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Sherrell Takes OCRS Mid-America Firecracker Showdown, Becomes First 2 Time Winner

Story by John Lemon
Photos by Phil Pace

South Coffeyville, Oklahoma (July 4, 2009) - Matt Sherrell became the first two time winner on the Oil Capitol Sprint Car Series 2009 schedule when he took the checkered flag in a hotly contested main event at Mid-America Speedway's Firecracker Showdown Saturday night. As he did the week prior, Sherrell, in his Sherrell Auto Body Shop sponsored mount, earned the right to start the 25 lap main event on the pole position by virtue of his win in the Same Day Auto Repair "Dash for Cash" race which determines the first six positions of the staring grid.

Although Sherrell started from the pole, his journey to the checkered flag was anything but a cake walk. Entering turn one of the first lap, Sherrell and outside pole sitter Travis Jenkins, Rafe Essary and Jonathan Beason all scrambled to become the initial point man. Sherrell pulled out of turn two with the lead with Jenkins all over his bumper in hot pursuit. At the completion of lap one, it was Sherrell, Jenkins, Beason, Jenkins' teammate, Mike Goodman and Danny Smith. Jenkins' pressure of Sherrell paid off as he took over the lead by making a pass for the lead coming out of turn four to complete lap two.

The race track was in perfect condition due to early morning rain and s great job by the MId America staff to prep the track prior to the main event. Slide jobs were at a premium. In multiple cases, there were position changes on one end of the track only to have those same gains for position often wiped out by return passes on the oppisite end. On the 8th lap, the leaders were dicing in lapped traffic and Sherrell retook the lead from Jenkins. However, Fred Mattox came in contact with a safety tire lining the infield, did a slow roll and brought out the races first red flag. Mattox was uninjured in the mishap. With scoring reverting back to the last completed lap, Sherrell's pass was negated and Jenkins restarted the race as the leader. Restarting behind Jenkins and Sherrell were Beason, Goodman, Smith, Passmore and Essary.

Goodman overtook Beason on the restart and the race was on. Sherrell got by Jenkins on the 10th lap while Smith and Passmore had both found their way past Beason. On lap 11, the races last red flag appeared when Dean Drake found the track blocked with Even Sewell facing the wrong way after a spin, hit Sewell and like Mattox before, took a very slow roll,. Drake also was uninjured. The restart sill had Sherrell at the point with Jenkins, Smith (who was coming on strong just before the red) Goodman, Beason, Passmore, Essary and Johnny Kent in tow.

Goodman had manuvered by Smith on the restart and began to pressure teammate Jenkins for the runner up spot. For the next few laps, the slide jobs for positions 5-10 were getting more intense. With less than seven laps to go, the front runners were encountering lapped traffic. On lap 22, Beason, who was in fourth, made a strong move coming out of turn two to pass both Goodman and Jenkins and move into the runner up spot. Jenkins then began loosing positions for the next two laps.

Sherrell held on to take the win followed by: Beason, Goodman, Passmore and Smith. The balance of the top ten were: Kent, Jenkins, Essary, Phillip Davis and David Dutton.

The next event for the OCRS sprints will be on July, 31st at the Outlaw Motor Speedway in Wainwright, Oklahoma.

OCRS Sprints

HEAT 1 - 1, Travis Jenkins. 2, Jonathan Beason. 3, Jamie Passmore. 4, Dean Drake, Jr. 5, Johnny Kent. 6, Kyle Clark. 7, Dustyn Caudle. 8, Kurt Gariss. DNS: Matt Kelley.

HEAT 2 - 1, Danny Smith. 2, Evan Sewell. 3, Nathan Campbell. 4, David Dutton. 5, Keith Bolton. 6, Fred Mattox. 7, Nicholas Lucito. 8, Waylon Weaver.

HEAT 3 - 1, Rafe Essary. 2, Mike Goodman. 3, Matt Sherrell. 4, Brian Roberts. 5, Zach Beeler. 6, Phillip Davis. 7, David Stephenson. 8, Kevin Cummings.

Same Day Auto Repair Dash For Cash - 1, Matt Sherrell. 2, Travis Jenkins. 3, Rafe Essary. 4, Jonathan Beason. 5, Danny Smith. 6, Mike Goodman.

B FEATURE - 1, Nicholas Lucito. 2, Fred Mattox. 3, Phillip Davis. 4, Kevin Cummings. 5, Waylon Weaver. 6, Dustyn Caudle. 7, David Stephenson. 8, Kurt Gariss. DNS: Matt Kelley.

A FEATURE - 1, Matt Sherrell. 2, Jonathan Beason. 3, Mike Goodman. 4, Jamie Passmore. 5, Danny Smith. 6, Johnny Kent. 7, Travis Jenkins. 8, Rafe Essary. 9, Phillip Davis. 10, David Dutton. 11, Keith Bolton. 12, Nicholas Lucito. 13, Zach Beeler. 14, Kevin Cummings. 15, Nathan Campbell. 16, Kyle Clark. 17, Brian Roberts. 18, Dean Drake, Jr. 19, Evan Sewell. 20, Fred Mattox.