Phipps Moves Step Closer to Points Title

The great race became the great chase.

The Winston 100, run before 5,110 spectators at Saugus Speedway on Saturday night, offered Sportsman division drivers their biggest incentive of the season--$1,200 and 52 points for the winner of the 33-mile race.

And both were pocketed by points leader and soon-to-be three-time division champion Dave Phipps of Simi Valley.

Outdistancing the competition for 61 laps, Phipps sped away with his third consecutive main event win and his fifth main event triumph of the season.

“I’m pretty sure there’s no one going to catch me now,” Phipps said of his points lead, which stood at 117 points at the start of the night.

Phipps, who started in fourth position, shot past “Smilin’ ” Ed Hale of Lakeside and into second place in Turn 3 of Lap 37. Two laps later, Phipps passed leader Tom Colgan of Studio City in exactly the same spot.

Phipps extended his lead over Colgan to as much as six seconds, despite having it trimmed repeatedly by four of the seven yellow flags. Phipps crossed the finish line three seconds ahead of Colgan.

“I had to be patient not to overheat the car or cause an accident,” Phipps said. “I was able to do it little by little.”

In the 20-lap Mini-Stock main event, Gary Ebeling of Monrovia won by the mini-margin of a car length. In the 25-lap Sportsman semi-main event, Will Harper of Tarzana led from start to finish.

A season-high four 10-lap heat races, which each included 10 cars, were run before the main events. Dennis Woolridge of Riverside won Heat 1 ahead of Bob Lyon of Newhall. Dick Altman of Fontana won Heat 2.

In Heat 3, crowd favorite John Cran of Reseda finished first ahead of Colgan. Craig Rayburn of Simi Valley won Heat 4 after holding off a late charge from Phipps.