Phipps Pushes to a Saugus Victory

Dave Phipps of Simi Valley for once had something to worry about other than what was behind his car.

Phipps, the two-time defending Sportsman division champion, barely hung on to win the 40-lap Sportsman main event before a crowd of 3,376 Saturday night at Saugus Speedway.

After a yellow flag on Lap 24 allowed him to close the gap with leader Steve Burdett of Canyon Country, Phipps vaulted into the lead. Once the green flag was waved, Phipps slipped inside Burdett and opened a small lead en route to his third main-event win of the season.

Sometime within the next 10 laps, however, Phipps discovered that the front bumper cover of his 1989 Camaro was scraping the pavement--and creating more resistence with every lap as Will Harper of Tarzana closed the gap.

“Yeah, I was worried,” Phipps said. “I looked through the hood and I could see daylight. I knew something was coming off. It made it hard in the corners.”

Phipps, however, had no plans of stopping, executing a mad dash to the finish line to defeat Harper by half a car length.

Harper, who began the evening second in the points standings ahead of Phipps, who was fourth, charged from sixth to second in the final half of the race.

“I knew Will was coming up,” Phipps said. “I’m lucky. My car looks like a shambles.”

The evening proved to be a profitable one also for Shannon Flavin of West Hills, who won both the Hobby Stock oval and figure 8 main events.

In the crash-filled, 25-lap oval main, Flavin led from pole to checkered flag to claim his third main event win of the season.

The event featured rugged action with the culmination on Lap 19 when the car of Jeff Drummen of Northridge flipped and landed on its roof. Incredibly, after being towed to the pits, Drummen returned to the track in time to finish the final two laps of the race.

The race also featured a 180-degree crash and spin in the backstretch by points leader Brian Kelley of Arleta. During the next yellow flag, track crew members pried the loose front bumpers from Kelley’s red Camaro.

And finally, Jim Gunnarson and Thad Friday, both of Reseda, became entangled in Turn 3 of Lap 23 while both drivers were fighting for second place.

Gunnarson, who was in third place when the accident took place, was penalized for the incident and sent to the rear of the pack. Friday finished sixth.

“A lot more stuff happened tonight,” Flavin said. “We usually don’t have cars flipping over.”

Dennis Patrick of Bakersfield won the 30-lap Mini Stock main event. In other races, Jerry Bosson of Simi Valley won the 15-lap Sportsman semi-main event to lead four drivers who advanced to the main event. Joe Barreras Sr. of Canyon Country won the 15-lap Hobby Stock oval semi-main event. Sportsman heat race winners included Danny Hornaday of Moorpark, Michael Ayers of Camarillo and Herb Hill of Simi Valley.