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John Phippen Jr. of Town Hill has won six points championships in his career dating back to 1979.
He will enter the final race at Hermon’s Speedway 95 Saturday night with a one-point lead over Corinna’s Paul White in the Pro Stock division.
Phippen is no stranger to a final-race showdown.
Last year, he and Ryan Deane of Winterport were tied entering the last race and Phippen wound up winning the championship by two points.
The points chase could well change before the 35-lap finale because points are also awarded in the heat races.
The winner of a heat race receives 10 points, second place earns eight, third gets six, fourth gets four, fifth gets two and sixth earns one. In the Pro Stock feature, the winners earn 50 points and each place after that is a two-point dropoff.
Starting positions for the heat races are chosen by a random draw but the top three finishers in the previous week’s feature are required to start in the back for the feature regardless of how they do in their heat race.
The 53-year-old Phippen said he never tires of running for championships.
“Championships are hard to come by. They really are. That’s a whole season [of racing],” said Phippen. “It’s a lot of work and it can be discouraging if you lose.”
He said he has had a “wicked good season” to date.
“I rode upside down once. We’ve had our ups and downs. But we’ve had six wins,” said Phippen.
He is quick to point out that it’s not just a battle between him and White.
“It’s our whole teams,” Phippen said.
He jokingly downplayed the race, saying, “It’s just another day in paradise.”
But he also knows that his team members will be monitoring the situation so he knows exactly what he has to do to finish ahead of White in points. The heat-race points will dictate how far one has to finish ahead of the other to win the points title.
Phippen said he enjoys his rivalry with White.
“I like racing him. I actually like racing all of my brothers up there. Some of them don’t know they’re my brothers but they are,” said Phippen. “We don’t always get along but we’re always brothers.”
Phippen has won championships at three tracks.
He has won three Pro Stock titles at Speedway 95, one more at Wiscasset Raceway and two Street Stock championships at Unity Raceway.
Phippen said he and White have been no further than 22 points apart at any time this season throughout the season and there is only negative aspect about the race.
“I’m not looking forward to [it being] the last race of the season. It’s a long winter before you get to play again,” said Phippen.
It appears only one other class is still up in the air as John Kalel II of Orrington will take a six-point lead over Holden’s Steve Moulton into the Super Street class feature.
Caisse will make Truck debut
Sean Caisse, who is running third in points in the Busch East series for the Andy Santerre Motorsports Team, will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck series debut Saturday at 3 p.m. in the New Hampshire 200 at the New Hampshire International Speedway.
The 21-year-old Pelham, N.H., native will drive the No. 03 Casella Waste Systems Toyota Tundra for the Germain Racing team. Ironically, his street vehicle is a Toyota Tundra truck.
His Germain Racing teammates will be Todd Bodine, currently running fourth in the Truck points, and Ted Musgrave, who is seventh.
Caisse qualified third for the Aubuchon Hardware 125 Busch East race tonight at 5.
He has two wins, a second and a third in his last four Busch East races.
His Santerre Motorsports teammate, rookie Jeffrey Earnhardt, is sixth in points and qualified seventh.
The weekend at NHIS also includes a 100-lap Whelen Modified Tour race on Saturday at 1 along with a United States Auto Club 75-lap race after the Truck race and it is capped by Sunday’s Sylvania 300 Nextel Cup race at 2.
It will be the first race in the 10-race Chase for the Championship.
SPEEDWAY 95 POINTS RACES
PRO STOCK
1. John Phippen 874
2. Paul White 873
LIMITED
1. Brenton Parritt 1,002
2. Deane Smart 971
SUPER STREET
1. John Kalel II 995
2. Steve Moulton 989
STRICTLY STREET
1. Rowland Robinson, Jr. 2,070
2. Jim Carr, Jr. 2047
SPORT FOUR
1. Lewis Batchelder 1,972
2. Spencer Garvin 1928
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