From John Rittenoure
Monett, MO — (June 13, 2014) — Michael Bookout always wondered how he would react if he were to win an OCRS sprint car feature.
He found out Friday night at Monett Speedway.
“It was pretty exciting,” smiled Bookout after posting his first career feature victory. “I always rehearsed what I was going to do and I was ready to finally get one. ”
Bookout was so excited he could be heard hollering from inside his car during his cool down lap after taking the checkered flag. In victory lane Bookout climbed onto the tail tank, waved to the crowd then pounded on the wing.
“It was insane,” recalled Bookout. “I was counting down the last five laps and I was louder than the engine.”
Bookout started on the pole for the 25-lapper and quickly opened up a lead over inside second row starter Shayla Waddell. On lap 10 the yellow flag waved for Travis Ashwood who drove off the top of turn three. The yellow waved again on lap 19 for Cameron Hagin, who spun in turn four. The restarts closed up the field, but each time Bookout pulled back out front racing unchallenged to the finish.
“I got real worried every time the yellow came out,” Bookout said. “I could hear cars behind me but the car was a rocket tonight. It really took off. It was locked down down low and I could really launch out of those turns. I knew if I could just stay low no one was going to be able to get by me.
“There was one time when another car spun in turn four and I thought I was going to take him out. I am glad the yellows came out and kept the lapped traffic out of our way.”
At the finish Bookout crossed the line well ahead of Waddell, Kenneth Walker, Casey Wills and Kyle Clark in fifth. He had no idea if anyone was on his tail or not when the checkered fell.
“I had no clue,” Bookout said. “After the race a bunch of guys came up and told me I was pretty far ahead of them.”
The win made up for leading the third heat race to the final turn where he lost the lead to Casey Wills.
“We were leading the whole heat race until turn four of the last lap when Casey Wills got by. I just bounced up a little bit and Casey had the better line and just shot down below us.”
The race was the first for the Bookout team since blowing an engine May 3 at Tri-State Speedway.
“I am glad that Mike Stewart did this motor for us,” said Bookout. “It was stronger than ever and came out and won its first A feature. It was just a couple of weeks ago Stewart and David Stephenson were working on it and we picked it up that night.
“We just started it up for the first time earlier today. We did not even know if it would run, But it ran pretty good.”
“I am glad I could do this for my dad for Fathers Day.”
Andrew Deal picked up the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Hard Charger award as he advanced from 18th starting position to finish ninth.
Danny Smith fell out of the race with a blown engine on lap 18. He was credited with a 17th place finish which knocked him out of the points lead and earning him the D and E Supply Hard Luck award. Deal now holds a two point lead in the standings heading into Saturday’s race at Tri-State.
OCRS Race Results
Monett Speedway
Friday, June 13, 2014
23 Cars
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat
1, 84-Alex DeCamp[1]. 2, 5$-Danny Smith[4]. 3, 2k-Kenneth Walker[3]. 4, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[6]. 5, 87F-Brian McClelland[5]. 6, 4C-Kyle Cobb[7]. 7, 2-Mickey Walker[2]. 8, 30-Joseph Miller[8].
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat
1, 7M-Chance Morton[3]. 2, P78-Perry Pickard[2]. 3, 88S-Shayla Waddell[4]. 4, 9$-Kyle Clark[5]. 5, 5-Cameron Hagin[1]. 6, 17E-Blake Edwards[8]. 7, 23A-Travis Ashwood[7]. 8, 3G-Jeff Garnett[6].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat
1, 31-Casey Wills[1]. 2, 007-Michael Bookout[2]. 3, 21-Billy Frazier[7]. 4, 8M-Kade Morton[3]. 5, 22-David Stephenson[4]. 6, 22T-Frank Taft[5]. 7, 15D-Andrew Deal[6].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature (Top 8 advance)
1, 87F-Brian McClelland[9]. 2, 17E-Blake Edwards[1]. 3, 4C-Kyle Cobb[7]. 4, 22-David Stephenson[6]. 5, 2-Mickey Walker[5]. 6, 15D-Andrew Deal[11]. 7, 23A-Travis Ashwood[10]. 8, 5-Cameron Hagin[3]. 9, 22T-Frank Taft[4]. 10, 3G-Jeff Garnett[2]. 11, 30-Joseph Miller[8].
OCRS A Feature
1, 007-Michael Bookout[1]. 2, 88S-Shayla Waddell[3]. 3, 2k-Kenneth Walker[10]. 4, 31-Casey Wills[6]. 5, 9$-Kyle Clark[7]. 6, 84-Alex DeCamp[8]. 7, 7M-Chance Morton[5]. 8, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[9]. 9, 15D-Andrew Deal[18]. 10, 87F-Brian McClelland[13]. 11, 8M-Kade Morton[4]. 12, 4C-Kyle Cobb[15]. 13, 17E-Blake Edwards[14]. 14, 23A-Travis Ashwood[19]. 15, 2-Mickey Walker[17]. 16, 5-Cameron Hagin[20]. 17, 5$-Danny Smith[11]. 18, 21-Billy Frazier[12]. 19, 22-David Stephenson[16]. 20, P78-Perry Pickard.
Lap Leaders: Michael Bookout 1-25.
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories Hard Charger: Andrew Deal.
D&E Supply Hard Luck Recipient: Danny Smith.