InsideGroove - Race Report

THRILLING DRIVE FROM SEVENTH FOR TERRY PHILLIPS

Casa Grande, AZ -- Having broken leading the feature on both Saturday and Sunday when he started on the pole, MARS dirt late model champion Terry Phillips from Missouri wheeled his brand new Don Babb Racing GRT dirt modified to a $1000 win after leading the final 16 laps of Tuesday night's 30 lap Early Thaw feature. The dirt modified portion of the 5th Annual Early Thaw is paying a $110,000 total purse and will consist of 9 events spread over 15 days. Phillips came from 7th starting for the win, climbing to third in just 3 laps. He drove around leaders Tim Crawley and Wayne Brooks, both from Arkansas on a lap 15 restart. The standings were shuffled just four laps from the finish when second place duelers Jack Sullivan and Willy Kraft got tangled up under a caution flag. The race was over for Kraft and Sullivan restarted in the rear. Bumper Jones inherited second and the New Mexico based D&M Performance racer finished in that $500 slot. Crawley ended up a $400 third and Sunday winner Kellen Chadwick protected his narrow point lead with a $300 fourth. Former area resident G W Egbert, now a Texan, was a week long best in fifth. Chadwick's point lead was cut to just a single tally by Jones.

As expected, the car count dropped for the midweek action as 46 cars checked in. The program was altered for the lower count as the four heat races each advanced the top 3 passing point earners into the 30 lap A Main. Coming off a very tough weekend, Travis Mears from Arkansas led the first six laps of heat 1 only to begin to smoke heavily. Mears exited and Nebraska's Dan Carl won ahead of Sunday winner Chadwick, Kraft and Curt Barnett. Justen Yeager led the first 2 laps of the second heat. Texan Robbie Starnes gained the lead on lap 3, but broke and G W Egbert collected the win ahead of Yeager, 9th starting T Phillips and R C Whitwell. Both T Phillips and Whitwell had more passing points than outside front row starter Yeager, so Yeager was forced into the B Main action. Scheduled heat 3 pole starter Phil Penney was a scratch and Patrick Linn from Arkansas led three laps before teammate Crawley took over on lap 4. Crawley won ahead of Linn, 6th starter Jones and Jack Sullivan. Central California star Charles Paul led wire to wire in heat 4, fighting off a late challenge from Arkansas star Wayne Brooks. Brad Campbell was third, but ended up being disqualified for not reporting to the scales. That gave third to Bud Longpine. On lap 2, heavy contact between Terry Belcher Sr and Sherman Barnett ended the race for both. Jeff Taylor broke while second.

With the smaller field, the B Mains were cut to 15 laps. Wheeling the Alvie Williams car out of the El Paso area, Robert Adams led wire to wire in the first B Main and Nebraska's Ricky Lee Stephan ran second ahead of Trevor Egbert, George Fronsman, John Cox and S Barnett. Sullivan was a wire to wire winner in the second B Main. Taylor charged through the pack to 2nd and Saturday winner Richie Tosh ran third ahead of Christy Georges, Art Lacy and North Dakota's Marlyn Seidler. Both Yeager and Paul Banghart ran off the top of the track while in transfer slots. Oklahoma star Mike Roach crashed early in the second B Main.

The 12 heat transfers drew for their starting order at the front of the 24 car A Main. Crawley drew the pole ahead of Brooks, Carl, G Egbert, Chadwick, Paul, T Phillips, Jones, Whitwell, Linn, Longpine and Kraft. Saturday runnerup Stephan broke on lap 1 as Arkansas sprint car racer Crawley took a quick lead ove Brooks and Carl. Phillips charged from 7th to 5th in two laps, then used the bottom line to take third on lap 3. Lacy and Paul both took early off track excursions and Sullivan grabbed fifth from Chadwick on lap 7. Sullivan passed Carl for fourth on lap 10 and Kraft was fifth at lap 12. The first caution dropped on lap 14 as Cox slowed with a flat tire and Seidler fell out. Lacy had to pit with a flat tire. On the restart, both Paul and S Barnett ran off the top of the track. Phillips made short work of Crawley and Brooks on this restart and Sullivan pushed his GRT house car into second. Kraft and Taylor charged into the 3-4 slots as Crawley was shuffled back to fifth on lap 18. Jones was also flying as he passed both Crawley and Taylor. Taylor flew off the top of turn 2 and his race was over. Adams flew off the end of turn 1 without a caution on lap 24. T Egbert spun for a lap 26 yellow and contact between Kraft and Sullivan sent both of those drivers spinning. Kraft fell out as did Brooks while Sullivan restarted in the back of the pack. Jones was now second ahead of Crawley, Chadwick and G Egbert. They stayed in that order for the four remaining laps. Linn ran sixth ahead of Carl, Whitwell, Tosh and Georges. Lacy, Fronsman and Longpine also finished lead lap.

Summary Heat 1-Dan Carl, Kellen Chadwick, Willy Kraft, Curt Barnett, Paul Banghart. Heat 2-G W Egbert, Justen Yeager, Terry Phillips, R C Whitwell, Butch Reid Sr. Heat 3-Tim Crawley, Patrick Linn, Bumper Jones, Jack Sullivan, Ricky Lee Stephan. Heat 4-Charles Paul, Wayne Brooks, Bud Longpine, Robert Adams, Trevor Egbert. 1st B Main-Adams, Stephan, T Egbert, George Fronsman, John Cox, S Barnett, Mark Harrison, Phil Penney, Gary Ramsey, Jesse Williamson, Bill Lundock, Marty Phillips, Ryan Corbett, Jason Kirkpatrick, Scott Steger. 2nd B Main-Sullivan, Jeff Taylor, Richie Tosh, Christy Georges, Art Lacy, Marlyn Seidler, Dustin Jenks, Reid, Banghart, John McCormick, Yeager, Mike Roach, Randy Harrison. A Main-T Phillips, Jones, Crawley, Chadwick, G Egbert, Linn, Carl, Whitwell, Tosh, Georges, Lacy, Fronsman, Longpine, S Barnett, Sullivan, Paul, Kraft, Brooks, T Egbert, Cox, Adams, Taylor, Seidler, Stephan.

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