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
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by Joe S on October 20, 2013, 11:47 am, in reply to "Las Cruces "
Im curious how many cars Terry had to pass all weekend? One year when I saw him win, he started from the pole for the feature, and 2nd row in his heat race!
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by butch r on October 20, 2013, 1:15 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
not sure it would've made any difference, when he get's ready to go ,he goes! THE MAN IS ONE OF THE BEST EVER ,ON HARD TIRES!Where the Late Models have an open tire rule he struggles, but on a hard spec tire he's one of the best.
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by Joe S on October 20, 2013, 4:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Maybe, but the days of seeing a car start from the 4-5th row to win one of these big money shows is over?
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by jamesl on October 20, 2013, 5:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Joe, Fito and Stormy both started 4th row or further back and they both had a good shot at winning it the night show is far better racing multiple lines for racing
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by NapaDude on October 20, 2013, 5:59 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Agreed, this was no ordinary Phillips stink show. He forced the top to work better than anyone else had all night and made it count the last ten laps to get by Fito and Stormy.
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by aj foyt on October 23, 2013, 2:59 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
i think we found the next promoter for the new valencia county speedway.... Joe S!
after watching races all over the region from the grandstands who else would be better to tell everyone how to prep the track and run shows.
seriously, how else would you run a 1-off show that pays that much money. invert the field? then it will look like a talladega restrictor plate race for the 2 nights leading up to the big race with everyone sandbagging.
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by Joe S on October 24, 2013, 8:52 am, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Wow....another Troll hiding behind a fake name! You obviously didn't attend racing here in ABQ in the 70's, all the Champions of the day George Brazil, Gaylord Lippert, Orrin King, etc....had to start every week in the back, that was racing! maybe seeing High dollar racers win $10,000 to win shows in the first two rows is your version of entertainment, not sure!
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by aj foyt on October 24, 2013, 3:37 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
im sorry neither of you guys read my entire post. how can a guy have a point average if he is coming in from out of state to race at SNMS for $10,000?!? (for example: he has No point average!!) What are your suggestions besides just griping no matter the outcome? I will type that question again to make sure you understand my point.
how can a guy have a point average if he is coming in from out of state to race at SNMS for $10,000?!? (for example: he has No point average!!) What are your suggestions besides just griping no matter the outcome
You have a 3 day show and reward the best performers by having them start in the front. What kind of racing do you think you will get on thursday and friday if they are meaningless races??
no my name is not aj foyt, my name is mike and i go to the races all of the time in alb and surrounding areas. i have no hand in the running of any shows. i just saw your post as pointless and griping like usual.
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by Joe S on October 24, 2013, 4:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Ok Mr. Robinson, whatever you say!
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by ROYAL on October 26, 2013, 3:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
fyi... TERRY Phillips started in back of his heat on thursday and got 2nd or 1st, he make the redraw and drew 6. so from 6h to 1st on Thursday. Started on pole for Sat and was passed by 10th starting Fito and 9th starting Stormy during race. He worked the top at end of race and got back around them just in time to win. He also had his tow in knocked in about 2 or 3 inches. Like butch said he was on a mission. Track was very racy also..Maybe after you all run a few of these 10k to win deals you will be more qualified to critique them...lol.. We also don't like starting fastest cars up front for regular races but on these big races you can't really invert. We make the top cars from heats redraw for top 8 spots. it's hard to please everyone and even harder to fund these things. Typing is quite easy though...
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by Chris on October 31, 2013, 9:16 am, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Here here Royal, well said.
Re: Las Cruces
Posted by Curtis Berry on October 27, 2013, 7:05 am, in reply to "Re: Las Cruces "
Good point, Royal. The unfortunate truth is that anyone with internet access thinks they're qualified to critique anything.
on October 20, 2013, 8:46 am