Tulsa,
Oklahoma (May 17, 2011) –
It has been two years since the sprint cars of the
Oil Capital Racing Series have waged battle at the
Caney Valley Speedway in Caney Kansas. On Friday
night, the OCRS warriors will return to the racy ¼
mile facility to compete in race number five of the
2011 OCRS tour. The OCRS contingent will find the
Caney racetrack a bit different than their previous
stop a couple of seasons past. Over the off-season,
track promoter Kerry Gorby had the track widened
from 45’ to over 60’ and he has added more banking
in the turns. This new configuration will level the
playing field for those teams that haven’t competed
at Caney Valley previously.
Area race fans have
long awaited for the return of “Thunder In The
Valley” at CVS since Jonathan Beason won in 2009 and
this Friday night, they will have the opportunity to
hear the thunder of high powered sprint cars at
speed. OCRS is coming off a very successful stop at
Oklahoma Sports Park last week where 37 competitors
entertained an enthusiastic crowd. Whit “The Gasman”
Gastineau is on a roll having won his third straight
OCRS main event. In doing so, he took over the chase
for the 2011 Harold Leep championship trophy. Last
week’s points leader, Sean McClelland was unable to
qualify for the main event and tumbled to fourth in
the standings. He will have a take no prisoners
approach when he strolls into the pit area Friday.
On the strength of a
third and a second the past few weeks, Owasso’s Matt
Sherrell has moved into second place in the
standings, a slim five points behind Gastineau.
Stillwell’s Rafe Essary sits fourth, but only ten
points separate himself from Gasstineau. Danny Smith
rounds out the top five in 2011 points. If the
anticipated action awaiting CVS is anything like the
programs the OCRS series has produced to date, the
standings are due for another shake up this week.
Car counts have
averaged 33.5 for the first four events of the
season, an accomplishment recognized by fans and
promoters alike. “The value of the series is
reaching everyone who looks at our structure,” said
OCRS president Barry Grabel. “For the fans, OCRS
offers a tremendous amount of racing entertainment
for the family and for the racers, there isn’t a
better purse structure for the amount of cost it
takes to field a sprint car” said Grabel. “Our
sponsors have been very supportive of our series and
we just couldn’t thank them enough for all they do
for us.”
Thunder In The Valley
will fall upon the Caney Valley Speedway at 8pm
Friday night.
