AKWESASNE, N.Y. — Almost two years to the day since his last Super DIRTcar Series win, Jimmy Phelps delivered another memorable performance.
The Baldwinsville, N.Y., driver led all 60 laps of Wednesday’s Summer Shootout at Mohawk International Raceway, holding off Stewart Friesen to earn his first Super DIRTcar Series win since 2024.
“It feels great,” Phelps said. “You never know when the next one’s coming, or if it’s coming. To do it here, where we’ve had some success, these fans are the greatest, and I can’t thank everyone enough.”
Phelps was eager at the drop of the green flag, diving into Turn 1 on the opening lap and sliding in front of polesitter Michael Parent to take the lead. He quickly pulled away from Parent’s No. 25p for the first three laps before the race’s first caution flew on Lap 3 for Tyler Dippel.
When the race resumed, Phelps dove to the inside again and slid up in front of Parent in Turns 1 and 2 to maintain the lead. However, that opened the inside lane for Stewart Friesen, whose momentum carried him past Parent on the inside lane for second.
Friesen tried to stay with Phelps, but the No. 98h pulled away in clean air, opening almost a two-second lead. Just as Phelps caught the tail of the field, though, the race’s second caution flew for David Hebert, who spun in Turn 2.
That put Friesen outside of Phelps on the restart. But like with Parent on the last two green flags, Phelps was better through the corner and drove away from the No. 44 on the backstretch. Friesen had another chance on a lap-41 restart, but again Phelps pulled away to a two-second advantage.
However, as the laps wound down, the “Baldwinsville Bandit” had another obstacle to overcome — traffic. Phelps caught the back of the field with eight laps to go, putting him right behind a battle between Hebert, Paul Mancini, and Ryan Krachun, who were racing for position and trying to stay on the lead lap.
Knowing Friesen was behind him, Phelps had to make a move. As he drove through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 53, Phelps powered his Bicknell Chassis through the middle of the track, sandwiching himself between Hebert and Mancini. And by the time he reached Turn 3 on Lap 54, he had all three drivers cleared, gaining separation from Friesen.
From there, Phelps drove away from Friesen in the final few laps to win his 23rd Super DIRTcar Series feature, tying Steve Paine and Tim McCreadie for 13th on the series all-time wins list.
Phelps said he took a lesson from the Heat Race to help him earn the $6,000 prize.
“We learned that we didn’t quite have what we needed,” Phelps said. “(Tim) Fuller definitely put it to us there a little bit. So, we went back to work.
“On the original green I thought we were in trouble with how much they worked on the top. But the bottom of (Turn) 4 was still really good to fire off of. We were able to roll in underneath and clear (Parent). At that point, we were committed to at least firing off the bottom of (Turn) 4. We were just fortunate that lap traffic went our way there. And let me tell you, this car was really, really good.”
Friesen settled for second
“Congrats to Jimmy,” Friesen said. “He was on point. We got close to him in traffic and was working the track a little bit. We tried a little something on the top of (Turns) 1 and 2, and it wasn’t quite there. But he had a great race car tonight and drove a hell of a race.”
Williamson closed out Wednesday’s podium after starting eighth.
“Alex has been really good, so for us to talk about a championship right now is probably a little premature,” Williamson said. “I’d rather be the chaser than the one getting chased.
“We kind of gambled on a tire tonight, and obviously the redraw put us in the back. But my guys made great decisions all night.”
Alex Payne crossed the line fourth and Jackson Gill was fifth.
DIRTcar Pro Stock Series drivers Zack Daniels and Dakota Sharp battled side-by-side before Daniels made the final move to collect his first career Series win.
The finish:
Feature (60 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[4]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[8]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[5]; 5. 60-Jackson Gill[12]; 6. 19-Tim Fuller[3]; 7. 91-Felix Roy[16]; 8. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[15]; 9. 2-Jack Lehner[10]; 10. 3RS-Matt Sheppard[11]; 11. 15X-Justin Stone[18]; 12. 11-Matt Caprara[19]; 13. 25P-Michael Parent[1]; 14. 25-Erick Rudolph[13]; 15. 28-Michael Trautschold[21]; 16. 6-Matt Stangle[17]; 17. 04-Dale Gonyo Jr[24]; 18. 14B-Brendan Darrah[20]; 19. 66X-Carey Terrance[9]; 20. 17-Marcus Dinkins[26]; 21. 35-Mike Mahaney[6]; 22. 1-Tyler Dippel[14]; 23. 3P-Martin Pelletier[23]; 24. 29-Ryan Krachun[25]; 25. 4H-David Hebert[7]; 26. 7M-Paul Mancini[27]; 27. (DNF) 01-Chris Raabe[22]
