From OCRS
Muskogee, OK — (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 can’t 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. I’ve 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.
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat1, 26M-Fred Mattox[2]. 2, 5$-Danny Smith[5]. 3, 22-David Stephenson[4]. 4,17X-Brent Bates[6]. 5, 7m-Chance Morton[7]. 6, 11-Michael Tyre[3]. 7, 22K-Koby Barksdale[1].
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat 2
1, 8M-Kade Morton[2]. 2, 4AM-Mike Goodman[5]. 3, 00-Kacee Frazier[1]. 4, 7F-Joshua Tyre[4]. 5, 007-Michael Bookout[3]. 6, 55-Johnny Kent[6]. 7, 51-Mike Peters. (DNS).
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat
1, 17W-Harli White[2]. 2, 8-Alex Sewell[4]. 3, 87F-Brian McClelland[1]. 4, 88S-Shayla Waddell[3]. 5, 1-Sean McClelland[7]. 6, 84-Alex DeCamp[6]. 7, 15D-Andrew Deal[5].
Car and Fleet Parts Heat
1, 2W-Whit Gastineau[1]. 2, 4J-Jamie Passmore[3]. 3, 17-Jeremy Allen[4]. 4, 31-Casey Wills[6]. 5, 60-Kip Hughes[2]. 6, 9$-Kyle Clark[7]. 7, 78-Perry Pickard[5].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature
Top 8 transfer
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