By John Rittenoure and Hank Duensing (Kellyville, OK) -- Jay Sale took advantage of his outside front row starting position to take an early lead and win Friday nights Sooner Late Model Series opener at Creek County Speedway
It was the third Sooner Series career victory for Sale and he had to contend with veteran pole setter David Hennan to get the win.
Hennan drove into the early lead, but Sale passed him in the early circuits of the Creek quarter-mile oval and drove away for the win.
But the battle for third through fifth was much closer with Logan Ellis in third and trying to keep Steven Hawkins and Dillon Rupe behind him. Rupe was able to challenge Hawkins and made several attempts to pass him late in the race. On lap 20 Rupe finally got around Hawkins for fourth.
At the finish Ellis held on to third over Rupe in fourth and Hawkins settled for fifth.
Wayne Bush was able to motor to a 6th place finish after starting at the tail of the field, while Eric Brill managed to hold on to his starting position of 7th.
Richie Burcik had to wrestle a mis-handling car, after finding himself stuck on the front stretch wall while leading during heat race action, settling for 8th place. Nate Jantz was scored in 9th position after an early feature crash with Brandon Mitchell causing both of them to return to the pits with damage. Mitchell was scored in 10th position.
Jason Redman was unable to start the feature event after a crash in his heat race in which his machine sustained too much damage to repair for the feature.
The Sooner Late Models return to action on Friday when they visit Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker.
Sooner Late Model Series
Creek County Speedway - Kellyville, Okla.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Car Count: 11
Heat 1 (10 laps)
1, D11-David Hennan. 2, 64-Jay Sale. 3, 33-Steven Hawkins. 4, 52-Dillon Rupe. 5,
36-Jason Redman. 6, 15-Wayne Bush.
Heat 2 (10 laps)
1, 118-Logan Ellis. 2, 99-Nate Jantz. 3, 27-Brandon Mitchell. 4, 29R-Ritchie
Burcik. 5, 25-Eric Brill.
A Feature (25 laps)
1, 64-Jay Sale. 2, D11-David Hennan. 3, 118-Logan Ellis. 4, 52-Dillon Rupe. 5, 33- Steven Hawkins. 6, 15-Wayne Bush. 7, 25-Eric Brill. 8, 29R-Ritchie Burcik. 9, 99- Nate Jantz. 10, 27-Brandon Mitchell. DNS: 36-Jason Redman..