8/16/2022
RacinBoys
Jimmy Phelps opens SummerFAST with Weedsport win
By Michelina Friss, Super DIRTcar Series PR (Weedsport, NY) -- Jimmy Phelps broke multiple winless streaks and locked himself into the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week at Weedsport Speedway Monday night.
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Bruce
The inaugural Super DIRTcar Series SummerFAST event – four straight days of racing – opened at Weedsport with the rescheduled Hall of Fame 100. Phelps, driving for Heinke-Baldwin Racing – co-owned by Al Heinke, who also owns Weedsport Speedway – conquered the 100-lap race, earning his first points-paying Series win in almost three years and his first Series win at Weedsport in 12 years.
“It’s good,” Phelps said. “It takes the edge off a little bit naturally, just getting back into Victory Lane in a big tour race. I think it may have been a year or so since our last Series points paying win. So, this is kind of nice so we can knock the monkey off our back…and start to rack them up a little bit. It’s a tough crowd. You know, obviously to do it at home and in front of all our sponsors, employees, and boss man Al Heinke, that makes you feel good all in all.”
He notched a Series victory at the DIRTcar Nationals in February; however, it wasn’t for points. Following that, during the championship season, his best results were four top-10 finishes in seven starts. Then, Monday night, the Baldwinsville, NY driver finally found his way to victory again.
After finishing third in his Heat Race, the veteran driver drew second to end up on the outside pole position for the night’s Feature. Phelps came out firing, taking the lead by Lap 8 and gapping the field.
He cruised along, looking in his element around the 3/8-mile track for almost the next 40 laps before the first caution of the race on Lap 46. On the restart, Phelps found himself side-by-side with eight-time and defending Series champion Matt Sheppard – who had already charged up nine spots.
Phelps didn’t waiver though, grabbing the lead after the restart, again proving he was the car to beat. He would continue his flawless execution, even after a second caution was thrown on Lap 70 after a minor collision between two cars in Turn 4.
Sheppard wisely navigated his way through lapped traffic but was still several car lengths behind Phelps after the first restart. He fended off challenges from Dave Marcuccilli to keep hold of second place, but another challenger was still to come.
Mike Mahaney of Kings Ferry, NY, started on a late race surge after the second restart. He lined back up in sixth place but wouldn’t be there for long. He moved up two positions within the next six laps, and then took only 10 more to move into fourth.
It wasn’t long before he set his sights on Sheppard. After several hard-fought battles around the 3/8-mile oval, Mahaney was able to edge by Sheppard for second, bringing a handful of people in the stands to their feet.
“That was pretty cool,” Mahaney said.
“It was good racing here at Weedsport. I kind of rolled up on him on the bottom but I saw we were coming up on that car on the bottom. So, I figured that was my time to go to the outside and make my move. I think I just did it, like, one corner earlier than he was going to and I got to get up next to him and pin him in there. It was super clean. It was great. Great racing and happy to be able to race with Matt.”
Phelps continued unchallenged for the final 30 laps, taking the checkers for the first time in a Series competition since winning at Fulton Speedway in 2020, while Mahaney was second and Sheppard third. Marcuccilli finished fourth and Chris Hile rounded out the top five.
After the celebrating subsides, Phelps will now have to consider how the guaranteed starting spot at the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week will influence the rest of his season.
“Confidence is half the game,” Phelps said.
“I think this will help that with everybody. It gets everybody all jacked up. We’re going into a couple of racetracks that we really like, Brewerton, which is our weekly track, and Fulton, which is probably my favorite track on Earth. So, we’re looking forward to the next couple of nights.”
He has also taken the early lead in the overall SummerFAST championship standings.
