Lonnie Wheatley, COLCORD, Okla. (September 1, 2023) – It was by the absolute narrowest of margins.
But, Memphis, Tennessee shoe Landon Britt finally nabbed that elusive first American Sprint Car Series National Championship feature victory by taking the $4,000 winner’s share in Friday night’s series’ debut atop the newly-revamped Arrowhead Speedway.
Britt capitalized on a late Sean McClelland miscue in the 30-lapper to take command and then nipped current series points leader Jason Maritn at the line by a mere .021-seconds to snare the win aboard the Moss Racing Engines LB Motorsports No. 10 J&J.
While Britt gridded the feature field inside the second row, McClelland and pole starter Alex Sewell raced wheel-to-wheel for the point over the opening circuits before McClelland took command. As Sewell slipped back, Martin took second away from Britt with McClelland well in command until the race’s first caution flew near the two-thirds mark when Fred Mattox slowed with race-ending woes.
With Britt making his way back around Martin for second, he turned up the heat on McClelland as the track began to lock down on the lowside. And when McClelland bobbled on the low side of turns three and four in the final circuits, Britt slipped around with the lap considered complete when a caution flew moments later for a shredded tire.
McClelland tried to counter on the restart only to jump the start, receiving a two-position penalty and putting Martin on Britt’s tailtank for the final two-lap charge to the checkered flag.
Martin kept the pressure on and ultimately Britt pushed to the high side exiting the final corner with the checkered flag in sight to open the door but held on to win in a photo finish.
McClelland worked his way back into third to round out the podium with Sewell and 14th-starter Howard Moore rounding out the top five.
After McClelland established the night’s fastest overall time at 12.500 seconds in qualifying, heat race wins were claimed by Jeffrey Newell, Martin and Britt.
American Sprint Car Series
Arrowhead Speedway (Colcord, Okla.)
September 1, 2023, Results:
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt[3]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[1]; 5. 3-Howard Moore[14]; 6. 7C-Chris Morgan[6]; 7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[18]; 8. 14-Jordon Mallett[12]; 9. 91T-Tyler Thomas[10]; 10. 55B-Brandon Anderson[8]; 11. 6-Christopher Townsend[13]; 12. 12-Jeffrey Newell[7]; 13. 3G-Lane Goodman[16]; 14. 30X-Larry Bratti[19]; 15. 95-Matt Covington[9]; 16. 31-Casey Wills[11]; 17. 25B-Blaine Baxter[17]; 18. 26M-Fred Mattox[15]; 19. 91-Michael Day[5]; 20. 15D-Andrew Deal[20]; 21. 1H-Hank Davis[21]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Jeffrey Newell[1]; 2. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 4. 31-Casey Wills[2]; 5. 6-Christopher Townsend[6]; 6. 25B-Blaine Baxter[5]; 7. 1H-Hank Davis[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 2. 91-Michael Day[2]; 3. 3-Howard Moore[1]; 4. 91T-Tyler Thomas[5]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[3]; 6. 3G-Lane Goodman[6]; 7. 30X-Larry Bratti[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt[4]; 2. 7C-Chris Morgan[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[6]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[1]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox[7]; 7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland, 00:12.500[6]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell, 00:12.930[2]; 3. 31-Casey Wills, 00:13.013[1]; 4. 12-Jeffrey Newell, 00:13.217[5]; 5. 25B-Blaine Baxter, 00:13.356[4]; 6. 6-Christopher Townsend, 00:13.427[3]; 7. (DNS) 1H-Hank Davis, 00:13.427
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, 00:12.732[2]; 2. 14-Jordon Mallett, 00:13.055[6]; 3. 91-Michael Day, 00:13.263[7]; 4. 3-Howard Moore, 00:13.338[3]; 5. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 00:13.649[4]; 6. 3G-Lane Goodman, 00:13.709[5]; 7. 30X-Larry Bratti, 00:14.219[1]
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 10-Landon Britt, 00:13.302[1]; 2. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:13.417[5]; 3. 7C-Chris Morgan, 00:13.531[2]; 4. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:13.536[4]; 5. 95-Matt Covington, 00:13.592[6]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 00:13.650[7]; 7. 26M-Fred Mattox, 00:13.746[3]