HBR Racing Recap 8/28/18

HBR Racing Recap 8/28/18

Story By: Mandee Pauch/MPR

Photos By: Mark Ranalletta/RacersGuide.com

Mandee Pauch Relations – August 28, 2018 – The ‘Baldwinsville Bandit’ Jimmy Phelps is set to run the final night at Brewerton Speedway in pursuit of the 2018 Big Block Modified Championship.

“I feel if we do our thing we’ll be fine,” explained Phelps.

The HBR team opened their two-day weekend this past Friday at the D-shaped demon, Brewerton Speedway.

Phelps started sixth in his heat race and maneuvered his way to a third-place finish.

“Friday was a tough night,” Phelps said. “The track was really heavy. I thought we were decent, so we went with our normal deal.”

Phelps rolled off on the outside of the sixth row for the main event.

“We didn’t free up enough and were too tight in the feature,” added Phelps. “We were good enough to run up front, but everyone was the same speed, it was hard to pass. You had to be on the gas and we were too tight to be maneuverable.”

Phelps closed out the evening with an eighth-place finish.

Phelps currently sits 12 points in front of second-place runner, Larry Wight, going into the final points night this Friday.

“I feel if we do our thing we’ll be fine,” he said. “Larry is capable of winning any night of the week, but I think so are we. If we get there and the track is normal we’ll have a good handle. If it appears it isn’t going to be, we’ll have to adjust and do a better job at reading the track. At that rate we just have to get to the front and stay out of trouble.”

‘Mad’ Max McLaughlin started sixth in his heat race and climbed his way up to a second-place finish Friday night.

McLaughlin rolled off on the outside of the seventh row for the main event.

“We got inside the top ten when a car stopped ahead of us,” he said. “We made contact with him and broke the front end. We came in under caution and actually had just enough time to get the front end fixed and went back out. The front end was still a little bent up, so the setup was off, but we managed to rebound pretty well and make it back to 11th.”

McLaughlin currently sits third in the point standings heading into the final points night this Friday.

“We struggled early in the year which put us behind in points,” noted McLaughlin. “We’ve been strong lately which helped move us all the way up to third. I don’t think we can move up any farther with one race left but to maintain third considering the troubles we had at the start of the year is pretty good.”

Saturday evening had the HBR team back at Land of Legends Raceway one final time for their championship night.

Phelps started eighth in his heat race and crossed the line in fifth, lining him up on the outside of the fifth row.

“We were coming,” he said. “We were catching the leaders and just ran out of time. It was one of those deals that went green to checkered. The place is so big that it’s really easy to get some real big gaps that are hard to make up. We ended up fourth with a car that was good enough to win. We needed some track position later in the night.”

Phelps and the no.98h team closed out the season with a solid third-place finish in the point standings.

“Honestly, to come in there and contend most nights was great,” Phelps said. “We took a night off and still ended up third. I’m proud of our season there.”

McLaughlin started fifth in his heat and finished sixth, which lined him up seventh for the main event.

“We’ve been trying some stuff with the new car before the big races at the end of the year,” noted McLaughlin. “We struggled a little early on in the night but were pretty good in the feature. There were a lot of good cars up front. We needed just a little more to be there at the end.”

McLaughlin capped off the final points night with a top-five finish at Land of Legends Raceway. His fifth-place finish helped break him into the top-ten, earning an eighth-place finish in the overall point standings for the no.6h team.

The HBR team will have a busy holiday weekend coming up. The team will close out their points chase this Friday night at Brewerton Speedway then will head to Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday with the Super DIRTcar Series then will go on to close out the holiday weekend on Monday at Weedsport Speedway.

HBR QUICK RESULTS –

Jimmy Phelps
August 24 – Brewerton Speedway; Heat: 3 (6); Feature: 8 (12)
August 25 – Land of Legends Raceway; Heat: 5 (8); Feature: 4 (10)

Max McLaughlin
August 24 – Brewerton Speedway; Heat: 2 (6); Feature: 11 (14)
August 25 – Land of Legends Raceway; Heat: 6 (5); Feature: 5 (7)