PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — After breaking a two-year Super DIRTcar Series winless drought earlier this year, Jimmy Phelps only needed to wait two weeks for another.
The Baldwinsville, N.Y., driver stormed past Peter Britten on the race’s opening lap and never looked back to win Wednesday’s Thunder in the Adirondacks at Airborne Park Speedway.
“It feels really good,” Phelps said. “Hats off to [my crew]; they just work really hard and gave me a really good car.”
Britten gained the advantage over Phelps as the 60-lap feature began, immediately moving to the top of the racetrack.
That lead was short-lived, though, as Phelps got a monstrous run down the backstretch and dove underneath the No. 21a in Turn 3. Phelps’ momentum carried him past Britten as they exited Turn 4, giving the “Baldwinsville Bandit” the lead as they reached the start/finish line.
However, Phelps didn’t drive away from the field immediately. Jack Lehner followed Phelps on the bottom lane, passing Britten one lap later, setting his sights on the No. 98h.
Lehner, from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., chased the 98h for the next 37 laps, trying to find a way by him in lap traffic.
On multiple occasions, Phelps was forced to step out of his comfort zone by running the outside lane, which allowed Lehner to close in. Lehner had his best chance to pass Phelps on Lap 26, when he got his nose to Phelps’ quarter-panel entering Turn 1.
That’s as close as Lehner would get, though, as he shut the door on Lehner entering Turn 2 and gained almost a two-second advantage shortly after.
But as Phelps clicked off Lap 43, Matt Caprara slowed with a puff of smoke on the frontstretch, giving Lehner another shot on a double-file restart.
When the race resumed, Phelps set his familiar pace with Lehner in tow. But unfortunately for Lehner, his strong run came to an end on Lap 45. As the “Ginga Ninja” held off a challenge from Mat Williamson for second, he lost oil pressure, forcing him to retire from the event with 15 laps to go.
Despite getting to second, that’s as close as Williamson would get as Phelps went untouched in the final 15 laps to win the $7,200 prize and his 24th Super DIRTcar Series triumph.
“The big key was that we had a car that could turn and a great redraw,” Phelps said. “I thought our car was really good. I thought we just needed to navigate through the small holes and not get the car upset and be able to keep it in the grip. And fortunately, in those last five laps we were able to do that.”
Williamson finished second, bouncing back after he finished last due to a mechanical failure on Monday at Autodrome Drummond. Williamson moved within 37 points of Series points leader Alex Yankowski, who finished ninth.
Matt Sheppard rounded out the podium with his second consecutive top-five finish. “
The finish:
- 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson[5]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[8]; 4. 25-Erick Rudolph[7]; 5. 70A-Alex Payne[12]; 6. 21A-Peter Britten[1]; 7. 91-Felix Roy[14]; 8. 60-Jackson Gill[16]; 9. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 10. 35-Mike Mahaney[13]; 11. 6-Matt Stangle[22]; 12. 4H-David Hebert[15]; 13. 1-Tyler Dippel[11]; 14. 215-Adam Pierson[26]; 15. 08-Jack Speshock[23]; 16. 17-Marcus Dinkins[19]; 17. 35B-Francois Bellemare[18]; 18. (DNF) 28-Michael Trautschold[21]; 19. (DNF) 2-Jack Lehner[3]; 20. (DNF) 11-Matt Caprara[4]; 21. (DNF) 15X-Justin Stone[9]; 22. (DNF) 22M-Alex Bell[17]; 23. (DNF) 99-Mikael Labreche[25]; 24. (DNF) 19-Tim Fuller[10]; 25. (DNF) 444-Russell Morseman IV[20]; 26. (DNF) 29-Ryan Krachun[24]; 27. (DNS) 7M-Paul Mancini
