By Bill W
West Burlington, IA, June 15, 2023 – Tasker Phillips performed a hair-raising pass at the midway point of the feature Thursday night at the Eldon Raceway to capture his first ever Sprint Invaders win. The victory, his first ever in a 360, was worth $3,000 to the Pleasantville, Iowa driver.
Josh Higday led early after inheriting the pole. Ryan Bunton was slated to start on the pole, but an ignition connection issue sent him to the work area, and he started at the rear. The 25-lap event went non-stop on the racy and fast half-mile.
Phillips tucked into the second position followed by Luke Verardi and Colton Fisher. Higday hit his first lapped car on the fifth circuit, and appeared to be in control for several laps. Phillips separated himself from the rest of the pack as well, and began slowly reeling in Higday, who was dealing with lapped cars.
On lap 12, Higday hesitated behind a lapper, and Phillips went for it, squeezing between Higday, the lapped car and the wall in turn two. From there it was clean sailing. Fisher nailed down third and began to catch Higday with eighth starting Paul Nienhiser in tow. The three would run nose to tail the rest of the way. Fisher would make heavy contact with the frontstretch wall with a few laps remaining, breaking his jacob’s ladder. Nienhiser would get by him on lap 24.
Phillips win came by a half lap over Higday, Nienhiser, Fisher and Verardi. Bret Tripplett, Dustin Clark, Cody Wehrle, Bunton, who recovered from the tail, and Tyler Lee rounded out the top ten. Fisher, Higday and Phillips won heats, and Higday also won the Shake-up Dash.
“I saw Higday going into one and he got sideways and so did I,” said Phillips in Victory Lane. “I thought we were backing it into the wall, but we made it. It was getting slow in traffic, but it was wide enough to pass. I saw a little bit of an opening between the car and the wall so I took it. There wasn’t really a strategy, I was just giving it hell from there!”
“We found some speed tonight, we just had some trouble in lapped traffic,” said Higday. “Tasker got by us. He was just a little bit better than us in clean air. We were good in the beginning of the race, and from the middle part out, we struggled. It’s just cool to have two Knoxville guys up front.”
“We were pretty good in hot laps,” said Nienhiser. “There was a little driver error in the heat race and that kept us out of the Dash and a little further back than we wanted in the feature. We made some good adjustments. I felt as good as I ever do on a half-mile, which is not my cup of tea. I was pleased with it. We’ll take a third any day. I could tell we were running out of laps. I would have liked to have tried the slider on Higday the last lap, but by the time we got to three and four, as narrow as it was down there, I didn’t have room. I was pretty pleased with our run.”
Next weekend, the Sprint Invaders will hit the quarter-mile Davenport Speedway on the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds on Friday, June 23 and the Spoon River Speedway near Canton, Illinois on Saturday, June 24.
For more information on the Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.net or visit us on Facebook.
Sprint Invaders Results
Shottenkirk Automotive Group A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (3) 2. 1E, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (1) 3. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (8) 4. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (4) 5. 28, Luke Verardi, Taylorville, IL (2) 6. 99, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (6) 7. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (9) 8. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (5) 9. 6R, Ryan Bunton, Morton, IL (17) 10. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (7) 11. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (14) 12. 21, Devin Wignall, Altoona, IA (10) 13. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (16) 14. 4x, Chase Richards, Burlington, IA (13) 15. 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA (15) 16. 25, Kelly Graham, Hedrick, IA (12) 17. 14, Aidan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (18) 18. 357, Ryan Edwards, Waverly, IL (11) Lap Leaders: Higday 1-11, Phillips 12-25. $75 Christine Wahl-Levitt/KSE Hard-charger: Bunton..
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Colton Fisher (1) 2. Bret Tripplett (4) 3. Devin Wignall (3) 4. Kelly Graham (2) 5. Ryan Edwards (5) DNS – Aidan Zoutte
Joshua Denning & Associates Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Josh Higday (2) 2. Luke Verardi (1) 3. Ryan Bunton (5) 4. Paul Nienhiser (6) 5. Tanner Gebhardt (4) 6. McCain Richards (3)
Mohrfeld Solar Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Tasker Phillips (2) 2. Cody Wehrle (1) 3. Tyler Lee (3) 4. Dustin Clark (5) 5. Chase Richards (4) 6. Ryan Jamison (6)
Jern’s Heating and Air Conditioning Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Josh Higday (2) 2. Colton Fisher (1) 3. Tasker Phillips (3) 4. Bret Tripplett (4) 5. Ryan Bunton (5) 6. Luke Verardi (6)
Reid’s Landscaping & Turf $50 Draw Award: Ryan Jamison
Contingencies
DMI: Ryan Jamison
Saldana: Aidan Zoutte
BMRS High Point Driver: Josh Higday
K-1 Race Gear: Tyler Lee
Trophy Sponsor: Holtkamp’s Trailer Repair