Really enjoyed Monett last night. Lots of cautions, but it was helping Terry and Bill head for the front. I'm just about sick of seeing Wendell being plagued with this bad luck stuff
; but Jane and I were jumping up and down when Terry pulled it off at the end
.
I'll give a quick summary of the action for those who didn't make it last night..........ya'll feel free to add anything I may have missed.
Wallace started on the pole and was pretty strong leading early with Floyd, Ken Essary, Jack Sullivan, Bill Frye racing in the top five area. Phillips had to race his way into the event via the B-main, and started towards the rear of the field.
Frye suffered a flat tire in the early going sending him to the rear. On a restart somewhere around lap 15-20 Sullivan was able to get on the outside of Wallace and make the pass for the lead. Wallace would then drop a few more places and eventually come to a stop in turn 4 with damage to the right rear of the car and a flat tire.............not really sure where the damage came from? but that was pretty much it for Wendell last night.
Sullivan lead through a multitude of cautions while Floyd and K. Essary raced hard for second on every restart. Phillips, Frye and Wells (started towards the rear also) were all making good progress through the field between caution flags. Phillips was very fast, but was continually saddled by being on the inside of EVERY restart..........the outside line seemed to be the preferred groove on restarts.
The field finally knocked off a few laps heading for lap 25 as Frye and Phillips moved into the top five ahead of strong running Mack and Rushin. The caution flew once again..... and after some confusion Frye and Phillips were once again lined up behind Mack and Rushin. Terry and Bill both had lengthy discussions with officials during the caution..........I would guess concerning the running order? Jane and I both believed a green flag lap had been completed after the 75 and 66 moved past the fellas currently lined up in front of them (Jane was not happy). And once again Phillips got the inside restart.
4 more laps of green flag racing saw Sullivan continuing to lead with Essary and Floyd making some contact racing for 2nd. Frye raced into 4th and Phillips 5th when the caution flew again for I believe Rushin stopped in turn 4. Essary and Floyd would both go pitside for tire changes and repairs.
On the restart it was Sullivan, Frye, Phillips, Mack......not sure who was 5-8 then but Wells was around there somewhere. Phillips finally got the preferred outside starting position and it couldn't have happened at a better time for him, as he was second row outside looking at the leader. I think just about everyone in the grandstand knew what was going to happen next.
The green flag flew and the 75 rocketed up alongside of Sullivan in turn 4 fighting for the lead, and eventually getting it after a good side-by-side battle with Jack. It was over after that. Frye tried to put some moves on for 2nd but couldn't get it, and Wells moved into the top 5 in the last 8 lap run. Very entertaining watching Bill and Terry work the traffic.
At one time early in the race Phillips was nearly taken out as Jordan Jones made a kamikaze dive-bomb move past several cars going into turn 3 and then spun in front of all of those cars (directly in front of the 75), but Phillips expertly dodged the spinner and proceeded to the front.
Great race by Terry. Congratulations once again!
hey these smilie things are fun!
Got to meet Rob, Frank, cbork, and sozojr. Cliff was with them and was glad to see him again. You all are a bunch of really nice fellas and it was great finally getting to meet you all together.
Wow what a score by Cross21 for the Little Rock Mars event! it looks like he's on quite a roll!
I see my chances at a Mars Cup slowly starting to fade as I scored a pitiful 115 at Monett last night..........just can't get a break on the Mars stuff at all
. But, VT aside, I just really love watching those guys mix it up on the track..............last night was why we pay the money to watch these guys race.
Way to go last night with your picks Cliff!
Was thinking of heading up to Lake Ozark next weekend but I may have to work. Jane and I WILL be at the topless race on the 20th.......maybe we'll see some of you there. I noticed that our room in Mt. View is at the same hotel where the folks on the bus are staying so maybe we'll get to meet some of those racefans.
see ya'll around
Dan
I forgot to mention McCormick and Vaught! they both ran well last night and were fighting around the top 5 all night with Mack and Rushin.