The New Stockton 99 Speedway Media Release – 4-7-2012           

Media Relations – David Holman                                                                          

All Photos are the property of Jessica McAnelly

Jessie's Fast Photos/ www.jessiesfastphotos.com

  

          

The SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series SPEARS Manufacturing 125 Set The Bar Extremely High For The 2012 Season

 

On Saturday, April 7^th, on the Toughest Test In The West, the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour came knocking on the door and blew the roof off the old house in their Season debut at the tricky quarter-mile.  Also on the Docket for the Event were the always exciting Legends of the Pacific and those speedy little four cylinder Pro-4 Modifieds!  The pits were packed with the usual Opening Day paint schemes and uniforms, and the fans in the stands boasted a quaint 2000 occupants to get the 2012 Season underway on a beautiful day for racing.

 

On the Southwest Tour, these drivers have such an insatiable appetite for asphalt, it would be a daunting task, to say the least, to pick the winner in advance and actually be right.  It’s not always the fastest car that wins, but rather, the driver who refuses to push himself away from the table before the eating is done.  And so it went, the Young Mantecan, Jacob Gomes, driving the #16 Sunny Valley Smoked Meats, Dell’Osso Farms Toyota,  proved too strong and too hungry for the rest of the field on this glorious Opening Night!

 

The four invert landed Roseville’s Eric Schmidt (05) at P1 with another Roseville driver, Zane Lovelace (46), nabbing the two-spot to get this much-anticipated race underway.  Schmidt grabbed a huge hunk of forward bite coming out of four to the green flag, which vaulted him quickly into the early lead.  And, no sooner had this one got up to speed, than did the first yellow break through the night sky when the #26 of Garden Grove’s Andy Allen applied too much bumper to Chadworth’s, Keith Spangler (37), which sent Spangler twisting down the frontstretch just beneath the flagstand.  Over the next two restarts, Schmidt convincingly controlled the breathable air out front until lap 26 when Derek Thorn (43) of Bakersfield decided it was his turn to show his goods as he got under Schmidt for the lead.  Unfortunately for Thorn, when he made the pass on Schmidt, he brought with him the hard-charging Jacob Gomes, who, on lap 32, made a pass of his own, which would eventually prove to be the pass of the race.  Once Gomes put his #16 out in that rarified air, he began to chew away at large chunks of asphalt, while maneuvering, stunningly, through lapped traffic, until there was nothing left to race for but that not-so-pristine real estate in second on what was left of the racing surface.  Despite an occasional nibble at his back bumper on a couple restarts from Thorn, Gomes went mostly unchallenged as he crossed beneath the checkers nearly a full second ahead of his nearest competitor, who happened to be the always fast, Derek Thorn, in a very commanding Victory.  "I always try to do my best whenever I come here, and it's great to come into your home track because you always know you have a chance to win," Gomes said.  Of course, Thorn held on to finish second while Dublin’s Jason Gilbert (88) had an absolutely brilliant run of his own, finishing on the podium in third.  M.K. Kanke (33) of Frazier Park finished a strong fourth and Carlos Vieira (51) of Livingston, running an extremely quiet race, finally showed up on the map in fifth.  Last year’s Champion, Jim Pettit II (18) of Prunedale, after running in the top five most of the night, had a left rear tire go down late in the race, but still managed to rally back to tenth.  This race was plagued by ten caution periods for thirty laps and finished in a time of 50:48:130.  Earlier in the day, Gomes was fast qualifier and Bob Lyon (44) of Agua Dulce won the B Main.

 

The Legends of the Pacific showed up in force on this night, sporting 39 cars that took time, which would force a very large B Main.  When the dust finally settled, it would be Hemet’s Chad Schug (29S), holding the trophy high above his head on the top rung of the podium.

