By John Rittenoure - Sooner PR
?CANEY, Kans. (June 25, 2016) - Before Saturday’s Sooner Series Late Model event at Caney Valley Speedway Stilwell, Oklahoma’s Eddie Martin felt like this might be his night.
Just look at the stats and you will see why.
“I kind of want to say this was destined,” Martin said shortly after picking up his first career SLMS victory.” This is the fourth (SLMS) event we have run. The first one we ran fourth, the second on we ran third, the third race we ran second. I felt like we had no option but to try and win.”
With added confidence on his side Martin battled into the lead at the halfway point and led the final 13 laps around the tight quarter-mile oval to become the fifth different SLMS winner.
“I am glad we finally got that win we have been wanting,” Martin said.
The win did not come easy. Veteran David Hennan jumped into the early lead from the pole with Martin and Jason Redman in tow. However on lap six Al Purkey pulled door-handle to door-handle with Martin and drove into the lead on the next circuit. On lap nine series points leader Mark Harrison wheeled into third behind Hennan as Martin fell back to fourth. After a lap 10 restart Martin tried the high side and drove around Hennan for second then challenged Purkey a lap before taking over the top spot for good.
“David (Hennan) was setting a good pace and I was wondering if there was an outside and Al (Purkey) showed that there was,” Martin said of his charge toward the front. “So I moved up and got my him.”
Martin has raced with Purkey before and waited for just the right time to make his move.
“He is very crafty,” Martin said of Purkey. “When I got up to him I did not want to show my nose off of (turn) four. I waited to make a run on him on (turn) two and he kind of slid up at the perfect time and I got him pinned off. I figured he would be on me the whole way.”
As it turns out Purkey fell off the pace slightly due to some mechanical issues and Harrison slipped by on the final lap to finish second. Turkey held on for third, Redman, who ran as high as third, finished fourth and Dalton Ragsdale rounded out the top five.
Martin has run at Caney several times in the past and felt like that might play into his hands.
“We came up here quite a bit last year,” he said. “I almost felt like I should have an advantage other then the cars that raced here too. I have always liked it. I have won some modified races here. Kerry (Gorby) always preps it real good.
“With Al (Purkey) running on the outside and with me getting up there and getting by David I think it was a really good racy track.”
Sooner Late Model Series
Caney Valley Speedway
June 25, 2016
Car Count: 22
Heat 1 (10 laps) - 1, 10-Jacob Magee. 2, 91-Eddie Martin. 3, 9-Joseph Gorby. 4, 51-Andy Gerstenkorn. 5, 7-Dalton Ragsdale. 6, 93-Eric Brill. 7, 1J-Johnny Reed. 8, 29R-Ritchie Burcik.
Heat 2 (10 laps) - 1, 25-Al Purkey. 2, D11-David Hennan. 3, 16-Rick Leatherman. 4, 81-Mark Harrison. 5, 95-Mark Brill. 6, 28-Garrett Murrell. 7, 15K-Chris Haynes.
?Heat 3 (10 laps) - 1, 36-Jason Redman. 2, 15-Wayne Bush. 3, 10J-Lynn Jones. 4, 164-T.J. Sale. 4, 19P-Robert Pierce. 5, 64-Jay Sale. 6, 83-Michael Foreman.
A Feature (25 laps) - 1, 91-Eddie Martin. 2, 81-Mark Harrison. 3, 25-Al Purkey. 4, 36-Jason Redman. 5, 7-Dalton Ragsdale. 6, 10-Jacob Magee. 7, 9-Joseph Gorby. 8, 15-Wayne Bush. 9, 10J-Lynn Jones. 10, 64-Jay Sale. 11, 51-Andy Gerstenkorn. 12, 164-T.J. Sale. 13, D11-David Hennan. 14, 1J-Johnny Reed. 15, 19P-Robert Pierce. 16, 29R-Ritchie Burcik. 17, 16-Rick Leatherman. 18, 28-Garrett Murrell. 19, 95-Mark Brill. 20, 15K-Chris Haynes. 21, 93-Eric Brill. DNS: Michael Foreman.
