LOCUST GROVE, Ark. -- Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., topped the second round of qualifying for Batesville Speedway’s Modified Madness. Phillips will head the middle row of the three-wide, 30-car starting field on Saturday. The winner of the event will take home $15,000, while even the last-place finisher will pocket $2,500.

Phillips was the pole-sitter for the qualifying event, with O'Reilly USMTS star Jon Tesch and Bill Frye sharing the front row with him. Phillips grabbed the lead as the green flag appeared, with Frye moving to second and Tesch taking third.

Tesch drove by Frye for second on the second lap. Phillips was holding a five car length advantage over Tesch by lap five.

The caution flag came out on lap seven for Adam Pratt, who had spun in turn two. Frye used the high side to get by Tesch for second spot on the restart. The field went green for one lap before Pratt was involved in an incident on the front stretch with Brandon Smith, both retired for the night.

Tesch used the high side to his advantage on this re-start, passing Frye as the green came back out in the double file restart configuration. Jeff Taylor made a charge through the back, coming from the 7th row, into fifth by lap ten.

Taylor drove by Kyle Pleasant for the fourth spot in turn four on the next circuit. Mike Bowers took the fifth spot on lap 12.

A scary crash red flagged the race on lap 14. Royal Jones had gotten into the front stretch wall. The caution flag came out, but Richie Tosh was unable to slow, and slammed into Jones causing a fireball to erupt from a broken fuel cell. Tosh was transported to the hospital, and will be kept overnight for observation, but was expected to be released in the morning.

On the re-start, Phillips was able to open a five car length on the field. Frye had something go sour in his car, and began to fade. Tesch caught Phillips and the pair were side by side on lap 18. Tesch got under Phillips in turn 4 on lap 20 and drove into the lead.

The pair continued to duel side by side over the next four laps. Phillips nosed by Tesch as the pair took the white flag. Phillips got a tremendous run in turn 2 and led the remainder of the lap in taking the win.

Phillips took the top transfer spot, with Tesch, Taylor, Steve Arpin, and Jeremy Payne making up the top five. Mike Bowers, Nicholas Littlejohn, Ryan Ruter and Chad Kinder rounded out the nine spots.

The O'Reilly USMTS will visit the Batesville Speedway on Friday and Saturday, July 28-29.

RESULTS

O'Reilly USMTS drives in BOLD

1st Heat (10 laps): 1) Terry Phillips, Springfield MO 2) Mike Bowers, North Little Rock AR 3) Ryan Ruter, Forest City IA 4) Jason Sullivan, Reagen TN 5) Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon IA 6) Patrick Linn, Little Rock AR 7) Tracy Clemons, Quitman AR 8) Curt Smith, Alligator MS 9) Jack Sullivan, Greenbriar AR.

2nd Heat (10 laps): 1) Jon Tesch, Watertown SD 2) Wayne Brooks, Bald Knob AR 3) Adam Pratt, Hoxie AR 4) Corey Neal, Beaumount TX 5) Phil Dixon, Crosby TX 6) Johnny Virden, Russellville AR 7) George White, Ft. Worth TX.

3rd Heat (10 laps): 1) Bill Frye, Greenbriar AR 2) Brad McEwan, Storm Lake IA 3) Jeff Howell, Memphis TN 4) Max Thomas, Quinlan TX 5) Brian Boram, Orange TX 6) Billy Melton, Longview TX 7) Jeff Needham, Ennis TX 8) Ron Grundel, Madison MS 9) James Emerson, Pleasant Plains AR.

4th Heat (10 laps): 1) Richie Tosh, Salado AR 2) Chad Mallet, Mabelvale AR 3) Kevin Rowland, Hurst TX 4) B.J. Robinson, Blanchard LA 5) Ben Reed, Atoka TN 6) Edward Sugg, Grand Prairie TX 7) David Murray, Oberlin KS 8) Dusty Johnston, Flippin AR 9) Judas Bowling, Versailles IN 10) Peyton Taylor, Desha AR.

