Brian McClelland Bowls Over

ASCS Sooners at Boyd

 

 

Lonnie Wheatley, BOYD, Texas (May 16, 2008) – Defending American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region champion Brian McClelland captured his first win of the season by wiring the field in Friday night's 25-lap feature as the series made its debut appearance at the ¼-mile Boyd Raceway dirt oval.

After a convincing heat race victory, the Tulsa racer drew the pole position for the feature event.  McClelland capitalized by leading all the way aboard the Wesmar-powered Maxwell Oil/Eaton Industrial Coatings No. 87 Triple-X.  "This was my kind of racetrack, I love it when they slick up like this," McClelland commented in victory lane.  "I was smilin' when I saw it start to blow a little dust." In the process of collecting his fourth career ASCS Sooner Region feature win, McClelland denied Gary Taylor a third consecutive series win.  But after winning a "B" Main, Taylor made a valiant effort for the three-peat by charging through the field from his 16th starting position to finish second behind McClelland as the checkered flag flew.   With Taylor eight rows deep at the start, McClelland outgunned fellow front row starter J.P. Bailey at the drop of the green flag and never looked back.  Working the low side of the track, McClelland cruised out front, surviving cautions after four and then ten laps.

Tulsa's Brian McClelland snared his first American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region feature win of the year by wiring the field in Friday night's 25-lap feature at Boyd (TX) Raceway.

 

Not even lapped traffic past the midway point could slow the leader.  The only thing that gave his rivals a glimmer of hope were three late cautions.  But even with Taylor up to second by the time the final caution flew with five laps to go, McClelland still slipped away to snare the win.

 

With McClelland setting the pace in the early stages, Bailey held the runner-up slot until the 12^th circuit when seventh-starter Kolt Walker battled by for the spot, bringing fellow fourth row starter Trey Robb with him.

 

At the same time, as the bulk of the field jockeyed for position on the low side of the speedway, Taylor raced past the field on the high side, cracking the top five by the time a caution flew after ten laps for Johnny Miller's turn two spin.

 

Taylor went with Walker and Robb around Bailey two laps later and then took third from Robb by the time Michael Lang spun in turn two on the 20^th lap to bring out the caution.

 

On the restart, Taylor tempted Walker on the top side of turns one and two before ducking down low in three and four to take over second, a position the Washington-state native would hold to the checkered flag.

 

Walker, the current ASCS Sooner Region points leader, settled for the show position, with Robb and 10^th-starter Sean McClelland rounding out the top five.

 

Aaron Reutzel snared sixth in his ASCS Sooner Region debut, with Sherman Davis advancing from 18^th to finish seventh.  Kevin Ramey survived a pair of skirmishes to salvage eighth, with Skip Wilson and Joe Wood, Jr., completing the top ten.

 

Robb, Bailey, Reutzel and Brian McClelland topped heat race action for the 33-car field, with Wilson and Taylor winning the twin "B" Mains.

 

American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region

Results from Boyd Raceway:

 

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 1s-Trey Robb, 2. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 3. 45k-Kolt Walker, 4. 64J-Johnny Miller, 5. L23-Landon Brown, 6. 76-John Ricketts, 7. 9-Brian Parker, 8. 25-T.J. Herrell, 9. 14b-Robert Byrom.

 

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 45x-J.P. Bailey, 2. 14-Michael Lang, 3. 15b-Michael Brown, 4. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 5. 65-Skip Wilson, 6. 72-Sherman Davis, 7. 12-Shawn Mize, 8. 26-Dalton Steed.

 

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 2. 22-Koby Barksdale, 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 4. 5*-Gary Taylor, 5. 39-Marvin Lough, 6. 87x-Billy Melton, 7. d99-Jeff Dodd. 

DNS: 11F-Darrell Fletcher.

 

Heat Four (8 Laps):  1. 87-Brian McClelland, 2. 11-Justin Melton, 3. 95-Matt Covington, 4. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 5. 1w-George White, 6. 81au-Gavin Punch, 7. 74-Claud Estes, 8. 20-Jason Hart.

 

First "B" Main (12 Laps):  1. 65-Skip Wilson, 2. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 3. 64J-Johnny Miller, 4. d99-Jeff Dodd, 5. 87x-Billy Melton, 6. 39-Marvin Lough, 7. 11F-Darrell Fletcher, 8. 9-Brian Parker, 9. 20-Jason Hart, 10. 25-T.J. Herrell.

 

Second "B" Main (12 Laps):  1. 5*-Gary Taylor, 2. 72-Sherman Davis, 3. 1w-George White, 4. 81au-Gavin Punch, 5. 76-John Ricketts, 6. 12-Shawn Mize, 7. 74-Claud Estes, 8. 26-Dalton Steed. 

DNS: 14b-Robert Byrom.

 

"A" Feature (25 Laps):  1. 87-Brian McClelland, 2. 5*-Gary Taylor, 3. 45K-Kolt Walker, 4. 1s-Trey Robb, 5. 1-Sean McClelland, 6. 87a-Aaron Reutzel, 7. 72-Sherman Davis, 8. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 9. 65-Skip Wilson, 10. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 11. 15B-Michael Brown, 12. 95-Matt Covington, 13. 45x-J.P. Bailey, 14. b4-Eric Baldaccini, 15. 22-Koby Barksdale, 16. 14-Michael Lang, 17. 1w-George White, 18. 11-Justin Melton, 19. 64J-Johnny Miller, 20. L23-Landon Brown.

 

American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region Points

(Top Ten):  1. Kolt Walker 688, 2. Brian McClelland 655, 3. Matt Covington 587, 4. Michael Brown 579, 5. Sherman Davis 571, 6. Gary Taylor 558, 7. Justin Melton 543, 8. Joe Wood, Jr. 528, 9. Eric Baldaccini 471, 10. Kerry McAlister 437.