8/24/2014
Sprint Source
McClelland battles to second OCRS victory at Southern Oklahoma Speedway
By John Rittenoure
OCRS Web Editor
Pictured: Brian McClelland is all smiles in victory lane.
Mike Spivey Photo.
Ardmore, Okla. (Aug. 23, 2014) - Several drivers took their turn at leading Saturday’s OCRS feature at Southern Oklahoma Speedway, but it was Brian McClelland who was able to stay out front the longest and record his second victory of the season behind the wheel of his Precision Coatings, American Bacterial Solutions / Fode Engines / XXX sprinter.
But the win did not come easy as McClelland had to battle a determined Johnny Kent in the closing laps to seal the victory.
Kent, who started the 20-car feature in 17th after transferring from the B feature where he ran fifth, was charging through traffic using the high side of the track and wheeled into second on lap 20. On lap 25 Kent pulled alongside of McClelland at the start-finish line in a drag race toward turn one for the lead. Kent shot into the lead in turn one but McClelland drove back to the front down the backstretch.
Out of turn four Kent came to stop against the wall to bring out a yellow with a left rear flat after contact with McClelland.
“I did not see him up there,” said McClelland of contact that was made as the two swapped the lead.
“We touched just a little bit coming down the front chute and it was just enough to knock my left rear tire down,” said Kent. “I tried to be real patient with him the lap before. I kind of dragged the brake pedal not wanting to show my cards just yet.
“I thought we had enough of a run there and he did not think about someone being out there.”
On the restart McClelland resumed his lead for the final five laps with Gary Owens passing Sheldon Barksdale for second. The yellow waved one more time on the final lap for a stalled car at the start-finish line. The green-white-checkered restart changed the order behind McClelland as Andrew Deal moved up to third behind Owens and Alex DeCamp finished fourth.
For Kent the night ended as strange as it started. After flipping his Kent Construction sprinter with Mike Huard in the third heat, Kent was able to make repairs and the car was running better than ever.
“We ended up getting (damaging) both of the wings and a rear bumper,” Kent said. “It bent the front of the chassis a little but it was nothing we can’t get fixed. We also changed a radius rod. We were fortunate.
“Dad had the car on kill tonight. We were able to run the high side, which a lot of people were through (turns) 1 and 2, but I think I could carry more momentum through 3 and 4 then anyone else was.
“All in all, even coming back on the hook, it was a good night. They know we are here. We were close. We got to win eventually. I thought it was going to happen tonight.”
The hard-fought 30-lapper got underway with Frank Dittman leading the first lap until he spun in turn four. Second place Chad Koch also spun.
Shayla Waddell inherited the lead on the restart but gave up the lead to DeCamp three laps later. DeCamp, who was looking for a fifth win, appeared to be setting a strong pace but could not hold off McClelland who was able to pass for the lead on a lap 11 restart.
“We had a restart about halfway through and McClelland threw a slider at me and I did not have enough to get hold of to get back underneath of him,” DeCamp said. “The car kind of faded and we just fell back to fourth.”
DeCamp was happy with his car early in the race but was not sure how good it would be at finish.
“We started deep in the field and had a good start on the inside row. We had a restart and I figured I would try the top since everyone was kind of bunched up on the bottom. We got around there and got into the lead,” DeCamp recalled.
“Usually we tighten the car up too much when we are here so we were a little cautious and did not get it tightened up tonight. But we had a strong run.
“I knew the car was a little too good at the beginning. I figured it would go away at the end.”
OCRS Race Results
Southern Oklahoma Speedway
Saturday, August 23, 2014
23 Cars
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat
1, 84-Alex DeCamp[2]. 2, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[3]. 3, 87F-Brian McClelland[5]. 4, 35K-Chad Koch[8]. 5, 21-Brandon Jennings[6]. 6, 9$-Kyle Clark[7]. 7, 5-Cameron Hagin[1]. 8, 3G-Jeff Garnett[4].
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat
1, 5$-Danny Smith[1]. 2, 33-Gary Owens[6]. 3, 8M-Kade Morton[4]. 4, 83-Frank Dittman[3]. 5, 94X-Morgan Fletcher[2]. 6, 9-Derek Cottrell[7]. 7, 25-Chuck Bellefeuille[8]. 8, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[5].
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat
1, 4-Shane Sellers[3]. 2, 15D-Andrew Deal[6]. 3, 7M-Chance Morton[7]. 4, 88S-Shayla Waddell[1]. 5, P78-Perry Pickard[5]. 6, 01-Mike Huard[2]. 7, 55-Johnny Kent[4].
Wesmar Racing Engines B Feature (Top 8 transfer to A Feature)
1, 21-Brandon Jennings[1]. 2, 9-Derek Cottrell[5]. 3, 94X-Morgan Fletcher[2]. 4, 9$-Kyle Clark[4]. 5, 55-Johnny Kent[8]. 6, 25-Chuck Bellefeuille[6]. 7, 5-Cameron Hagin[7]. 8, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[10]. 9, 3G-Jeff Garnett[9]. 10, P78-Perry Pickard[3]. 11, 01-Mike Huard (DNS).
OCRS A Feature (30 laps)
1, 87F-Brian McClelland[8]. 2, 33-Gary Owens[12]. 3, 15D-Andrew Deal[9]. 4, 84-Alex DeCamp[7]. 5, 9-Derek Cottrell[14]. 6, 9$-Kyle Clark[16]. 7, 88S-Shayla Waddell[3]. 8, 8M-Kade Morton[6]. 9, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[5]. 10, 94X-Morgan Fletcher[15]. 11, 94-Dan Schnackenberg[20]. 12, 35K-Chad Koch[2]. 13, 55-Johnny Kent[17]. 14, 5-Cameron Hagin[19]. 15, 21-Brandon Jennings[13]. 16, 25-Chuck Bellefeuille[18]. 17, 83-Frank Dittman[1]. 18, 5$-Danny Smith[10]. 19, 4-Shane Sellers[11]. 20, 7M-Chance Morton[4].
Lap Leaders: Dittman 1; Waddell 2-3; DeCamp 4-10; McClelland 11-30.
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories Hard Charger: Gary Owens +10.
D&E Supply Hard Luck Recipient: Mike Huard.
Article Credit: John Lemon
Submitted By: John Lemon