UP NEXT: The second round of SummerFAST will be at Brewerton Speedway, Tuesday, Aug. 18. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App
RESULTS:
Hall Of Fame 100 (100 Laps): 1. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[7]; 3. 9S-Matt Sheppard[11]; 4. M1-Dave Marcuccilli[3]; 5. 5H-Chris Hile[5]; 6. 99L-Larry Wight[12]; 7. 25R-Erick Rudolph[27]; 8. 4-Anthony Perrego[17]; 9. 88-Mat Williamson[6]; 10. 215P-Adam Pierson[4]; 11. 70A-Alex Payne[15]; 12. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[13]; 13. 21A-Peter Britten[9]; 14. X-Chad Phelps[19]; 15. 2L-Jack Lehner[25]; 16. 12S-Darren Smith[21]; 17. 7Z-Zachary Payne[10]; 18. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[1]; 19. 8H-Max McLaughlin[16]; 20. 37-Paul St Sauveur[23]; 21. (DNF) 49-Billy Dunn[8]; 22. (DNF) 91-Billy Decker[22]; 23. (DNF) 3J-Marc Johnson[20]; 24. (DNF) 42P-Pat Ward[24]; 25. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[26]; 26. (DNF) 84-Gary Tomkins[18]; 27. (DNF) 19-Tim Fuller[14]
Hytorc of New York Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 12S-Darren Smith[2]; 2. 37-Paul St Sauveur[1]; 3. 2L-Jack Lehner[3]; 4. 3-Justin Haers[5]; 5. 21C-Brian Calabrese[9]; 6. 96-JF Corriveau[4]; 7. 17-Marcus Dinkins[8]; 8. 27J-Daniel Johnson[6]; 9. 02-Roy Bresnahan[10]; 10. (DNS) 36-Ben Bushaw; 11. (DNS) 1L-Jeff Lawrence
Hytorc of New York Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 91-Billy Decker[2]; 2. 42P-Pat Ward[1]; 3. 25R-Erick Rudolph[4]; 4. 56-Garrison Krentz[6]; 5. 15-Todd Root[3]; 6. 2A-Mike Gular[7]; 7. 33J-Robbie Johnston[5]; 8. 34-Kevin Root[8]; 9. 60-Jackson Gill[11]; 10. 48T-Dave Rauscher[9]; 11. 14-CG Morey[10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5H-Chris Hile[1]; 2. 215P-Adam Pierson[3]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[4]; 5. 4-Anthony Perrego[5]; 6. 37-Paul St Sauveur[7]; 7. 2L-Jack Lehner[8]; 8. 3-Justin Haers[6]; 9. 36-Ben Bushaw[9]; 10. 21C-Brian Calabrese[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[1]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 3. 49-Billy Dunn[3]; 4. 19-Tim Fuller[4]; 5. 84-Gary Tomkins[6]; 6. 12S-Darren Smith[5]; 7. 96-JF Corriveau[7]; 8. 27J-Daniel Johnson[8]; 9. 17-Marcus Dinkins[10]; 10. 02-Roy Bresnahan[9]; 11. (DNS) 1L-Jeff Lawrence
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard[1]; 2. 7Z-Zachary Payne[3]; 3. M1-Dave Marcuccilli[2]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[6]; 5. X-Chad Phelps[9]; 6. 42P-Pat Ward[4]; 7. 15-Todd Root[5]; 8. 33J-Robbie Johnston[8]; 9. 2A-Mike Gular[7]; 10. 48T-Dave Rauscher[10]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight[1]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[2]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[4]; 4. 8H-Max McLaughlin[5]; 5. 3J-Marc Johnson[6]; 6. 91-Billy Decker[7]; 7. 25R-Erick Rudolph[8]; 8. 56-Garrison Krentz[3]; 9. 34-Kevin Root[9]; 10. 14-CG Morey[11]; 11. 60-Jackson Gill[10]
My Place Hotels TT Group 1 (2 Laps): 1. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:15.637[3]; 2. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:15.764[2]; 3. 215P-Adam Pierson, 00:15.774[9]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:15.778[8]; 5. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:15.978[7]; 6. 3-Justin Haers, 00:16.089[10]; 7. 37-Paul St Sauveur, 00:16.119[6]; 8. 2L-Jack Lehner, 00:16.213[1]; 9. 36-Ben Bushaw, 00:16.217[5]; 10. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:16.526[4]
