HUMBOLDT, Kan. – Whit Gastineau almost had victory in his grasp Friday night at Humboldt Speedway, but Zach Chappell had other plans.
Chappell made a dramatic pass off the final turn and beat Gastineau to the finish line to win his first Ameri-Flex/OCRS Sprint Car main event of the season.
Gastineau drove off the outside front row and opened up a good early lead, but in the closing laps, Gastineau appeared to be slowing some and Chappell reeled him in quickly in the final laps. Gastineau was able to hold Chappell off until the final turn, but still finished second.
“He was getting through turns one and two real bad there on top,” Chappell said of Gastineau. “Then once I started getting closer to him in lapped traffic I started gaining on him real hard then. I was glad we ran 30 laps tonight or I would have come up short.”
When the green flag waved to start the race Chappell was running fifth behind Job Bob Lee, Avery Goodman, and Casey Wills. On lap two Chappel moved into fourth, was third behind Goodman on lap three then chased after Lee. On lap 16 Chappell battled his way around Lee for second and started chasing Gastineau.
“The car got better all night,” Chappell said. “Hard work pays off for you. You just have to keep racing till the checkered flag falls.”
Lee held on to finish third with Casey Wills and Terry Easum rounding out the top five.
The finish:
Zach Chappell, Whit Gastineau, Joe Bob Lee, Casey Willis, Terry Easum, James Shoun, Frank Taft, Andrew Deal, Travis Jenkins, Avery Goodman, Jase Randolph, Casey Buechler, Sheldon Barksdale, Kimberly Tyre, Michael Ongacre, Kinzer Edwards.