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JIM MARDIS DOMINATES SUPERCLEAN MODIFIED SERIES ACTION AT HAVASU 95 SPEEDWAY BY DAVE GRAYSON The SuperClean Modified Racing Series spent this past Saturday night at the Havasu 95 Speedway, a quarter mile oval in Lake Havasu City-Arizona, for the running of the Sunoco Fuels 75. For the third time in a highly competitive year the series produced a first time winner. But it really came with no surprise. All season long series observers said it was just a matter of time before Jim Mardis parked his race car in victory lane. He did it in a very big way Saturday night by leading every lap of the race. In fact, Mardis' performance was so dominant he was, at times, practically racing in his own personal zip code. The series's afternoon at the Havasu 95 Speedway began with qualifying where Andrew Phipps blistered the track with a lap of 15.649 seconds to win the Budweiser Pole Award. However the pre race inversion ceremony turned up a different pre race scenario. Phipps drew the number four which placed Mardis and Jimmy Dickerson on the front row of the Sunoco Fuels 75. The race got off to somewhat of a rocky start when a trio of cars found themselves spinning through turn two on the very first lap of the race. A hand full of laps later there was a second caution flag so officials could get the attention of a driver who didn't realize a black flag was intended for him because something loose underneath his car was showering sparks. After that the race settled into an open wheel to wheel racing rhythm where the action was intense from third to twenty second. Mardis was running a strong pace up front with Jimmy Dickerson lurking behind him until lap 60 when the race leader just simply checked out on the remainder of the field. Chris Gerchman, Tim Morse and Phipps completed the top five. In victory lane Mardis was all smiles and said "I can't even tell you how good this feels. Beating some of these guys is amazing because they are the very best from the west coast. Man, these guys really bring their game and we finally put one together and got to the finish line before they did." "All the guys that we raced with tonight were great. Dickerson really ran me clean from the beginning and we had just enough to pull away from him at the end. The really interesting thing is: I hate this place. Every time we've raced here I've struggled even though I led some laps. It's ironic that the one track I hate is the track where we got our first win at," the race winner said. Mardis also made quick work in saying thank you to the people who helped find victory lane on this night. "I have to thank Jam Sportswear, out of Redlands-California, along with Hot N Nasty and Mommy Inc they all do a lot for me. Of course there's also STR-Short Track Race Cars who build a good car for me and thanks to Dave Arce who builds us a good engine. Thanks also goes to MTS Construction: those guys work hard on my car as well. Most of all there's Mom and Dad who have put so much into this and I've got to thank them a bunch." The win at the Havasu 95 Speedway was sweet redemption for Mardis and his team in comparison to what happened to them at the previous, September 5th. race at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. On that night a major problem was discovered with the car's transmission. An effort to repair the situation got Mardis to the starting grid, and shotgun on the field, but the repair efforts didn't gel and the team found themselves having to settle for a 22nd place finish. That was devastating for their points run because, prior to that night, the team was considered to be championship contenders. Simi Valley-California's Andrew Phipps, driver of the Spartan Trucking-Vision Airline-Ron's Rear Ends modified, arrived in Lake Havasu City tied for the series points lead with James Cole. His fifth place finish allowed him to leave Arizona with a six point lead over his season long championship opponent. In addition to support from its title sponsor, the SuperClean Modified Racing Series is also supported by a highly potent marketing concept known as "Team Lucas." Team members include: Lucas Oil Products Inc, E3 Spark Plugs, R&L Carriers, Dixie Chopper, General Tire and K&N Performance Filters. Additionally there is a great deal of support from series sponsors that include: SuperClean Products, Hoosier Tire West, Budweiser, Blue Water Resort & Casino, Sunoco Fuel, Franks Radio, DJ Safety, Steve Teets of STR-Short Track Race Cars, Polydome Plastic Products and Racing Plus. |