Terry Phillips collects Missouri State Championships win
by: Clint Brown

SEDALIA, MO. (Aug. 20, 2006) - Terry Phillips rolled into State Fair Speedway with one thing on his mind - collecting the $3,000 O'Reilly MLRA winner's check and the Missouri State Championships crown. When the dust had cleared Phillips had done just what he set out to do, but it wasn't easy as he racked up his 78th career O'Reilly MLRA victory.

When the green flag dropped pole sitter Al Purkey quickly jumped to the front of the pack with Phillips hot on his tail as the two quickly began to separate themselves from the rest of the field. Phillips tried several moves to get around Purkey, but each time he was unable to make the move stick and settled back into the second position. The laps began to count down with the front two continuing to set a torrid pace and then heartbreak set in for Purkey as his machine slowed down the backstretch on the eleventh circuit allowing Phillips to take over the top spot. Purkey coasted into the pits with a hurt motor and would be done for the night. Once out front Phillips continued to hold a dominating lead while behind him began a battle with Denny Eckrich moving through the field and picking up positions on a consistent basis. Eckrich moved past Chris Smyser and David Turner to step into the runner up position late in the race, but didn't have enough time to run down race leader Phillips and came across the line second. Following Phillips and Eckrich across the line were David Turner, Chris Smyser, and Chad Clark to complete the top five of the thirty lap feature event.

Three heat races were run with Purkey, Phillips and Smyser picking up those wins while Sonny Findling grabbed the B Feature honors to continue his evening.

Up next for the O'Reilly MLRA is a weekend off before heading to Salina Speedway in Salina, KS on September 2.

For O'Reilly MLRA information call 816-650-5063 or 816-305-6572 or visit them on the web at www.mlraracing.com.

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Full Results
State Fair Speedway
August 20, 2006

Heat 1
1) Al Purkey, 2) Alan Vaughn, 3) Chad Clark, 4) Shad Badder, 5) Brett LaFollette, 6) Sonny Findling, 7) Randy McGraw, 8) Larry Moon, 9) Bob Hiller

Heat 2
1) Chris Smyser, 2) Jason Bodenhamer, 3) Johnny Bone Jr., 4) Gary Billings, 5) Ken Essary, 6) Brett Rollert, 7) Shorty Acker, 8) Bob Fennewald, 9) Larry Clawson

Heat 3
1) Terry Phillips, 2) David Turner, 3) Scott Drake, 4) Denny Eckrich, 5) CJ Lyle, 6) Mark Voigt, 7) Reid Millard, 8) Johnny Fennewald, 9) Jeremy Watts

B Feature
1) Sonny Findling, 2) Mark Voigt, 3) Johnny Fennewald, 4) Randy McGraw, 5) Brett Rollert, 6) Bob Hiller, 7) Larry Moon, 8) Bob Fennewald

A Feature
1) Phillips, 2) Eckrich, 3) Turner, 4) Smyser, 5) Clark, 6) Drake, 7) Bodenhamer, 8) Voigt, 9) Lyle, 10) Barker, 11) Essary, 12) LaFollette, 13) Findling, 14) McGraw, 15) J. Fennewald, 16) Bone, 17) Billings, 18) Rollert, 19) Watts, 20) Hiller, 21) Purkey, 22) Badder, 23) Vaughn, 24) Acker