This one got up to speed with Benecia’s Tony Mangini (7) starting at pole and Upper Lake’s Jeremy Doss (75) high and tight to the right.  With the green flag flying high above the racing surface, Mangini grabbed a gear and drove off into turn one with the holeshot.  But much to his dismay, the Racing Gods were not smiling on his night as an almost-immediate yellow scraped against the evening sky when, on lap 2, the #03 of Darren Amidon and Ontario’s Christian McGhee (71) tangled low between turns one and two.  On the ensuing couple of quick restarts, Doss would take slim charge of P1, but on lap 4, Mangini managed to wrestle it back, and, once out in that much sought-after territory, the #7 would stubbornly guard his front row possession until lap 20, when Upper Lake’s Mike Doss (35) looped in low in turn two bringing with him the third yellow of the race.  In the meantime, Mangini drifted back to the tail-end of the field where he would take up new residence at the restart.  And on the restart, Hemet’s Chad Schug (29) graciously accepted his new-found inheritance as he put his right foot down and motored off to the lead.  Once out front, and despite another restart, Schug would not be denied on this night as he drove off into the annals of history and took home the Victor’s share of the spoils.  "I figured we had a car that could get a top three. I wasn't sure if we could pull off a win," Schug said, then added, "We just worked on the car really hard."  Darren Amidon (03) drove an absolutely divine race by rebounding from his earlier altercation to finish on the podium in second.  Cupertino’s Luis Tyrell (74M) ran his usual strong race and brought her home on the podium in third.  Frazier Park’s Cale Kanke (33), fast qualifier on the day and following in the footsteps of his well-known dad, finished fourth while Jeremy Doss fell off just a bit, but still managed a fifth place finish.  Tracy’s Cody Berger (63) took the win in the B Main earlier in the day.

The Pro-4 Modifieds returned to action for this Event and Cobb’s Chris Straka (34), as he does quite often, made the most of his night by starting P5 on the grid and driving his way through the field to the checkers for the lopsided Victory.  "I enjoy any track when you have to use the brake pedal; it brings a whole new aspect to driving," Straka said. "You can outdrive the guy going into the corner.  "It's a lot more of a racer's race track."  Kurt Lewis (87) of Forestville ran an impressive race of his own and it paid dividends by putting the #87 on the podium in second.  Marty Lewis (07) of Santa Rosa followed closely onto the podium in third, while Windsor’s Nick King (3) brought her home in fourth.  The #10 of Stan Bushman rounded out the top five.  Earlier in the day, Marty Lewis grabbed top honors in the Heat Race while Straka took the checkers in the Trophy Dash.

Next Saturday, April 14^th, NASCAR Whelen All American Series Opening Night presents:
Modified Race #1, Modified Race #2, North State Challenge Series Late Models, Super Stocks, Bombers, and Basically-4-Cylinders.  With Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort Giveaways!

The New Stockton 99 Speedway is located at 4105 N. Wilson Way, ¼-mile west of Highway 99.  For more information on tickets and times, please contact the Speedway Office at (209)466-9999 or visit their Website at www.stockton99.com. 

The New Stockton 99 Speedway is sponsored by Jackson Rancheria Casino Hotel, Budweiser, Alamo Alarm and Stockton Hampton Inn and Suites and Lodi Holiday Express.

