BRIGHTON, Ont. – August 2, 2016 – Phil Potts drove from the ninth starting spot to victory lane in a dominant display on Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. The Brighton, Ont. native rode around the top of a lightning fast racetrack to claim his fourth win of the season.
“I’m still perplexed there was nobody else on the high side, but me. The berm was there,” Potts exclaimed enthusiastically. “NASCAR calls it clean air. I just call it clean track.”
Potts drove his Vanderlaan/Indewey Excavating/Brighton Recycling No.29 Mustang to second just past the halfway mark and eliminated a straightaway lead for Kyle Sopaz by lap 24. One lap later, Potts took the lead on the top and led the final five circuits to claim the victory.
“There was nothing in my way, and I could tell I was reeling him in a little bit, and all of a sudden I was making leaps and bounds on him. Once I got past him, I just kept driving as hard as I was before,” Potts explained. “Everything felt right and the car felt absolutely perfect for me.”
“To me, that’s back to old school. I don’t have to worry about hitting my marks, I just have to hit the berm. I just let the big dog eat,” Potts added with a laugh.
The race ran caution free for 30 laps and Potts narrowly missed eclipsing his own 30-lap track record of 7:41.838 set on August 23, 2014 by 0.44 seconds. On a hot night, it was a tough challenge, but the track was incredibly fast and Potts barely noticed the laps ticking off, he said.
“We were racing so hard and so fast, I didn’t realize what lap it was. I looked at the leaderboard once on lap 18 when I got around Rand. I thought ‘we have some time left, but not a lot’. Then everything blew by like a whirlwind,” Potts commented.
The win helped him climb the championship latter and extend his point lead 60 notches over Charlie Sandercock. It is Potts’ biggest lead of the season and the biggest of his career. It comes with just over a month left in the season.
“We’ll keep trying to aim for a top three and to finish on the scales every night. It’s what the goal is, but we’ve been lucky enough to get a break and get through traffic early,” Potts said. “It is nice.In six years, I’ve never had this kind of lead on anybody. Hopefully we can build on it every week.”
The Vanderlaan Building Products Pro Late Models have their annual weekend off this Saturday, August 6 at Brighton Speedway before returning to action on August 13 for Fan Appreciation Night. Find out more event information at www.brightonspeedway.ca.
SEASON STATS
Phil Potts – 19 Starts: 4 Wins, 15 Top-5s, 18 Top-10s
FOWL MOOD MEDIA
Website: www.fowlmoodracing.ca
Facebook: facebook.com/FowlMoodRaceTeam
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)
Photo Attachment: Phil Potts celebrates his fourth win of the season at Brighton Speedway. (Rod Henderson photo).
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