RACING: Thorn cruises to Spears SRL Southwest Tour win at 99

STOCKTON – Saturday night’s Spears SRL Southwest Tour and the Pro Late Model Twin Bill at Stockton 99 Speedway featured two dominant performances from defending champions Derek Thorn and Jeremy Doss.

Bakersfield’s Buddy Shepherd and Manteca’s Jacob Gomes led the 16-car field to start the Spears Southwest Tour 125, but an early yellow caution on lap 10 allowed Bakersfield’s Thorn to dash forward on the restart. Although five more warnings were relatively close together as the race progressed, Thorn was never seriously challenged after his lead when he sailed to his second win of the season.

“My crew did a good job and did the thing quickly tonight. We were great on the reboots and that helped us. “Said Thorn, a five-time serial champion who made his 100th career SRL start on Saturday. “I love this place. I think this is my seventh win here, so it was really a good night.”

With Thorn up front in cruise control, Shepherd, Gomes, and Oakdale’s Blaine Rocha fought to the end behind him. Rocha was able to secure second place on lap 25, while Gomes and Shepherd swapped positions three and four a few times before Shepherd finally secured the final podium with just 12 laps.

“We were able to keep our noses clean and we worked our way forward, but I used up my things,” explained Rocha. “It was a nice race for us and we gave everything we had. It gives us something to build on when we return here this summer. “

It was similar in the 75-lap Spears SRL Pro Late Model report in which Jeremy Doss, 24 years old, from Upper Lake, took over the management of 15-year-old Tanner Reif from Henderson, Nevada after a controversial lap Restart.

Although the leader is responsible for setting the pace for a restart, Doss left Reif in the dust outside the start line when the green flag came out again. Surprisingly, the flagman abandoned the start instead of throwing the yellow and reforming the field for a second try.

“Our car was perfect tonight. Doss took us by surprise on this reboot and for some reason they decided not to do it again, ”said a frustrated Hoist. “If they made the right call, I think I’d have a good chance of winning.”

Reif stayed on Doss’ tail for the remainder of the race but could never seriously try to get past him and had to settle for a frustrating second place. Escalon’s Sam Solari, Tanner’s 13-year-old brother Tyler, and Napa’s Dylan Zampa rounded out the top five.

“We worked really hard to get this car ready and it paid off,” said Doss, who also served as the Asparagus 125 at the opening of the 99 speedway season for the Spears SRL Late Model Series on March 13th Winner emerged forward and just a bit of a cruise. Everything worked out tonight. “

With 23 cars in the field, the early stages of the 40-lap Legends of the Pacific race looked and sounded like a swarm of angry hornets as everyone battled for position. Double duty Jeremy Doss came out with the early lead and then held on to several other drivers in search of a good life.

Doss was clinging to his narrow lead over Mantecas Ethan Nascimento late in the race when he suffered a mechanical failure and slowed dramatically on the back straight. Nascimento was able to step on the brakes and not plow into Doss, but Tracy’s Brendan Ruzbansky, who sat in third place, took the opportunity by diving under both to take the lead and to victory roll.

“It was unfortunate for Doss, but I was in the right place at the right time,” said Ruzbansky with a smile.

Joe Flowers of Manteca suffered a fate similar to Doss in the lead role. Flowers, who has dominated the division for the past two years with 11 wins in the last 12 B-4 events, burned his engine at the start of the 25-lap feature trying to chase Stockton’s Andrew Rumsey for the lead .

Rumsey later got stuck behind slower traffic that allowed Barrett Sugden and Dave Keller, both of Stockton, to pass him and take the top two spots.

The next on the program at 99 Speedway is the Asparagus Festival 2021 from May 13th to 16th, where handicrafts, exhibitions, live music and lots of asparagus from the region will be served in every imaginable way. The race will return on Saturday May 29th with the Gun Slinger Winged Sprint Cars, NCMA Sprints Cars, BCRA Midgets and Vintage BCRA Midgets. Radical Focus Midgets and Pro-4 Modifieds.