- Race Coverage
- 10.5 Race Coverage
ORSCA Crowns Champs at Huntsville
After qualifying second in Mickey Thompson Outlaw 10.5 at Huntsville, Maryland’s Richard Sexton advanced Gil Mobley’s 2006 GTO to the final round, where his victory over Todd Moyer also boosted him two points ahead of Tim Lynch, who led the championship chase going into ORSCA’s season-ending event. When Lynch and Chuck Ulsch, Sexton’s teammate, both bowed out of competition in round two it opened the door of opportunity and Sexton stepped through to earn his career-first series title.
The Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (ORSCA) opened its 2007 season back in April at Huntsville Dragway and returned to the north-central Alabama strip Nov. 9-11, to close out its eight-race schedule this year. Only Darrin Hoyle in Limited Street had clinched a championship going into the event, though the EZ Street and 5.30 index classes also were essentially wrapped up by David Reese and Jeremy Ellis, respectively.
Regardless, the venerable eighth miler still served up plenty of drama as rookie Ryan Rakestraw took the event win and enjoyed the best possible start to a racing career by winning ORSCA’s inaugural Modified Street championship. Local hero and past ORSCA EZ Street champion Shane Stack bookended his ’08 season with a second win at Huntsville after also prevailing in the opener earlier this year, while Eric Dillard found his way to victory lane after turning in a dominating performance all weekend in Limited Street. But the highlight of the weekend came when Richard Sexton won the final round of the final race to cap a come-from-behind charge that captured ORSCA’s prestigious Outlaw 10.5 championship.
“We’re thrilled,” Sexton stated in victory lane. “This (ORSCA) is where all the hitters are, all the guys from Texas who came over and all the guys from down south here, so it feels great to have this work out.”
In index action, Kenny Acree beat teammate Paul Baxter in the 5.30 final, Lebron Hill won the 6.0 race and surged past defending class champ Michael Strickland to also earn his first ORSCA season title, and Lucas Bendahl won in 7.0, while Al Hause outlasted defending class champion Ricky Pennington to secure the number 1 decal for his windshield next year.
OUTLAW 10.5
With a new Pro Line-built, twin-turboed powerplant up front, Jack Barfield’s beautiful ’69 Camaro was the talk of the pits when he debuted the new combo at Huntsville. Barfield, a longtime nitrous racer now making the switch to turbo power, qualified 10th, but lost to Jim Robbins in the opening round on raceday. Still, he was pleased with his new ride, saying it felt “really different” from the nitrous-fed ‘02 Camaro he’s been racing all year. “It’s not as violent off the line,” Barfield said, “but it just keeps pullin’ all the way to the end. I like it.”