JoJo Stearns wished his dad, Joey, a Happy Father’s Day a night early, and his timing was impeccable, considering he did so from Victory Lane at Stockton 99 Speedway after winning the 60-lap Stockton Late Models main event on Saturday, June 14.
It was the second checkered flag in the last two Stockton starts for the family Stearns, and it came in large part to stripping the front end even after recording “good” times during testing Thursday with JoJo Stearns, saying, “We didn’t have a raceable car.”
Their strip job resulted in finding a frozen left ball joint, and they “changed the front geometry,” JoJo Stearns said. Final adjustments were made before the main event.
“Everyone says races are won in the garage, and this proves it right here,” said Stearns, who qualified No. 1 but started eighth because of the invert.
“We knew there were 60 laps so we had to bide our time and be smart and not want to get into anyone and tear the car up,” Stearns said. “From the drop of the green, I knew we had a good piece so I definitely didn’t want to rub doors with anyone and mess up what we had.”
Stearns, of Stockton, passed Sam Solari of Escalon on a restart on lap 21 and led the rest of the way, though Solari and Stockton’s Ty Carlson provided challenges – when they weren’t challenging each other. Carlson gave Solari a tap to slide by into second behind Stearns on lap 34. Carlson then got underneath the bumper of Stearns, his brother-in-law, but Stearns hung onto the lead.
Carlson then slid into the back wall, providing sparks, but maintained control and the next time around got into the back of Solari, sending him spinning in turn 4 on lap 43. Both cars turned to the infield for quick repairs before returning to the quarter-mile paved oval.
Stearns won that last restart and went on to a 3.454-second victory over Solari, who roared through the remains of a 12-car field to finish second. Carlson finished fifth behind third-place Steven Fraser of Lodi and Danny Devore of Stockton.
Pure Stock: Donnie Darter’s quest for a fourth consecutive victory ended on lap 9 when a sideswipe by Mason Beghtel ripped away the left side of the front bumper. Stockton’s Darter drove 10 more laps with the bumper sticking straight out before an explosion of steam from under his hood ended his night on lap 18.
Jeremy Tucker of Stockton led the entire way in the 25-lap feature race, beating runner-up Sam Reynolds by a whopping 7.594 seconds.
Tucker was waiting for a challenge from Darter that never came.
“Donnie Darter, he’s a tough competitor. He’s always there. He gives you a run for your money for sure,” Tucker said. “I was just taking it easy waiting for Donnie to come. I knew he was going to be coming so I was just trying to save what I had.”
Grand American Modified: Veteran Scott Winters of Tracy took his time before making his move to pass Sammy Nuno for the lead on lap 12 and drove to the checkered flag in his third race in a car his team tore apart at the end of last season.
Winters led the rest of the way and set quick lap in the 30-lap main at 14.57 seconds en route to beating Nuno by 1.271 seconds. Jordon Smith was third.
Legends of 99: Zack Sansom of Linden took the lead from Kayci Phillips of Stockton on a restart on lap 3 and pulled away over the final 22 laps to win the 25-lap feature by 6.226 seconds.
“The car felt good all day,” said Sansom, who had the quickest lap in the feature at 15.33 seconds.
Phillips fought off late challenges by Chad Nascimento of Manteca to place second.
NorCal Mini Stock: Pumping about $600 worth of new parts into his racer, Ethan Rumsey jumped into the lead just after the green flag and drove away to a dominating 5.638-second victory in the 30-lap main event. Joe Flowers was second and Linden’s Leilani Sprenkel was third.
A red flag and two cautions marred the first two laps before the last 28 laps went caution-free with Rumsey dominating, including a race-best 16.033-second lap.
Stockton 99 will be dark until hosting the Ron Strmiska Firecracker for Stockton Late Models on Thursday, July 3, along with the NorCal Mini Stock, Pure Stock, Legends of 99 and Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modifieds.
STOCKTON 99 SPEEDWAY RESULTS
June 14, 2025
Stockton Late Model: 1. JoJo Stearns, 2. Sam Solari, 3. Steven Fraser, 4. Danny Devore, 5. Ty Carlson, 6. Brandon Diede, 7. Jeana Ramos, 8. Greg Potts, 9. Roy Luft, 10. Shawn O’Leary, 11. Lawrence Massone, 12. Tony Vincent.
Pure Stock: 1. Jeremy Tucker, 2. Sam Reynolds, 3. Mason Beghtel, 4. Dylan Powell, 5. Jerry Crawford, 6. Donnie Darter.
Grand American Modified: 1. Scott Winters, 2. Sammy Nuno, 3. Jordon Smith, 4. Calvin Hegje, 5. Sam Winkler, 6, Rick Avila.
Legends of 99: 1. Zack Sansom, 2. Kayci Phillips, 3. Chad Nascimento, 4. Justin Gantt, 5. Erin Brandt, 6. Cam Carraway, 7. Wyatt Sansom.
NorCal Mini Stock (30 laps): 1. Ethan Rumsey, 2. Joe Flowers, 3. Leilani Sprenkel, 4. Chad Pais, 5. Natalie Harper, 6. Steve Ford, 7. Scott Sprenkel, 8. John Sproule, 9. Scotty Crawford, 10. Stephanie Ziebell.
