Late Model Series

Phillips Wires NCRA/MARS Field in Showdown Opener

 
By David, Smith, Jr.

   

Park City, Kansas (May 6, 2010) - Terry Phillips of Springfield, Missouri kicked off “Showdown in the Heartland II” in grand style as he wired the field as the O’Reilly/National Championship Racing Association and MARS DIRTCar Series late model divisions opened their four race weekend Thursday night at 81 Speedway in Park City, Kansas.

By virtue of picking up the most passing points in his second heat race, which had the second generation driver starting ninth and finish second, Phillips started on the poll for the thirty lap feature with Omaha, Nebraska’s Bill Koons along side. Phillips quickly jumped to the point but the start was waved off as five time NCRA late model champion Kelly Boen of Henderson, Colorado spun the Terry Pannell owned #33x late model stock car in turns one and two, also collecting several other drivers.

On the complete restart Phillips darted out front and quickly opened a ten car length advantage over Eric Turner of Hermitage, Missouri, who moved into the runner up position from his third starting position.

By lap five it was Phillips, followed by Turner, Wendall Wallace and Jack Sullivan as the top five began distancing themselves from the rest of the field.

The leaders were approaching heavy lapped traffic by lap eleven with Turner now within three car lengths of the leader. Turner, who won the inaugural race at the track just one year ago, was right on Phillips’ bumper when the caution would wave on lap thirteen for a Zac Simmons spin in turns one and two.

Phillips, a five-time series champion with the MARS DIRTCar Series, would pick up where he left off on the restart and quickly opened a ten car length lead. That would come to an end just three laps later as a flurry of activity with the caution coming out for a Darrell Mooneyham spin. The restart wasn’t any better as Leroy Johnson and Brian Bolster made contact with the infield tractor tire in turn three to bring out the red flag because of the blocked track.

The caution would wave one final time on lap 22 when Shawn Harker spun in turns one and two.

The final restart saw Phillips and Turner pull away from the rest of the field and with three laps to go Turner made one final push to the front. He was unable to get close enough for a serious challenge and in the end fell just two car lengths short at the checkered flag.

For Phillips, aboard the Andy’s Frozen Custard/Don Baab Motorsports #75 GRT late model stock car, it was career win number 68 on the MARS DIRTCar series trail and 14^th with NCRA.

Turner would finish a strong second followed by Wallace, Sullivan and Jeremy Payne, who started tenth.

Boen would pick up The Brake Man tough break award for his spin to start the feature.

The eight lap heat races for the thirty-five car field were won by Al Purkey, Turner, Koons and Eddie Kirchoff while Will Vaught and Harker picked up the two, ten lap “B” features.

The next event for both series will be night number two of “Showdown in the Heartland II” on Friday night at Creek County Speedway in Kellyville, Oklahoma for the tracks first ever hosting of a late model event.

The National Championship Racing Association would like to thank the following contributors for their involvement with the late model division for the 2010 race season:

Official Sponsors: O’Reilly Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels

 

      

81 Speedway - Park City, Kansas - May 6, 2010

   

HEAT 1: 1, Al Purkey. 2, Jack Sullivan. 3, Wendell Wallace. 4, Will Vaught. 5, Brad Looney. 6, Corey Zeitner. 7, Delbert Smith. 8, Jerry Warner. 9, Brad Fortney.

   

HEAT 2: 1, Eric Turner. 2, Kelly Boen. 3, Dean Moore. 4, Shawn Harker. 5, Brian Bolster. 6, Leroy Johnson. 7, Rylan Long. 8, Scott Koskovich. 9, Ronnie Warman.

   

HEAT 3: 1, Bill Koons. 2, Terry Phillips. 3, Darrell Mooneyham. 4, Justin Asplin. 5, Dustin Mooneyham. 6, Zac Simmons. 7, Don Clayd. 8, Mike Furthmyer. 9, Raymond Merrill.

   

HEAT 4: 1, Eddie Kirchoff. 2, Jeremy Payne. 3, Justin Wells. 4, Jason Obrien. 5, Jase Kaser. 6, Gary Christian. 7, Rick Leatherman. 8, Waylan Petrie.

   

B FEATURE: 1, Will Vaught. 2, Gary Christian. 3, Raymond Merrill. 4, Dustin Mooneyham. 5, Delbert Smith. 6, Jerry Warner. 7, Justin Asplin. 8, Corey Zeitner. 9, Brad Fortney. 10, Waylan Petrie. 11, Don Clayd.

   

B FEATURE: 1, Shawn Harker. 2, Brad Looney. 3, Zac Simmons. 4, Ronnie Warman. 5, Rylan Long. 6, Leroy Johnson. 7, Rick Leatherman. 8, Scott Koskovich. 9, Mike Furthmyer. 10, Jase Kaser.

   

A FEATURE: 1, Terry Phillips. 2, Eric Turner. 3, Wendell Wallace. 4, Jack Sullivan. 5, Jeremy Payne. 6, Al Purkey. 7, Brad Looney. 8, Will Vaught. 9, Dean Moore. 10, Kelly Boen. 11, Raymond Merrill. 12, Scott Koskovich. 13, Corey Zeitner. 14, Gary Christian. 15, Jason Obrien. 16, Dustin Mooneyham. 17, Bill Koons. 18, Brian Bolster. 19, Shawn Harker. 20, Darrell Mooneyham. 21, Leroy Johnson. 22, Justin Wells. 23, Zac Simmons. 24, Eddie Kirchoff. 25, Rylan Long.