InsideGroove - Race Report

TERRY PHILLIPS REBOUNDS WITH TWIN WIN NIGHT, FRANCIS NEW POINT LEADER

Casa Grande, AZ -- Rebounding from a tough Sunday where a flat tire in the B Main kept him from the A Main action, MARS champion Terry Phillips from Missouri capped a huge night at Central Arizona Raceway by scoring a wire to wire 30 lap dirt late model win from the pole starting position as the Early Thaw Speedweek ran leg 3 of it's $140,000 Series on Tuesday night. It was the second straight year that Phillips has gained an Early Thaw win as he won at Manzanita Speedway in 2004. The midweek dates with their lower $12 admission pay a lower purse so Phillips win paid $3000 and climbed him to 5th in points. Moments before his dirt late model win, Phillips wheeled his dirt modified to a $1000 win in the 30 lap feature for that class. Phillips late model is owned by Don Babb Racing and is sponsored by Presley's Country Jubilee and Petroff Trucking. It is a GRT using a Hatfield engine. Outside front row starter Rick Eckert put his Cornett Ford powered Rocket in the $1500 runnerup slot. The car owned by Santa Maria's Jim Biggs is a team car to California super star Steve Drake. His second straight top 3 finish moved Eckert to third in points. Defending Early Thaw champion Steve Francis came from 8th to finish third in his MoPar powered Rocket. That finish paid $1000 and elevated Francis past Billy Moyer Jr into the point lead at the series midway mark. Francis is only 3 points ahead of Moyer and 22 in front of Eckert. Jeff Taylor was an $800 fourth and Missouri's Brad Looney got his best finish of the week so far with a $700 fifth. Moyer charged from 14th and passed Oregon star Trevor Glaser on the final lap to get the $600 sixth. Young Glaser started 6th and ran in the top five for the first 20 laps. He settled for a $500 7th. Promoter Ernie Mincy had his staff push the week night show through with a 5 PM start time and an 8:30 finish.

The car count dipped slightly for the midweek action with 56 cars checking in. Randy Shafer threw a drive line in hot laps to end his night. The six heat format was again used with the top 2 passing point accumulaters in each heat advancing to the 30 lap A Main. Glaser turned the quickest laps of the night as he won heat 1 from an outside front row start. Pole starter Mark Teske from Minnesota led two rounds before Glaser took command. Glaser clicked off times in the 16.7's as he beat Teske, John VanDenBerg and Mark Voigt. Voigt came from 9th to finish 4th. Heat two also had a west coast winner as Eric Jacobsen won from the outside front row. Jacobsen was back in his primary car as teammate Don O'Neal's Saturday winning mount was repaired. He led all ten laps and Nextel Cup racer Ken Schrader came from 5th to finish second. O'Neal started 8th and finished 3rd, but was relegated to B Main action. Al Purkey came from 9th to 5th behind Kevin Larkins, but was also pushed into a B Main. Phillips had the favored outside front row assignment for heat 3 and won in wire to wire fashion with laps in the high 16's. Third starting John Anderson finished second, but attempted to make an engine change between the heat and feature and fell just a couple minutes short of completing the task. Pole starter Jack Sullivan ran off the top of the track on lap 2 while 2nd. Hollywood Hills champion Curt Barnett from El Paso TX was third. Francis won heat 4 from the pole with Taylor getting the other transfer when he came from 7th to finish second. Brandon McCormick was third. Sunday winner Billy Moyer Jr was sixth. Nebraska's Kyle Berck won heat 5 from the pole with his new Swartz mount and fellow front row starter Steve Drake was a race long second. Second row starters Rob Mayea and John Duty finished 3-4. Both Mike Buckner and Greg Walters ran off the top of the track. Making his first appearance of the week, Oregon's Mark Carroll pitted before the green flag in heat 6. Eckert blasted from 4th starting to the lead on the first lap and won ahead of Looney and Larry Clawson.

