Being overly cautious in the final few laps cost Muskogee’s Colton Dunlap the championship in the Grand National/Hobby Stock Sizzler at Outlaw Motor Speedway on Friday night.

With five laps to go, the Muskogee teenager started coasting and that opened the door for Kansas’ Billy Kelley to take the checkered flag and a $1,000 to win. Dunlap had almost a quarter-of-a-lap lead on Kelley.

Dunlap was bidding for his third win of the year. He seemingly had the checkered flag in his sights with a seven car-length lead over Kelley and the field with eight laps to go. But by lap 16, Kelley had gained on the Muskogee High junior and with two laps remaining he went to the lead.

“When you have a big lead you tend to lose perspective of where the other cars are on track,” Dunlap said. “You simply cannot see them I thought my lead was safe, I was wrong. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Dunlap was able to finish second, the ninth time this year he has trailed another driver across the finish line. He has won two features.

Brian Parker of Collinsville was third, followed by Muskogee’s Kevin Flock and Dale Richardson. Richardson and Flock were bidding for their ninth and fifth feature wins (respectively).

Dunlap took the lead on lap five and pulled away from the field, leaving the fight for second place.

Kelley eventually grabbed second and raced to catch Dunlap from there. Dunlap won his heat race and, before the feature, had to replace his clutch.

It was an interesting night for Parker. On his way to the track, his car came off its trailer as he pulled away from a stop light.



Pure Stock

A horrific, seven-car crash in turn one resulted in a fire and minor injuries to Jessi Muhlhauser. The Chouteau driver was one of six battling for position going down the front straightaway when he got sideways and was then hit, sending him into concrete wall, severely damaging the front of his car.

Then he was tagged again, igniting his fuel cell. Track firefighters were quickly on the scene and along with other track safety personnel quickly extinguished the flames. Track workers removed him from the car and he was examined by track EMS. He escaped with only bumps and bruises. He was not burned, according to track safety officials.

Also involved in the wreck were Muskogee drivers Garrett Boyd, Mike Skaggs and Mike Bantaa, Checotah’s Brandon Fields and Daniel Tarkington and Ricky Whittle of Oktaha.

When the A feature restarted, Chouteau,s Russell McLain streaked to his first victory. He was well off the pace when the lap 11 accident occurred.

Kyle Slader was second, followed by Brody Young of Alma, Ark., and Muskogee’s Matt Burnett. Tahlequah’s Jason Ward was fifth.



USRA Modified

Barley a lap after taking the lead, Coweta’s Brandon Morton make contact with the wall coming out of turn four surrendering the lead and the win to Chouteau’s Jeran Frailey.

Morton had passed Frailey at the flag stand with one lap to go and had a car-length lead over Frailey as the two traveled down the backstretch. However, getting into the marbles or excess rubber buildup at the top of the track, Morton slid into the wall opening the door for Frailey.

“It feels good to finally win a race,” Frailey said. “It’s been two years since I’ve won here. I hope it’s not two years before I win another.”

Muskogee’s Jared Russell was third with Okay’s Andy Morris fourth. Charles Randolph was fifth.



360 Modified

Running away from the field, Spiro’s Brookin Stephens was just three-quarters of a lap from winning his third feature of the season, but then things went sour in a hurry.

A broken coil overmount on the rear end of his racer put him of the race; and as he coasted to a stop in the infield, Inola’s Justin Shoemaker zipped ahead to capture his first checkered flag of the season.

Stephens, a defending track champion in the Hobby Stock division, took the lead on lap eight from Muskogee’s Shannon Reheard and steadily moved to his half-lap lead. A crash on lap 11 brought out the red flag and brought the field back to his bumper on the restart.

Braggs’ Patrick Goodnight, last week’s feature winner, got into the wall in turn three and four and then was struck by Muskogee’s Dale Richardson. Both cars had to be hauled to the pits.

Brett Hansen emerged in second before he was caught and passed by Shoemaker on lap 14.



Mini-Stock

Kyle Ledford of Greenwood, Ark., won his second Mini-Stock feature of the season. The Mini-Stocks are alternating with the Front Wheel Drive division on a weekly basis.

Ledford beat Wesley Bourne of Cameron and Alvin Moran of Hackett, Ark.