5th Heat (10 laps): 1) Royal Jones, Las Cruces NM 2) Raymond Merrill, Sallisaw OK 3) Jeff Greene, Paragould AR 4) Cameron West, Mansfield TX 5) David Horner, Houston TX 6) Robby Arnold, Paragould AR 7) Michael Richardson, Red Oak, TX 8) Rusty Jeffrey, Batesville AR 9) Jamie Hard, Bartlet TN.

6th Heat (10 laps): 1) Kyle Pleasant, Robeline LA 2) Dustin Jenks, Chico CA 3) Chad Kinder, Newton IL 4) T.J. Herndon, Atwood TN 5) David Winslett, Bossier City LA 6) Ronny Jeffrey, Locust Grove AR 7) Jamie Buford, Keatchie LA 8) Kevin Peel, Chipley FL 9) Chase Allen, Midlothian TX 10) Nathan Sugg, Grand Prairie TX.

7th Heat (10 laps): 1) Ricky Armes, Moss TN 2) Paul White, Temple TX 3) Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie MN 4) Brant Barksdale, Jonesboro AR 5) Terry Belcher, Phoenix AZ 6) Michael Robertson, Minden LA 7) Bud Longpine, Drummond OK 8) Neil Nisler, Cadiz KY 9) Mark Noble, Blooming Prairie MN.

8th Heat (10 laps): 1) John Whittington, Vidor TX 2) Nicholas Littlejohn, Everman TN 3) Bobby Malchus, Red Oak TX 4) Chris Brown, Cleveland TX 5) Brandon Ball, West Plains MO 6) John Schwab, Liberal KS 7) Joel Couvillion, Alexandria LA 8) Jeremy Russell, Jonesboro AR 9) Sean Jones, Cedar Hill TX.

9th Heat (10 laps): 1) Jared Landers, Benton AR 2) Jeff Taylor, Cave City AR 3) Brandon Smith, Floral AR 4) Jason Hughes, Colcord OK 5) Tommy Burnside, Kansas IL 6) Chuck McGinty, Conway AR 7) Jonathan Russell, Jonesboro AR 8) Joey Bomprezzi, Memphis TN 9) Jeff Wells Jr., Truman AR 10) Jarred Roller, Southaven MS.

10th Heat (10 laps): 1) Jeremy Payne, Cave City AR 2) Steve Arpin, Fort Francis, ON 3) Branton Melton, Longview TX 4) Donnie Barnhart, North Little Rock AR 5) Greg Waugh, Batesville AR 6) Ronny Yielding, White Oak TX 7) Mark Myer, Clovis NM 8) Randy Zimmerman, Fort Scott KS 9) Troy Godwin, Mesquite NM 10) Mark Ellis, Newport AR.

"B" Feature (15 laps, top 10 advance to A Feature): 1) Ryan Ruter 2) Adam Pratt 3) Tommy Myer 4) Brandon Smith 5) Chad Kinder 6) Jason Hughes 7) T.J. Herndon 8) Jeff Greene 9) Bobby Malchus 10) Ben Reed 11) David Horner 12) Brandon Melton 13) Phil Dixon 14) Jason Sullivan 15) Brian Boram 16) Donnie Barnhart 17) Chris Brown 18) Jeff Howell.

"A" Feature (25 laps, top 9 advance to Saturday’s Main Event): 1) Terry Phillips 2) Jon Tesch 3) Jeff Taylor 4) Steve Arpin 5) Jeremy Payne 6) Mike Bowers 7) Nicholas Littlejohn 8) Ryan Ruter 9) Chad Kinder 10) Ricky Arms 11) Jason Hughes 12) John Whittington 13) Bill Frye 14) Wayne Brooks 15) Kyle Pleasant 16) Tommy Myer 17) Jared Landers 18) Chad Mallet 19) T.J. Herndon 20) Paul White 21) Raymond Merrill 22) Bobby Malchus 23) Brad McEwan 24) Dustin Jenks 25) Ben Reed 26) Richie Tosh 27) Jeff Greene 28) Royal Jones 29) Brandon Smith 30) Adam Pratt.