Phillips, Undisputed King of the Hill
By Anthony Ainslie
8/14/16
Springfield, Missouri’s Terry Phillips sweeps the King of the Hill Late Model Shootout at Junction Motor Speedway with another dominating performance on Saturday.
Saturday marked the second day of Junctions two-day show featuring the Lucas Oil MLRA and MARS late models in a co-sanctioned show to determine the King of the Hill. Saturday also marked the fifth race in six days for the MLRA during the busiest week of the tour.
A total of 22 cars made the starting lineup for Saturday’s 40-lap feature with $5,000 going to the winner. Austin Siebert sat on the pole with Friday’s winner Terry Phillips on the outside.
The race got started with Phillips jumping out to the race lead just as he did on Friday. As Phillips pulled away from the field, MLRA rookie Tad Pospisil was working his way through the field. The Norfolk, Nebraska driver was looking to win his first MLRA show on a track he has won at with other late model groups.
The first caution came out with 24 laps remaining when Randy Roth Spun out in turn two. That caution took away Phillips’ big lead and put Posipisil and Jesse Stovall right behind him for the restart.
Phillips pulled away from the field on the restart, but Stovall and Posipisil would get another chance at Phillips when the caution came out again for Brantlee Gotschall who came to a stop in turn four.
During that caution, pole sitter Austin Siebert went to the pit area with a flat tire while he was running in the fifth spot. The crew made the tire change, and Siebert started in the back of the field for the restart.
Justin Asplin brought out the third and final caution of the race with 16 laps to go when he came to a stop with a flat tire. That gave Pospisil and Stovall another shot to take the lead away from Phillips.
However, Phillips was up to the challenge and managed to hit his marks on each and every restart. Pospisil and Stovall could not run down Phillips, and so, the defending MLRA season champion went back-to-back sweeping the weekend making him the undisputed King of the Hill.
Phillips led all 40 laps and bagged the $5,000 payday on top of the $3,000 he won the night before after leading all 30 laps in that feature.
Pospisil finished second, his career finish with the MLRA, and Stovall finished in third. Ryan Gustin took home fourth, and Kyle Berck rounded out the top five.
The Bragging Rights late models were also on Saturday’s card of races. Their 25-lap feature started off with Denton Duncan with the lead. Duncan led the first two laps before Scott Eaton took over the top spot.
Eaton led the next six laps before his teammate Cory Dumpert took the lead with 17 laps remaining. Eaton began slipping back through the field as the race continued on.
Four cautions slowed the race down. Chris Stevens, Denton Duncan, Chad Carlson, and Jeff Tilley were all involved in incidents that brought out the yellow flag. The last caution involved Alex Humphrey who spun out on the front stretch while running fourth. Other drivers spun to avoid hitting Humphrey and damaging multiple cars.
At the end of the night, no one could catch Cory Dumpert. The York, Nebraska driver put on another great performance to pick up his 17th win of his 2016 season.
Josh Leonard finished second, and Tyler Andreasen came home third. Dylan Schmer and Jake Neighbors made up the top five.
The IMCA modifieds were also part of night two of the King of the Hill, and the feature was dominated by former IMCA modified national champion Dylan Smith. The driver from Osceola, Nebraska led all 18 laps and ran unopposed the entire race finishing a full straightaway ahead of second place.
Point leader Justin Gregg finished second followed by Tom Svoboda, Eddie Belec and Andy Wilkinson to round out the top five.
The IMCA Sport mods were also in action on Saturday night. Early on, Jerry Pfeiffer was out in front. The driver out of Spencer, Nebraska led the first lap until Justin Svoboda took over the lead and then proceeded to run away with the show.
Denny and Cole Egge brought out the only two cautions of the race. The first yellow flag came out when Denny had suspension issues and came to a stop in turn four with ten laps to go.
The second caution came out with only two laps to go when Denny’s grandson Cole spun out in turn four.
On the restart following Cole Egge’s spin, Justin Svoboda was challenged by older brother Austin. The two went back and forth for the lead in the closing laps.
When the checkered flag flew, the brothers Svoboda took first and second with Justin getting the win over Austin. Jared Hackler, Steve Kempt and Josh Pfeiffer rounded out the top five.