'Great way to start season' at Stockton 99

By Scott Niendorf

Record Correspondent

April 07, 2013 12:00 AM
 

STOCKTON - Sacramento's Jason Philpot knew he might only get one chance to get past Ripon's Mike Regelman, who had the pole in the first of two Grand American Modifieds main events Saturday in the season opener at Stockton 99 Speedway.

When he saw it, Philpot knew what to do.

Philpot passed Regelman on the outside of the fifth lap and survived a restart a lap later to earn his first victory of the year in front of an estimated 1,200 spectators.

"It's a great way to start the season off," said Philpot, who also took the dash victory. "I knew (Regelman) would be fast on the inside and when he made a little slip, I took advantage of it. I was nervous and had to watch him the rest of the race. I hope it was a good race for the fans because that was no easy race (to win)."

Regelman, who had the top qualifying time of the afternoon, knew he had the upper hand if his car performed well.

"We had a little setup problem, but we still had a good finish," Regelman said. "I love racing against a great driver like Jason, who races very clean. I don't know what it is - we just always seem to find each other out there (on the track). I'm excited to get back out there because I think we have a shot (to finish well) this year."

Regelman started third in the second main and passed A.J. Rider of Stockton on lap 24 to take the checkered flag, with Andy Vanderveer of Santa Rosa taking third and Philpot fourth.

Results were unavailable from the Spears SRL Southwest Series Tour main event featuring 22 late model drivers, which hadn't finished by press time.

The drivers showed plenty of rust in the Legends of the Pacific main event that featured 22 cars and two consecutive red flags on the opening lap.

Donny St. Ours of Upland took the checkered flag in the Legends main event ahead of Tracy's Jeremy Wood.

The first stoppage came when Bakersfield's Buddy Shepherd pulled out of turn 4 with an engine fire. After a restart Napa's Logan Zampa crashed directly into the tires guarding the track exit ramp and was treated by track emergency responders in the infield.

Lodi's Dan White, suffered an earlier setback when his car rolled twice in the Pro-4 Limited heat race, landing on all four tires, but was all right, climbing out of his vehicle.

Cody Barba of Windsor took the checkered flag in the 25-lap Pro-4 main event, ahead of Greg VanCleave of Santa Rosa and Curt Lewis of Forestville respectively. John Barker of Upper Lake won the trophy dash.

Stockton 99 Speedway next hosts the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Saturday evening featuring twin Late Models, Super Stocks, Midgets, Basic 4's and Mini Cups.