Max McLaughlin, Jimmy Phelps & HBR Finish Strong Tuesday Night At Albany-Saratoga

Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / HBR – WEEDSPORT, NY – The Heinke Baldwin race team had another strong showing with the Super DIRTcar Series by posting two podium finishes at Tuesday night’s Big Show X at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The weekend for the HBR team kicked off Friday evening at their weekly home track, Brewerton Speedway.

Jimmy Phelps started sixth in his heat race and clawed his way through to win it. Phelps’ heat race win lined him up on the outside of the sixth row for the main event.

“Friday was one of those nights where it was really hard to pass,” he said. “It took a while for things to break loose. We got up to third and just ran out of time.”

Max McLaughlin finished second from his fourth-place starting spot in the heat race, lining him up fifth for the main event.

“We got to the front on the top but faded,” McLaughlin added. “I wasn’t good at the end and ended up sixth. We went back to the shop and put our heads together. We tried something out of the box, went to Land of Legends Raceway and dominated in it before it rained so we brought it to Malta with us.”

McLaughlin posted a sixth-place finish Friday at Brewerton Speedway.

Saturday night saw the team back at Land of Legends Raceway. After getting the heat races in, the evening was cut short after heavy rain fall hitting the grounds. The feature event will be added to this Saturday’s card.

The dynamic duo made their trip to Albany-Saratoga Speedway Tuesday night for the Big Show X with the Super DIRTcar Series.

“We had a really tough group, but we were happy with our qualifying effort,” said Phelps. “The car was fast right out of the box. We didn’t have to make a lot of changes.”

Phelps started third in the heat and finished third, placing the no.98h on the inside of the sixth row for the 100-lap main event.

“It took a few laps to get moving,” Phelps said. “My car got really good about halfway and were able to dig around the bottom. We got up to third. We had a really good car on the long runs but didn’t restart well. We had a couple restarts late. Max seemed to fire a little better than me and was able to roll around me for second. All in all, we’re pretty happy. It was a good night for HBR. I think consistency is there, we just need to keep digging. We’re going to have our rough nights but anytime we can run in the top three, we’re happy.”

McLaughlin started second and finished second in the heat race, placing him into the top-ten redraw.

By luck of the draw, McLaughlin rolled off eighth for the 100-lap main event.

“We fell back to eleventh,” McLaughlin said. “The car came to us and got better and better as the race went on. Jimmy and I battled pretty hard until I got him for second with about five laps to go. I needed a little more at the end of the race to get Friesen, but I know we’re right there.”

McLaughlin’s second-place finish locked him in as a guaranteed starter for the 47th annual NAPA Super DIRT Week.

The HBR team have proven that patience and consistency are whats needed to make

The HBR team have proven they’re going to be a tough force on the Super DIRTcar Series this season by posting six impressive top ten finishes so far this season on the Series.

The Heinke-Baldwin race team have a busy weekend on slate for them. Friday evening, they will be at Brewerton Speedway, Saturday they have double features at Land of Legends Raceway and Sunday they will be at Cornwall Motor Speedway with the Super DIRTcar Series.