From John Rittenoure
Lawton, OK — (June 6, 2015) — Robert Sellers captured his second straight and third AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Oil Capital Racing Series main event of the season Saturday at Lawton Speedway.
The race was originally scheduled for May 30, but rainy weather forced officials to re-schedule the race and fortunately the OCRS had an open date.
And the fans in attendance witnessed Sellers and Gary Owens dicing for the lead.
Owens gunned his sprinter into an early lead from the pole with Sellers and Kyle Ezell giving chase. Sellers was biding his time.
“In the case of being second here you have to be patient and sometimes the lapped cars will help you out,” Sellers said of the Lawton quarter-mile oval.
Sellers tried a slide Owens on a couple of occasions. Midway through the 30-lapper Owens bobbled in turn one and Sellers took advantage driving underneath for the lead.
“I passed him, kind of slid him and he slid me,” Sellers said of duel with Owens. “Then toward the end of the race he hooked the cushion and that was the end of that.”
“He went up in turn two and kind of hooked the cushion. When he did that his car bounced on him and I just drove up underneath him.”
Owens was able to battle back into the lead briefly but he could not maintain his position finally giving Sellers the lead for good.
“I got into a hole and after that it killed my right rear bar,” Owens said of his cars handling. “It did not handle quite the same (after that).”
Sellers found the low groove a real challenge in his battle to get around Owens.
“There was a couple of times I tried running low and you could not drive it in hard then exiting, I had nothing so I had to go back up,” said Sellers. “I had to try it to see if I could get some moisture and hook up a slide job, but there was no moisture down there.”
In the final five laps Ezell was able to pass Owens to finish second for his best OCRS career finish. Owens held on to third, Whit Gastineau was fourth and AmeriFlex / OCRS points leader Sheldon Barksdale rounded out the top five.
Barksdale, who is still looking for his first victory, saw his points lead cut to 14 over second place Sellers.
OCRS Race Results
Lawton Speedway
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Car count: 29.
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
Boyd Racing Engines Heat (8 laps)
1, 10K-Kyle Ezell[1]. 2, 35K-Chad Koch[2]. 3, 5-Cameron Hagin[4]. 4, 53-Brett Wilson[3]. 5, 94F-Morgan Fletcher[5]. 6, 19-Justin Fisk[7]. 7, 2K-Brandon Long[6]. 8, 29-Blake Dacus. (DNS).
Shock Doc Heat (8 laps)
1, 31-Casey Wills[3]. 2, 33-Gary Owens[5]. 3, 5L-Joe Bob Lee[7]. 4, 911-Mike Baker[6]. 5, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[1]. 6, 76H-TJ Honkomp[4]. 7, 3G-Jeff Garnett[2].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat (8 laps)
1, 4-Shane Sellers[2]. 2, 4X-Robert Sellers[5]. 3, 87F-Brian McClelland[3]. 4, 24-T.J. Herrell[4]. 5, 17-Brent Bates[7]. 6, 11-Nick Bates[6]. 7, 22-Cody Wampler[1].
Car and Fleet Parts Heat (8 laps)
1, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[1]. 2, 32-Jerry Bruner[3]. 3, 2W-Whit Gastineau[5]. 4, 50Z-Zach Chappell[7]. 5, 007-Michael Bookout[4]. 6, P78-Perry Pickard[6]. 7, 88S-Shayla Waddell[2].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature #1(12 laps, top 4 advance):
1, 24-T.J. Herrell[3]. 2, 29-Blake Dacus[9]. 3, 911-Mike Baker[1]. 4, 17-Brent Bates[2]. 5, 2K-Brandon Long[7]. 6, 11-Nick Bates[6]. 7, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[4]. 8, 19-Justin Fisk[5]. 9, 22-Cody Wampler[8]. (DNS).
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature #2 (12 laps, top 4 advance):
1, 87F-Brian McClelland[1]. 2, 53-Brett Wilson[2]. 3, 94F-Morgan Fletcher[3]. 4, 007-Michael Bookout[4]. 5, P78-Perry Pickard[5]. 6, 3G-Jeff Garnett[6]. 7, 88S-Shayla Waddell[7]. 8, 76H-TJ Honkomp. (DNS).
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories A Feature (30 laps)
1, 4X-Robert Sellers[2]. 2, 10K-Kyle Ezell[3]. 3, 33-Gary Owens[1]. 4, 2W-Whit Gastineau[11]. 5, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[6]. 6, 50Z-Zach Chappell[10]. 7, 53-Brett Wilson[16]. 8, 87F-Brian McClelland[14]. 9, 29-Blake Dacus[15]. 10, 17-Brent Bates[19]. 11, 94F-Morgan Fletcher[18]. 12, 31-Casey Wills[4]. 13, 5-Cameron Hagin[12]. 14, 24-T.J. Herrell[13]. 15, 35K-Chad Koch[9]. 16, 911-Mike Baker[17]. 17, 007-Michael Bookout[20]. 18, 5L-Joe Bob Lee[7]. 19, 4-Shane Sellers[5]. 20, 32-Jerry Bruner[8]. (DQ).