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RACING
NEWS
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| Daniel Johnson Wins Franklin County Super Cup Event | by Skip Wall
Well, take Jim Crabtree Jr. and Megan Reitenour out of the equation early and what happens? You have your third different winner of the young Super Cup Stock Car Series. And for that matter you have your fifth different winner if you throw in the two exhibition races at the end of last season.
Daniel Johnson of Midland NC took the lead on lap 10 and won this past Saturday nights race in Callaway Va, the third stop on the series schedule.
"We had to pass the first couple of cars and then we just had to hang on from there" says a soft spoken Johnson who picked up his first career win in the Super Cup.
 "They said the 40 car (Todd Peck) was coming quickly, so I had to hold him off. But he ran me clean and that's all you can say. But I was also holding my own."
Peck, who finished second, had several challenges for Johnson on a couple of restarts.
"He ran a flawless race and we just couldn't get around him" says an ecstatic Peck. "Its just good to be back and run this car" he says in his first start in the Super Cup.
Larry Wilcox, Ryan Miller and Megan Reitenour all rounded out the top five in the 100 lap event, the third event of the season.
For Miller it was a tough event to swallow. He started on the pole from the inverted start. He would lead the first ten laps before losing it to Johnson. Miller would then spin and bring out the nights second caution. He pitted and had to battle his way back up thru the field. He would finish fourth after having a skirmish for position with Crabtree and Reitenour.
"We went from hero to zero" explains Crabtree who was the favorite coming into this race. " We had to dial ourselves back out. We were too loose when we got here and tightened it up too much before the sun went down. We should have just let it alone."
For Reitenour, the winner at Tri County earlier this season, it was a so-so race, but a good driving experience for the young seventeen year old who heads to Indianapolis later this week for a Lyn St. James fashion show. She had handling problems all night.
It wasn't the best event for Joe Harrison III either. He spun out and slapped the wall in the early practice session. He would come back and run in the top six in the early stages of the race only to have motor problems at the halfway mark.
For Johnson, he now loves this series. He thanked his dad for helping him get the race car ready in time for this race and had praise for this one third mile track, nestled in the mountains of southern Virginia. He also has no problems leaving the ProCup Series for the more affordable Super Cup Stock Car Series.
"Its a good feeling getting back to victory lane. I just cant thank my dad and the good lord enough. I've heard a lot of good things about this place. Everything they say about this place is true. I look forward in coming back here in September."
"We came up here with a hope and a prayer to win this race, and we did it. Just hope we can make it to the next one the same way."
" I liked running the ProCup but this deal here is where a lot of the guys don't have the money to race (in ProCup) can come here and run competitive and still have a lot of horsepower and run real race cars."
Peck, a driver who has been driving in the Camping World East series, and a former ProCup driver himself, backed up Johnsons comments.
"This series is the most fun I've had in a race in a long time. Its very cost effective for us. Its a good quality bunch of people, and im so very happy to be here" he says.
"They run this thing right and you can bet we will be back here more as much as we can."
The race saw four cautions, mostly harmless spins. Though only one lead change, the race from second thru sixth was intense the whole night. Larry Wilcox was the one who stayed under the radar scope all night and finished a good third.
" This was a good run for our team. The guys in the pits did a good job, everything went well for us tonight. We could run with them but its hard to pass here. I didn't want to root nobody out of the way. We will take this one and move on to Newport."
Now the series does indeed move on to Newport Speedway in Tennesee, on June 7th, the fourth stop on the schedule. Crabtree is the defending winner of that race.
Official Finish Franklin County Speedway
1 Daniel Johnson, Midland NC
2 Todd Peck, Harrisonburg Pa.
3 Larry Wilcox, Denver NC
4 Ryan Miller, So. Charleston Oh
5 Megan Reitenour, Miamisburg Oh
6 Jim Crabtree Jr., Muncie In.
7 Neil Gacom, Hinckley Oh.
8 Joe Harrison III, Rennick WV
9 Chuck Buchanan, Meadows of Dan VA.
10 Craig Wood, Culpeper VA
11 Bill Reitenour, Miamisburg Oh.
12 Keith Wolf, Harrisonburg Pa.
13 John Hourd Stuart Va.
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