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Friday 13^th Non Issue For Passmore

(Joe Wood Jr. Presses Point Leader)

John Lemon

OCRS Public Relations

Meeker Oklahoma (July 13, 2012) – Joe Wood Jr. had an outstanding run at the Brill Motor Speedway last April as the Oklahoma City shoe stormed to second place from a last place starting spot. In last nights Oil Capital Racing Series feature race at BMS, Wood Jr. would have a more favorable starting berth (8^th) yet he garnered the same finish as he did in April as OCRS points leader Jamie Passmore held off Juniors last ditch fury to halt the hot streak Passmore has been riding on since the 12^th season of OCRS competition and the chase for the 2012 Goodyear Tire and Rubber championship began.

Slide Jobs, Dive Bombs and More……….

Track promoter Mark Brill and his staff had the 3/8 mile red clay arena prepped perfectly for the 25-lap feature event. Throughout the affair, drivers would swap positions lap after lap and in many cases, positions would change multiple times on the same lap. It was pass at will, any spot, any time. Passmore, who was also victorious in the “Pole Dash”, got the jump at the start on fellow front row starter Tim Kent who was setting the bars high in attempt to earn his first career OCRS feature event. As Passmore looked for the best racing line to place his GAP Roofing / Wesmar Racing Engines / Eagle, positions were being debated immediately behind him.

Kent would have his Kent Construction / Kent Fireworks / Eagle chassis slide up the track in turn two allowing Danny Smith’s Same Day Auto Repair / BMS Engines / XXX chassis to nose ahead underneath. Kent would charge back in turn three and started lap two a mere few feet ahead of Smith for the second spot. Beginning to work the fourth lap, Smith would be on the attack again and executed a pass on Kent coming out of turn two. Going into turn four, Smith would amazingly loose his left front wheel as it rolled of the car and into the wall. While Smith was able to keep his car rolling, the yellow would fly as the wheel would begin a decent across the racetrack towards the infield. Fortunately for all drivers, the wheel went untouched as it trickled its way across the track. Smith would head for the work area but was unable to return.

Michael Bookout (007) has Layne Himebaugh (94L) check his tire for tread wear / Mike Howard Photo

The restart order would see Passmore, Kent, Fred Mattox, 2012 Brodix / PM PRO rookie of the year leader Alex Sewell, Joe Wood Jr, Kyle Clark, Frank Dittman and Mike Goodman. Wood Jr. would quickly move up to third after the restart and set his sights on Passmore and Kent. On the sixth lap, Wood would try to pass Kent while rim-riding the top of turn tow, Wood forged ahead ever so slightly down the back straight but Kent would sling the #79 sprinter deeply low into turn three and the pair stayed dead even through turn four only to have Wood Jr take the spot for keeps at the flagstand. Next up for the driver of the “Hog Wagon”, Passmore.

Whit Gastineau began to show his hand as he worked his way up to the top five from his fifth row starting spot. As the race neared the halfway point, numerous slide jobs among multiple positions were taking place at both ends of the track and the crowd was getting all the action they came to see and then some. Once at the halfway mark, Passmore was in front with with Wood Jr five car lengths back in second and Kent still third. Gastineau, in the DW Videos / Shell Rapid Lube / Larry Allen Engines / Eagle chassis really went to work on Kent on lap 16 having forged ahead a tad but Kent, not one to go down easy, moved right back ahead of the “Gasman”. In the next set of corners, the Gasman would pass Kent only to have Kent pull off a huge slider at the south end of the track to take the spot back again. This was becoming nail biting action at its finest.

With just five laps remaining, Sewell was all over the backside of Kent making for more on-track drama. Sewell got the spot two laps later in his Sewell Mechanical / Action Auto Collision / ART chassis. Kyle Clark was holding fifth in another Same Day Auto Repair / BMS Engine / XXX mount when he became under attack by Mike Goodman who was making his initial 2012 OCRS start in the Premier Homes / Travis Jenkins owned F5 Twister sprinter. Goodman would make the move on Clark and take the fifth spot. Goodman wasn’t done yet. The next lap he lined up Kent in turns one and two and proceeded to make a sweeping pass to move up another position. As Passmore was coming up on lapped traffic to take the white flag, Wood Jr. was sneaking up on Passmore. Taking the white and heading for the first turn, Wood Jr made an all out charge on Passmore and he became just inches apart from the leader. Approaching a lapped car, Passmore used it to his advantage and got just enough breathing room to bring it home for the win by a couple of car lengths.

