SRL Public Relations/Eddie Alves

Jeff Belletto Blasts Thru for Shootout Victory

Photos: #6 Jeff Belletto Victory Lane & Jeff Belletto and Crew in Victory Lane.

Photo Credit:  David Misco

Madera, Calif. (June 20^th)-- Davey Hamilton’s SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout made their lone stop to Madera Speedway Saturday night. After 100 laps of exciting racing, and a late race wreck that took out race leader Ryan Foster, Salida’s Jeff Belletto led the final two laps as he picked up his first career SRL Wild West Shootout victory. “This is my first win in a long time. This series is so tough, anyone of these cars could have won tonight. It was just a good night of hard racing. We always seem to run well here at Madera, and it showed tonight.” Said Jeff Belletto.

Ceres’ Ken Boyd was the quickest car in qualifying. Boyd’s stopped the clock with a lap of 14.636 seconds around “The Fastest 1/3 Mile in the West”. Jeff Belletto qualified second quick, with a lap of 14.717 seconds. Nathan Tucker made his 2004 debut and qualified third. Fremont’s Troy Ermish qualified fourth, and Fresno’s Ray Lawson Jr. rounded out the top five.

A six-car invert placed Tim Stratmeyer on the inside of row one, with Ray Lawson Jr. on the outside of the front row. The sun covered the majority of the racing surface as the field took the initial green flag just before 8:00 pm. Heading into turn one, Steve Yatsko spun bringing out the first caution of the evening. Stratmeyer led Lawson and Ermish as Jeremy Hopkins Jr. spun exiting turn two on lap eight. Turlock’s Wes Miller cut down a tire and brushed the wall on lap 13. After setting quick time and working his way up through the field Ken Boyd spun after making contact with another competitor on lap 21. Running a limited schedule in 2004, Stratmeyer continued to lead, Ermish followed, along with Nathan Tucker, Jeff Belletto, and Ray Lawson Jr. on lap 25.

After a brief caution on lap 25, Tucker made his way around Ermish to take the second position as they excited turn four. After qualifying 10th earlier in the day, Anderson’s Ryan Foster made his way into the top five by lap 30. He then passed Jeff Belletto to take over fourth on lap 35. Foster continued his charge to the front and took third away from Ermish on lap 42. A caution on lap 45 slowed the field, but Foster was able to pass Ermish and Stratmeyer before they took the caution flag. The race was red flagged just one lap shy of halfway for fluid on the racetrack. With the sun setting in the west, each team was able to designate one team member to pull tape off of the driver’s windshield that was once used to block the bright sun.

Ryan Foster led the field back to the green flag with Stratmeyer second, and Nathan Tucker third. Stratmeyer and Tucker raced side-by-side from lap 54 to lap 60, as Foster slowly pulled away. Napa’s Joey Zampa took fourth from Jeff Belletto on lap 62 after starting the race in ninth. Two laps later Zampa and Belletto made contact in turn two, sending Zampa’s Chevrolet into a spin and a cloud of smoke. Stratmeyer and Tucker continued to battle for second, until lap 70 when they ran out of racetrack exiting turn two. Tucker’s car bounced off the outside wall and came to a stop in turn three with heavy damage to the front and right side of his Monte Carlo.

The race continued green for 10 more laps, and then Jeremy Hopkins Jr. and Bakersfield’s Kevin Vernon spun in turn four. With 16 laps remaining Foster continued to show his strength as the race leader. Troy Ermish and Tracy Bolin spun across the front straight-away and into the grass on lap 91 to bring out another caution. Foster continued to lead Belletto, Stratmeyer, and Ron Strmiska Jr. as the field restarted with just nine laps to go. With just two laps left in the race, Ryan Foster looked like he was going to win his second SRL Wild West Shootout in a row. That was not the case as Foster and the lapped car of Steve Yatsko made contact exiting turn four and all the way down the front straight-way. Foster’s car bounced hard off the front straight-away wall, and came to a stop in turn one, just less then two laps short of his second victory of 2004.

Jeff Belletto inherited the lead, and led the final two laps to win his first career SRL Wild West Shootout victory. Belletto held off a serious charge from Tim Stratmeyer who finished second, followed by Ron Strmiska Jr., Ken Boyd recovered from a previous spin to finish fourth, and Steve Belletto rounded out the top five. Jeff Anthony finished sixth, followed by Ray Lawson Jr., Aaron Days, Bob McCoun, and current point leader Rick Ruzbarsky.

“Foster was flying. He definitely had the car to beat tonight. We made a lot of adjustments during the day. Normally I have about eight guys helping me, but tonight I only had two, and they worked their tails off.” Said Tim Stratmeyer.

“It was a really exciting race tonight. The car is in one piece, so we are happy with that. We are looking forward to the next race at Stockton.” Said Ron Strmiska Jr. after finishing third Saturday night.

Davey Hamilton’s SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout returns to action on Saturday, July 3, 2004 at Stockton 99 Speedway.

Race Leaders: Tim Stratmeyer (1-42), Ryan Foster (43-98), Jeff Belletto (99-100)

Average Race Speed: 59.887 MPH

Best Lap Time: 15.004 (79.899 MPH, Aaron Days)

Margin of Victory: 0.585