Goodman End Drought at Ada

By John Rittenoure

ADA, Okla. (May 31, 2008) - A drought came to an end for Mike Goodman Saturday night at Oklahoma Sports Park. Winless over the first six OCRS events this season, the defending champion put it all together to win the 25-lap main event and become the fifth different winner in 2008.

Goodman took advantage of a lap 13 restart to slingshot under race leader Jamie Passmore in turn two for the lead and never looked back over the final 12 laps. Passmore finished in second to retain his points lead over Goodman who climbed into second. First lap leader Danny Smith held off Danny Jennings to finish third and Kenneth Walker rounded out the top five after running third early in the race.

Smith roared off the outside front row to beat pole sitter Passmore into the opening lap lead. However Passmore pulled ahead on lap two and tried to distance himself from the field. On lap six Smith escaped what could have been race ending move when he roared up behind a lapped car in turn three and spun sideways. Smith quickly straightened up his sprinter and retained second place and the race continued until the yellow waved after lap seven.

The lap eight restart was the first of two that proved beneficial for Goodman. Goodman slid around Smith to take over second and went after Passmore. But it took a yellow at the halfway point to give Goodman his shot at the lead.

Jennings challenged Smith for third late in the race and managed to take the spot away from Smith in turn two of lap 18. But Smith came right back and passed Jenning to regain the third position.
The race went yellow for the final time on lap 24 when Tim Kent stalled on top of turn four. On the restart the top five remained unchanged for the final two laps.

The night got off to a rough start in the first heat when Strike Hill took a hard ride down the front straightaway on the start after contact with Jennings. In the second heat Evan Sewell blew an engine resulting in his car turning into a fireball entering turn one. As the car came to a stop Sewell dived out onto the ground. After being checked out by medical personnel Sewell was taken by private car to Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa where it was reported he suffered burns on his neck. Sewell was treated and eventually released.

The next OCRS event will be at Outlaw Motor Speedway June 27.

OCRS Sprints

HEAT 1 - 1, Jamie Passmore. 2, Danny Jennings. 3, Dean Drake, Jr. 4, Jamie McDonald. 5, Burt Davis. 6, Zach Beeler. 7, Strike Hill.

HEAT 2 - 1, Danny Smith. 2, Travis Jenkins. 3, Brian Parker. 4, Rafe Essary. 5, Joey Buntin. 6, Jeff Grant. 7, Evan Sewell.

HEAT 3 - 1, Nigel Calvert. 2, Shane Pace. 3, Mike Goodman. 4, Ricky York. 5, Matt Sherrell. 6, Waylon Weaver.

HEAT 4 - 1, Kenneth Walker. 2, Tim Kent. 3, Dustin Buntin. 4, Jackie York. 5, Gary Owens. 6, Kody Barksdale.

B FEATURE - 1, Gary Owens. 2, Matt Sherrell. 3, Jeff Grant. 4, Waylon Weaver. 5, Burt Davis. 6, Joey Buntin. 7, Kody Barksdale. DNS: Strike Hill, Evan Sewell, Zach Beeler.

A FEATURE - 1, Mike Goodman. 2, Jamie Passmore. 3, Danny Smith. 4, Danny Jennings. 5, Kenneth Walker. 6, Gary Owens. 7, Nigel Calvert. 8, Rafe Essary. 9, Shane Pace. 10, Dustin Buntin. 11, Dean Drake, Jr.12, Travis Jenkins. 13, Ricky York. 14, Waylon Weaver. 15, Jackie York. 16, Matt Sherrell. 17, Tim Kent. 18, Jamie McDonald. 19, Brian Parker. 20, Jeff Garnett.