Special to the Phoenix
June 13, 2009 11:37 pm
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OKTAHA — It was a Slader night at Outlaw Motor Speedway here Friday with rookie Kyle winning his first feature of his career and his old man, Brian, gaining his fourth.
Not old enough to legally drive a car, Kyle Slader shook off a rookie season full of early disappointments to win the feature in Pure Stock racing. His dad won the Hobby Stock chase.
Slader, 14, who attended Oktaha Middle School this past year and will be a freshman when school starts in August, did a masterful job of driving to hold off Muskogee’s Matt Burnett to claim the checkered flag. The two came out of turn four side-by-side is a dash to the checkered flag.
“There was no way he was going to pass me,” Kyle said after the race. “I thought I had a good lead and kind of slacked up. When I saw him coming after me, I really started to race.”
At the finish, Slader had a quarter-panel lead. He had led from the outside pole.
In the meantime, Burnett fought his way to second after nine laps and from there pulled to Slader’s bumper with three laps remaining. Twice in the final two laps he pulled along side the talented teenager, only to be rebuffed in turns three and four.
Running in the high groove, Slader refused to be intimidated by the more experienced Burnett, holding his line. That paid dividends at the end.
“That was the place top race tonight,” Slader said of the high trip around the three-eighths mile oval. “I knew if I kept my line, Matt would have a hard time getting around me. The low groove was good, but not as fast as the high groove.”
Finishing behind Burnett in third was Lee McClain of Chouteau. Justin Sellars of Muskogee was fourth.
Burnett was seeking his division-leading fifth feature win. Slader went into the night with numerous first place finishes in the heat races and a couple of runner-up finishes in the feature.
Hobby Stock
Brian Slader held off a determined challenge from Colton Dunlap to surprisingly win the feature, also his first of the year. He didn’t know he won until he glanced up and saw his number on the scoreboard in the first position.
“Brian thought that he was second,” said track steward Mike Northrup. “He told me when he pulled into the pits that he thought that No. 11 had run away from the field.”
Northrup was referring to Siloam Springs, Ark., driver Jeff Metcalf, who had a big lead the halfway point with Slader and the rest of the field a distant second. Metcalf pulled into the infield with engine problems, relinquishing first to Slader on lap 11.
Slader and Dunlap were practically door-to-door coming out of turn four in the run for the flag. At the finish, Slader was just a tad ahead of the Muskogee High School junior-to-be.
Copying his son, the elder Slader had position on the high side that he never relinquished.
After Metcalf left the track, a quartet of drivers had opportunities to win going into the final two laps. Randy Moses of Muskogee ran second until Dunlap took his measure down low out of turn four with two laps remaining.
Moses finished third.
In the special Hobby Stock Gambler, Dunlap came away with the checkered flag and an extra $180.
Modified
Shawn Brassfield had just enough car to hold-off Greg Skaggs to win the Modified feature. The two entered the final two laps of the 20-lap chase running practically side-by-side.
On the final lap, Skaggs got just a hair out of control on the slick track coming out of turn two and that was just the edge Brassfield needed. Skaggs was able to get just inside Brassfield’s left quarter-panel in turn four, but the victor from Ada held the advantage in the high groove for the triumph.
Skaggs of Bixby, who has a track-leading four feature wins, has not raced for the past four weeks, opting to attend his daughter’s softball games as well as other family functions.
Haskell’s Danny Womack was third.
360 Modified
Clay Julian of Ozark, Ark., captured his second straight feature win, beating Booneville, Ark., driver Jay Rierson to the finish,
Julian took the lead on lap 12, getting ahead of Muskogee’s Dale Richardson, who had held the lead from lap four. Richardson , bidding for his first win in the division, was in contention until he spun out with one lap remaining in turn two. The mistake — he went into the turn too hard and his car lost traction — cost him dearly as he finished 15th.
Julian had a four-car length lead at the conclusion of the race. Patrick Goodnight of Braggs was third with Bret Hansen of Fort Gibson fourth.
Mini-stock
Glenpool’s Jerry Hoffman won the feature beating Leroy Burger of Prague in a thrilling ride to the finish. The two raced on near even terms until the finish. Justin Cartwright of Sperry, was third.
The Mini-stocks were making their first appearance at the track.
Front-wheel drive
Ronnie Palmer of Roland won his seventh feature win of the year. He beat Billy Rankin of Hulbert to the finish. Only two cars were on the track at the finish. Four started.
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