The two B Mains transferred six cars each into the A Main grid. O'Neal had the pole for the first 21 car, 20 lap B Main and he ran away and hid with the final 19 laps run without a caution. He lapped up to 7th place as VanDenBerg ran second ahead of Purkey, Mayea, Southwest Late Model champion Lonnie Parker Jr and Kevin Larkins. Terry Belcher Sr got the ride in the Mike Tahtinen car tonight and ran 7th. That normally would not transfer, but the Anderson scratch got him into the A Main. Chris Smyser ran off the top of the track in 6th and Sullivan was battling Parker for sixth when he also dropped out. Barnett was lead lap when he broke with two laps to run. Moyer's poor heat race effort left him in 9th starting for the second B Main with 20 starters. Voigt led 12 laps and then McCormick nosed ahead for a lap. The next restart saw Voigt and Moyer both getting around McCormick for the top two slots. Moyer took the lead from Voigt as the laps ran down and Oregon star Bob Jeffery passed Voigt on the final lap for second. Voigt's frustration continued as he weighed in light after the race and was disqualified. Eddie Moore ran off the track trying for sixth on the final lap as McCormick moved up to third ahead of Sonny Findling. Mike Collins passed Dave Tyrchniewicz on the last lap for what appeared to be the final transfer, but both moved forward with the Voigt DQ. Colorado's Gary Dechant ran off the top of the track on the first lap. Tim Crawley blew a tire after losing fourth to Moyer.

The 12 heat race transfers drew for their starting order in the front six rows of the feature. Phillips and Eckert had the front row ahead of Looney, Taylor, Jacobsen, Glaser, Berck, Francis, Teske, Drake, Schrader and Anderson, but Anderson's scratch altered that alignment. The Anderson team was firing the new motor as the A Main field took the green flag. Phillips raced into a quick lead over Eckert, Taylor and Glaser. Tyrchniewicz was an early retiree and Larkins ran off the top of the track on lap 8 to end his night. Eckert was putting heavy pressure on Phillips and 8th starting Francis took fifth from Looney on lap 13. Francis then grabbed fourth from the impressive Glaser a lap later. Sonny Findling fell on lap 16 and Belcher Sr also ran off the top of the track after some very impressive early race passes from dead last. The front foursome of Phillips, Eckert, Taylor and Francis were racing in tight formation when Looney took fifth from Glaser on lap 21. O'Neal had raced from 13th to 6th when Francis drove by Taylor for third on lap 24. The race appeared to be headed to an all green flag affair when O'Neal suddenly popped on the front stretch and coasted to a stop in turn 3 for a lap 26 yellow. The team suspected a broken cam as they began their post race teardown. McCormick and Jeffery both fell out and Phillips stayed out front for those four remaining laps to end his big night. Eckert ran second ahead of Francis, Taylor, Looney and Moyer, who passed Glaser on the last lap. Glaser settled for 7th ahead of Berck, Jacobsen, VanDenBerg, Teske, Purkey, Drake, Parker Jr, Schrader and Mayea. O'Neal is 6 points back of Eckert and 5 ahead of Phillips.

Round four will be a similar $3000 to win show on Thursday, Jan 20th and Mincy promises another speedy effort.

Summary Heat 1-Trevor Glaser, Mark Teske, John VanDenBerg, Mark Voigt, Chris Smyser. Heat 2-Eric Jacobsen, Ken Schrader, Don O'Neal, Kevin Larkins, Al Purkey. Heat 3-Terry Phillips, John Anderson, Curt Barnett, Tim Crawley, Eddie Moore. Heat 4-Steve Francis, Jeff Taylor, Brandon McCormick, Bob Jeffery, Sonny Findling. Heat 5-Kyle Berck, Steve Drake, Rob Mayea, John Duty, Joey Tanner. Heat 6-Rick Eckert, Brad Looney, Larry Clawson, Paul Guglielmoni, Bud Longpine. 1st B Main-O'Neal, VanDenBerg, Purkey, Mayea, Lonnie Parker Jr, Larkins, Terry Belcher Sr, Duty, David Turner, Greg Walters, Jerry Fincher, Dan Sturgeon, Mike Buckner, Adam Crippen, Ed Kirchoff. 2nd B Main-Billy Moyer Jr, Jeffery, McCormick, Findling, Mike Collins, Dave Tyrchniewicz, Tanner, Jamie Throckmorton, Dan Miller, Darren Coffell, Mark Carroll, Moore, Mike Stadel, Roger Lorenzini Jr, Clawson. A Main-Phillips, Eckert, Francis, Taylor, Looney, Moyer, Glaser, Berck, Jacobsen, VanDenBerg, Teske, Purkey, Drake, Parker, Schrader, Mayea, Collins, Jeffery, McCormick, O'Neal, Belcher Sr, Findling, Larkins, Tyrchniewicz.

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