WINTERS PAYS THE SUPERCLEAN MODIFIED SERIES A FIRST TIME VISIT AND SCORES BIG AT THE ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY.

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 07/13/2008

While the qualifying round for the R&L Carriers 75 was close and intense so was the B Main race which established positions 17 through 20 in the starting field for the feature event. Seven cars ran a 20 lap race for the coveted four starting spots in the feature. It's perfectly understandable why this race had such hard racing. After all, the SuperClean Modified Series pay its drivers $250 just to start the A Main. Tim McMillin, who picked up a $100 bonus for winning this race, along with Josh Green, Ed Patton and Roy Berlinghoff, who raced his way to fourth on the final lap, won the right to start the feature.

With the car field now established, Mike Salm roared off of his front row position and made quick work of establishing the fact that he was going to be the car to beat.Salm ran extremely strong for 38 laps before bad racing luck bit him. In the process of trying to put a lap on the car driven by James Cole, the race leader found himself getting caught up in a wreck. He was able to continue but had to go to the tail end of the lead lap line. Adding more insult to injury, Salm's potential race winning night was further hampered following a lap 43 spin out.

The racing luck for series points leader Jimmy Dickerson wasn't any better. The El Cajon-California driver, who won the first three races of the SuperClean Modified season, suffered an engine failure under rather unusual circumstances. On lap 27 a yellow caution flag came out due to debris on the track. Dickerson stopped his car to allow a safety truck to come out on the speedway. All of a sudden Dickerson's car stalled and would not restart. He had to be escorted to the pit area by a wrecker. After making repairs Dickerson was able to return to the race on lap 38 but his points lead took a major hit.

The racing luck was no better for three time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr who was at the OSS to lend his support to short track racing during the course of the second annual Ron Hornaday Night at the speedway. The NASCAR champion started the race ninth and worked his way to fifth before he accidentally tapped the rear bumper of Billy Johanneck's car on lap 33. Johanneck went for a 360 spin through turn three and both drivers were send to the rear of the field for being involved in the yellow flag. Hornaday had to settle for a 17th place finish but still had a smile on his face afterwards. He was in town to have some fun, see some old friends and support short track racing.

Meanwhile Scott Winters was clicking off the laps and displaying some flawless driving with a well prepared race car. He crossed under the checkers with Andrew Phipps right behind him. Tim Morse, Chris Gerchman and Dave Arce completed the top five. In victory lane the happy winner said "It was just a super night. We came down here yesterday and worked hard trying to get a good race set up. We knew that we might give up a little bit in qualifying to go with the race set up. Early in the race we were running it out. Mike. (Salm), was real tough and we knew that Andrew,(Phipps), would be tough and I really appreciated him running me clean. It was just a good execution for us tonight."

Andrew Phipps was another big winner following the conclusion of the R&L Carriers 75. He arrived at the OSS second in the series' standings and left as the new points leader. "My car ran a lot better than I thought it would," he said adding "I was pretty nervous there at the start of the race because I just didn't think the car was going to be okay. It was kind of funny because the car would come in and out for me tonight. There were points where I was pretty darn good and then sometimes I was struggling just to hang with the guys, But tonight was a lot of fun. I love this short track racing. I haven't done much of this and it's a lot of fun and I can't wait to come back here again. But I think we should run longer races. 75 laps is just too short."

Tim Morse was extremely happy with his series best third place finish and said "this was such a great night compared to how things worked out during the Friday practice session. I actually ripped the left front tire off of the car and I've got to thank everyone in the pits who helped me by giving me parts so we could put this car together. My God, the thing actually got faster after I wrecked it." Morse also won the trophy dash which netted him the $100 bonus award from Poly Dome Plastic Products.

Bill Rozhon, SuperClean Modified Series Co-Promoter, said "we were pretty excited that Ron Hornaday Jr came out here to support our show. Both Greg, (series Co-Promoter Greg Scheidecker), and I raced against Ron back when he first started. It was a real privilege to have Ron race with us tonight."

In addition to their title sponsor, the SuperClean Modified Racing Series is strongly supported by a highly potent marketing concept known as "Team Lucas." Team members include Lucas Oil Products Inc, Jim Beam, Hoosier Racing Tire, K&N Performance Filters, Blue Water Resort and Casino, General Tire, Fatheadz Sunglasses, Dixie Chopper, Sencon Concrete LLC, Poly Dome Plastic Products, R&L Carriers, E3 Spark Plugs and Budweiser.

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