With sixty-nine cars in the pits last Saturday, the fans at Elk City Motorsports Park had a full night of high-speed action on the 3/8-mile dirt track. It was a championship points event for all four divisions with only the final 1/3rd of the season remaining, so every point matters!
In the Dirt Dog Sprint Series, Elk City’s Harley Menacher (#07) entered the night with a slim, nine-point lead in the championship over Tuttle, OK’s Cody Carter (#007). Despite Carter laying down the fastest lap of the night in hot laps (14.884sec), he would fade in the A-Main from his 3rd place starting spot to finish 5th while Menacher moved up four positions from 10th to finish 6th. The outcome was Menacher retaining the championship lead but now only by six points!
Brady Courtney took out the Dirt Dog Sprints, 20 lap A-Main in the Courtney Farms, J&J Siding, Hal Smith Cattle Co. #13C out of Carnagie, OK. Brady wired the field, taking the lead at the green flag from the outside front row and never being seriously challenged. Courtney finished over half a lap ahead of 2nd place Steven Shebester (#16S Mustang, OK) and Moore, OK’s Beau “The Show” Gastineau in 3rd place. Gastineau had a notable “Hard Charger” run as he started 7th, fell back to 12th on the opening lap, then hustled his way back to finish 3rd, at one point passing four cars in four laps!
The Sooner Mod Challenge saw the highest car count of the year for this class, with 26 USRA Ltd. & B-Mods signed in. Veteran racer, Robert Elliott (#09 Clinton, OK) headed into the night holding a 64pt lead over last year’s champion, Jeffrey Kaup (#92 Woodward, OK) with Elk City’s Austin Bonner (#36) in 3rd place, 82pts back from Elliott.
In the SMC feature, Kaup and Elliott started on the front row, but got together in turn two of the opening lap, creating a pile-up that collected ten cars. Four cars were done for the night and another 3 retired over the next two laps, including the pole sitter #92 of Kaup. On the restart, Robert Elliott immediately moved to the point and stayed out front by almost a half second until lap 17. Starting inside of row 2 for his first race at ECMP this year, the #18W of Altus, OK’s Cole Dennis avoided damage in the early carnage, then chased down and passed Elliott on Lap 17, stretching his lead to almost a full second in the final three laps! Terrel Evens (#92J Cache, OK) filled out the podium in 3rd place. Despite tough conditions, it was a heck of a show!
Jeffrey Kaup’s misfortune dropped him to third in points, advanced Austin Bonner to 2nd and allowed Robert Elliott to increase his lead in the championship to 93pts ahead of Bonner and 105pts over Kaup.
Heading into the eleventh race of the season for the Caulkins Conoco Factory Stocks, Clinton, OK’s 17yr old Race Elliott (#09R) had a stout, 200 point lead over second place Zachary Dove (#1I Elk City, OK) In the Factory Stock A-Main, Elliott started P2 to Hollis, OK’s Kevin Jones (#89) and held that spot through lap nine when he started to slide back in the pack, eventually pulling off on lap 16 after dropping to 5th due to an earlier eye injury made more painful by the dusty conditions. Leading every lap, Jones was almost untouchable in the feature. 2nd place finisher Sonny O’Hair (#9 Laverne, OK) and 3rd place Landon Maddox (#47 Fairview, OK) both gave it their all to catch Jones, but neither ever got closer than 0.5sec behind him.
With Elliott a DNF, 2nd-4th place Dove, Jose Salcido (#11 Altus, OK) and Kevin Jones all gained a little ground on the points leader.
In the mighty Gateway Church Tuner division, 15 year old Michael Reyes (#14 Shamrock, TX) added to his points lead with a 3rd place finishintheA-Main. The 12th race night of the season for this class saw 14 cars take the green with David Wagner (#27X Enid, OK) taking the victory. Wagner cancelled a recent string of bad luck by leading flag to flag in the feature, earning his fifth A-Main win of the season with his brother Brian Wagner (#5 Enid, OK) finishing 2nd.
Note: The heat and wind of the week (combined with other factors) severely hampered track prep and resulted in a rare occurrence of very dusty conditions for the Sooner Mod Challenge feature. Though this was only the second time this has happened since the new owners took over in 2022, track management deeply apologizes to the fans and racers and vows to continue working hard to do better in the future.
