Wills Becomes The Ultimate Survivor Becomes 6th First Time Career Winner In 2013
John Lemon OCRS Public Relations
Salina Oklahoma (July 13, 2013) –
There is the grand ole saying that “Only the strong survive”. There
is also something to be said about those that are just fortunate to
survive also. Such was the case in tonight’s Oil Capital Racing Series
main event at the Salina Highbanks Speedway, where you were either
fortunate to survive or you were kicked to the curb. Sperry Oklahoma’s
Casey Wills was as strong as he was fortunate to claim his first ever
OCRS A-Feature victory on the Highbanks. The win for Wills makes him the
sixth “first time winner” this season following Harli White, Kade
Morton, Chance Morton, Kacee Frazier and Alex DeCamp. Wills also becomes
the 9th different winner in 14 outings by the Tulsa Oklahoma based
traveling series.
Harli White (17w), Kade Morton (8m) & Shayla Waddell (88s)
race for position / Phil Pace Photo
With
a light rain falling as the cars prepared to go green, Andrew Deal
broke from his pole position to lead the pack going into turn one only
to have outside front row starter Kyle Clark take the lead by going
around Deal as the cars exited turn two and headed down the back
straight. Shayla Waddell, Wills, Alex Decamp, Danny Smith and Harli
White trailed. Wills would overtake Waddell on the backstretch on lap
five for third. The next lap saw Smith and White get by DeCamp coming
out of turn two. Coweta’s Kade Morton would set Decamp yet another spot
back the next time around.
Deal, who was piloting the Wade
Cagle / C&P Racing Supply / Jennings Engines / ART for the second
consecutive week and for the second straight week, Deal would be a
feature leader as he chased down Clark on lap eight and took the top
spot as the leading duo charged into turn three. On the ninth lap, Wills
moved the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories / Casey’s Oil Express / DSO
Engines / ART sprinter into the runner-up position when he took down
Clark down the back straight. At this point, the racing surface was
showing signs of taking on rubber.
Clark would swing high on
top of turns three and four that would allow Waddell, Smith and White
to all slide past. Deal would stretch his lead to 12 car lengths over
Wills while Clark would fallout of competition by exiting to the pits. A
couple of laps later, craziness would be best to describe what was
about to transpire.
On lap 17, Danny Smith would blow a
right rear tire as he came out of turn two. Smith had every opportunity
to lie dead on the track, but in order for the race to continue without
stoppage, Smith limped his mount off the racing surface. As it turned
out, the field would go yellow in moments anyway when Deal would pop a
right rear while being comfortably ahead as he exited turn two and wound
up stopping on the back straight. Under the ensuing yellow, White would
see her right rear go down and the series point leader would exit the
track for the work area. Terry Easum would have tire issues and he would
also exit the track.
White was still idle in the work area
when the call was made to close the track for cars returning for the
restart so the field could go back to green. As the field formed up to
restart the race, White fired off form the work area and returned to the
track. OCRS officials displayed the black flag to White but she stayed
on the track and after other attempts to have White exit the track
failed, the race restarted but White would be listed as a ‘disqualified
car’ as the threat of rain kept officials from taking time to keep the
field at bay and having White sent pitside prior to the restart.
Runner-up finisher Shayla Waddell Mike Spivey Photo
Decamp
would be the benefactor of the dropouts as he passed Wills a lap before
the yellow was displayed thus he restarted in front with Wills second
followed by Waddell and Kade Morton third. As if there already wasn’t
enough craziness, the last lap produced more. As Decamp came down to
accept the white flag from OCRS flagman JD Etter, his right rear gave
way to an airless liking and that allowed the rest of the field led by
Wills, to sweep by as Decamp kept motoring on the high side of the
Highbanks.
Waddell pressured Wills heavily in her
Production Engine & Pump / Shores Sentry / TS Construction / PM Pro
/ Red Rock Distributing / Jaguar - Volvo of OKC / Boyd Engines / Eagle.
