ANDREW PHIPPS DOMINATES SUPER CLEAN MODIFIED ACTION AT ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 08/18/2008

Phipps literally put on a modified driving clinic during the K&N Performance Filters 75. Not even the presence of lapped traffic seemed to disrupt his race rhythm. His only real anxious moment during the race came on lap 15 when oil on the track caused Joe Ruggles to spin in turn two directly in front of the race leader. There were three additional caution flags in the race that brought the field closer together but with each ensuing restart Phipps made quick work of pulling away from his competition.

After the race Phipps said "races like this, where you get to lead every lap, are few and far between. I haven't done that in a long time. It was a lot of fun. The car was really good tonight but, to be honest, we made a lot of changes to the car after the last race,( July 12th also at the OSS), in an effort to make it better and I think we messed it up. It was really bad last night, (during the Friday test and tune session), and then we struggled during the first half of the day during practice. My Dad along with Brian Kelly who came out here to help me is very experienced. He's won like a billion races here. So I had a couple of really smart guys helping me in the pits and they were even beating their heads against the wall. It was hot here all weekend and these guys were sweating their butts off. Finally we hit on something at the end of the day. I'm really proud of all of the guys who helped me."

Phipps started the K&N Performance Filters 75 on the front row with Budweiser Pole winner Tim Morse and said "I'm really happy for Tim. He set his first fast time and he and I worked together on this deal. He had second locked down but I think he got messed up a little in the lapped traffic and ended up getting third. I have to say that the key to the whole race was the very first corner. If Tim could have gotten in front of me he would have been really hard to pass. I had the benefit of getting in front of a couple of lapped cars and that separated me away from the competition. It also let me take care of my tires by allowing them to cool off."

Jimmy Dickerson, who has three series wins is Phipps' greatest rival for the SuperClean Modified Series' championship,and was running third during much of this race before taking over second from Morse during the final five laps in his STR-Competitive Metals-Applied Decorative Concrete ride. Commenting on his night at the OSS the El Cajon-California driver said "it was rough. We had about a fourth place car tonight and finished second. I don't how we did that. I really don't know what it was. The car was good last night until we broke a motor and had to change it. I think it may have been just a little too much motor for this track. The car just pushed all day long and we couldn't get the push out of it. We did some changes and figured it would be good for the main but it still just wasn't there,"

Tim Morse was all smiles following the K&N Performance Filters 75 because the driver of the Morse Mufflers modified had a very good weekend at the OSS. That process started with qualifying when Morse received the $100 bonus for setting the Budweiser fast time after touring the OSS quarter mile oval with a time of 13.680 seconds. Morse was solidly in second place for 69 laps before a slight bauble coming off of turn two allowed Dickerson to pass him. Commenting on his race performance the Burbank-California driver said "our program is really coming alive. We set fast time tonight and that felt really good. I basically just left the car alone after we rolled it off of the trailer and away we went. During the final laps Jimmy, (Dickerson), got by me for second when I slipped up trying to get by a lapped car. I had no forward bite and was sideways all the way down the backstretch. I really didn't have anything for Phipps tonight. Our car was really strong at the beginning but right at the end we just lost it."

Also impressive were the performances by Jim Mardis and Jim Cole who completed the top five. Mardis is a regular driver and champion in the OSS Stock Pony Division and this race was only his second start of the season in the series behind the wheel of a recently built modified. Mardis ran a very strong race that featured a hard fought duel with Dickerson for third. Cole started the race in the top five and never left. The San Antonio-Texas driver is another one of the SuperClean Modified Series teams that has shown a tremendous amount of improvement over the past few races.

But with all due respect to the efforts of the top five finishers, the really hard racing in the K&N Performance Filters 75 were the drivers running from positions 10 through 22. Everyone one of these drivers were running wheel to wheel and door to door and the fans just loved it. They especially loved it when, on lap 62, three of them came off of turn four running three abreast. No one could believe that the trio of drivers made it into turn one without an accident taking place.

Also all smiles after the race was series co-promoter Greg Scheidecker who said "during the race up front Andrew just absolutely had the joint covered tonight. But the racing back from there was amazing and even during the last five laps the positions changed. It was just phenominal. It was very tight racing but there was also a lot of driver courtesy going on. I'll tell you what, we've got a good group of guys in this SuperClean Modified Racing Series."

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

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