From John Rittenoure
Pocola, OK — (June 13, 2015) — Sean McClelland has not been behind the wheel of his D&E Supply, Superior Auto Salvage sponsored sprinter since May 2. Four rainouts and a prior commitment combined to cause the three-time Oil Capital Racing Series champion to spend more time at home then at the racetrack.
However McClelland makes every lap behind the wheel count, and he did again Saturday night winning his second AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories / OCRS feature of the season.
“We were off for a month and we did not like being off that long,” McClelland said of the past month. “We were ready to race but we got a little rest.”
In the five events he has entered McClelland has three runner-up finishes to go with his two victories. However missing a couple of races dropped McClelland from first to fifth in the points going into the Tri-State show. But with Saturday’s win the Tulsa veteran has moved up to fourth.
McClelland started his run toward the front from the outside second row and quickly moved around third starting Danny Smith as pole sitter Robert Sellers jumped into the early lead chased by Brian McClelland.
Sellers was putting some distance between the McClelland brothers when the yellow waved after four laps. Shane Sellers, points runner-up Sheldon Barksdale and Dalton Ragsdale could not restart. But Sean used the restart to get a run on his brother, Brian, and take away second.
Sellers still held a comfortable lead when the race went red just before halfway. Brett Wilson, Nigel Calvert and David Stephenson got together in turn one and Wilson got into the wall hard and turned his sprinter over. Meanwhile Kyle Clark flipped over the concrete wall in turn two. No one was hurt, but Clark ‘s and Wilson’s sprint cars were heavily damaged.
The lap 12 restart helped McClelland get a run on Sellers. Finally on lap 15 McClelland powered around Sellers on the outside for the lead.
“I don’t know if his car got bad on him. It looked like he stayed the same speed,” McClelland said of his move into the lead. “I kept searching and searching on the top and kept moving up and then down a little bit, and my car just kept getting better and better.
“We ran him down and finally got a run on him.”
McClelland was not challenged over the remaining laps. Sellers settled for second ahead of sixth starting Zach Chappell in third. Johnny Kent and Glen Passmore rounded out the top five.
The second place finish ended Sellers hopes at a third straight victory. But the Mustang, Oklahoma driver did take over the AmeriFlex / OCRS points lead dropping Sheldon Barksdale to second.
“I just chose the wrong line,” Sellers said of losing the lead.
After rain washed out Friday’s AmeriFlex / OCRS event at Monett Speedway an afternoon shower threatened to wash out Saturday’s show. In stead it resulted in a high-speed tacky racetrack.
“It was fast,” McClelland said. “That is the fastest I have been around this place. It had a nice little cushion on it and you could run the bottom a little.”
Meanwhile McClelland hopes his run of consistency will continue.
“We just keep catching breaks,” he said. “One of these days these breaks aren’t going to go our way, but we will take it while we can get them.”
OCRS Race Results
Tri-State Speedway
Saturday June 13, 2015
Car count: 23.
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
Boyd Racing Engines Heat (8 laps)
1, 1-Sean McClelland[1]. 2, 5$-Danny Smith[2]. 3, 22-David Stephenson[4]. 4, 9$-Kyle Clark[5]. 5, 5-Cameron Hagin[7]. 6, 88S-Shayla Waddell[6]. 7, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[8]. 8, 17-Brent Bates[3].
Shock Doc Heat (8 laps)
1, 69-Glen Passmore[2]. 2, 87F-Brian McClelland[1]. 3, 4X-Robert Sellers[4]. 4, 31-Casey Wills[3]. 5, 16-Nigel Calvert[6]. 6, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[5]. 7, 18K-Dalton Ragsdale[7]. 8, 3G-Jeff Garnett[8].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat (8 laps)
1, 55-Johnny Kent[2]. 2, 50Z-Zach Chappell[4]. 3, 53-Brett Wilson[1]. 4, 21-Billy Frazier[5]. 5, 01-Mike Huard[6]. 6, 19-Justin Fisk[3]. 7, DNS: 4-Shane Sellers.
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature (12 laps, top 8 advance)
1, 31-Casey Wills[1]. 2, 16-Nigel Calvert[2]. 3, 88S-Shayla Waddell[4]. 4, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[6]. 5, 01-Mike Huard[3]. 6, 4-Shane Sellers[10]. 7, 18K-Dalton Ragsdale[8]. 8, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[5]. 9, 17-Brent Bates[9]. 10, 19-Justin Fisk[7]. DNS: 3G-Jeff Garnett.
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories A Feature (25 laps)
1, 1-Sean McClelland[4]. 2, 4X-Robert Sellers[1]. 3, 50Z-Zach Chappell[6]. 4, 55-Johnny Kent[7]. 5, 69-Glen Passmore[8]. 6, 87F-Brian McClelland[2]. 7, 31-Casey Wills[13]. 8, 21-Billy Frazier[12]. 9, 5$-Danny Smith[3]. 10, 5-Cameron Hagin[11]. 11, 88S-Shayla Waddell[15]. 12, 01-Mike Huard[17]. 13, 9$-Kyle Clark[10]. 14, 22-David Stephenson[5]. 15, 53-Brett Wilson[9]. 16, 16-Nigel Calvert[14]. 17, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[20]. 18, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[16]. 19, 18K-Dalton Ragsdale[19]. 20, 4-Shane Sellers[18].
Lap Leaders: R. Sellers 1-14; S. McClelland 15-25.