, then claimed the runnerup spot on the 19th lap.
For the final eleven laps Johnson kept the Grove?s all-time leading feature winner at bay to claim the Ollie?s bonus. It was the fourth career victory at Williams Grove for the Eunice, La., native.
Rahmer settled for second with Smith third.
Sixteen year old Aaron Ott took fourth place from Stewart on lap 23.
Chad Layton, Curt Michael, Cory Haas, Kasey Kahne and Dave Ely finished in positions six through ten respectively.
Stewart, Kahne and Dave Blaney entertained the overflow crowd during a rollicking Q and A session atop the starter?s
stand during a break in the action.
Trevor Lewis set fast time in qualifications with a lap of 17.982.
Heats for the 51 360 c.i. sprint cars in competition were won by Johnson, Smith, Pat Cannon and Ely.
Fred Rahmer won the B-main and Kevin Nagy claimed the C.
The Dash was won by Tony Stewart.
Williams Grove Speedway Feature Finish ? August 19, 2008
360 c.i. Sprint Car Feature ? 30 Laps - 1. Jason Johnson, 2. Fred Rahmer, 3. Stevie Smith, 4. Aaron Ott, 5. Tony Stewart, 6. Chad Layton, 7. Curt Michael, 8. Cory Haas, 9. Kasey Kahne, 10. Dave Ely, 11. Cody Darrah, 12. Michael Carber, 13. Kevin Welsh, 14. Billy Johns, 15. Jim Siegel, 16. Mark Freeland, 17. Kyle Pruitt, 18. Pat Cannon, 19. Ed Aiken, 20. Robbie Stillwaggon, 21. Brian Montieth, 22. Josh Weller, 23. Dave Blaney, 24. Adam Gordon
--30?
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