The Stockton 99 Speedway showcased some exciting races in several categories on Saturday, and Riverbank racer Aaron Coonfield was not to be left out.
The driver sped to a sharp time to land second in qualifying for his Super Stock division, and justified the placement by edging local racers to end runner-up in the 30-lap main event.
The Super Stock category also featured Matt Wendt from Lodi (who went wire to wire for the win) and Oakdale racers Brock Monroe and Mike Graham. Monroe used consistent driving, keeping within the limits of his race car setup and stayed out of trouble to capture a third place finish.
Graham had a tougher go of it. After starting fifth, he found himself falling all the way back to last. The setup on his car was wrong for the hot and slick track conditions. Unfortunately, once the race started, there was no way to correct his chassis setup errors. He had nearly all he could handle just to keep the car from spinning out in the turns. Once the handling improved, he battled with everything he had and garnered a fifth place finish. In the Bomber (now being called Pure Stocks) category, Tyler Guzman of Oakdale used skillful driving and some luck to win the 30-lap main event. Guzman wasted no time moving up through the field. He was fourth by the 12th lap, avoiding several on track racing incidents along the way. By the 16th lap he was in third position, ready to chase down the leaders. Mike Masone from Linden was in the lead and in a tight battle with Rodney Tripp from Stockton. At lap 21, the battle came to a conclusion. On the restart, following a caution flag for an on track incident, Masone and Tripp would enter the tight first turn nearly side by side. As they both touched, their cars spun outwards towards the wall as they exited turn two. Guzman, who was sitting third, now found himself in the lead. Once he had the lead, he knew what to do, taking care to make no mistakes and stay out of trouble while passing lapped cars. Then the smoke came. His transmission was starting to go away and was leaking small amount of fluid onto the hot exhaust. Guzman was able to keep the transmission alive (barely) with a mere three laps to go, taking the checkered flag after starting out at the rear of the field in the 14th position.
This coming weekend, June 23 and 24, race fans are invited to attend the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Sonoma Raceway, featuring some big names in the sport, including Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch (2011 event champion) and others. In addition, the K and N Stock car series will be run on June 23. Local racers Jacob Gomes and Eric Holmes look to do battle on the tricky 1.99-mile 12-turn road course.
Correspondents Mike and Jeff Burghardt contributed this report.
The driver sped to a sharp time to land second in qualifying for his Super Stock division, and justified the placement by edging local racers to end runner-up in the 30-lap main event.
The Super Stock category also featured Matt Wendt from Lodi (who went wire to wire for the win) and Oakdale racers Brock Monroe and Mike Graham. Monroe used consistent driving, keeping within the limits of his race car setup and stayed out of trouble to capture a third place finish.
Graham had a tougher go of it. After starting fifth, he found himself falling all the way back to last. The setup on his car was wrong for the hot and slick track conditions. Unfortunately, once the race started, there was no way to correct his chassis setup errors. He had nearly all he could handle just to keep the car from spinning out in the turns. Once the handling improved, he battled with everything he had and garnered a fifth place finish. In the Bomber (now being called Pure Stocks) category, Tyler Guzman of Oakdale used skillful driving and some luck to win the 30-lap main event. Guzman wasted no time moving up through the field. He was fourth by the 12th lap, avoiding several on track racing incidents along the way. By the 16th lap he was in third position, ready to chase down the leaders. Mike Masone from Linden was in the lead and in a tight battle with Rodney Tripp from Stockton. At lap 21, the battle came to a conclusion. On the restart, following a caution flag for an on track incident, Masone and Tripp would enter the tight first turn nearly side by side. As they both touched, their cars spun outwards towards the wall as they exited turn two. Guzman, who was sitting third, now found himself in the lead. Once he had the lead, he knew what to do, taking care to make no mistakes and stay out of trouble while passing lapped cars. Then the smoke came. His transmission was starting to go away and was leaking small amount of fluid onto the hot exhaust. Guzman was able to keep the transmission alive (barely) with a mere three laps to go, taking the checkered flag after starting out at the rear of the field in the 14th position.
This coming weekend, June 23 and 24, race fans are invited to attend the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Sonoma Raceway, featuring some big names in the sport, including Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch (2011 event champion) and others. In addition, the K and N Stock car series will be run on June 23. Local racers Jacob Gomes and Eric Holmes look to do battle on the tricky 1.99-mile 12-turn road course.
Correspondents Mike and Jeff Burghardt contributed this report.
