Lonnie Wheatley, SAPULPA, Okla. (April 15, 2022) – It had been a while coming, but the smile on the face said it all.
Running a mix of Midgets and Sprint Cars in recent years, Coweta’s Kade Morton finally snared his first American Sprint Car Series feature win by topping Friday night’s Sooner Region event at Creek County Speedway.
After starting from the pole, Morton led the way throughout and took the checkered flag that flew after 26 laps as the rain fell upon the scheduled 30-lapper.
“This is the first feature win I’ve had since an OCRS race at Muskogee in 2013,” Morton explained afterward of his first win in nine years.
After a pair of aborted starts for a Rees Moran flip in turn one and then Zach Chappell’s off-road excursion off turn two, Morton got the best of fellow front row starter Kyle Clark at the outset and then denied a Blake Hahn bid for the point in the closing laps before the skies opened.
“I really wish it had gone the whole way,” Morton commented. “I didn’t know if there was anyone close or not, but I wanted to finish it.”
Morton landed the pole position after winning the night’s opening heat race for the 27-car field and with legendary racer Johnny Herrera in place as crew chief, there was no stopping him aboard the Morton Excavating No. 8m Sprint Car.
While Morton was in command ahead of Clark and then Jeffrey Newell in the early going, it was Blake Hahn that ultimately was on the move.
Mired in fifth after a lap 19 red flag for Steven Shebester who got upside down in turn four, reigning ASCS National champion Hahn put the whip to the No. 52 machine and rallied past Brandon Anderson, Chance Morton and then Jeffrey Newell in short order to take over second by the time a final caution flew for Charlie Crumpton after 22 laps.
But Hahn had nothing left in the tank for Morton, who kept Hahn at bay until the race was declared complete.
Hahn settled for runner-up honors after starting ninth while Newell posted his top Sprint Car effort yet aboard the newly-formed No. 12 Sprint Car team in third. Anderson was fourth with Chance Morton rounding out the top five.
Sean McClelland advanced a half-dozen positions to claim sixth with Fred Mattox , 18th-starter Andrew Deal, Noah Harris and Casey Wills completing the top ten.
Kade Morton, Newell and Clark topped heat race action with Shebester the best in the “B” Main. Clark held the second position in the main event until left rear tire issues cut his feature run short after nine laps.
American Sprint Car Series Sooner Region
Creek County Speedway – Sapulpa, OK
Friday – April 15, 2022
ASCS Sooner Region:
A-Main (26 Laps – Shortened from 30 laps due to Rain): 1. 8M-Kade Morton[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[9]; 3. 12-Jeffrey Newell[3]; 4. 55B-Brandon Anderson[11]; 5. 7M-Chance Morton[7]; 6. 87-Sean McClelland[12]; 7. 26M-Fred Mattox[14]; 8. 15D-Andrew Deal[18]; 9. 7F-Noah Harris[10]; 10. 31-Casey Wills[16]; 11. 50Z-Zach Chappell[4]; 12. 5T-Ryan Timms[13]; 13. 24-Craig Carroll[17]; 14. 90-Lance Norick[20]; 15. 22C-Charlie Crumpton[19]; 16. 777-Bailey Hughes[5]; 17. 23X-Steven Shebester[15]; 18. 9$-Kyle Clark[2]; 19. 22M-Rees Moran[8]; 20. 95-Matt Covington[6]
B-Main 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23X-Steven Shebester[6]; 2. 31-Casey Wills[1]; 3. 24-Craig Carroll[2]; 4. 15D-Andrew Deal[7]; 5. 22C-Charlie Crumpton[3]; 6. 90-Lance Norick[4]; 7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]; 8. 88-Terry Easum[5]; 9. 91X-Michael Day[9]; 10. 10P-Dylan Postier[12]; 11. 91-Justin Fine[8]; 12. 5$-Danny Smith[11]; 13. 39-Joshua Tyre[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8M-Kade Morton[2]; 2. 22M-Rees Moran[1]; 3. 7M-Chance Morton[4]; 4. 777-Bailey Hughes[6]; 5. 87-Sean McClelland[7]; 6. 88-Terry Easum[3]; 7. 91-Justin Fine[5]; 8. 15D-Andrew Deal[9]; 9. 10P-Dylan Postier[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Jeffrey Newell[2]; 2. 50Z-Zach Chappell[4]; 3. 7F-Noah Harris[3]; 4. 24-Craig Carroll[1]; 5. 31-Casey Wills[6]; 6. 22C-Charlie Crumpton[5]; 7. 23X-Steven Shebester[7]; 8. 91X-Michael Day[8]; 9. 5$-Danny Smith[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9$-Kyle Clark[2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[3]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 5T-Ryan Timms[7]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox[9]; 7. 90-Lance Norick[8]; 8. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 9. 39-Joshua Tyre[4]