Lonnie Wheatley, SAPULPA, Okla. (September 2, 2023) – Andrew Deal’s experience and perseverance paid off to the tune of $12,222 as he led the final 21 rounds to reach victory lane in Saturday night’s Ninth Annual Ironman 55 305-ci Champ Sprint Car Non-Wing feature event atop the ¼-mile Creek County Speedway.
After starting seventh in the 55-lap nightcap, Deal made his way to third in the early going and then ultimately got the topside of the oval working to his liking to overtake young runners Ryker Pace and Rees Moran to take the checkered flag with a 1.115-second advantage aboard the Foreman Bucking Bulls No. 15d.
“Those young guys did a really good job up there,” Deal explained in victory lane. “I felt like I had something going wrong in the right rear, so I kept trying the high side and just stuck with it to hopefully put on a show for the fans.”
The high side proved to be the fast way around the Creek County clay over the final half of the race after the line migrated away from the bottom that was dominant in the early going with pole starter Pace leading the early rounds ahead of Moran.
With a handful of cautions interrupting the initial ten circuits, Moran battled his way to the front by the time an extended green flag run that lasted until the 21st round when Grady Mercer came to a stop just as Deal had made his way past Pace for second only to have the move negated.
Deal slipped to back to fourth when action resumed as defending race winner Hank Davis rallied about the top side to claim third and began working on Pace for second. After a red flag stoppage with 27 laps in the books when Gerald Smith got the worst of a scrum exiting turn four, Deal went to work from the fourth position behind Moran, Pace and Davis and raced into the lead by the 34th round.
Deal dealt with one final caution with 13 laps to go and aside from one bobble on the cushion in turn four with less than ten laps to go that nearly opened the door, the Caney, KS, racer was flawless in the closing laps as he charged to the checkered flag.
Tulsa’s Moran settled for runner-up honors with Sand Springs’ Davis filling out the podium in third. Alex DeCamp raced amongst the top five throughout before finishing fourth with Matt Sherrell climbing a half-dozen positions to round out the top five.
Fred Mattox crossed the stripe sixth with two-time race winner Kyle Clark in seventh. Joshua Tyre picked up the Hard Charger bonus by rallying from 24th to eighth with Joe Wood, Jr., and Pace completing the top ten.
DeCamp, Jimmy Forrester, Noah Harris, Davis and Sherrell topped heat race action for the 50-car field with Johnny Kent and Danny Smith posting “B” Main wins.
Ninth Annual Ironman 55 Non-Wing Champ Sprint Cars
Creek County Speedway (Sapulpa, OK)
September 2, 2023, Results
Heat Races (Top 18 in Passing Points to “A” Main (top 10) to redraw; Balance to 2 “B” Mains):
Heat One (10 Laps): 1. 22c-Alex Decamp (2), 2. 98k-Cooper Sullivan (1), 3. 15d-Andrew Deal (6), 4. 39-Joshua Tyre (3), 5. 33-Justin Patocka (4), 6. 24c-Craig Carroll (5), 7. 23a-Brett Wilson (7), 8. 22-Dylan Pendergrass (8), 9. 31-Colin Fletcher (9).
Heat Two (10 Laps): 1. 38-Jimmy Forrester (2), 2. 17-Jonathan Beason (1), 3. 50-Cody Whitworth (4), 4. 31x-Wesley Smith (5), 5. 08e-Elizabeth Phillips (6), 6. 51-Roscoe Moore (3), 7. 36-Zach Smith (7), 8. 24h-Ty Hulsey (9), 9. 3r-Raven Culp (8).
Heat Three (10 Laps): 1. 3-Noah Harris (2), 2. 7F-Kinzer Edwards (4), 3. 29g-Gerald Smith (5), 4. 28-Joe Wood, Jr. (7), 5. 55-Johnny Kent (8), 6. 44c-Cody Price (1), 7. 16s-Steven Shebester (6), 8. 938-Bradley Fezard (3).
Heat Four (10 Laps): 1. 1h-Hank Davis (2), 2. 9$-Kyle Clark (5), 3. 22k-Koby Barksdale (4), 4. 6n-Cameron Hagin (3), 5. 1T-Joshua Shipley (7), 6. 24r-Kyle Roller (6), 7. 11-Michael Tyre (1), 8. 22z-Zach Campbell (DNS).
Heat Five (10 Laps): 1. 5x-Matt Sherrell (1), 2. 22m-Rees Moran (4), 3. 26m-Fred Mattox (6), 4. 17e-Blake Edwards (3), 5. 8x-Austin Shores (8), 6. 5b-Brock Cottrell (2), 7. 71-Tanner Conn (5), 8. 13$-Len Larkin (7).
Heat Six (10 Laps): 1. 8r-Ryker Pace (3), 2. 42-Grady Mercer (2), 3. 6-Cody Carter (1), 4. 15-Jase Randolph (4), 5. 5$-Danny Smith (7), 6. 22RL-Gage Laney (8), 7. 69-Greg York (6), 8. 22T-Frank Taft (5).
First “B” Main (15 Laps – Top 3 Advance to A Main): 1. 55-Johnny Kent, 2. 31x-Wesley Smith (2), 3. 6n-Cameron Hagin (5), 4. 1T-Joshua Shipley (3), 5. 15-Jase Randolph (4), 6. 24h-Ty Hulsey (11), 7. 24c-Craig Carroll (8), 8. 08e-Elizabeth Phillips (6), 9. 36-Zach Smith (9), 10. 3r-Raven Culp (14), 11. 33-Justin Patocka (7), 12. 16s-Steven Shebester (10), 13. 22-Dylan Pendergrass (12), 14. 11-Michael Tyre (13). DNS: 5b-Brock Cottrell, 31-Colin Fletcher.
Second “B” Main (15 Laps – Top 3 Advance to A Main): 1. 5$-Danny Smith (2), 2. 8x-Austin Shores (1), 3. 39-Joshua Tyre (3), 4. 22RL-Gage Laney (5), 5. 51-Roscoe Moore (7), 6. 938-Bradley Fezard (13), 7. 24r-Kyle Roller (6), 8. 22T-Frank Taft (12), 9. 69-Greg York (9), 10. 71-Tanner Conn (10), 11. 22z-Zach Campbell (14), 12. 17e-Blake Edwards (4), 13. 13$-Len Larkin (13), 14. 23a-Brett Wilson (8). DNS: 6-Cody Carter, 44c-Cody Price.
“A” Main (55 Laps): 1. 15d-Andrew Deal (7), 2. 22m-Rees Moran (2), 3. 1h-Hank Davis (4), 4. 22c-Alex DeCamp (3), 5. 5x-Matt Sherrell (11), 6. 26m-Fred Mattox (5), 7. 9$-Kyle Clark (10), 8. 39-Joshua Tyre (24), 9. 28-Joe Wood, Jr. (13), 10. 8r-Ryker Pace (1), 11. 17-Jonathan Beason (16), 12. 6n-Cameron Hagin (23), 13. 98k-Cooper Sullivan (15), 14. 55-Johnny Kent (19), 15. 8x-Austin Shores (22), 16. 50-Cody Whitworth (17), 17. 31x-Wesley Smith (21), 18. 5$-Danny Smith (20), 19. 29g-Gerald Smith (12), 20. 42-Grady Mercer (14), 21. 22k-Koby Barksdale (18), 22. 3-Noah Harris (6), 23. 38-Jimmy Forrester (8), 24. 7F-Kinzer Edwards (9).