Phil Potts Shakes the Monkey to Score First Win of 2017 at Brighton
Phil Potts celebrates his first win of the season on Saturday, July 8 at Brighton Speedway with representatives from event sponsor Electro Cables. (Photo by Rod Henderson/www.canadianracer.com).
BRIGHTON, Ont. – July 10, 2017 – Phil Potts finally got the monkey off his back and earned his first Pro Late Model victory of the season at Brighton Speedway last Saturday night. He even got a little good luck to help get the job done.
Potts was the beneficiary of a late restart that created a one-lap dash to the finish where he passed Charlie Sandercock to secure the win.
“It’s the monkey off my back. We only earned one lap of it, but we’ll take it,” Potts said.
Potts started the night with a second-place finish in his heat. That result led to a sixth-place starting spot for the 35-lap main event that was also the second leg of the Hotch’s Auto Parts Triple Crown.
“We tried a new setup and it over-tightened the car so I was driving it like a madman,” Potts said. “It wasn’t perfect. I was up to third, but trying to figure this new setup out, so I drifted back to sixth again. Then, I worked my way back up to second. I could catch everybody else, but I couldn’t catch Charlie.”
Potts got the chance he needed to contend for the win with the late restart and he pounced.
“Charlie gave me the high side (for the restart). I thought ‘wow, this is different’,” Potts explained. “Then running down the backstretch going into turn three, I was getting prepared to dive for the bottom because I thought Charlie was going to go high. He didn’t. He dove for the bottom and I just floored it and ran the berm. I left it on the pin and hoped it stuck.”
The car did stick and Potts drove off the top of turn four to his first victory of the season. The win was especially sweet with representatives from longtime sponsor Brighton Recycling in attendance to witness the triumph.
“I was glad to see Gerald and Scott Blackburn from Brighton Recycling there,” Potts said. They haven’t been able to get to the races a lot this year, so I’m glad we won when they were there.”
“My sponsors are super,” he continued. “I’m so fortunate to have great sponsors. I know them all personally and they all call me Monday morning, so I’m glad I won when they were there. It’s fun for me to see them smiling as much as I was smiling.”
After last week’s success both in terms of result and with his new setup, Potts is excited to chase a win in Brighton Speedway’s 50th anniversary nostalgia night next Saturday. The event features a 50-lap Pro Late Model showdown and several special presentations.
“We kind of found something we were looking for, so now we need to tweak it,” Potts said of the setup he utilized on Saturday. “We have to go over it with a fine-tooth comb. We wash the radiator twice so if we miss any dirt Tuesday, we get it on Saturday morning. It will be fresh oil in the motor, fresh oil in the transmission. We’ll definitely go over the whole thing top to bottom, not once, but twice.”
Potts will gun to make it two in a row in the first extra-distance race of the year at Brighton on Saturday, July 15. Fans receive $5 off the $15 grandstand admission if they wear a vintage Brighton Speedway racing t-shirt. For additional event information, visit
www.brightonspeedway.com.
SEASON STATS
Phil Potts – 8 Starts: 1 Win, 5 Top-5s, 7 Top-10s
FOWL MOOD MEDIA
Website:
www.fowlmoodracing.caFacebook: facebook.com/FowlMoodRaceTeam
Twitter: @FowlMoodRacing.
The Fowl Mood Race Team’s 2017 season is supported by several dedicated corporate sponsors, including Vanderlaan Building Products, Brighton Recycling, Indewey Excavating, Bay Marine, Orange Motorsports, On Time Body and Graphic, Crow Design, Bill’s Johns, K-D Transmission, Image Factor Media and Clayton Johns Media.
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