Likewise, Kade Morton was all over Waddell’s rear bumper in the Morton
Excavating / Shock Doc / A-C Man Of Oklahoma / Napa-Coweta Auto Supply /
STK Racing Engines / XXX chassis. The trio stayed glued together as
they made their last lap around the Highbanks. As they came down for the
checkers, it was Wills by a single car length over Waddell. As Kade
Morton crossed the stripe on Waddell’s backside, Morton’s tire gave way
as well. DeCamp kept motoring onward to complete the last lap to earn
the fourth spot with Michael Tyre rounding out the top five. Tyre earned
the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories ‘Hard Charger’ award after starting
in the 13th position. The balance of the top ten were: Chance Morton
with Michael Bookout next while Deal was scored eighth, Easum ninth and
Smith tenth.
From the winner: “ I saw Harli and Danny
smoking pretty good and I just backed out of the throttle. Once I saw
the first one (tire) pop, I thought I better save my right rear as I was
pushing anyway. I got second here last year behind Jeremy Allen and I
like this track, its fast here. I have to thank AmeriFlex Hose and
Accessories my dad, my wife and my pit crew. David Stephenson at DSO
worked on my motor this week and got me a little more (performance).”
Casey Wills enjoys the spoils of victory lane Mike Spivey Photo
Shayla
Waddell: “On the last lap I thought if he (Wills) maybe bobbled or
something I could sneak around him but he was fast and if he didn’t mess
up, he had it won. I knew there was someone right behind me so I just
protected my line. The highbanks here makes it pretty easy to stay on
the gas. I just tried not to spin my tires so they would make it (to the
end). And a second here is a pretty good finish.”
Kade
Morton: “ That was a crazy race. My tire started shaking about halfway
through the race. I was just hoping it wasn’t a rear end. As soon as we
crossed the checkered, the tire blew. Prior to the race, you could tell
where it was going to rubber up but in some places you didn’t know what
the track was going to do so it made it kind of hard to read. I just
gave it hell and hoped for the best. All in all, you just have to go for
it (the victory).
The 2013 OCRS tour takes a breather next
week. Action will resume for the open wheel warriors on July 27th when
the Oklahoma Sports Park in Ada hosts OCRS for the second time in 2013.
Gary Owens was victorious in the first visit to OSP back on May 11th.
David Stephenson (22) and Perry Pickard (78) @ Salina Mike Spivey Photo
OCRS Race Results Salina Highbanks Speedway / Salina Oklahoma Date of Race: Saturday, July 13, 2013 Car Count: 18 (Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat 1,
84-Alex DeCamp[1]. 2, 88-Terry Easum[4]. 3, 17W-Harli White[2]. 4,
31-Casey Wills[3]. 5, 11-Michael Tyre[5]. 6, 33-James Estes[6].
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat 1,
25-Andrew Deal[4]. 2, 88S-Shayla Waddell[3]. 3, 9$-Kyle Clark[6]. 4,
22-David Stephenson[1]. 5, 7m-Chance Morton[5]. 6, 78-Perry Pickard[2].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat 1, 5$-Danny Smith[1]. 2,
55-Johnny Kent[3]. 3, 8-Alex Sewell[5]. 4, 8M-Kade Morton[4]. 5,
007-Michael Bookout[2]. 6, 94-Dan Schnackenberg [DNS]
OCRS A Feature 1,
31-Casey Wills[3]. 2, 88S-Shayla Waddell[4]. 3, 8M-Kade Morton[7]. 4,
84-Alex DeCamp[6]. 5, 11-Michael Tyre[13]. 6, 7m-Chance Morton[10]. 7,
007-Michael Bookout[14]. 8, 25-Andrew Deal[1]. 9, 88-Terry Easum[9]. 10,
5$-Danny Smith[11]. 11, 9$-Kyle Clark[2]. 12, 78-Perry Pickard[12]. 13,
22-David Stephenson[5]. 14, 17W-Harli White[8] (DQ). DNS: 8-Alex
Sewell, 33-James Estes, 55-Johnny Kent, 94-Dan Schnackenberg.
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Hard Charger: Michael Tyre +8
Dyno Services of Oklahoma Hard Luck Recipient: Johnny Kent
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