OWENS TAKES HAROLD LEEP JR MEMORIAL RACE Claims second win in last five runs at OSP
John
Lemon
OCRS
Public Relations
Ada Oklahoma (May 11, 2013) – There is something about
“special events” at the Oklahoma Sports Park that suits Gary Owens just fine
when the Oil Capital Racing Series comes to town. For the second time in five
events at George Welch’s 4/10 mile track, Owens took advantage of his front row
starting spot and became the fifth winner in as many attempts of the Harold
Leep Jr Memorial race. Owens last took checkers at OSP in the fall of 2011 when
he won his first OCRS feature event at the Oklahoma State Championship event.
At the drop of the green flag, Owens
shot his Glen Owens Sand & Gravel / Fields Pecan Pies / Super Shox /
Dooling Machine / Eagle chassis into the lead as the cars attacked the first
two corners. Perry Pickard followed Owens into turn one from his pole position
berth only to have Shayla Waddell, who started outside second row and behind
Owens, overtake Pickard as the cars would exit turn two.
Alex
Decamp, Casey Wills and Jeremy Allen would be the next few cars to cross the
stripe with the leading trio, as the field would complete the opening round of
the 25-lap affair.
DeCamp would pass Pickard on the
third lap to move into the show position. Soon after, Pickard would drift high
in turn two and would loose several positions. On the ensuing lap, Waddell
would break loose and get crossed up in turn four. “The Princess” would wind up
in the infield but gassed it to keep her revs up and bolted right back onto the
track only loosing two positions.
Owens was out to a 12-car length
lead by this point and was showing everyone in attendance he meant business. As
the field was working lap 13, Chuck Bellefeuille came to a stop in turn two to bring
out the first caution of the race. He would not restart as he was towed back to
the pits. The restart order would have Owens at the top with the lapped car of
Joshua Tyre next then DeCamp, Allen, Waddell, Wills, Joe Wood Jr, Harli White,
Kade Morton, Whit Gastineau, Strike Hill and Johnny Kent.
Gary Owens in victory lane / Mike Spivey photo
On the restart, Allen would overtake
Decamp in turn two in his Four Generations Roofing / Square Deal Auto Salvage /
Arrow Wrecker Service / Shooters BBQ / Eagle chassis to move into the runner-up spot. DeCamp would
get a little high thereafter and Waddell would take back another position she
had lost earlier. A yellow would fly again as Kent, who arrived just in time to
transfer from the B-Feature after attending his sisters wedding earlier in the
evening, got into the back of Hill and the two cars were left stalled. Hill
would be towed in while Kent would rejoin the field at the rear.
Once back under green, Owens
stretched out to a couple of car lengths lead almost immediately while positions
behind him were being fought tooth and nail. White and Wood Jr were going at one
another and Gastineau was looking to muscle in as well. Working the 17th
round, Wood Jr would take a spot from DeCamp in turn one. DeCamp had to feel
like the kid in school who gets picked on because just after loosing a spot to
Wood Jr, White was all over him trying to get in to the top five. White would
make the pass for position then Gastineau was all over DeCamp’s bumper and
eventually got by him. Gastineau quickly caught up to White and the battle was
on, but for these two top gunners, their battle wouldn’t last long. Coming down
the front straight for the 20th lap, the two made contact and
Gastineau shot to the infield and did so by several feet. “The Gasman” kept the
gas pedal mashed, executed a 360 and blazed back out onto the track however, he
would loose several positions.
Smith,
who had quietly picked his way through he field, was giving DeCamp all he
wanted then as the white flag was deployed on the next circuit, DeCamp had a
problem and parked his car high in turn four. Owens would take the checkers
followed by Allen, Waddell (who had her best finish since her victory at Salina
one year ago), Wood Jr and White. The rest of the top ten were: Smith, Brian
McClelland, Wills, Morton and Gastineau.
“The track was in pretty good
shape tonight,” said Owens. “We had a pretty good little cushion and I knew
that if I could keep it (car) there, hopefully everything would line up and it
did and we had a pretty good run tonight.” When asked about the lapped traffic
that was encountered, Owens gave this take; “I was kind of leery. When they get
to racing each other, you just have to kind of watch what they are doing. I
didn’t want to ram anybody so I just took my time and got around them the best
I could. I also wish to say thanks to the Leep family for all that they have
done for the racing community and for the extra money they put up tonight.”