                                                           RESULTS

Legends of the Pacific

Pos	No.	Name	Laps	Total time	Diff	Best time	In lap	Best speed
1	29S	Chad Schug	35	28:53.966		15.450	9	58.252
2	03	Darren Amidon	35	28:54.619	0.653	15.439	18	58.294
3	74M	Luis Tyrell	35	28:54.893	0.927	15.456	16	58.230
4	33	Cale Kanke	35	28:55.200	1.234	15.422	29	58.358
5	75	Jeremy Doss	35	28:55.971	2.005	15.562	9	57.833
6	37X	Ryan Cansdale	35	28:55.980	2.014	15.501	35	58.061
7	77	Rod Johnson	35	28:56.831	2.865	15.564	28	57.826
8	99	Brandon White	35	28:57.194	3.228	15.486	12	58.117
9	66	Zane Smilth	35	28:57.448	3.482	15.513	10	58.016
10	35	Mike Doss	35	28:57.979	4.013	15.675	13	57.416
11	71	Christian McGhee	35	28:58.209	4.243	15.481	31	58.136
12	7	Tony Mangini	35	28:58.654	4.688	15.508	33	58.035
13	21	Jessica Walker	35	28:59.637	5.671	15.606	11	57.670
14	24S	Ricky Schlick	35	28:59.866	5.900	15.590	35	57.729
15	24	Danny Allen	35	29:00.678	6.712	15.597	27	57.703
16	22	Buddy Sheppard	35	29:00.924	6.958	15.651	33	57.504
17	91	Doug Bradcock, Jr.	34	29:06.982	1 Lap	15.873	8	56.700
18	0	David Winchel	27	26:52.535	8 Laps	15.680	11	57.398
19	25B	James Bickford	3	10:46.823	32 Laps	15.753	2	57.132
20	14	Austin Reed	0	--:--:--.---		--:--:--.---	0	-
21	63	Cody Berger	0	--:--:--.---		--:--:--.---	0	-
22	64	Hunter Anderson	0	--:--:--.---		--:--:--.---	0	-
23	3	Mike Womack	0	--:--:--.---		--:--:--.---	0	-
24	8	Keith Clement	0	--:--:--.---		--:--:--.---	0	-

Pro-4 Modified

Pos	No.	Name	Laps	Total time	Diff	Best time	In lap	Best speed
1	34	Chris Straka	25	10:06.139		14.838	5	60.655
2	87	Kurt Lewis	25	10:07.338	1.199	15.055	13	59.781
3	07	Marty Lewis	25	10:07.890	1.751	15.031	11	59.876
4	3	Nick King	25	10:08.321	2.182	14.947	15	60.213
5	10	Stan Bushman	25	10:16.306	10.167	15.462	24	58.207
6	90	Kevin Barba	25	10:18.309	12.170	15.501	11	58.061
7	18	Vince Sanchez	5	1:22.012	20 Laps	15.932	4	56.490

SPEARS SRL

Pos	No.	Name	Laps	Total time	Diff	Best time	In lap	Best speed
1	16	Jacob Gomes	125	50:48.130		13.776	20	65.331
2	43	Derek Thorn	125	50:49.025	0.895	13.770	14	65.359
3	88	Jason Gilbert	125	50:49.692	1.562	13.798	15	65.227
4	33	M. K. Kanke	125	50:49.919	1.789	13.791	13	65.260
5	51	Carlos Vieira	125	50:51.484	3.354	13.988	16	64.341
6	46	Zane Lovelace **	125	50:52.035	3.905	13.754	14	65.436
7	05	Eric Schmidt	125	50:52.777	4.647	13.747	3	65.469
8	90	Ross Strmiska	125	50:53.868	5.738	13.929	13	64.613
9	37	Keith Spangler	125	50:55.201	7.071	13.983	14	64.364
10	18	Jim Pettitt II	125	50:55.411	7.281	13.773	13	65.345
11	22	Jonathon Gomez	125	50:56.161	8.031	13.880	13	64.841
12	9	Justin Westmoreland	125	50:57.165	9.035	13.889	14	64.799
13	4	Greg Voigt	125	50:57.492	9.362	14.078	13	63.930
14	1	Michael Sandoval	125	50:58.385	10.255	13.917	13	64.669
15	84	Eddie Secord	125	50:58.976	10.846	14.003	14	64.272
16	54	Joe Farre`	125	50:59.447	11.317	13.795	17	65.241
17	29	Jeff Oleen **	125	51:00.544	12.414	13.923	13	64.641
18	3	Jared Vorse	125	51:01.090	12.960	13.947	13	64.530
19	0	Dave Byrd	125	51:02.836	14.706	13.942	13	64.553
20	73	Ken Benhamou	123	50:48.356	2 Laps	13.971	16	64.419
21	44	Bob Lyon	123	50:59.889	11.533	13.948	14	64.525
22	26	Andy Allen	116	42:36.342	9 Laps	13.865	18	64.912
23	24	Scott Sanchez	109	36:42.156	16 Laps	14.028	14	64.157
24	25	Brandon Loverock	61	21:42.045	64 Laps	13.841	12	65.024