Stockton 99 Speedway featured racing in five divisions on a cool and breezy Saturday night, May 17, capped by Shelden Cooper pulling away to comfortably capture the Pro Late Model main event for his first victory in Stockton; or as the Clovis native and Madera resident put it, his first victory “out of town.”
Cooper’s post-race celebration included a lap of honor for Bobby Simpson Jr., a beloved member of the Stockton 99 motorsports community who passed away of cancer recently, holding the checkered flag outside his driver window. Cooper then put on a lengthy, loud and smoky spinout show sure to rival the upcoming July 3 fireworks event scheduled at the speedway.
This victory meant a lot to Cooper, who said he won “a couple of races at Madera, a bunch of Street Stock stuff and a trophy dash (in Stockton) in 2021. But this one beats it all.”
Cooper started fourth, moved to third by the fifth lap and was attempting to move under Chris Monez of Turlock for second on a lap 10 restart when he went into Turn 1 a bit too hot and clipped him, setting off a chain reaction that sent Monez, Glenn Cook of Mariposa and Henk Gaalswyk of Ripon all spinning up the track in unison.
“On the start I kept waiting for people to go and I kept dragging the brakes and all of sudden they stopped,” Cooper explained. “It was not anything intentional. I don’t drive like that.”
Restarting the race in second following the caution, Cooper surveyed early leader Jason Aguirre of Atwater for a few laps before going high side on the quarter-mile paved oval to pass for the lead on lap 17. Cooper dominated the remainder of the 76-lap feature, building leads upward of three seconds while slowing for two more cautions and still winning by a whopping 4.288 seconds.
Gaalswyk moved into third on lap 58 and reeled in Aguirre for second on lap 62 while Garland Tyler of Modesto and Cook rounded out the top five. Gaalswyk was also the top qualifier at 14.492 seconds.
Cooper promised to return to Stockton for the Aug. 9 “Night of Champions” Pro Late Model race.
Legends of 99: After setting the pace in qualifying (15.32 seconds), Linden’s Wyatt Sansom started the 35-lap main from the second row. It took him only two laps to pass pole sitter Kayce Phillips of Stockton for the lead.
Despite a couple of cautions that kept things relatively close, Sansom was able to cruise unchallenged the rest of the way to capture the 35-lap feature race. Phillips hung on for second place just ahead of Ripon’s Ethan Nascimento.
Nor Cal Mini Stock: Starting from the second row in the 25-lap main event, Manteca’s Joe Flowers quickly disposed of early race leaders Ethan Rumsey and Natalie Harper, both of Stockton, and soon began to pull away from the field.
Seemingly on his way to his second victory of the season, Flowers began to slow in the waning laps of the race with an ailing engine, allowing Rumsey to gradually reel him in. On the final lap coming out of Turn 4 Rumsey shot past Flowers to steal the win. Flowers set the quickest lap in the main event at 15.886 seconds and led since lap 3, but Rumsey could tell Flowers’ motor was going south.
“His motor was definitely going away over the last six or seven laps and I was slowly catching him. I wasn’t hoping for that, but a win’s a win,” Rumsey said.
The unexpected victory was sweet redemption for Rumsey, who two weeks earlier, exited early after losing a tire and finished last in the feature. Rumsey set the pace in qualifying at 16.039 seconds and won the feature by .358 of a second. Flowers was able to stagger across the line just ahead Harper to salvage second.
Pure Stock: Donnie Darter has been racing on rails in his Rail Road Flat General Store Pure Stock racer owned by Brian Miller. The Valley Springs resident took the lead on the third lap and drove to his third victory in a row in the 25-lap main event.
While Darter set the pace, young Mason Beghtel of Morada passed Dylan Powell of Stockton for second on lap 14.
Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified: Patrick Geiger of Clovis took the lead on the seventh of 30 laps and led for the duration of the main event.
On May 10, Geiger was leading the feature when his car raced through fluid on the track, turning his car sideways and sliding out the back gate in Turn 3 and into the pits. The lone injury was suffered by Geiger’s racer – a rear axle and housing that were bent “pretty bad,” he said.
With those parts replaced, there were no such mishaps this time, as Geiger set the pace with the fastest lap of the event at 15.918 seconds while coasting to a victory margin of 2.84 seconds over Modesto’s Adam Coonfield.
Next up at the speedway, on Saturday, May 31 there will be a Destruction Derby featuring boat racing, spectator racing, drift and a rollover contest and on Saturday, June 7, the Spears Cars Tour Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Legends, Nor Cal Mini Sprints and NCMA Sprints will all be taking on the 99 Speedway.
Also, on Saturday night, May 24, the Stockton Dirt Track, located at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds, will be hosting the Al Miller Memorial race featuring the West Coast Pro Stocks, Sports Mods, A-Mods, and Hobby Stocks.
Racing correspondents Bill Poindexter and Dale Bosowski contributed this report.
