Lonnie Wheatley, SAPULPA, Okla. (September 4, 2022) – Sand Springs’ Hank Davis has been on a tear as of late at Creek County Speedway with five recent feature wins.

So, it came as little surprise that when the wings were shed, Davis came away with the $6,000 winner’s share in Sunday night’s Eighth Annual “Ironman 55” for 305-ci Champ Sprint Cars atop the ¼-mile clay oval.

After starting eighth, Davis assumed the point on the 35^th round and led the final 21 circuits aboard the Hank Davis Racing No. 1h Sprint Car sans brakes.

“I lost my brakes with 21 laps to go,” Davis explained in victory lane.  “It got pretty tricky after that.”

While Davis worked his way up to fourth by the midway point, pole starter Fred Mattox paced the opening 27 rounds before Johnny Kent slid into the lead after several previous bids for the point.

Kent paced the field for just eight laps before Davis made his way to second and then took command after contact with Kent left the previous leader sliding to a halt in turn four.

With the surging duo of Andrew Deal and Kyle Clark moving in to chase the leader over the final 15 rounds, Davis held the point.  A final caution with nine circuits remaining gave Deal one last chance to make a pair of charges, but it wasn’t enough to slow Davis’ charge to the stripe.

After getting caught up in a lap 12 melee and getting upside down, Clark raced back through the field and battled his way past Deal to snare the runner-up position with three laps remaining.

“I think someone got into the car ahead of me and he got into the wall, then I had nowhere to go,” Clark said of the early incident.

Deal, who worked from the tail of the “B” Main after an early incident to snare the final transfer position, earned Hard Charger honors by racing through the field to claim the show position after challenging for the point.

“I got up to second and I thought I had it,” Deal said afterward. 

After pacing the first half of the race, Mattox crossed the stripe fourth with Texas shoe Jett Hayes racing from 18^th to round out the top five.  Grady Mercer was sixth with Ty Hulsey, Joe Wood, Jr., Kent and Bradley Fezard completing the top ten.

The feature cautions:

Nine Laps – The first caution flies for a turn skirmish including Chris Andrews, Noah Harris and Rees Moran, who accepted a challenge to race from the 24^th starting position for an added bonus.  All three returned, though Harris pulled pitside soon after with Moran making a later exit.

Eleven Laps – The red flag flies for Kyle Clark, who gets upside down in three and four.  He returns with a dramatic drive through the field.

12 Laps – Brett Wilson comes to a stop in turn two.

14 Laps – The second and final red flag flies when, while battling for third, an ill-fated slidejob from Matt Sherrell results in Danny Smith getting on his lid.  Daniel was displeased and done for the night while Sherrell continued on in third before fading in the closing rounds.

34 Laps – Johnny Kent comes to a stop in turn four after contact with Davis as the duo raced for the lead.  Kent was not amused.

40 Laps – David Stephenson spins to a stop in turn one.

46 Laps – A final caution gives Deal and Clark one last shot at Davis, but neither could convert.

After Joe Wood, Jr., established the quickest overall lap in qualifying of 13.109 seconds over the 36-car field, heat race wins were collected by Nathan Moore, Kent, Wood, Jr., and Danny Smith with Brett Wilson victorious in the 15-lap “B” Main.

Eighth Annual “Ironman 55”

Creek County Speedway – Sapulpa, OK

September 4, 2022, Results:

Qualifying Group One:  1. 22m-Rees Moran 13.256, 2. 2-Whit Gastineau 13.452, 3. 8r-Ryker Pace 13.781, 4. 48-Nathan Moore 13.805, 5. 51m-Kevin Cummings 13.859, 6. 15d-Andrew Deal 13.910, 7. 8x-Austin Shores 14.019, 8. 98k-Dane Fields, 9. $5-Emilee Lowery 15.428.

Qualifying Group Two:  1. 24-T.J. Herrell 13.191, 2. 1h-Hank 13.239, 3. 24h-Ty Hulsey 13.625, 4. 55-Johnny Kent 13.650, 5. 5-Cameron Hagin 13.821, 6. 5$-Chris Andrews 13.842, 7. 38-Jimmy Forrester 14.019, 8. 22-David Stephenson 14.076, 9. 84s-Shaun Shapel NT.

Qualifying Group Three:  1. 28-Joe Wood, Jr. 13.109, 2. 938-Bradkey Fezard 13.440, 3. 44c-Cody Price 13.487, 4. 50-Cody Whitworth 13.533, 5. 42-Grady Mercer 13.574, 6. 23a-Brett Wilson 13.653, 7. 11-Jackie York 13.706, 8. 83-Jett Hayes 13.711, 9. 54-Will Scribner 13.740.

