Rod Phipps Wins ThunderCar Enduro and Street Stock Feature; Josh Poore Scores First SuperTruck Victory

Story By Kyle Larson

Click to View:  Results

Anderson’s Rod Phipps has enjoyed a great season at Anderson Speedway and his year got even better on Saturday, July 29 during the Insight Double Thunder Power Weekend. Phipps superb night started off with taking the victory in the Lampco Federal Credit Union Street Stocks and it was capped off by winning the ThunderCar Enduro 200. In other action, Josh Poore scored his first career Ed Martin Auto Group SuperTruck win.

In the ThunderCar Enduro, Brandon Leisure earned the pole position with a lap of 15.328 seconds. Leisure and outside front row starter Carl Muffley led the 41 car starting field to the green flag. The first half of the event featured tremendous action up front. Muffley grabbed the top spot at the drop of the green flag. He paced the opening 24 circuits.

On lap 25, defending race winner Eric Evans grabbed the point, showing the way until the 53rd circuit when Muffley returned to the top spot. On lap 55, Evans was forced to the infield pit area to remove a loose rear bumper.

Rod Phipps grabbed first position on the 64th circuit, getting around Muffley. Then, the two leaders traded the lead a couple more times with Phipps holding the first position at the 10-miute break at halfway.

At the end of 100 laps, Phipps and Muffley were followed by Jason Thompson, Joe Beaver, and Rob Allman.

Phipps dominated the next portion of the event as Beaver was charging to the top of the leader board. On lap 152, with a strong move to the outside, Beaver passed Phipps to grab leadership honors.

Then while Beaver was trying to put another lap on William Coffman, the two made contact with Beaver bouncing off the first turn wall and Coffman making heavy contact on the 157th circuit.

That placed Phipps back into first position and he wouldn’t relinquish the lead the remainder of the event. Beaver made a late-race charge to finish in second position with Thompson, Evans and Chuck Cook completing the top-five finishers.

In the Ed Martin Auto Group SuperTrucks feature, Ric Pfeifer led the first circuit with Scott Brooks then taking command of the race on the second lap. With an impressive outside move, Joe Beaver took the first position on the ninth go-around.

Beaver appeared to be heading to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Winner’s Circle when he dropped off the pace with mechanical problems just four laps from the checkered flag. That handed first position back to Brooks. One lap later, Poore made an inside pass on Brooks to take the lead.

At the finish, Poore grabbed his first career victory. Ronnie Rose made a late-race pass on Brooks for second place. Pfeifer and Mark Jones rounded out the top-five finishers. In preliminary action, Brooks and Rose took heat race wins with Bob Lemen the top qualifier at 13.755 seconds.

In another great Lampco Federal Credit Union Street Stocks feature, Rod Phipps recorded his second season victory. Ryan Buckner darted into first position at the beginning of the 30-lap feature. While he constructed a sizeable lead, Rod Phipps and Bret Miles Jr. began charging from their middle of the field starting positions.

On lap 14, Phipps bypassed Doug Riddle for second place with Miles getting around Riddle on the 17th circuit. Once Phipps took second place, he then closed the gap on Buckner. With just five laps remaining, Phipps used the inside groove to slide underneath Buckner to grab the lead.

At the finish, Phipps scored the victory with Miles making a last-lap pass on Buckner for second-place honors. Doug Riddle was fourth with Mike Riddle Jr. rounding out the top five.

In heat race action, Willy DeHart won the first heat with John Lundy taking the winning hardware in the second heat. Miles recorded the fastest qualifying lap with a time of 14.408 seconds.

Anderson Speedway returns to racing action on Friday, August 4 with the MAX/WLBC Friday Night Summer Series featuring American Awards Legends, Insight ThunderCars & Pro ThunderCars along with Chappy’s Rent to Own Front Wheel Drives in Oval and Figure 8 racing.

On Saturday, August 5, the Lampco Federal Credit Union Night at the Races will showcase Lampco Federal Credit Union Street Stocks, Ed Martin Auto Group SuperTrucks and Boss Hogg Catering & Jerky Figure 8’s. The Star Press Saturday Night Series will also include Indy URL Stock Car and Trucks.

For additional information contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.