Muskogee
Oklahoma (April 12, 2013)
– Kade Morton has a ton of experience in micro
sprint racing for an 18 year old. He has practically
no experience in full sized sprint cars having only
competed in three OCRS events in 2012. On this
Friday night, Morton surprised everyone including
himself by winning the Oil Capital Racing Series
25-lap A Feature at the Thunderbird Speedway. Morton
bested an A-Feature field that included 8 previous
OCRS feature winners and three former champions.
Starting on the front
row in his Morton Excavating / A-C Man Of Oklahoma /
Shock Doc / Napa-Coweta Auto Supply / STK Racing Engines / XXX
chassis, Morton was outran to the first corner by
Fred Mattox in the Pacer Energy Marketing/ AKL Oilfield Services / D&J Tank Trucks /
XXX with a David Mattox power. Morton would jump
onto the cushion in turns one and two and have the
lead as the duo headed down the back chute. A yellow
would fall after the completion of lap one when
Johnny ‘Hotrod’ Kent slowed to a stop in turn two.
He would fire off and restart tail end. Mattox sat
second on the restart with Danny Smith, Whit
Gastineau, Jeremy Allen, Alex “The Jet” Sewell and
Mike Goodman next in line. Harli White, who was
looking to become the first driver to win three in a
row to start a racing season, was up to eighth from
her 12th starting spot in just the first
lap.
When the field went
back to green, Mattox took a shot at the leader in
turn one but Morton again would take his racer high
onto the cushion and keep the spot. Smith was trying
to wrestle the position Mattox had in his Same Day
Auto Repair / XXX car with Dyno Services Of Oklahoma
an engine under the hood. Mattox would hold Smith
back at the line for the moment. At the same time,
Gastineau was poking a nose along the side of
Smith’s car a time or two. The “Gasman” would take
the spot in turn two on the south end of the track
and once on the north end, he would use his Red Rock
Racing Fuels / Shell Rapid Lube / Exterior
Specialties, and The Oil Medics backed car with
Allen Competition Engines tucked between the rails
of an Eagle chassis to pass Mattox for second and
the chase was on. A lap latter, Smith would take a
spot away from Mattox.
Morton would find lap
traffic on lap seven and Gastineau would evaporate
the lead the youngster had. Further back in the
pack, Mike Goodman, a three time OCRS champion
making his initial 2013 start, was making his
presence felt and passed Allen for the fifth
position and began to bare down on Smith. Goodman
would run up on lapped traffic in turn three while
pursuing Smith and in doing so, clipped the concrete
wall and flipped hard landing upside down with fuel
leaking. Goodman quickly exited the car and rolled
around the track in an attempt to out a fire that
had lit from the fuel. He would walk away but with
an irritating sensation on his upper body from the
small fire.
The restart would see
Morton up front with Gastineau, then the lapped car
of Brodix / PM PRO rookie contender Joshua Tyre then
Smith and Sewell, who was beginning to make a run in
his Action Auto Collision / AME Electrical / Sewell
Mechanical Inc / ART chassis with a Rob Forehand
built motor then it was White, Passmore, Allen, Sean
McClelland, Mattox and Alex DeCamp as the top ten.
Not a lap would get completed when Tyre flipped hard
in turn four bringing out another red. He was shaken
but otherwise OK. Allen would get by Passmore on the
restart while Passmore was attempting to pass White.
Allen took a hard run at White down the front
straight with White holding the spot going into turn
one but she would bobble in the corner and Allen
would take the spot from her. When the dueling duo
got to the opposite end of the track, White took the
spot back from Allen.
On a track with plenty
of moisture and rough on the bottom at each end,
Morton continued to use the cushion on the high
sides to his advantage and held a 5-car length lead
over the Gasman. Passmore would soon dispose of
Allen for position and at the completion of lap 17
it was Morton, Gastineau, Smith, Sewell, White,
Passmore, Allen, McClelland and Mattox. Lapped
traffic came back into play and Sewell would
overtake Smith in turn one and White would go by
Smith as well. Smith would eventually lose more
spots as the race was coming to a climax as Passmore
and Allen would also move forward.Morton would win by five car lengths over
Gastineau with Sewell, White and Passmore rounding
out the top five. The balance of the top ten were:
Allen, Smith, McClelland. Mattox and DeCamp.
“I was running the top
and cutting it across the middle trying to run the
smoothest part of the track. I just wanted to keep
the car freed up and not upset it,” explained the
excited winner. “I was surprised I got through the
lapped cars as easy as I did. I thought they would
cause more problems than they did but you just take
it as you go. The sprint car has a slower reaction
time than the micros that I’m used to, but you kind
of get used to it,” said Morton.
