Salina, Okla. (August 20, 2016) - Four years ago Shayla Waddell picked up her first OCRS victory at the Salina Highbanks Speedway. It was May 12th, 2012 to be exact. So it was only fitting that Salina would be the site of her second career victory.
Saturday, Waddell started outside front row and drove a flawless 25 laps to become the eighth different Ameri-Flex Hose and Accessories / OCRS winner of the 2016 season.
“We have been wanting one since the last time we won,” Waddell said thinking back to that first victory.
And she could not thank another car owner, Paul Johnson, enough for making the night possible. Johnson, owns the 5x sprinter that has been driven most recently by Matt Sherrell. Johnson loaned Waddell an engine in the 11th hour.
“I have to thank Paul Johnson,” Waddell said. “He let us borrow it when we found out we had an issue with ours during the week. We scrambled and Nick (Newton) was able to hook that deal up and we put it in last night. If it weren’t for that we would not have been here.”
With the Johnson power plant under the hood, Waddell started her night off with only a fifth place finish in the Drive Shaft Inc. heat, but advanced enough through the field to get the eighth and final redraw position.
“I had a lot of luck going my way tonight with the redraw,” Waddell said. “We were not stellar in the heat race.”
However, that quickly changed in the feature. After drawing the number two pill, Waddell started on the front row and beat pole sitter Alex Sewell into the early lead.
“I would have thought the bottom was where you would want to start, but when we started going, I was surprised,” Waddell said. “The car was perfect. All I had to do was not mess up. The motor was great.”
The key to victory was a last minute decision on the chassis setup.
“We were trying to decide what to do with it,” Waddell said of the sprint cars handling. “I did not want to be too tight or too loose. We had it tightened up but right before we went out, we changed our mind and went back to what we had in the heat race.”
While Waddell was setting the pace, several drivers moved into second with hopes of a run at the 88s sprinter. Zach Chappell passed Sewell for second on lap two only to give way to Sean McClelland a lap later. McClelland held the spot for eight laps then Robert Sellers pedaled past. Sellers closed in but was not able to challenge. However, Sellers did give Waddell a bumper tap on a lap 23 restart. But Waddell held her ground.
“I felt a little bump, but it kind of got me going,” she said.
“There at the end I could hear someone behind me and I knew they would be all over me. I thought it might be Robert or Shane but I did not know. I knew I could not mess up. I was able to keep it on the bottom and I knew they would not be able to get around me."
“Luckily, I was able to get by lapped traffic pretty quick.”
When the checkered fell Sellers settled for second, McClelland was third, Whit Gastineau climbed from 16th to finish fourth to earn the Action Auto Collision Hard Charger award, and Chappell picked up fifth.
The win moved Waddell from ninth to seventh in the Ameri-Flex / OCRS point standings.
Waddell appreciates her crew chief and the sponsors that make her racing possible and wanted to be sure they knew it.
“I definitely got to thank Nick Newton,” she said of her crew chief. “He has as much a part of this as any of us do."
“I want to thank Cure SMA, Diana McDowell Motorsports, PM Pro LLC, ANW Custom Designs, Maxima Racing Oils, TS Construction, Production Engine and Pump and Red Rock Distributing.”
Ameri-Flex / OCRS Official Results
Salina Highbanks Speedway, Salina, Okla.
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Car count: 22
(Pos-Car-Driver-Start)
Drive Shafts Inc. Heat (8 laps)
1, 5-Cameron Hagin[1]. 2, 53-Brett Wilson[3]. 3, 4X-Robert Sellers[7]. 4, 007-Michael Bookout[2]. 5, 88S-Shayla Waddell[8]. 6, 01-Lee Wade[6]. 7, 11-Michael Tyre[4]. 8, 78-Steve Smith[5].
A1 Machine Shop Heat (8 laps)
1, 8-Alex Sewell[3]. 2, 55-Johnny Kent[1]. 3, 4J-Jamie Passmore[4]. 4, 4-Shane Sellers[6]. 5, 79-Tim Kent[5]. 6, P78-Perry Pickard[2]. 7, 30-Joseph Miller[7].
Car and Fleet Parts Heat (8 laps)
1, 50Z-Zach Chappell[1]. 2, 1-Sean McClelland[4]. 3, 84-Alex DeCamp[2]. 4, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[6]. 5, 7M-Chance Morton[3]. 6, 2W-Whit Gastineau[7]. 7, 8M-Kade Morton[5].
AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories A Feature (25 laps)
1, 88S-Shayla Waddell[2]. 2, 4X-Robert Sellers[6]. 3, 1-Sean McClelland[4]. 4, 2W-Whit Gastineau[16]. 5, 50Z-Zach Chappell[3]. 6, 4J-Jamie Passmore[9]. 7, 7M-Chance Morton[15]. 8, 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[11]. 9, 007-Michael Bookout[13]. 10, 78-Steve Smith[20]. 11, 8M-Kade Morton[21]. 12, 01-Lee Wade[17]. 13, 53-Brett Wilson[8]. 14, 79-Tim Kent[14]. 15, 55-Johnny Kent[7]. 16, 30-Joseph Miller[18]. 17, 4-Shane Sellers[10]. 18, 11-Michael Tyre[19]. 19, 8-Alex Sewell[1]. 20, 5-Cameron Hagin[5]. 21, 84-Alex DeCamp[12]. 22, P78-Perry Pickard[22].
Lap Leaders: Shayla Waddell 1-25.
- Elizabeth Davis on Aug 23, 2016
- Article Date: 8/23/2016 by John Rittenoure OCRS