BRIGHTON, Ont. (July 11, 2016) – Phil Potts drove to his fourth-straight podium finish with a second-place result during round two of the Hotch’s Auto Parts Pro Late Model Triple Crown on Saturday night at Brighton Speedway.
The Brighton native led early after starting outside the front row, but his Vanderlaan Building Products/Brighton Recycling/Indewey Excavating No.29 was reeled in by caution on lap eight and nine, the second of which was for a brief rain shower.
“The car was good. It was surprisingly a little loose. I was surprised at how the car reacted after the rain and it threw me for a loop. It took me a few laps to get things straightened back out again. It was good and it was a fun night of racing,” Potts explained.
Charlie Sandercock took the lead from Potts on the lap nine restart, but the two drivers pulled away from the rest of the field and battled nose-to-tail for the lead over the final 10 laps of the event.
“I would have preferred the outcome was the other was, but you have to like that racing. When it’s that hard, down to the wire, it is a lot of fun. I told everybody after I felt like a St. Bernard,” Potts laughed. “I was dragging my tongue when I got out of the car. The last five laps, it was hard racing.”
The final lap gave Potts his best chance to retake the lead. He had a run off the bottom in turn two and showed the nose under Sandercock’s No.57 in turn three. Sandercock took away the bottom lane, Potts preferred line, for the final corner.
“I wish I went for the top line the very last lap. In my mind, I knew what Charlie was going to do,” Potts said. “I was hoping he would try to dive in so hard, that he would wash up and I would get underneath him. The plan didn’t go the way I hoped it would have went.”
The exciting battle right to the final corner was impressive given the two drivers raced clean and never touched. Despite a multitude of lapped traffic and the constant jockeying for position, Sandercock and Potts finished nine seconds ahead of third-place driver Brandon Mowat.
“Usually when two guys are racing hard, it allows the other drivers to catch up. We were racing hard, but we lengthened the field out. Both cars were on really well,” Potts explained.
“I was happy with the outcome. To come off the track with that hard racing without a scratch on my car is amazing. The respect between drivers has increased two-fold, as far as I’m concerned,” Potts added.
SEASON STATS
Phil Potts – 14 Starts: 2 Wins, 11 Top-5s, 13 Top-10s
FOWL MOOD MEDIA
Website: www.fowlmoodracing.ca
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Twitter: @FowlMoodRacing.
The Fowl Mood Race Team’s 2016 season is supported by several dedicated corporate sponsors, including Vanderlaan Building Products, Brighton Recycling, Indewey Excavating and Crow Design.
Prepared By Clayton Johns Media (@cjohnsmedia)
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