Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters (Winged)
Albuquerque’s Johnny Herrera has enjoyed a stranglehold on ASCS Regional racing throughout the west and southwest in recent times, racking up 21 feature wins in 29 Regional starts over the past six seasons.
But, it had been since November of 1996 since “Hollywood” had graced victory lane in the ASCS National spotlight.
Herrera changed that on Friday night, prevailing in a hotly-contested 25-lapper at the 43rd Annual Kronik Energy Drink Western World Championships for his second career Lucas Oil ASCS presented by K&N Filters National triumph and first since a Devil’s Bowl Speedway win over 14 years ago.
Following a red flag stoppage after two laps for Danny Wood’s turn three tangle with the retaining wall, Herrera continued chasing Lucas Oil ASCS points leader Jason Johnson and Danny Lasoski, with traffic coming into play in short order.
The trio of Johnson, Lasoski and Herrera began dicing for the point as they slid through traffic, with Lasoski surging ahead to lead the ninth round before Herrera made a big slide into the lead a lap later as Joey Saldana briefly joined in the lead chase.
“It was crazy there for a few laps, we were all sliding each other back and forth,” Herrera explained afterward. “I thought Johnson would be the one to beat, but then it was like a switch flipped and he just backed up.”
Some slick moves through traffic in the JHR No. 45x Maxim soon gave Herrera some breathing room, leaving Lasoski to fend off Johnson and Saldana until a caution flew just three laps shy of the checkered flag for Wayne Johnson, who turned on his side in turn two while running among the top ten.
After Kyle Hirst slipped too high exiting turn two and flipped on the ensuing restart, Herrera broke free and raced to the checkered flag with a 0.732-second advantage over Lasoski’s Kistler-powered Michael Ross Foundation No. 33 Eagle.
Saldana claimed the show position in the Kasey Kahne Racing Budweiser No. 9, with Johnson settling for fourth in the Don Ott-powered Haynes No. 41 Maxim.
Saldana explained of just his fifth career Lucas Oil ASCS National feature start, “I feel like I’m runnin’ the Chili Bowl, I’m out of my element. I kinda figured it out in the feature, I felt like I was good as those guys, just lapped traffic.”
Defending Lucas Oil ASCS National champion Shane Stewart rounded out the top five in Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered Rock Star Energy Drink No. 57 A.R.T., with 12th-starter Tim Kaeding, “King of California” Kyle Larson and ASCS Northwest ace Roger Crockett earning lock-in positions to Saturday night’s Western World Championships finale by finishing sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
Brian Brown missed a lock-in by one position by crossing the stripe in ninth, with Lucas Wolfe completing the top ten.
Lasoski, Herrera, Stewart and Larson topped Friday night’s heat race action, with Brown winning the 12-lap “B” Main.
Ricky Logan flipped in the night’s first winged heat race, but was able to return for “B” Main action. Joshua Williams flipped early in the “B” Main, escaping injury as well.
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points to "A" Main; Balance to “B" Main):
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 33-Danny Lasoski, 2. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 3. 41-Jason Johnson, 4. 83-Tim Kaeding, 5. 21-Brian Brown, 6. 41w-Joshua Williams, 7. 3g-Darren Long, 8. 77T-Colt Treharn, 9. 10a-Ricky Logan.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 9-Joey Saldana, 3. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 4. 45-Martin Edwards, 5. 94-Danny Wood, 6. 20s-Kyle Sager, 7. 88-Tim Crawley, 8. 2b-Ben Gregg, 9. 11x-Chad Corken.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 57-Shane Stewart, 2. 11-Roger Crockett, 3. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 4. 6-Kyle Hirst, 5. 3s-John Carney II, 6. 1s-Sean McClelland, 7. 20az-George Suprick, 8. 90-Lance Norick.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 75-Kyle Larson, 2. 57w-Lucas Wolfe, 3. 93-Dustin Morgan, 4. 94T-Steven Tiner, 5. 35g-Shane Golobic, 6. 35-Paul McMahan, 7. 78-Jody Williams, 8. 44k-Koty McGullam.
"B" Main (Top 6 Advance to "A" Main):
"B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown, 2. 93-Dustin Morgan, 3. 2b-Ben Gregg, 4. 35-Paul McMahan, 5. 3g-Darren Long, 6. 94T-Steven Tiner, 7. 88-Tim Crawley, 8. 10a-Ricky Logan, 9. 90-Lance Norick, 10. 78-Jody Williams, 11. 1s-Sean McClelland, 12. 41w-Joshua Williams, 13. 45-Martin Edwards, 14. 11c-Chad Corken, 15. 44k-Koty McGullam, 16. 20s-Kyle Sager. DNS: 20az-George Suprick, 77t-Colt Treharn.
Lucas Oil ASCS Western World Friday Preliminary Feature (Top 8 Lock into Saturday’s “A” Main):
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45x-Johnny Herrera, 2. 33-Danny Lasoski, 3. 9-Joey Saldana, 4. 41-Jason Johnson, 5. 57-Shane Stewart, 6. 83-Tim Kaeding, 7. 75-Kyle Larson, 8. 11-Roger Crockett, 9. 21-Brian Brown, 10. 57w-Lucas Wolfe, 11. 35-Paul McMahan, 12. 3s-John Carney II, 13. 2b-Ben Gregg, 14. 74x-Joshua Hodges, 15. 88-Tim Crawley, 16. 35g-Shane Golobic, 17. 93-Dustin Morgan, 18. 94T-Steven Tiner, 19. 3g-Darren Long, 20. 20z-Rick Ziehl, 21. 77x-Wayne Johnson, 22. 6-Kyle Hirst, 23. 94-Danny Wood.