Harli White Goes Back To Back!
Comes From Six Rows Deep For The Double
John Lemon
OCRS Public Relations
Ardmore Oklahoma (April 6, 2013) – The Oil Capital Racing Series debuted their new A-Feature line-up system at the Southern Oklahoma Speedway Saturday night. The new line-up format inverts 12 automatic feature qualifiers from their heat races and uses their total “feature point averages” earned through previous A & B Feature’s contested. With her victory to open the 2013 OCRS season last week, the “Lindsay Flash”, Miss Harli White, found herself starting the 25-lap A-Feature on the outside of the sixth row due to the new format to start the main event. This format was invoked to provide more action for the fans and on its very first night, White gave the fans all the action they could savor by winning her second straight A-Feature in her Jerry Tucker Roustabout, Terraco Soil Farming, CrashEnterprises, All Star Café and Charlie's Trucking Maxim with Boyd’s Engines under the hood.
Participants were in awe over the well prepared condition of John and Nicky Webb’s 3/8 mile oval leaving one driver to say: “If the track is this good every time we come here, I’d bypass anything to come here and run on a track this good.” With the track tacky and heavy at feature time, it was Oklahoma City shoe Andy Shouse starting on the pole in the Bishop Racing / Envy Racing sponsored car with a Brand Engines 305 cu in power plant nestled in Eagle tubing with Drumright’s Fred Mattox along side in his Pacer Energy Marketing / AKL Oilfield Services / D&J Tank Trucks / XXX chassis fitted with a David Mattox bullet. At the start, Shouse would bolt into the lead as the field stormed into turn one. Danny Smith shot his Same Day Auto Repair / XXX chassis / Dyno Services Of Oklahoma powered sprinter into second from his row two starting spot. A quick yellow ensued after a lap was recorded when the #55 Eagle of Johnny ‘Hotrod’ Kent came to a stop on the high side of turn three.
As the cars would come out of turn four to complete the first lap after the restart, Smith would make a hard charge on Shouse for the lead. Shouse had the spot at the flagstand by a mere six feet. Then the duo would sweep through turns one and two and Smith would pass Shouse on the low side coming out of turn two as they were working on lap three. Koby Barksdale was making a good run from his seventh starting position then he would bounce hard in the corner and lose three positions, one of which was to White who was showing the first sign she was on her way forward.
As the field was working lap six, Joe Wood Jr slowed to a stop on the backstretch with a broken shock. He would go pit side not to return. The restart would have Smith at the point followed by Shouse, Mattox, Whit “Gasman” Gastineau, Brian McClelland, and White who was now up six spots. Then, it was “The Princess” Miss Shayla Waddell, Barksdale, and Kyle Clark. Once back under green, White, who is becoming extremely productive in restart situations, disposed of McClelland in turn one to take the fifth spot. After one tour around, the Gasman went to make a move on Mattox in turns one and two in his Shell Rapid Lube / Exterior Specialties / Allen Competition Engines / The Oil Medics / Eagle and with each of them slightly out of position trying to fend each other off, White saw the tussle taking place and swept around both of them to move into the third spot. Smith, while leading, would soon find trouble awaiting him.
With a ten car lead over Shouse, Smith would find lap traffic and his lead would be cut in half as he had to work his way through the back markers, then a bigger issue. Signs of smoke would emit from “The Caretakers” machine and it would worsen. Almost as if on cue, once Smith’s car spewed ground level white clouds, Shouse’s racer would show signs of belching smoke as well. White had a bird’s eye view of this and began to reel both seemingly wounded ducks inward. As Smith rolled through turns three and four looking to complete the 17th lap, the engine had mustered all it could and it expired leaving Smith to bring out a yellow as he sat stalled in turn four. This would put the 305 entry of Shouse into the lead with White on his backside. Gastineau would restart third with McClelland, Clark, Rafe Essary, Barksdale, Jeremy Allen and Hotrod Kent. Who back after his early race spin and then 2013 Brodix / PM PRO rookie of the year challenger, Kade Morton. Waddell would pull off the track prior to the field returning to speed.
Shouse’s lead would evaporate like a water drop on a hot header when flagman JD Etter turned the field loose as White took her place up front with a pass in turn one. It would be a lead she would never relinquish. Clark, who having a fine run in his self owned 2013 ART chassis / Dyno Services of Oklahoma / Same Day Auto Repair machine, passed McClelland in turn two taking the fourth position. With a lap to go, Allen would get by Essary for the sixth spot. White would take the checkers with a 12-car length win over Shouse’s 305 then it would be another six lengths back to the third place of Gastineau. Clark was fourth and McClelland was next. The remaining top ten were: Allen, Essary, Kent, Barksdale and Layne Himebaugh.
White was asked about the new format that regulated her to a sixth row start: “Whenever I looked at the line-up, I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me. I just had an unbelievable car. I knew it would be tough to get through all of those cars.” About catching the smoking duo of Smith and Shouse, the Lindsay Flash had this to share, “ I knew it was a matter of time (to pass them) but I also thought it was a matter of time that we all got collected together because for a few laps I couldn’t see anything because Danny was putting out so much smoke then Andy got lose one time in turns one and two and I about spun myself out and almost spun Andy out too.” On explaining taking over the lead in the race and thus the win, White explained: “I new once I got passed Andy and just stayed consistent that I could bring home the win. I planned that move (while under yellow). I thought if I didn’t do it then it would take me a few laps (to pass Shouse) and I didn’t have a few laps to wait. I’m just so excited.” White also earned the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Hard Charger for passing the most cars in the feature (eleven).
