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Gastineau wins a hard-fought OCRS season opener
Tops a 34-car opening night field at Brill's Motor Speedway
By John Rittenoure
MEEKER, Okla. (Mar. 19, 2016) - The 2016 Ameri-Flex Hose and Accessories / Oil Capital Racing Series season kicked off in a big way Saturday at Brill’s Motor Speedway with 34 teams eager to hit the track.
It was jacket weather for everyone in the grandstands but the action on the track heated up quickly with an exciting battle up front in the 30-lap main event. When the checkered flag finally waved Whit Gastineau emerged with a car length victory over hard charging Sean McClelland.
“It was a tough one. I was fortunate to win it,” said Gastineau who now has 25 OCRS career feature wins to his credit. “There were a lot of good drivers coming at me.”
Whit Gastineau in action at Brill Motor Speedway
That was evident right from the start. Ameri-Flex / OCRS defending champion Robert Sellers made a strong case for a possible feature win driving off the pole on the start into an early lead. Gastineau started outside second row and quickly charged into second.
On lap 11 Gasineau saw an opportunity and grabbed the lead away from Sellers.
“At the start of the race I kind of just drove through the middle and got up to second,” Gastineau said. “I was chasing Robert down. He was keeping his momentum up but I felt like we were better. When we got into lapped traffic I was able to get by him."
“I drove back under Mike (Goodman) then Sean (McClelland) was coming good on the bottom.”
Sellers faded to fifth as Mike Goodman moved into second followed by Johnny Kent and McClelland.
McClelland climbed to third on lap 19 and started a run toward the front. The three-time champion charged into second on lap 28 and quickly chased down Gastineau. McClelland closed so quickly that he nearly hit the back of Gastineau at the finish line and had to point his car toward the infield to avoid contact, but still finished second.
‘He was coming up the track and I was coming down and gassing it up and saw him,” Gastineau said of the near altercation. “I jerked up and he jerked left. Luckily he was able to finish.”
Gastineau was doing his best to keep pace with a very tricky race track.
“It was really spotty,” Gastineau said of the track surface. “I was trying to change up my lines and kind of keep them guessing. They came at me from the top or bottom and slide me a few times.”
For McClelland just one more lap might have made a difference.
“I just started to late,” McClelland said of his final lap charge. “I was hung up in traffic too long.”
Finishing in third was Zach Chappell who came from 18th starting position after transferring from the 2nd B main with a third place finish. Kent was fourth and Goodman settled for fifth.
Darien Roberts won the opening 12-lap B main over Brandon Jennings while Travis Jenkins led start-to-finish in the second B main.
Ameri-Flex / OCRS Official Results
Brill's Motor Speedway, Meeker, Okla.
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Car count: 34
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
Drive Shafts, Inc. Heat (8 laps)
1, 4AM-Mike Goodman[3]. 2, 94L-Layne Himebaugh[2]. 3, 53-Brett Wilson[4]. 4, 13W-Grant Wresche[1]. 5, 3-Brian Gramm[6]. 6, 4K-Joshua Tyre[5]. 7, 17H-Brandon Haddad[9]. 8, 4-Shane Sellers[7]. 9, P78-Perry Pickard.
A1 Machine Shop Heat (8 laps)
1, 4X-Robert Sellers[8]. 2, 21-Billy Frazier[6]. 3, 007-Michael Bookout[1]. 4, 4PM-Travis Jenkins[3]. 5, 87F-Brian McClelland[4]. 6, 22T-Frank Taft[7]. 7, 7D-David Baxter[9]. 8, 50Z-Zach Chappell[2]. 9, 78-Steve Smith[5]. (DNS).
Car and Fleet Parts Heat (8 laps)
1, 31-Casey Wills[5]. 2, 55-Johnny Kent[7]. 3, 17-Brent Bates[1]. 4, 69-Glen Passmore[2]. 5, 5X-Brent Swift[4]. 6, 21J-Brandon Jennings[8]. 7, 10X-Darien Roberts[6]. 8, 20-James Esmond[3].
OCRS Heat (8 laps)
1, 1-Sean McClelland[4]. 2, 2W-Whit Gastineau[2]. 3, 22-David Stephenson[1]. 4, 5$-Danny Smith[3]. 5, 9$-Kyle Clark[6]. 6, 8-Alex Sewell[7]. 7, 24C-Craig Carroll[5]. 8, 11-Michael Tyre[8].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature #1 (12 laps, top 4 transfer)
1, 10X-Darien Roberts[8]. 2, 21J-Brandon Jennings[3]. 3, 3-Brian Gramm[4]. 4, 5X-Brent Swift[5]. 5, 4-Shane Sellers[9]. 6, 4K-Joshua Tyre[6]. 7, 13W-Grant Wresche[1]. 8, P78-Perry Pickard[11]. 9, 20-James Esmond[10]. 10, 22T-Frank Taft[7]. 11, 69-Glen Passmore[2]. (DNS).
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature #2 (12 laps, top 4 transfer)
1, 4PM-Travis Jenkins[1]. 2, 9$-Kyle Clark[3]. 3, 50Z-Zach Chappell[9]. 4, 8-Alex Sewell[5]. 5, 87F-Brian McClelland[4]. 6, 5$-Danny Smith[2]. 7, 24C-Craig Carroll[8]. 8, 11-Michael Tyre[10]. 9, 7D-David Baxter[6]. 10, 17H-Brandon Haddad[7]. 11, 78-Steve Smith[11].
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories A Feature (30 laps)
1, 2W-Whit Gastineau[4]. 2, 1-Sean McClelland[6]. 3, 50Z-Zach Chappell[18]. 4, 55-Johnny Kent[2]. 5, 4AM-Mike Goodman[3]. 6, 4X-Robert Sellers[1]. 7, 8-Alex Sewell[20]. 8, 007-Michael Bookout[10]. 9, 31-Casey Wills[5]. 10, 3-Brian Gramm[17]. 11, 17-Brent Bates[11]. 12, 53-Brett Wilson[9]. 13, 4PM-Travis Jenkins[14]. 14, 22-David Stephenson[12]. 15, 94L-Layne Himebaugh[8]. 16, 10X-Darien Roberts[13]. 17, 9$-Kyle Clark[16]. 18, 21-Billy Frazier[7]. 19, 5X-Brent Swift[19]. 20, 21J-Brandon Jennings[15].
Lap Leaders: Robert Sellers 1-10, Whit Gastineau 11-30.
Contingency Awards:
Drive Shaft Inc. Heat: Mike Goodman
A1 Machine Heat: Robert Sellers
Car & Fleet Heat: Casey Wills
Ameri-Flex / OCRS Heat: Sean McClelland
D&E Supply Hard Luck Recipient: Steve Smith
Action Auto Collision Hard Charger Recipient: Zach Chappell +15
Wesmar Power Parts B-Feature #1 Recipient: Darien Roberts
Wesmar Power Parts B-Feature #2 Recipient: Travis Jenkins
M&W Aluminum Recipients: Shane Sellers, Brian McClelland
Rod End Supply Recipients: Mike Goodman, Casey Wills, Layne Himebaugh
Next Event: April 9, 2016 Lawton Speedway, Lawton Oklahoma
www.ocrsracing.com
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