MASON CITY, Iowa — The best of the best battled for a second night on Friday as the Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway hosted round two of the 10th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals.
Terry Phillips set a torrid pace early on as North Iowa’s Action Track provided a completely different race track than 24 hours earlier.
Four cautions slowed the action throughout the 40-lap main event, and several attackers took a shot at the 57-year-old superstar from Springfield, Mo., but Phillips never faltered and led the whole way for his second win of 2023 and 40th of his USMTS career.
“We got lucky in that heat race there on the front, and I knew the car has been good, but I’ve been getting a lot of calls asking what’s wrong and it’s just kind of circumstances I guess,” Philips said. “It felt good though. Tommy Boy (Tony Rogers) got us dialed in tonight.
“I’m already worried about tomorrow, but it feels good. We have fought and worked our butts off.”
The last and only win in Mason City happened on Aug. 12, 2018, for the son of NASCAR hall-of-famer Larry Phillips when the track was a classic fairgrounds-style big, fast half-mile oval.
Friday’s triumph was worth $5,000 while Sanders rebounded from a rough night Thursday to grab the runner-up spot and extend his points lead after 26 events.
Jake O’Neil bested Jeremy Nelson for third after those two battled hard can clean most of the race, and last night’s winner, Jim Chisholm, roared from 18th to fifth at the checkered flag to earn the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.
The finish:
Terry Phillips, Rodney Sanders, Jake O’Neil, Jeremy Nelson, Jim Chisholm, Tyler Wolff, Cayden Carter, Tanner Mullens, Jason Hughes, Dereck Ramirez, Zack VanderBeek, Will Krup, Dan Ebert, Kelly Shryock, Kyle Brown, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Aaron Benson, Steve Lavasseur, Al Hejna, Darwin Karau, Dylan Thornton, Taton Hansen, Alex Williamson, Gary Christian, Tom Berry Jr., Jake Timm.