by John Rittenoure
MUSKOGEE, Oklahoma (October 8, 2010) – Whit Gastineau got a little unexpected help from Mike Goodman Friday night at Outlaw Motor Speedway. While leading the A feature Goodman briefly got held up in lapped traffic and that was all it took for Gastineau to drive past and win his fifth OCRS sprint feature of the season.
“I knew it was going to be one heck of a race before it started,” said Gastineau who started inside second row behind Goodman. “I kept getting underneath him but I could never get enough momentum to get by. I kept sliding underneath him and trying everything I could.”
For 20 laps Gastineau chased Goodman trying to find enough traction to mount a challenge. But on lap 21 Goodman shot down low in turn three and was forced to get out of the gas for three cars in front of him that were about to go down a lap. That opened the door for Gastineau.
“I had a little help,” said Gastineau of his move past the former OCRS champion. “He dove to the bottom and I zinged around the top and was able to sneak by him. Sometimes the ball is rolling your way and sometimes it is not.
“If we would have had more restarts it would have helped. It was a drivers track. I was pretty loose the whole time. We should have tightened the car up. Sometimes you just don’t know.”
But it did work out for Gastineau while Goodman was left to think about what could have been.
“We had been having brake issues all night, but that is no excuse” said Goodman. “I did not have any brakes and I made the wrong decision. There were three of them there and I did not know where to go. It looked like they were going to float up high and block me so I made the decision to go to the bottom and it was the wrong one.”
If only Goodman could take that lap back.
“Oh yea, redo it,” smiled Goodman. “I have a thousand laps over twenty years I’d like to take back.
“I thought I might be able to run him back down but it was too late in the race.”
The feature took the green with Goodman on the pole next to his teammate Travis Jenkins. Goodman exited turn one with the lead then a lap later Gastineau powered past Jenkins for second. On lap 5 Jamie Passmore roared into third and the battle was on. Goodman was running up against the wall while Gastineau tried his luck with the low groove and gaining ground in the turns. The three raced that way until the yellow waved on lap 11 after Brent Bates blew an engine. After the restart the pace continued until lap 21 when Goodman came up on three cars in the low groove about to be lapped. When the checkered waved after 25 laps it was Gastineau, Goodman, Passmore, Rafe Essary and Danny Smith.
A total of 29 cars, the largest turnout this season at Outlaw Motor Speedway, signed-in for the tracks final OCRS event of the season.
Tim Kent led Kevin Guinn, Chris Pillars and Bates to the finish in the 12-lap B main. All four transferred to the A main.
The final OCRS event of the season happens on October 23 at Enid Speedway.
OCRS Sprints
HEAT 1: 1, Glen Passmore. 2, Rafe Essary. 3, Kenneth Walker. 4, Dean Drake, Jr. 5, Tim Kent. 6, Phillip Davis. 7, Kacee Frazier. 8, Ron Murphy.
HEAT 2: 1, Shayla Waddll. 2, Jamie Passmore. 3, Billy Frazier. 4, Kyle Clark. 5, Kevin Guinn. 6, Chris Pillars. 7, Johnny Kent.
HEAT 3: 1, Mike Goodman. 2, Danny Smith. 3, Fred Mattox. 4, Brady Demeree. 5, Brian Roberts. 6, Burt Davis. 7, Zach Beeler.
HEAT 4: 1, Travis Jenkins. 2, Whit Gastineau. 3, Terry Easum. 4, Beau Gastineau. 5, Robbie Sherrell. 6, Matt Caudle. DNS: Brent Bates.
B FEATURE: 1,Tim Kent. 2, Kevin Guinn. 3, Chris Pillars. 4, Brent Bates. 5, Burt Davis. 6, Kacee Frazier. 7, Brian Roberts. 8, Phillip Davis. 9, Zach Beeler. 10, Robbie Sherrell. 11, Matt Caudle. 12, Ron Murphy. 13, Johnny Kent.
A FEATURE: 1, Whit Gastineau. 2, Mike Goodman. 3, Jamie Passmore. 4, Rafe Essary. 5, Danny Smith. 6, Travis Jenkins. 7, Kenneth Walker. 8, Tim Kent. 9, Billy Frazier. 10, Brady Demeree. 11, Glen Passmore. 12, Kyle Clark. 13, Kevin Guinn. 14, Fred Mattox. 15, Chris Pillars. 16, Beau Gastineau. 17, Terry Easum. 18, Brent Bates. 19. Dean Drake, Jr. 20, Shayla Waddell.