From John Rittenoure
Colcord OK — (June 20, 2014) — The wings came off Friday night at West Siloam Speedway.
The season’s first OCRS Non-Wing show finally fired off after falling to rain on May 24th at Caney Valley Speedway and 16-year old Chance Morton adapted very quickly winning the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories 30-lap main event.
It was Morton’s first victory of the season and the eighth different OCRS winner in ten events.
Without a wing the cars handle very differently and Morton led the final 25 laps for the win.
“I had some trouble early in the night but we finally got the hang of it,” smiled Morton. “It is a completely different driving style and makes it a whole new animal. You have to throw it and drive it with the gas.”
That is what Morton did as he chased early leader David Stephenson during the first five laps in his Morton Excavating / XXX Chassis / STK Racing Engines sprinter. But on lap five, Morton made contact with Stephenson who spun out. On the ensuing restart Morton inherited the lead.
“I accidentally messed up and drove over the front end of David (Stephenson),” Morton said. “That was not intentional. I wanted to get out front as quick as possible because you never know what the track is going to do. I ran off in the corner way too hot and was not able to get the car to stop quick enough.”
Michael Tyre held down second on the restart until Brian McClelland took over the runner-up sport on lap 8.
“I did not see anybody after that,” Morton said of the restart. “With these cars you just have to act like someone is on your tail all the time. You go all out all the time. The track was hard to read but we figured it out and came out with a win.”
McClelland tried to reel Morton in but couldn’t close the gap.
“The car was good the first half of the race then the track went away,” said McClelland of his attempts to catch Morton. “We thought we would be too tight at first and it would come to us at the end. He (Morton) was in a league of his own. He was good getting off and coming in. The motor was kind of lugging coming off but he was driving away from us. We passed a lot of cars. I would have liked to have won, but if I have to lost to anybody it would be Chance. He is a good guy.”
Series points leader Danny Smith worked his way to a third place finish behind McClelland. Smith earned the AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories Hard Charger award for advancing seven positions. Kyle Clark followed Smith for fourth and Michael Bookout rounded out the top five.
The yellow flag waved twice before the halfway point. The first was on lap two when Alex DeCamp tangled with Kevin Cummings in turn two. Both had to be towed off. And the second was for Stephenson’s spin.
OCRS Race Results
West Siloam Speedway
Friday, June 20, 2014
17 Cars
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat
1, 87F-Brian McClelland[1]. 2, 11-Michael Tyre[2]. 3, 22-David Stephenson[4]. 4, 3-Tim Kent[5]. 5, 54$-Joe Wood Jr.[3]. 6, 9-DerekCottrell[6].
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat
1, 15D-Andrew Deal[5]. 2, 9$-Kyle Clark[1]. 3, 7M-Chance Morton[3]. 4, 97-Kevin Cummings[6]. 5, 5J-Paul Johnson[2]. 6, 84-Alex DeCamp[4]. (DQ-Won heat but did not report to scales).
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat
1, 5$-Danny Smith[1]. 2, 8M-Kade Morton[5]. 3, 007-Michael Bookout[3]. 4, 5K-Koby Barksdale[2]. 5, 17E-Blake Edwards[4].
OCRS A Feature (30 laps)
1, 7M-Chance Morton[5]. 2, 87F-Brian McClelland[8]. 3, 5$-Danny Smith[10]. 4, 9$-Kyle Clark[6]. 5, 007-Michael Bookout[3]. 6, 8M-Kade Morton[4]. 7, 22-David Stephenson[2]. 8, 11-Michael Tyre[1]. 9, 54$-Joe Wood Jr.[13]. 10, 17E-Blake Edwards[14]. 11, 3-Tim Kent[12]. 12, 15D-Andrew Deal[9]. 13, 5K-Koby Barksdale[7]. 14, 5J-Paul Johnson[17]. 15, 97 Kevin Cummings[11]. 16, 84-Alex DeCamp[16]. 17, 9-Derek Cottrell[15].
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories Hard Charger: Danny Smith (+7).
D&E Supply Hard Luck Recipient: Derek Cottrell.
Lap Leaders: Stephenson 1-5, Morton 6-30.