By John Rittenoure
Lawton, Okla. (July 30, 2016) – Gary Owens was in the right place at the right time to surprise Whit Gastineau with a turn four pass and win his first Ameri-Flex / OCRS sprint car feature of the season Saturday at Lawton Speedway behind the wheel of his Fields Pecan Pies and Owens Sand and Gravel sponsored Eagle sprinter.
Late afternoon thunderstorms threatened to cancel the show, but Lawton’s track crew and racers pitched in to get the track surface packed resulting in a fast track.
Gastineau started on the pole next to Cameron Hagin. By the end of the first lap, Gastineau was in the lead. Owens, who started fifth, wasted little time taking over second after a lap two restart and reeled Gastineau in. On lap 8 Owens made a run at Gastineau with a turn four move to the inside that forced Gastineau to dart to the right. Owens crossed the line with the lead and pulled away for his fifth OCRS career victory.
Gastineau ran the remaining 17 laps in second where he finished ahead of Sheldon Barksdale who moved to third on lap 16. B main winner Robert Sellers charged from 13th starting position to finish fourth while front row starter Cameron Hagin held on to round out the top five.
Sellers was the Action Auto Collision Hard Charger Recipient advancing nine spots in the feature.
While Owens won the 25-lapper, Gastineau climbed into the points lead with his runner-up finish. Sellers moved into second and Zach Chappell fell from first to third.
The race for the Harold Leep Championship trophy is tight as Gastineau leads Sellers by just 18 points while Chappell is 47 points behind Gastineau after suffering a blown engine in his heat race. Chappell was not able to start the B main and was the recipient of the D&E Supply Hard Luck award.
Ameri-Flex / OCRS Official Results
Lawton Speedway, Lawton, Okla.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Car count: 27
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
Drive Shafts, Inc. Heat (8 laps)
1, 4-Shane Sellers[3]. 2, 30-Joseph Miller[1]. 3, 21-Brandon Jennings[5]. 4, 79-Tim Kent[2]. 5, 54-Michael Gossman[6]. 6, 20-Justin Mowry[4]. 7, 3G-Jeff Garnett[7].
A1 Machine Shop Heat (8 laps)
1, 33-Gary Owens[6]. 2, 88S-Shayla Waddell[1]. 3, 32-Jerry Bruner[7]. 4, 10K-Kyle Ezell[5]. 5, 5L-Joe Bob Lee[3]. 6, 11-Nick Bates[2]. 7, 55-Johnny Kent[4].
Car and Fleet Parts Heat (8 laps)
1, 5-Cameron Hagin[1]. 2, 911-Mike Baker[2]. 3, 76H-TJ Honkomp[3]. 4, 31-Casey Wills[6]. 5, 94F-Morgan Fletcher[4]. 6, 03-Joe Wood Jr.[5]. 7, 01-Chris Cochran[7].
OCRS Heat (8 laps)
1, 2W-Whit Gastineau[2]. 2, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[1]. 3, 14-Shawn Bloomquist[4]. 4, 4X-Robert Sellers[5]. 5, 24-T.J. Herrell[3]. 6, 50Z-Zach Chappell[6].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature (12 laps, top 8 transfer)
1, 4X-Robert Sellers[3]. 2, 10K-Kyle Ezell[2]. 3, 5L-Joe Bob Lee[6]. 4, 24-T.J. Herrell[8]. 5, 54-Michael Gossman[5]. 6, 94F-Morgan Fletcher[7]. 7, 55-Johnny Kent[14]. 8, 03-Joe Wood Jr.[11]. 9, 11-Nick Bates[10]. 10, 3G-Jeff Garnett[13]. 11, 01-Chris Cochran[15]. 12, 20-Justin Mowry[9]. DNS: 32-Jerry Bruner, 79-Tim Kent, 50Z-Zach Chappell.
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories A Feature (25 laps)
1, 33-Gary Owens[5]. 2, 2W-Whit Gastineau[1]. 3, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[4]. 4, 4X-Robert Sellers[13]. 5, 5-Cameron Hagin[2]. 6, 14-Shawn Bloomquist[10]. 7, 4-Shane Sellers[6]. 8, 10K-Kyle Ezell[14]. 9, 31-Casey Wills[11]. 10, 5L-Joe Bob Lee[15]. 11, 76H-TJ Honkomp[12]. 12, 55-Johnny Kent[19]. 13, 24-T.J. Herrell[16]. 14, 54-Michael Gossman[17]. 15, 911-Mike Baker[8]. 16, 88S-Shayla Waddell[3]. 17, 94F-Morgan Fletcher[18]. 18, 03-Joe Wood Jr.[20]. 19, 30-Joseph Miller[7]. 20, 21-Brandon Jennings[9].
Lap Leaders: Whit Gastineau 1-7; Gary Owens, 8-25.
Contingency Awards:
Drive Shaft Inc. Heat: Shane Sellers
A1 Machine Shop Heat: Gary Owens
Car and Fleet Parts Heat: Cameron Hagin
OCRS Heat: Whit Gastineau
D&E Supply Hard Luck Recipient: Zach Chappell
Action Auto Collision Hard Charger: Robert Sellers +9
Wesmar Power Parts Recipient: Robert Sellers
M&W Aluminum Products Recipient: Nick Bates
Rod End Supply Recipients: Cameron Hagin, Casey Wills, Mike Baker
DSO Racing Engines Lucky 7 Recipient: Shane Sellers