Cooksey Wins a Thriller at Altamont Motorsports Park

Tracy, Calif., June 30, 2007 - It was a long four week wait but it was worth it for local racing fans at Altamont Motorsports Park as the Western Late Models finally returned to the track with Brentwood's Doff Cooksey making a thrilling lap 97 pass of Phil Perry to win the 100 lap race on the "Fastest Half Mile in the West."

Cooksey setup the pass in turn 4 and made it stick on the inside in turn 1.

"Phil got loose coming out of turn 4 and I was not going to lift." said Cooksey.

Cooksey had to come from the rear of the field to secure the win, pitting on a lap 14 caution and starting at the rear on the restart.

"We pitted early because I thought we had a flat but we didn't." said Cooksey. "So we pitted for nothing."

"There was a lot of traffic," said Cooksey, about his charge from the back. "But it but it looked like they were all tight and our car finally loosened up on the bottom so we were good enough to go to the front."

Cooksey spent the final laps of the race reeling in the #777 of Phil Perry who passed points leader, Ryan Philpott, on lap 88.

Philpott, who has seven wins at the track this season, started slowing with 15 laps to go, finishing the event in the fifth position.

Carson City, Nevada's Bobby Hodges made an impressive debut, crossing the finish line in the third position.  Ryan Mock's lucky #13 racer finished fourth.

Cooksey led the first 13 laps of the race until pitting under yellow at lap 14.  Philpott took over the lead at lap 14 and dominated the race until his #52 "Red Rocket" slowed in the waning stages of the event.

American Limited Stock Car racer Joe Allen returned to the track in impressive form, winning both the four lap Trophy Dash and the 40 lap main event on the 1/4-mile oval.  Allen took advantage of some early cautions to move his red #1 hot rod in to position to dominate the latter laps of the event.

"It was not looking to good at the beginning of race but they just started falling off one by one and here we are." said Allen in victory lane.

The Hayward Chevy's of points leader Jim Dulla and Tim Rappa finished second and third in the event.

Chad Holman, winner of the last the last two ALSC races at Altamont Motorsports Park, finished fourth out of the 11 cars that qualified for the race.

Points leader Toni "The Duke" Noceti took the checkers in the Grand American Modified division.  Noceti passed the topless modified of Thomas Leiby on lap 13 and held on for the remaining 27 laps.   Noceti survived a late race caution on lap 37 to hold on for the victory.

"The competition at Altamont Motorsports Park is getting a little tougher around here," said Noceti.  "It used to be kind of easy but these young racers are getting tough against this old dog."

A six car inversion of the nine car field forced Noceti to come up from the fifth position to secure the win - his fourth at Altamont Motorsports Park this season.

After taking the lead, Noceti faced some pressure from top qualifier Mike Regelman until Regelman's #66 suffered mechanical problems on lap 21 and had to be retired.

Leiby finished second, crossing the finish line two car lengths behind Noceti.  The  #2 of Todd Lewis rounded out the top three.

The racing activities were book-ended by two 10 lap events from the Formula-4 division on the road coarse.  The #22 of Jake Morgenstern lead all laps in the early race followed closely by the #12 of Leo Solari and the #28 of Anthony Roeder.  Solari took the checkers in the night cap followed by Roeder in the second position.

The 24 Hours of LeMons shows up at the track next weekend followed by "The Ultimate Mombo-Combo Night!" featuring USAC-CASA racing on July 14th.


Source: Jeff Downey
        Press Relations/Track Reporter

Altamont Motorsports Park

  2006 NASCAR Best Facility Improvement Award as a Premier Short Track
  2006 USAC the Race Organizer of the Year Award