Joe Wood Jr. (71) Tussles with Jamie Passmore (4J) / Mike Spivey Photo

“I didn’t know he was there,” said Passmore. “You do the best you can and you really can’t do anything else. Just got to hope it works out.” As for the final lap, Passmore explained “I saw the lapped cars coming up and it did play a little bit of a factor in holding me up some but it worked out OK.” The win gives Passmore his third victory in a row and five of the last six.

Wood Jr. was pleased with his run as well. “We had that lapped traffic play a factor and I was able to pull within a few inches of him,” said the driver of the James Lenhart /John Mahon / Charlie Ford / Tiffany’s Restaurant backed #71 with Wesmar power. “ We just needed a few more laps and we could have made it a really good finish.”

Gastineau would hang tough for the third spot with Sewell and Goodman rounding out the top five. Goodman was also awarded the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Hard Charger climbing up eight spots. Brandon James out dueled David Lambert in what was an exciting wheel to wheel combat in the Wesmar Engines B Feature. Mattox took the M&W Aluminum Heat, Kent won the Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat. Frank Dittman took honors in the Drive Shaft Inc Heat and Passmore in the Car and Fleet Parts Heat. The winged warriors are now off to the ever-wicked Salina Highbanks Speedway Saturday night where Shayla Waddell will look to defend her victory lane turf having won there on May 19^th.

Alex Sewell (8), Fred Mattox (26m) and Kyle Clark (9$) Battle For Positions / Mike Spivey Photo

BRILL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Race date:July 13, 2012 - Event 12

27 Cars

M&W Aluminum Heat:

1, Fred Mattox (2) 2, Kyle Clark (3) 3, Kevin Pickard (1) 4, Harli White (5)

5, Sheldon Barksdale (7) 6, Casey Wills (4) 7, Perry Pickard (6)

Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat:

1, Tim Kent (2) 2, Danny Smith (7) 3, Whit Gastineau (4) 4, Shane Sellers (6)

5, Brandon James (1) 6, Layne Himebaugh (5) 7, Dillion Ake (3)

Drive Shafts Inc. Heat:

1, Frank Dittman (3) 2, Alex Sewell (2) 3, Johnny Kent (5) 4, David Lambert (6)

5, Michael Bookout (4) 6, Jeff Garnett (1) 7, Kenneth Walker (DNS)

Car and Fleet Parts Heat:

1, Jamie Passmore (2) 2, Joe Wood, Jr (1) 3, Mike Goodman (3) 4, Brandon Jennings (5) 5, Beau Gastineau (4) 6, Shayla Waddell (6)

Pole Dash:

1, Jamie Passmore (3) 2, Tim Kent (1) 3, Danny Smith (6) 4, Kyle Clark (4)

5, Fred Mattox (2) 6, Frank Dittman (5)

Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature:

1, Brandon James (2) 2, David Lambert (1) 3, Shayla Waddell (8) 4, Casey Wills (5) 5, Beau Gastineau (4) 6, Dillion Ake (10) 7, Layne Himebaugh (6) 8, Jeff Garnett (7) 9, Michael Bookout (3) 10, Perry Pickard. (9) 11. Kenneth Walker (DNS).

OCRS A Feature:

1, Jamie Passmore (1) 2, Joe Wood, Jr (8) 3, Whit Gastineau (10) 4, Alex Sewell (7) 5, Mike Goodman (13) 6, Tim Kent (2) 7, Harli White (14) 8, Johnny Kent (9) 9, Kyle Clark (4) 10, Shane Sellers (11) 11, Brandon Jennings. (16), Fred Mattox (5) 13, Brandon James (17) 14, Casey Wills (20) 15, Shayla Waddell (19) 16, Kevin Pickard (12) 17, David Lambert (18) 18, Sheldon Barksdale (15) 19, Frank Dittman (6) 20, Danny Smith (3)

AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories “Hard Charger” – Mike Goodman.

www.ocrsracing.com