PHOENIX, Ariz. (April 13-15) - The Barber Dodge Pro Series concluded a highly-competitive and successful three-day test session on the one-mile banked oval at Phoenix International Raceway Thursday afternoon.

Defending series champion Jeff Simmons notched the fastest time of 29 drivers in the stretch, with a blistering best lap of 27.898 seconds averaging 129.042 mph recorded Thursday morning.

Defending Barber Dodge Pro Series champion Jeff Simmons of East Granby, Conn. turned it up a notch in the final day of testing at Phoenix International Raceway Thursday afternoon.

The test marked the return of the Barber Dodge Pro Series to oval racing for the first time since 1996 and served as a tune-up for 60-lap race at Nazareth Speedway in Nazareth, Penn. May 22 with the NASCAR Busch Grand National series and the NASCAR Featherlite Modified series. Nazareth is Round 2 of the 12-race Barber Dodge Pro Series championship.

Sepp Koster of Heemskerk, Netherlands put
in a strong three-day effort on his first visit
to an oval track at PIR.

"I like the oval. It's nice to know when a setup change works right away," Simmons said. "We were working on the car slowly every day and building up the speed because we knew we had a lot of time. I was pretty comfortable straight-off."

Oval racing leaves little margin for error,
as evidenced by the close proximity of
Peter Boss of Narragansett, R.I. (6) and
Tim Bergmeister of Bergheim, Germany (49).

Rojas, who had a strong, consistent performance throughout the three-day period, agreed that patience played a key role in his success.

Jeff Simmons stays right on the gearbox
of John McCaig of Victoria, B.C. on the
entry to Turn 1 at P.I.R.

"It was pretty good. It seemed comfortable right away," Bell said. "I wasn't sure what to expect before the test. I definitely tried to give it as much respect as it needed without getting over the limits."

Eric Tresslar of Chicago, Ill. recorded the third-fastest time of the entire session with a 28.038 second lap at 128.397 mph, followed by John McCaig of Victoria, B.C. with a 28.053/128.329 mph run. McCaig is the only driver to have raced in the Pro Series on an oval, having made the trip to Nazareth back in 1996.

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