From Jeremy Allen: “We started to
get loose towards the end of the race. We should have had the bleeders in and
we didn’t put them in. I thought I had a chance at the lead on one of the
restarts but the car just kept getting looser and looser. I like these fast
tracks. The car loves it. Once you get the combination just right, you go to
the front pretty easy. "
Shayla Waddell at work / Mike Spivey Photo
Waddell was pleased with her
podium finish for the night in the Shores – Sentry / Production Engine &
Pump / Red Rock Distributing / PM-PRO / Eagle chassis: “At the
beginning of the race I was really loose and I almost lost it. I got completely
sideways in turn four and had to cut through the infield. I lost a couple of
spots and had to work my back. We got the car good all night on the set up. The
car was to tight (first night out) and we had gearing issues (second night out)
but tonight was a lot better.”
McClelland received the AmeriFlex
Hose and Accessories ‘Hard Charger’ passing eight cars. Strike Hill was the
Dyno Services of Oklahoma ‘Hard Luck’ recipient.Danny Smith took the Wesmar Racing Engines B-Feature. Allen
nabbed the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories heat, Waddell the Bob Hurley Auto
Family heat and Gastineau won the Drive Shafts Inc. heat race.
The next event for the OCRS
warriors will be next Saturday night at the Salina Highbanks Speedway in Salina
Oklahoma. It will be the first of three stops at the Highbanks for OCRS in
2013.
OCRS Race Results
Date of Race:Saturday, May 11, 2013
23 Cars
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories
Heat
1, 17-Jeremy Allen [3]. 2, 78-Perry
Pickard [1]. 3, 8M-Kade Morton [2]. 4, 9$-Kyle Clark [4]. 5, 5$-Danny Smith
[5]. 6, 11-Michael Tyre [6]. 7, 55-Johnny Kent. (DNS). 8, 007-Michael
Bookout. (DNS).
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat
1, 88S-Shayla Waddell [1]. 2,
31-Casey Wills [3]. 3, 17W-Harli White [5]. 4, 71-Joe Wood Jr. [8]. 5, 33-Gary
Owens [7]. 6, 87F-Brian McClelland [6]. 7, 7m-Chance Morton [4]. 8, 94-Dan
Schnackenberg [2].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat
1, 2W-Whit Gastineau [2]. 2, 84-Alex
DeCamp [6]. 3, 26-Rafe Essary [4]. 4, 13-Strike Hill [5].
5, 25-Chuck Bellefeuille [1]. 6,
7F-Joshua Tyre [3]. 7, 98-Jeff Garnett [7].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature
(Top8 transfer)
1, 5$-Danny Smith [2]. 2, 9$-Kyle
Clark [1]. 3, 87F-Brian McClelland [5]. 4, 55-Johnny Kent [11]. 5, 7m-Chance
Morton [7]. 6, 25-Chuck Bellefeuille [3]. 7, 7F-Joshua Tyre [6]. 8, 94-Dan
Schnackenberg [9]. 9, 007-Michael Bookout [10]. 10, 11-Michael Tyre [4].
11, 98-Jeff Garnett [8].
OCRS A Feature
1, 33-Gary Owens [2]. 2, 17-Jeremy
Allen [8]. 3, 88S-Shayla Waddell [4]. 4, 71-Joe Wood Jr. [5]. 5, 17W-Harli
White [12]. 6, 5$-Danny Smith [13]. 7, 87F-Brian McClelland [15]. 8, 31-Casey
Wills [6]. 9, 8M-Kade Morton [7]. 10, 2W-Whit Gastineau [11]. 11, 26-Rafe
Essary [9]. 12, 7m-Chance Morton [17]. 13, 55-Johnny Kent [16]. 14,
7F-Joshua Tyre [19]. 15, 84-Alex DeCamp [3]. 16,
94-Dan Schnackenberg [20]. 17,
13-Strike Hill [10]. 18, 9$-Kyle Clark [14]. 19, 78-Perry Pickard [1]. 20,
25-Chuck Bellefeuille [18].
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Hard Charger: Brian McClelland: +8
Dyno Services of Oklahoma
Hard Luck Award: Strike Hill
Special thanks goes out to
the family of Harold Leep Jr as they added cash to the winning purse and they
paid out $100 to every team that did not qualify for the A feature.
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