ELDON, Mo. — Whit Gastineau led an AmeriFlex/OCRS IMCA Sprint Car one-two-three-four finish on Friday during the opening night of OCRS vs. POWRi LOS 305’s at Lake Ozark Speedway.
It was the first meeting of the two sanctioning bodies and Gastineau was at the top of the field, picking up his 32nd OCRS career victory after a sterling duel with veteran Danny Smith.
The event was part of the second annual Lake Ozark Speedway Beach Brawl that included All Star Circuit of Champions sprints and POWRi non-wing sprinters.
The second round is set to get underway on Saturday.
Gastineau drove off the pole in his Statewide Service Center sprinter to lead the opening lap over Smith, who started on the outside front row. Smith quickly used the high groove to take away the lead on lap two.
Over the next three laps, the two swapped slide jobs, though Smith held a slight lead each time they crossed the start-finish line.
On lap six, Gastineau finally wrestled the lead away from Smith, but his lead was far from safe.
Terry Easum charged around Smith for second on lap seven and by lap 15, Easum pulled within striking distance of Gastineau. However, Gastineau did not give up his position and Easum finished second just 0.886 seconds behind.
Johnny Kent moved around Smith on lap 15 and followed Easum to a third place finish.
Smith hung on to fourth with POWRi racer Mike Trent coming from 10th to finish fifth.
AmeriFlex/OCRS drivers picked up victories in all three heat races.
Gastineau won the opening heat, Smith the second heat and Easum captured the third.
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau[1]; 2. 88-Terry Easum[3]; 3. 55-Johnny Kent[5]; 4. 5$-Danny Smith[2]; 5. 14C-Mike Trent[10]; 6. 15-Jack Potter[7]; 7. 55P-Kenny Potter[4]; 8. 22M-Rees Moran[20]; 9. 26B-Matt Fox[6]; 10. 1P-Curtis Evans[18]; 11. 79-Gage Montgomery[15]; 12. 63-Randy Martin[16]; 13. 31-Casey Wills[12]; 14. 122-Lane Warner[9]; 15. 90-Dan Wohnoutka[13]; 16. 74-Natalie Doney[17]; 17. 18-Randy Corpening[11]; 18. 08E-Elizabeth Phillips[21]; 19. 61A-Doug Fry[14]; 20. 7K-Rob Rimel[19]; 21. 5M-Blake Edwards[8]