From runner-up Shouse: “ I knew it (motor) was getting a little tired. I couldn’t really tell where the temperature gauge was (how hot) but I know it was over there somewhere. I was giving this 305 motor all she wanted as this heavy track was just lugging it down pretty good but it did its job.” As for White passing him for the lead, Shouse gave his insight: “My car wasn’t real good and I had to be up in the cushion to have something to lean on. I knew I was just leaving the bottom wide open (for White to pass).”
From the Gasman: “This car is the same car (Eagle chassis) we ran all of last year and it performs well for us. The track was heavy and you could pass a little bit. We are going to have to do something to catch that 17w (White) because its pretty dang fast. We are doing all we can do. We will have to get better.”
Clark’s good run was a great boost of confidence from a young driver that has been showing steady improvement dating back to least season. “The car was pretty good tonight. We were tight all night and we were fighting it (handling) but we were able to man-up and get through it. Some (cars) were bicycling in the corners and some had brake failures and we were able to capitalize on that. We were coming, we just ran out of laps.”
McClelland took honors in the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories heat. Mattox was king in the Bob Hurley Auto Family heat with Essary the top dog in the Drive Shafts Inc heat. The final heat of the night went to White in the Car and Fleet Parts qualifier. Clark transferred into the main event via taking the win in the Wesmar Power Parts B-Feature. Contingency recipients were: Joshua Tyre (Lightning Wings), Michael Tyre (M&W Aluminum Products), Danny Smith (Grand Prix Auto) and Michael Bookout was provided a cash ward for the night’s hard luck recipient by Dyno Services of Oklahoma for his hard flip in the AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories heat. Bill Jewell and his wife Cathy of the Ft. Worth Texas based “The Oil Medics” were in the house and they awarded Michael Tyre $100 cash for being the first non A-Feature qualifier in the B-Feature.
The third stop on the 2013 Oil Capital Racing Series sprint tour takes place this coming Friday night, April 12th, at the historic ½ mile at the Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Come on out and see the cars wage battle on the largest track the series has on their schedule. Race time is 7:30pm.
For additional information on the OCRS series, view the website at: www.ocrsracing.com
Southern Oklahoma Speedway Results
Race date: April 6, 2013 / Race #2
Total Cars: 28
( ) = Starting position
AmeriFlex Hose and Accessories Heat:
1-Brian McClelland (2) 2-Andy Shouse (3) 3-Joe Wood Jr (5) 4- Layne Himebaugh (7) 5- Johnny Kent (4) 6-Michael Bookout (1)7-Jeff Garnett (6)
Bob Hurley Auto Family Heat:
1-Fred Mattox (2) 2-Koby Barksdale (1) 3-Jeremy Allen (3) 4-Kade Morton (4) 5-Chance Morton (6) 6-Josh Tyre (5) 7- Alex DeCamp (DNS)
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat:
1-Rafe Essary (1) 2-Gary Owens (3) 3-Kyle Clark (2) 4-Whit Gastineau (6) 5-Kevin Pickard (4) 6-Dan Schnackenberg (2) 7) Michael Tyre (7)
Car & Fleet Parts Heat:
1-Harli White (4) 2-Shayla Waddell (1) 3-Danny Smith (6) 4-Kip Hughes (3) 5-Chuck Bellefeuille (6) 6-Cord Dobson (7) 7-Perry Pickard (DNF)
Wesmar Power Parts B-Feature (Top 8 transfer):
1-Kyle Clark (2) 2-Jeremy Allen (1) 3-Kade Morton (3) 4-Johnny Kent (5) 5-Joshua Tyre (12) 6-Chuck Bellefeuille (8) 7-Kip Hughes (4) 8-Dan Schnackenberg (10) 9-Michael Tyre (14) 10-Kevin Pickard (7) 11-Perry Pickard (13) 12-Chance Morton (6) 13-Cord Dobson (9) 14-Jeff Garnett (10) 15- Alex DeCamp (DNS) 16- Michael Bookout (DNS)
OCRS A-Feature (25-laps):
1-Harli White (12) 2-Andy Shouse (1) 3-Whit Gastineau (3) 4-Kyle Clark (13) 5-Brian McClelland (5) 6-Jeremy Allen (14) 7-Rafe Essary (10) 8-Johnny Kent (16) 9-Koby Barksdale (7) 10-Layne Himebaugh (6) 11-Josuah Tyre (17) 12-Kade Morton (15) 13-Kip Hughes (19) 14-Danny Smith (3) 15-Shayla Waddell (8) 16-Dan Schnackenburg (20) 17-Fred Mattox (2) 18-Chuck Bellefeuille (18) 19-Gary Owens (11) 20-Joe Wood Jr. (9)
www.ocrsracing.com
- John Lemon on Apr 07, 2013
- Article Date: 4/7/2013 by John Lemon