Philpotts Rule Field at Altamont Motorsports Park
Tracy,
Calif., August 24, 2007 - The Philpott family of Tracy, Calif's put on an
impressive display at Altamont Motorsports Park on Saturday night, lining the
podium in a 1-2-3 finish that featured #52, Ryan Philpott in the number one
position followed by cousin Justin Philpott, #05, as the runner up and
uncle David Philpott, #55, rounding out the top three.
Ryan's win, his ninth of the season at Altamont, may have been his toughest
fight yet, besting a field of 26 talented drivers including #90, Ross Strmiska,
Mark Holeman, Brian Koski and Matt Erickson.
Coming
into the race, Strmiska led the NASCAR Whelen All-American Late Model points
standings in California followed by Mark Holeman in the fifth position.
"This is awesome," said Philpott in victory lane. "The Philpotts are one, two
and three. That is how it should be
every week."
Ryan and his #52 "Red Rocket" did not have an easy task ahead of him after
ending up in the rear of the field after an early race incident with the #26 of
Mike Beeler and the #57 of Doff Cooksey.
Justin Philpott
"I felt a little difference in the wheel." said Philpott about the wreck. "We
got it in the rear wheel and the front wheel but it eventually felt fine."
The
wreck retired Cooksey for the evening after the young gun from Brentwood led the
first eight laps of the contest.
Ryan Philpott narrowly avoided disaster on lap 22 when he negotiated around a
wreck in turn 4 that included his uncle David and Ross Strmiska.
Strmiska finished fifth for the evening with the #73 of Ken Benamou finishing
ahead of Strmiska in the fourth position.
Rounding out the top ten were Holeman, Jeff Orr, Helder Garcia, Rudy Marquez and
Brian Koski.
Ryan Philpott ran the quickest time in qualifying followed by Ross Strmiska and
Mike Beeler.
Earlier
in the day it was the visiting #99, Donnie Darter who took the checkers in the
American Limited
Stock Car event, besting a talented field of fifteen ALSC drivers. Darter took
the lead on lap 20, getting around ALSC driver #75, Chad Holman who had won five
out of the last sixth ALSC events at Altamont Motorsports Park coming into
Saturday nights contest.
Rounding out the top five were Jim Earl, Jim Dulla, Jacob Cardoza and Tim Rappa.
The #3 of Bryan Jones led the first three laps of the 40 lap ALSC shootout on
the 1/4-mile.
In
Grand American Modified action the #1 of Todd Lynch dominated the field, leading
all but three laps of the 40 lap event on the half mile oval. Lynch was followed
past the stripe by the
#47 of Thomas Leiby and the #06 of Tony Noceti.
Altamont Motorsports Park will not be racing next weekend as the NASCAR Nextel
Cup series will be paying a visit to the California Speedway just outside of Los
Angeles, Calif. Racing will return to Altamont Motorsports Park on September 8th
for another "Combo Night!" featuring the USAC-CASA "Best in the West" Series in
addition to the V8-powered West Coast ProTrucks.
Altamont Motorsports Park is located between Livermore and Tracy, Calif., within
an hour's drive from most points in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as the
Central Valley.
Source: Jeff Downey/Altamont Motorsports Park
ABOUT ALTAMONT MOTORSPORTS PARK
Located in Alameda County, between Tracy and Livermore, Calif., Altamont
Motorsports Park (www.AltamontRacing.com.) is a NASCAR-sanctioned motorsports
facility featuring a 1/2-mile, high-banked paved oval that is the only 1/2-mile
paved oval between Redding and Los Angeles. The facility also features a
1/4-mile paved oval, a 1.1-mile road course and Figure 8 track course, and Kart
course. An operating short-track in Northern California since 1963, the facility
was acquired and refurbished in 2006, by Riverside Motorsports Park, LLC (www.RMPracing.com)
of Atwater, Calif. Altamont Motorsports Park features the NASCAR Whelen
All-American Weekly Racing Series, USAC-CASA-BCRA sprint car competitions, and a
variety of automobile and motorcycle motorsports events. In 2006, Altamont
Motorsports Park was awarded the Race Organizer of the Year Award by the United
States Automobile Club (USAC) racing organization, and the Best Facility
Improvement Award, as a Premier Short Track, by NAS
CAR.