PRYOR CREEK, Okla. — Danny Wood has been trying all season to get a victory with the AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories OCRS sprint cars.
He has come close with five top five finishes, one of which was a second-place finish at I-70 Motorsports Park.
Saturday at Salina Highbanks Speedway Wood finally got the job done and it was worth the wait. Wood won the AmeriFlex Challenge VIII and pocketed $3,000 for the victory.
“This is the one you want to win,” Wood smiled while waiting for his car to pass post-race tech inspection.
Wood started outside second row and immediately shot into the lead. Two-time Challenge winner Alex Sewell gave chase for the first eight laps until his power steering went out.
Polesitter Sheldon Barksdale took over second and followed Wood to the checkered.
Wood felt his car was working as close to perfect as you could ask.
“It was really good all night,” Wood said. “ (We had) a fresh Meyers motor. It ran just perfect. The car was beautiful to drive.”
Running up high, Wood was able to keep his momentum up running near the wall.
“I don’t know if the guys thought it was rubber down there or the top was too far away, they all kind of dove to the bottom and I just went around the top,” Wood said of the low groove. “I am glad they did that. It was a guessing game and we gambled and it paid off.”
At the finish Zach Chappell was third just ahead of Fred Mattox in fourth and Bradley Fezard round out the top five.
The victory also moved Wood in the series points lead for the second time this season dropping Johnny Kent from the top spot. Only seven points separate the two.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 55W-Danny Wood[4]; 2. 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[1]; 3. 50Z-Zach Chappell[5]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox[2]; 5. 938-Bradley Fezard[11]; 6. 5$-Danny Smith[8]; 7. 22RL-Gage Laney[3]; 8. 5-Joe Bob Lee[15]; 9. 17E-Blake Edwards[12]; 10. 88-Terry Easum[10]; 11. 55-Johnny Kent[19]; 12. 9-Emilio Hoover[14]; 13. 12M-Mitchell Barros[17]; 14. 38-Jimmy Forrester[7]; 15. 1T-Joshua Tyre[18]; 16. 22T-Frank Taft[20]; 17. (DNF) 22C-Alex DeCamp[13]; 18. (DNF) 69-Greg York[22]; 19. (DNF) 8-Alex Sewell[6]; 20. (DNF) 2L-Brandon Leland[16]; 21. (DNF) 22M-Rees Moran[21]; 22. (DNF) 8R-Ryker Pace[9]