MUSKOGEE, Okla. — After a fourth place finish in his heat race, it did not look like Whit Gastineau was in his usual winning form at Thunderbird Speedway.
But that was not the case in the feature. Gastineau passed early leader Johnny Kent on lap eight and raced to his 35th career AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories OCRS Sprint Car victory and second of the season Friday night.
A small adjustment to the chassis after the heat race was all Gastineau needed to find the extra speed to win.
“We are always good here,” Gastineau said. “We needed to tighten the car up, but still were not all that good. The first 15 laps were really good then towards the end I was probably a little complacent.”
“I need to thank Jim Elison, my dad, my brothers, Statewide Services, K & F Collision.”
Gastineau likes the larger half-mile tracks and has won his share of races at Thunderbird, but Kent was able to close the gap some late in the race as Gastineau was trying not to over drive his race car.
“They told me to pick up the pace a little,” Gastineau said. “I was just trying not to mess up. I have led here and won quite a few times and I have hit the wall a couple of times also. I was just trying to not screw up.”
Kent was setting the pace after starting on the pole, but a lap-seven restart erased the lead he had over Gastineau.
“The one early on definitely did not help us,” Kent said. “Whit is always fast at this place. We made some ground up on him just before that caution came out and I felt that caution put a little damper on us.”
Kent came into the night just 23 points ahead of Danny Wood in the points race and was able to stretch the advantage to 34 with his second place finish. Wood finished fourth behind third place Blake Edwards.
“It we can just keep going like we are I think we will be alright,” Kent said. “It was a good points night.”
Feature Finish (25 Laps)
1. 2-Whit Gastineau[4]; 2. 55-Johnny Kent[1]; 3. 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[3]; 4. 17E-Blake Edwards[6]; 5. 55W-Danny Wood[7]; 6. 5-Joe Bob Lee[11]; 7. 50Z-Zach Chappell[9]; 8. 9-Emilio Hoover[8]; 9. 12M-Mitchell Barros[13]; 10. 38-Joshua Tyre[14]; 11. 23L-Tyler LaPointe[12]; 12. 26M-Fred Mattox[5]; 13. 22RL-Gage Laney[10]; 14. 8R-Ryker Pace[2]