Terry Phillips picks up Lucas Oil Speedway Win

WHEATLAND, MO (Aug 11) - Springfield, MO's Terry Phillips rolled into Lucas Oil Speedway with a new car on Saturday night and left with a new trophy as he picked up the 40 lap O'Reilly MLRA win at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO.

The field rolled off for the feature event with Scott Drake on the pole and quickly grabbing the stop spot as the field went green while Phillips settled into the runner up position. Looking to improve Phillips went to the high side of the track on lap 2 and took the top spot from Drake through turns 1 & 2 and set to distance himself from the field. Pressure would come from local driver Eric Turner as he moved into second and worked the high side to close the gap on Phillips who had moved to the bottom of the track. Behind those two Jack Sullivan began to move towards the front as he worked to third and then passed the Turner machine for second on lap nine. While Sullivan closed on Phillips the man on the move was Bill Frye who had worked his way into the top 10 during the first dozen laps after gridding in the 17th position.

Phillips continued to set a blistering pace and opened his lead to twelve carlengths as he worked through lapped traffic as the halfway point neared. The field would slow as JD Hubert spun to a stop coming off turn four which would allow the field a shot a Phillips' top spot. On the restart Phillips held off the charges as a battled between Sullivan, Turner, and Jeremy Payne raged on behind him for the second position.

With ten laps to go Phillips found his lead opened back up again while the trio behind him became a quartet as Alan Vaughn began to make some noise. The yellow would fly once again on lap 35 as Brandon McCormick would loop his machine in turn four setting up a five lap shootout to the end. On the restart Phillips would once again take off, but behind him the battle was heating up as Vaughn, Payne, Sullivan, Vaught, and Frye all ran side by side looking to improve their position. As the field came to the checkered flag Phillips raced across the line holding off Payne to take his second O'Reilly MLRA win of the season and his 85th career victory with the series. Vaughn came across third with 15th starting Will Vaught in fourth and Frye taking the fifth spot with a last corner pass of Sullivan.

Chris Smyser, Brandon McCormick, Scott Drake, and Eric Turner took home the four heat race victories while Billy Frye grabbed the B Feature win. The Midwest Walnut Lucky Stars Award went to Gary Stolba after his 16th place run in the feature event.

Up next for the O'Reilly MLRA is a trip to Sedalia, MO on Sunday, August 19, for the Missouri State Fair Championships. For more information visit www.fair.826race.com.

For all the latest news and information on the O'Reilly MLRA visit us on the web at www.mlraracing.com or by calling (816) 650-5063 or (816) 305-6572.

The O'Reilly MLRA would like to thank the sponsors of the 2007 Thunder Tour including O'Reilly Auto Parts, Hoosier Race Tire, Midwest Walnut, Hatfield Racing Engines, Larry Shaw Race Cars, Taylor Cable Products, Afco, GRT Race Cars, The Driveline Shop, Sunoco Race Fuels, Weld Wheels, Chase Race Decals, Gameday Trophy, Bodee's Race Bodies, Duralite, Holley Race Products, Rod End Supply, Schoenfeld Headers, Kluhsman Racing Components, Performance Race Bodies, ATL Fuel Cells, Shepherd of the Hills Entertainment, Racing Optics, Impact Sign & Lighting



Full Results
Lucas Oil Speedway
August 11, 2007

Heat 1
1. Chris Smyser (Lancaster, MO), 2. Terry Phillips (Springfield, MO), 3. Payton Taylor, 4. Sonny Findling (Kirksville, MO), 5. David Turner (Adrian, MO), 6. Johnny Fennewald (Appleton City, MO), 7. Corey Zeitner (Bellevue,
NE)

Heat 2
1. Brandon McCormick (Lebanon, MO), 2. Jeremy Payne (Springfield, MO), 3. Justin Wells (Aurora, MO), 4. Gary Stolba (Willow Springs, MO), 5. Ron Bolin (Fort Scott, KS), 6. Reid Millard (Jefferson City, MO), 7. David Barker (Kingsville, MO)

Heat 3
1. Scott Drake (Webb City, MO), 2. Jack Sullivan (Greenbriar, AR), 3. Larry Jones (Eldrado Springs, MO), 4. Will Vaught (Seneca, MO), 5. JD Hubert (Cross Timbers, MO), 6. Aaron Seabaugh (Freeman, MO), 7. Burl Woods (Republic, MO)

Heat 4
1. Eric Turner (Hermitage, MO), 2. Alan Vaughn (Belton, MO), 3. Al Purkey (Coffeyville, KS), 4. Brantlee Gotschall (Nevada, MO), 5. Bill Frye (Greenbriar, AR), 6. Ricky Frankel (Quincy, IL), 7. PJ Haskins (Adrian, MO)

B Feature
1. Bill Frye 2. David Turner 3. JD Hubert 4. Aaron Seabaugh 5. Burl Woods 6. PJ Haskins 7. Ricky Frankel 8. Reid Millard 9. Ron Bolin 10. Corey Zeitner 11. David Barker 12. Johnny Fennewald

A Feature
1. Terry Phillips 2. Jeremy Payne 3. Alan Vaughn 4. Will Vaught 5. Bill Frye 6. Jack Sullivan 7. Payton Taylor, 8. Eric Turner 9. Chris Smyser 10. Sonny Findling 11. Scott Drake 12. Justin Wells 13. Al Purkey 14. Brandon McCormick 15. JD Hubert 16. Gary Stolba 17. David Turner 18. Aaron Seabaugh 19. Ricky Frankel 20. PJ Haskins 21. Reid Millard 22. Brantlee Gotschall 23. Larry Jones 24. Burl Woods