Passmore
saves the day with OCRS East vs. West victory
By John Rittenoure
OCRS Staff
Ada, Oklahoma (June 9, 2012) - The Oil Capital Racing Series
East vs. West Challenge has historically brought some of the best sprint car
teams together from across the state of Oklahoma.Since
2007, the challenge has made the Oklahoma Sports Park home and the Western
drivers have protected their turf with seven wins to six for their Eastern
counterparts. Saturday a visitor from the North tried to pull off an upset.
Veteran Mike Peters of Wichita
entered the fray and came within one lap of winning the 14th edition of the
rivalry, but Jamie Passmore came to the rescue with a turn four pass that gave
him the lead and the win to even the series at seven wins apiece. It was the
fourth win of the season for Passmore and enabled him to widen his series
points lead over Danny Smith.
Peters was trying to put distance
between himself and Passmore as they threaded their way through lapped traffic
over the last half of the 25-lap main event. As Peters entered turn four
heading for the white flag, he had to pass one more lapped car. A slight
hesitation was all Passmore needed to charge past in the low groove and lead
the final lap for the victory. “It worked out,” said Passmore of his move in
lapped traffic. “We got that traffic and he (Peters) chose the top and I chose
the bottom and it worked out for us thank goodness.”
Peters gave Passmore a window of
opportunity and he returned the move Peters made on him earlier in the race.“I thought we might be able to stay ahead of him, but I
hesitated too much on a lapped car and it cost me,” explained Peters. “He was
going good.”
Jamie
Passmore wins OCRS East vs. West Shootout @ OSPMike Spivey Photo
The race got underway with
Passmore driving off the pole and outrunning outside front row starter Whit
Gastineau into the first turn. The three-time champion led the field down the
backstretch and before he could complete the lap, Jeremy Allen took a wild ride
down the backstretch into turn three. Allen flipped hard end over end totaling
his race car. Fortunately, Allen climbed from his sprinter unhurt, but the sprint
car has seen its last race.
The race restarted only to see
the yellow wave as Whit Gastineau and Shayla Waddell came together and spun in
turn one. The front-end was down on Waddell’s number 88s and she was done for
the night. Gastineau was able to restart.On
the second restart, Passmore resumed the lead with Peters and Gary Taylor
giving chase. Within a few laps, Joe Wood, Jr. moved into fourth and the pace
continued that way until the halfway point when Passmore slipped in turn four.
Peters was right there and shot underneath to take away the lead.
“I kind of got comfortable,”
Passmore said. “When you are out front you don’t know where everyone else is at
and kind of slowed down a little bit there and it almost cost me. “I missed my
line down there and I ran off the track.”It
was the opportunity Peters was waiting for.“He
made a mistake in (turn) four and left me a spot to get by him,” said Peters.
Peters led the way through lapped
traffic and put a little distance between himself and Passmore until the end of
lap 24 when Peters handed the lead back. At the finish it was Passmore, Peters
and Taylor with Wood, Jr. in fourth and last years winner Gary Owens fifth.
However, as the top five crossed scales following the race, Taylor was found to
be underweight and was disqualified. That moved Wood, Jr. to third and Owens to
fourth. Tim Kent rounded out the top five.
Mike Peters almost won his first OCRS
feature Saturday night / Mike Spivey Photo
The condition of the 4/10’s mile
oval was a hit for the fans who like to two-wide racing and the drivers could
not ask for more. “It was a two groove track,” Passmore said. “It was a very
racy track. “I hope it was fun to watch. That is what it is all about.” Peters
echoed Passmore’s comments. “You could run the top or the bottom,” said Peters.
“You could move around. It was not one lane. That is all you can ask for.”
Beau Gastineau won the B main and
led Colton Brewer, Frank Dittman and Waddell to the finish. The four earned
starting positions at the back of the main event however Brewer was unable to
start leaving just 19 to take the green flag.
OCRS is off to it’s third
doubleheader of the season next weekend as the winged warriors will visit Tri-State
Speedway in Pocola Oklahoma on Saturday June 16th then on Sunday
night, OCRS will make it’s first ever appearance at the Monett Speedway in
Monett Missouri.
3 wide salute to a stacked house at
Oklahoma Sports Park / Mike Spivey Photo
Oklahoma
Sports Park
Race
date: June 9, 2012 - Event 7
M&W
Aluminum Heat:
1, Whit Gastineau. 2, Gary Taylor. 3,
Kerry McAlister. 4, Rafe Essary. 5, Casey Wills. 6, Alex Sewell. 7, Shayla
Waddell. 8, David Lambert. 9, Kyle Clark.
Bob
Hurley Auto Family Heat:
1, Mike Peters. 2, Jamie Passmore. 3,
Fred Mattox. 4, Danny Smith. 5, Danny Jennings. 6, Colton Brewer. 7, Beau
Gastineau. 8, Jeff Garnett.
Drive
Shafts Inc. Heat:
1, Tim Kent. 2, Jeremy Allen. 3, Gary
Owens. 4, Johnny Kent. 5, Joe Wood, Jr. 6, Michael Bookout. 7, Frank Dittman.
8, Russell Boren.
Pole
Dash:
1, Jamie Passmore. 2, Whit Gastineau.
3, Mike Peters. 4, Tim Kent. 5, Jeremy Allen. 6, Gary Taylor.
Wesmar
Racing Engines B Feature: 1, Beau Gastineau. 2, Colton
Brewer. 3, Frank Dittman. 4, Shayla Waddell. 5, David Lambert. 6, Michael
Bookout. 7, Russell Boren. 8, Jeff Garnett. 9, Kyle Clark.
OCRS
A Feature:
1, Jamie Passmore. 2, Mike Peters. 3,
Joe Wood, Jr. 4, Gary Owens. 5, Tim Kent. 6, Danny Smith. 7, Alex Sewell. 8, Rafe
Essary. 9, Whit Gastineau. 10, Beau Gastineau. 11, Fred Mattox. 12,
Johnny Kent. 13, Frank Dittman. 14, Danny Jennings. 15, Kerry McAlister. 16,
Casey Wills. 17, Shayla Waddell. 18, Jeremy Allen. 19, Colton Brewer (DNS) 20,
Gary Taylor (DQ).
Car Count: 25.
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories Hard
Charger:Alex Sewell.
www.ocrsracing.com
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