My Place Hotels TT Group 2 (2 Laps): 1. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 00:15.898[2]; 2. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:15.973[8]; 3. 49-Billy Dunn, 00:16.069[6]; 4. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:16.091[4]; 5. 12S-Darren Smith, 00:16.186[11]; 6. 84-Gary Tomkins, 00:16.222[1]; 7. 96-JF Corriveau, 00:16.324[5]; 8. 27J-Daniel Johnson, 00:16.358[9]; 9. 02-Roy Bresnahan, 00:16.563[3]; 10. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:16.589[7]; 11. 1L-Jeff Lawrence, 00:17.372[10]
My Place Hotels TT Group 3 (2 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:15.695[10]; 2. M1-Dave Marcuccilli, 00:15.900[1]; 3. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:15.911[9]; 4. 42P-Pat Ward, 00:15.996[6]; 5. 15-Todd Root, 00:16.249[5]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:16.264[4]; 7. 2A-Mike Gular, 00:16.391[2]; 8. 33J-Robbie Johnston, 00:16.565[8]; 9. X-Chad Phelps, 00:16.714[3]; 10. 48T-Dave Rauscher, 00:16.877[7]
My Place Hotels TT Group 4 (2 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:15.779[4]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:15.874[2]; 3. 56-Garrison Krentz, 00:15.915[6]; 4. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:16.068[10]; 5. 8H-Max McLaughlin, 00:16.138[5]; 6. 3J-Marc Johnson, 00:16.174[3]; 7. 91-Billy Decker, 00:16.224[7]; 8. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 00:16.372[11]; 9. 34-Kevin Root, 00:16.406[9]; 10. 60-Jackson Gill, 00:16.531[8]; 11. 14-CG Morey, 00:16.545[1]
Hot Laps G1 (2 Laps): 1. 3-Justin Haers, 00:15.457[10]; 2. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 00:15.475[2]; 3. 83X-Tim Sears Jr, 00:15.673[8]; 4. 5H-Chris Hile, 00:15.680[3]; 5. 215P-Adam Pierson, 00:15.738[9]; 6. 37-Paul St Sauveur, 00:15.750[6]; 7. 4-Anthony Perrego, 00:15.847[7]; 8. 36-Ben Bushaw, 00:15.924[5]; 9. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:15.963[4]; 10. 2L-Jack Lehner, 00:16.156[1]
Hot Laps G2 (2 Laps): 1. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 00:15.708[2]; 2. 84-Gary Tomkins, 00:15.735[1]; 3. 49-Billy Dunn, 00:15.744[6]; 4. 96-JF Corriveau, 00:15.793[5]; 5. 19-Tim Fuller, 00:15.812[4]; 6. 21A-Peter Britten, 00:15.839[8]; 7. 27J-Daniel Johnson, 00:15.956[9]; 8. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 00:16.102[7]; 9. 12S-Darren Smith, 00:16.162[11]; 10. 02-Roy Bresnahan, 00:16.214[3]; 11. 1L-Jeff Lawrence, 00:17.763[10]
Hot Laps G3 (2 Laps): 1. 7Z-Zachary Payne, 00:15.486[9]; 2. M1-Dave Marcuccilli, 00:15.583[1]; 3. 70A-Alex Payne, 00:15.716[4]; 4. 2A-Mike Gular, 00:16.010[2]; 5. 42P-Pat Ward, 00:16.069[6]; 6. X-Chad Phelps, 00:16.084[3]; 7. 15-Todd Root, 00:16.092[5]; 8. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 00:16.108[10]; 9. 33J-Robbie Johnston, 00:16.214[8]; 10. 48T-Dave Rauscher, 00:16.382[7]
Hot Laps G4 (2 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight, 00:15.569[4]; 2. 34-Kevin Root, 00:15.579[9]; 3. 35-Mike Mahaney, 00:15.657[2]; 4. 8H-Max McLaughlin, 00:15.666[5]; 5. 88-Mat Williamson, 00:15.682[10]; 6. 56-Garrison Krentz, 00:15.697[6]; 7. 3J-Marc Johnson, 00:15.810[3]; 8. 91-Billy Decker, 00:15.823[7]; 9. 60-Jackson Gill, 00:15.833[8]; 10. 14-CG Morey, 00:15.833[1]; 11. 25R-Erick Rudolph, 00:15.833[11]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
