Jimmy Phelps Grabs Another Win Saturday Night At Fulton; HBR Racing Recap

Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / HBR – WEEDSPORT, NY – The ‘Baldwinsville Bandit’ Jimmy Phelps returned to victory lane Saturday night after a hard fault battle at Fulton Speedway in the No.98h Big Block Modified.

The HBR team opened their three-day weekend Thursday evening at Ohsweken Speedway with the Super DIRTcar Series.

Phelps started fourth in his heat and drove up to third.

Phelps and the crew were satisfied with their car after the heat and decided to leave it alone for the 100-lap main event.

“We got quite a bit of rain and they worked it back in,” Phelps said. “We really didn’t expect the track to tighten up like it did.”

Phelps started the main event on the outside of the second row.

“I spent the first twenty laps trying to keep all four wheels on the ground,” he said. “We lost a bunch of ground early and backed up to twelfth. We were too tight to carry a lot of speed which killed me.”

Phelps closed the night with a 13th-place finish.

Max McLaughlin started sixth in his heat race and maneuvered his way through to fourth, placing him in the top-12 redraw.

McLaughlin started on the inside of the fourth row for the main event.

“We got to fourth early,” McLaughlin noted. “We got shuffled back on a restart and was able to hold sixth. We weren’t too bad but it was a heavy track which made it tough for us to pass.”

Friday evening saw the HBR team at Brewerton Speedway.

Phelps started seventh in his heat and drove up to finish fourth.

“I thought we were really good,” Phelps said. “The track had a bunch of grip, it was really fast. You make a decision what line to run and either it works or it doesn’t. It seemed like every time we took a step forward we went backwards. Nothing went our way.”

Phelps finished seventh from his 17th starting spot.

McLaughlin finished fourth in his heat from his seventh place starting spot.

McLaughlin rolled off on the outside of the eighth row for the main event.

“We had a really good car,” McLaughlin noted. “It was tough to get through because the track was really tight. It took us too long to get to the front.”

McLaughlin moved into fifth with two laps remaining but ran out of time and crossed the line in fifth.

The team returned to Fulton Speedway on Saturday.

Phelps qualified fourth from his seventh place starting spot.

“Everyone was quick,” added Phelps. “We were good so we didn’t make too many changes prior to the feature.”

Phelps started on the outside of the fifth row for the 35-lap main event.

“We got to second pretty quick,” Phelps said. “We had a really good race with Billy Whittaker and got the lead with about eight to go.”

Phelps’ victory helped close the point lead tremendously. Phelps currently sits one point out of the lead heading into the final points weekend at Brewerton Speedway.

“We have to have our stuff together next Saturday,” he said. “It’s tight. Tim Sears Jr. is leading by one point while Larry Wight is just nine points behind me.”

McLaughlin charged through his heat to finish second from seventh.

“We left the car how it was and made some minor adjustments for the feature,” added McLaughlin.

McLaughlin started on the inside of the eighth row for the feature.

“The track was a little faster than normal,” McLaughlin said. “It took us too long to get around some cars. The same thing happened as Friday; it took too long to get a clean racetrack. 35-laps is tough to get to the front if everything doesn’t go your way. We’ve had a really strong car lately and we’re looking forward to the Valley.”

McLaughlin closed the weekend with an eighth-place finish.

The HBR team has a busy week ahead. They will kick off the week Thursday evening at Lebanon Valley Speedway with the Super DIRTcar Series, Friday at Brewerton Speedway and Saturday at Fulton Speedway to close out the final point nights, and Monday at Weedsport Speedway with the Series.