Mike Spivey Photo.
From John Rittenoure
Caney, KS — (August 30, 2014) — Andrew Deal really wanted to win before a hometown crowd Saturday at Osage Casino Caney Valley Speedway. And with six laps remaining it appeared like it just might happen.
But a lap 19 restart gave Alex DeCamp an opportunity and the Claremore pilot took advantage. DeCamp wheeled alongside of Deal at the start-finish line then pulled ahead in turn two of lap 20 to win his fifth OCRS feature and his first non-wing of the season.
“I was really wanting a non-win, this is my favorite thing to race and am so thankful we got one,” said DeCamp.
“I want to dedicate this win to Royce Rusher. He broke his back last night (Friday) at Port City. He is a good friend of my and wish him a speedy recovery.”
DeCamp started in ninth position in his Whitney Manufacturing / Morton Excavating / DSO Engines / Eagle chassis.
“At the beginning of the race I knew the bottom was the fast away around the track,” DeCamp said. “I knew everybody would be down there so I tried to stay on top hoping the bottom would go away.
“About fifth place was as good as that was going to get us so I thought I would tuck in behind the leaders and follow them waiting for a mistake and capitalize on that.”
And that is what DeCamp did. On lap 16 DeCamp passed Kyle Clark for second and started to run down Deal.
“We got underneath Kyle Clark and got behind Andrew (Deal) and started running him down,” recalled DeCamp. “We had a caution and pulled up behind his bumper. The only way we were going to get around him is to run down there and he missed his mark. We got a run on him one time and got our nose underneath him and it stuck. We just had to hit our marks the rest of the race and not do what he did.”
It was a disappointing loss for Deal who had led the race since lap 12.
“I was kind of disappointed,” said Deal. “But if anybody is to win I like to see Alex win. He drove me clean.”
Deal had a good handling sprint car early in the race but felt his Cagle Motorsports sprinter might be a handful at the end.
“The car went away at the end and I did not know they were putting around on the bottom,” Deal said. “I was trying to not let the car push on exit and he never would have passed me if I would have kept it on the tires. But I did not know that.
“That is the bad thing about leading a race. You don’t know where everyone else is.”
Still the second place finish allowed Deal to close with 14 points of points leader Danny Smith in the championship race.
“We were really good at the beginning of the race, but the car went away really bad,” Deal said. “I was just hanging on. We were really good before the restarts.”
The 25-lap feature opened with Nigel Calvert jumping into the lead before a yellow flag called back the start. Blake Edwards tried to lead on the restart but gave way to Clark. Clark set the pace until Deal challenged him at the start-finish line of lap 11. Deal pulled ahead on lap 12 and stayed there until DeCamp showed up. Tim Kent ran third and points leader Danny Smith finished fourth.
The fourth place finish allowed Smith to capture the three-race non-wing title and win a trip to Marysville, California and the Jimmy Sills School of Open Wheel Racing. But he would have liked to have closed out the non-wing show with a better showing.
“I wish we had performed a little better tonight,” said Smith who was not happy with his finish. “We are kind of hanging our head a little low.”
But Smith is excited about the Jimmy Sills opportunity.
“We are going to do something with it,” Smith said. “I don’t know if I will let my son Kyle go. I image he will do it. I am getting a little bit old to be learning.
“It is proud moment for OCRS and a proud moment for the Smith Motorsports team. I have not raced a lot of non-wing so it is an accomplishment.”
OCRS Race Results
Osage Casino Caney Valley Speedway
Saturday, August 30, 2014
18 Cars
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat
1, 84-Alex DeCamp[4]. 2, 55-Johnny Kent[1]. 3, 53-Brett Wilson[3]. 4, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[4]. 5, 3-Tim Kent[2]. 6, 87F-Brian McClelland[5].
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat
1, 5$-Danny Smith[4]. 2, 17E-Blake Edwards[3]. 3, 16-Nigel Calvert[2]. 4, 97-Kevin Cummings[1]. 5, 5-Cameron Hagin[5]. 6, 8M-Kade Morton[6].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat
1, 15D-Andrew Deal[4]. 2, 9$-Kyle Clark[1]. 3, 13W-Grant Wresche[2]. 4, 31-Casey Wills[5]. 5, 92-Waylon Weaver[3]. 6, 7M-Chance Morton[6].
OCRS A Feature (25 laps)
1, 84-Alex DeCamp[9]. 2, 15D-Andrew Deal[11]. 3, 3-Tim Kent[13]. 4, 5$-Danny Smith[12]. 5, 55-Johnny Kent[10]. 6, 8M-Kade Morton[17]. 7, 16-Nigel Calvert[5]. 8, 5-Cameron Hagin[14]. 9, 17E-Blake Edwards[3]. 10, 92-Waylon Weaver[15]. 11, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[1]. 12, 53-Brett Wilson[4]. 13, 9$-Kyle Clark[7]. 14, 97-Kevin Cummings[8]. 15, 31-Casey Wills[6]. 16, 13W-Grant Wresche[2]. 17, 87F-Brian McClelland[16]. DNS: 7M-Chance Morton.
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories Hard Charger: Kade Morton +11
D&E Supply Hard Luck Recipient: Brett Wilson.
Lap Leaders: Edwards 1, Clark 2-11, Deal 12-19, DeCamp 20-25.