From the Gasman: “ I
really didn’t need those restarts. I was better when
we got into lapped traffic and he was fast when we
were out in the open. I thought I was going to get
him (Morton) but he drove a good race except the one
time he tried to knock the wall down. Other than
that, he drove a pretty clean race. If I could have
gotten by him once, I'm pretty sure we would of held
on but we didn’t.”
Alex Sewell was
satisfied with his efforts for the night. “Yea,
starting sixth isn't bad but it isn't good either.
We would like to start up front. We had to take what
we could get and push (forward) when others
couldn’t. These Competition Suspension Shocks I have
on here are just freaking great. I cant thank those
guys enough for helping me. My car just kept coming
in and coming in (towards end of race). Kade Morton
drove a hell of a race. Ive been racing micros with
him for a long time and for him to do this (win) on
a big half mile track is just awesome.”
The
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories “Hard Charger” went
to White for the second week in a row. The Dyno
Services of Oklahoma “Hard Luck” award went to Kip
Hughes who flipped in the Wesmar Racing B-Feature.
At press time, Hughes is in a Tulsa hospital with an
injury to his back. McClelland would win the
B-Feature. The AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories heat
went to Mattox. Morton took the Bob Hurley Auto
Family heat, White the Drive Shafts Inc heat and
Gastineau was the victor in the Car & Fleet Parts
heat. The OCRS warriors now move onward to “The
Hummer” aka Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt Kansas
next Friday, April 19th.
Thunderbird Speedway
Race
date: April 12, 2013 / Race #3
Car Count: 28
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat
1,
26M-Fred Mattox[2]. 2, 5$-Danny Smith[5]. 3,
22-David Stephenson[4]. 4,17X-Brent Bates[6]. 5,
7m-Chance Morton[7]. 6, 11-Michael Tyre[3]. 7,
22K-Koby Barksdale[1].
Bob
Hurley Auto Family Heat 2
1, 8M-Kade Morton[2]. 2, 4AM-Mike Goodman[5]. 3,
00-Kacee Frazier[1]. 4, 7F-Joshua Tyre[4]. 5,
007-Michael Bookout[3]. 6, 55-Johnny Kent[6]. 7,
51-Mike Peters. (DNS).
Drive
Shafts Inc. Heat 3
1, 17W-Harli White[2]. 2, 8-Alex Sewell[4]. 3,
87F-Brian McClelland[1]. 4, 88S-Shayla Waddell[3].
5, 1-Sean McClelland[7]. 6, 84-Alex DeCamp[6]. 7,
15D-Andrew Deal[5].
Car and
Fleet Parts Heat 4
1, 2W-Whit Gastineau[1]. 2, 4J-Jamie Passmore[3]. 3,
17-Jeremy Allen[4]. 4, 31-Casey Wills[6]. 5, 60-Kip
Hughes[2]. 6, 9$-Kyle Clark[7]. 7, 78-Perry
Pickard[5].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature
1, 1-Sean McClelland[4]. 2, 7m-Chance Morton[3]. 3,
88S-Shayla Waddell[6]. 4, 55-Johnny Kent[11]. 5, 84-Alex DeCamp[12]. 6, 007-Michael Bookout[7]. 7,
11-Michael Tyre[10]. 8, 7F-Joshua Tyre[5]. 9, 9$-Kyle
Clark[9]. 10, 00-Kacee Frazier[1]. 11, 87F-Brian
McClelland[2]. 12, 22K-Koby Barksdale[13]. 13, 60-Kip
Hughes[8]. 14, 51-Mike Peters (DNS). 15, 78-Perry
Pickard (DNS). 16, 15D-Andrew Deal (DNS).
OCRS A
Feature
1, 8M-Kade Morton[2]. 2, 2W-Whit Gastineau[5]. 3,
8-Alex Sewell[6]. 4, 17W-Harli White[12]. 5, 4J-Jamie
Passmore[11]. 6, 17-Jeremy Allen[4]. 7, 5$-Danny
Smith[3]. 8, 1-Sean McClelland[13]. 9, 26M-Fred
Mattox[1]. 10, 84-Alex DeCamp[17]. 11, 55-Johnny
Kent[16]. 12, 31-Casey Wills[8]. 13, 88S-Shayla
Waddell[15]. 14, 007-Michael Bookout[18]. 15,
11-Michael Tyre[19]. 16, 17X-Brent Bates[7]. 17,
4AM-Mike Goodman[10]. 18, 7m-Chance Morton[14].
19, 7F-Joshua Tyre[20]. 20, 22-David Stephenson[9].
AmeriFlex Hose and
Accessories Hard Charger: Harli White +8
Dyno Services of Oklahoma Hard Luck:
Kip Hughes
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