CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Three-time ASA Midwest Tour champion Casey Johnson recorded his second win of the season in his first visit to Hawkeye Downs Speedway.
The Edgerton, Wis., driver’s second victory of the season in the Tour was just like his earlier victory in the season at the Joe Shear Classic, holding off two-time defending track champion and two-time defending winner Gabe Sommers for the victory.
“My guy’s absolutely busting their butts today,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever scrambled quite that hard in a race track in a while.”
Being the first time at the half-mile oval, celebrating its 100th anniversary, Johnson knew he had to learn quickly how to get around the track. He found a teacher.
“Coming to a new track, trying to learn some things, it was actually a blessing getting passed by that 15 (Sommers) car early, showed me the line I needed to run, and then I used that,” Johnson said with a smile. “But, man, like I said, I just can’t thank my guys enough, my sponsor’s enough. We just had a rocket under us today.”
Johnson had to hold off Sommers on two restarts with seven laps to go in the race. Sommers would try to get to the inside of Johnson, but each time Johnson got a good run out of two to open up his lead to a 0.545-second victory.
Sommers, who was the fast qualifier, was hoping to continue his streak at Hawkeye Downs, but came up one spot short.
“Yeah, just straight up got beat by the five (Johnson), just not good enough,” Sommers said. “I just couldn’t keep it in front of him, and he just got track position, and he was really good and when he got in front of me, we just got to be better.”
Van Der Geest, who led 40 laps, picked up another podium finish, but is still looking for his first ASAMT victory.
“Yeah, it’s bittersweet. You know, podiums are something to be proud of in the tour.
This is a really competitive series,” Van Der Geest said. “I got into Mondeik there, I don’t know if he’s got something out against me. He always runs me like that, but yeah, overall Casey and Gabe just had a little bit more tires than me at the end, a little bit more right rear.”
Riley Stenjem finished fourth with John Beale rounding out the top five.
The finish:
Casey Johnson, Gabe Sommers, Levon Van Der Geest, Riley Stenjem, John Beale, Kody King, Cody Dempser, Penn Sauter, Ty Fredrickson, Clay Curts, Michael Hagger, Mitch Haver, Joe Valento, Brent Edmunds, Justin Mondeik, Joseph Scholze, Mark Ironside, Harley Jankowski.