Qualifying Group Four:  1. 26m-Fred Mattox 13.454, 2. 9$-Kyle Clark 13.464, 3. 13$-Danny Smith 13.491, 4. 5x-Matt Sherrell 13.574, 5. 71w-Weston Gorham 13.583, 6. 11T-Ricky Crawford 14.018, 7. 7F-Noah Harris 14.052, 8. 69-Greg York 14.321, 9. 2L-Joshua Tyre 14.588.

Heat One (8 Laps – Top Five Transfer):  1. 48-Nathan Moore (1), 2. 2-Whit Gastineau (3), 3. 22m-Rees Moran (4), 4. 8x-Ayustin Shores (7), 5. 51m-Kevin Cummings (5), 6. 98k-Dane Fields (8), 7. $5-Eilee Lowery (9), 8. 8r-Ryker Pace (2), 9. 15d-Andrew Deal (6).

Heat Two (8 Laps – Top Five Transfer):  1. 55-Johnny Kent (1), 2. 1h-Hank Davis (3), 3. 24h-Ty Hulsey (2), 4. 5$-Chris Andrews (6), 5. 24-J.T. Herrell (4), 6. 22-David Stephenson (8), 7. 5-Cameron Hagin (5), 8. 38-Jimmy Forrester (7), 9. 84s-Shaun Shapel (9).

Heat Three (8 Laps – Top Five Transfer):  1. 28-Joe Wood, Jr. (4), 2. 938-Bradley Fezard (3), 3. 50-Cody Whitworth (1), 4. 42-Grady Mercer (5), 5. 83-Jett Hayes (8), 6. 23a-Brett Wilson (6), 7. 54-Will Scribner (9), 8. 11-Jackie York (7), 9. 44c-Cody Price (2), 2.

Heat Four (8 Laps – Top Five Transfer):  1. 13$-Danny Smith (2), 2. 5x-Matt Sherrell (1), 3. 26m-Fred Mattox (4), 4. 9$-Kyle Clark (3), 5. 71w-Weston Gorham (5), 6. 7F-Noah Harris (7), 7. 11T-Ricky Crawford (6), 8. 69-Greg York (8), 9. 2L-Joshua Tyre (9).

“B” Main (15 Laps – Top Four Transfer):  1. 23a-Brett Wilson (2), 2. 7F-Noah Harris (1), 3. 22-David Stephenson (4), 4. 15d-Andrew Deal (14), 5. 5-Cameron Hagin (5), 6. 38-Jimmy Forrester (12), 7. 54-Will Scribner (6), 8. 8r-Ryker Pace (9), 9. 2L-Joshua Tyre (13), 10. 11T-Ricky Crawford (8), 11. $5-Emilee Lowery (7), 12. 84s-Shaun Shapel (15), 13. 98k-Dane Fields (3), 14. 11-Jackie York (10), 15. 69-Greg York (11), 16. 44c-Cody Price (DNS).

“A” Main (55 Laps):  1. 1h-Hank Davis (8), 2. 9$-Kyle Clark (13), 3. 15d-Andrew Deal (23), 4. 26m-Fred Mattox (1), 5. 83-Jett Hays (18), 6. 42-Grady Mercer (14), 7. 24h-Ty Hulsey (12), 8. 28-Joe Wood, Jr. (7), 9. 55-Johnny Kent (3), 10. 938-Bradley Fezard (5), 11. 51m-Kevin Cummings (19), 12. 5$-Chris Andrews (15), 13. 22-David Stephenson (22), 14. 24T-T.J. Herrell (6), 15. 5x-Matt Sherrell (10), 16. 2-Whit Gastineau (9), 17. 71w-Weston Gorham (17), 18. 22m-Rees Moran (24), 19. 8x-Austin Shores (16), 20. 48-Nathan Moore (2), 21. 13$-Danny Smith (4), 22. 23a-Brett Wilson (20), 23. 50-Cody Whitworth (11), 24. 7F-Noah Harris (21).

Lap Leaders: Fred Mattox 1-27, Johnny Kent 28-34, Hank Davis 35-55.

Note: Fred Mattox caught the #1 Pig to earn the pole position for the main event and earned $250 extra for catching a pig.  Rees Moran caught the #24 Pig and took the challenge to start from the tail and potentially earning winnings of $7,750 including an extra $1,000 for winning from the tail along with $500 Hard Charger and $250 for catching a pig. A DNF ensued.