(Oxford) Will Dunphy waited patiently, and it paid off.
Will took the win tonight in the Outlaws’ twenty-lap feature at Oxford Plains Speedway.
Will sat comfortably in fourth through twelve laps watching drivers Betty Nelson, Drew Morse, and Skip Tripp battle for first.
“I saw them rattling each other pretty good,” said Will afterwards, “and I decided to back off.”
“I knew that something was going to give at some point,” he added. “I didn’t know when, but I wanted to be on the defensive for it.”
Sure enough, the three lead cars got tangled up and Will sailed by on the low side to take the lead.
Will quickly took control on the restart and won for the second time with room to spare.
The last time Will won an Outlaws feature was on June 10th. He had finished second seven times since then mostly to Skip Tripp.
“Even when I finished second to him (Skip Tripp) this car was far superior to his,” said Will. “I just ran out of laps.”
Skip Tripp took second tonight and has a commanding lead in the Outlaws points race.
“We had a shock that was bad in the heat, and we were so loose in the feature,” said Skip afterwards.
“Will was really good tonight,” added Skip. “He had the better car. I was glad to see him win. We go a long way back. If it’s not going to be me, it might as well be him.”
Betty Nelson won the 8-lap heat and was leading the feature until she was sent spinning in Lap 12.
Betty has competed in all twelve Outlaws features this season. The best she has done, so far, is third. She looked like she had a chance for her best finish of the season until trouble happened tonight.
Weather was cool but not cold.
I liked the 5PM start because it extends daylight. Trying to photograph (or really see) action on the track when relying on the OPS lights is a major reach.
Still keep thinking about the action on Lap 242 in the Oxford 250. There were some seriously unhappy folks after the race because of that incident!
McClelland Miscellanea 