Phillips Fends Off Gallardo For Second Straight Fall Nationals Title
Defending race winner Terry Phillips and hometown standout Johnny Scott paced the 24 car field to the green flag in the 50-lap, $10,000 to win USRA Modified feature, which was being held for the first time ever under the lights on a Saturday night after a format changed moved preliminary racing to Thursday and Friday nights instead of the traditional Friday and Saturday nights as in previous years, putting the finale on Saturday night instead of the normal Sunday evening.
Phillips took command at the drop of the green and lead the field over the first 19 laps until the first caution of the race flew for a Dana Fite spin in turn two, bringing Phillips back to the field for the restart. Johnny Scott and 9th starting Stormy Scott began to apply pressure to Phillips for the top spot until lap 21 when Johnny Scott’s #1st slid over the banking in turn one and suffered a mechanical failure, ending his night and bid for his second Fall Nationals title.
On the restart, Stormy and Rodney Sanders began to battle for second until two laps later when the third caution of the event flew for a grinding crash that ended Ricky Thornton Jr’s night and bunched up the field again. After another circuit, the caution flew again for debris on the front stretch, but once the field went green again Phillips lead Stormy Scott, Sanders, Fito Gallardo and Royal Jones at the half way point, only to see another caution fly on lap 26 for a Chris Dawson spin in turn two.
This time on the restart, Phillips took back off with Scott and Gallardo giving chase, but on the restart Royal Jones and Sanders made hard contact, sending Sanders over the cushion and dropping him outside of the top ten, while Scott and Gallardo began to turn up the wick and pressure Phillips out front as the laps clicked off .
Scott continued to get better and better on the bottom and finally was able to steal the top spot on lap 38 as the leaders worked through turns 1 and 2, bringing Gallardo along with him into second and dropping Phillips back to third. A lap after Scott took command, the caution flew for the 6th time for a Zane DeVilbiss spin in turn two, bunching up the field and putting Gallardo and Phillips on the back bumper of Scott for the restart. After a quick caution a lap later for debris and another caution for a Rick Beebe/Tom Georges crash on lap 40, the field was reset and the final ten laps were run caution free with Phillips blasting back to the cushion and challenging Scott for the lead, eventually stealing the lead back with just 7 laps remaining.
Once back out front, Phillips drove off to his second straight Fall Nationals championship, while Gallardo took second back from Scott, but was forced to settle for second as Phillips was too strong out front and held on for the win. Scott ran a solid third with 11th starting Jake O’Neil coming home in fourth and 8th starting Dereck Ramirez rounding out the top five finishers in the 14th annual event. Sanders rallied home to a sixth place finish with Jacob Gallardo seventh, Philip Houston eighth, DeVilbiss ninth and Terry Tipton coming home tenth.
DeVilbiss advanced 14 spots and earned the hard charger award. 48 drivers from 8 states participated in the Modified division over the course of the weekend.
Eric McNutt won the Legends of the Southwest feature event. Donovan Flores won the USRA Street Stock feature event. Rudy Tarin won the Hornet feature.
Feature: Terry Phillips, Fito Gallardo, Stormy Scott, Jake O’Neil, Dereck Ramirez, Rodney Sanders, Jacob Gallardo, Philip Houston, Zane DeVilbiss, Terry Tipton, Todd Harper, Wayne Brooks, Duane Murphy, Rick Beebe (-1), Tom Georges (-1), Royal Jones (NF), Dana Fite (-11), Dusty Riggs (NF), Chris Dawson (NF), Johnny Bone Jr. (NF), Ricky Thornton Jr. (NF), Jimmy Ray (NF), Johnny Scott (NF), Christy Georges (NF)
B-main: J. O’Neil, F. Gallardo, R. Jones, Ray, Tipton, Beebe, T. Georges, Brooks, C. Georges, Harper, Fite, Murphy, DeVilbiss, Riggs, Richie Davis, Josh Cain, Chris Sims, Luigi Truden, Alan Sharpensteen, Max Sadler, Mike Petersilie, Austin Adams, Bumper Jones, Scott Logston, Nick O’Neil
C-main: Beebe, Petersilie, T. Georges, Logston, Davis, Riggs, Harper, Adams, Sadler, Sims, C. Georges, Murphy, Luigi Truden, Rick Gallardo, Robbie Chiles, Roy Don Mason, Donovan Ooley, Lee Heiligenthal, Sherman Barnett, Butch Reid, John Calvert Jr., Austin Bonner, Nick Herrera, Chad Falco, Jared Perez, Jay Rosales