Sammy Solari went into Saturday night’s season finale at Stockton 99 Speedway leading in points. For two weeks the Escalon lead foot was reminded how many positions he needed to finish within Stockton’s JoJo Stearns on Championship Night #2 to win the title in Stockton 99’s premier division.
But racing for points is not Solari, who on Saturday night, Oct. 18 put on a no-doubt performance to win the eighth points championship of his career in various divisions and his third in Stockton 99’s premier class.
“I’m too competitive,” Solari said after thoroughly dominating the 100-lap main event for his fifth checkered flag of the season. “When I put that helmet on, I’m here to do the best I can. I’m not gonna lay down, I’m not gonna let somebody win. … I’m here to win.”
And win he did – and how. Solari was the No. 1 qualifier at 14.517 seconds around the quarter-mile paved oval. Starting fourth in the final race of the season, he shot into the lead on the fourth lap and powered away from the 11-car field over the remaining 96 circuits, reappearing in rear-view mirrors to lap all but Stearns. Solari’s winning margin at the checkered flag was a whopping 8.937 seconds, more than half the track. He also recorded the best lap of the feature at 14.751, nearly one-tenth of a second better than Stearns’ 14.843.
Stearns pulled into the infield during an early caution flag to repair damage to the right side of his car, returned at the back of the pack and quickly made his way into third by lap 13, trailing Greg Potts for 47 laps until finally making the pass on lap 60.
As Stearns and Potts dueled, Solari widened his lead – from 4.98 seconds on lap 59 to 5.63 on lap 70, then 6.42 on lap 75 after lapping two more cars, and 8.2 seconds on lap 83.
As he pulled away from the field and closed in on another championship, Solari could see his boss sitting in turn 1. He thanked Mike David for all of his hard work on the car and recalled when Norman David served as his crew chief during Solari’s run to the 2018 title. Solari also thought about sponsor Nelson Laires of L5 Farming.
“Nelson, I gave him my word I’ll try my hardest,” Solari said. “You saw me tonight. I’m fast qualifier and everything.”
Mason Beghtel finished third one week after being crowned Pure Stock champion on Championship Night #1. Potts was fourth.
Grand American Modified: Sammy Nuno of Windsor set the pace in qualifying at 14.474 then led the 30-lap main event from green flag to checkered, beating track champion Scott Winters of Tracy by 1.316 seconds. Jordan Smith was third.
Winters pushed Nuno during the middle laps, but Nuno widened his lead on the way to scoring his first victory of the season.
“We weren’t too sure what was going to go on in the main event, but we got it set up real good and it was enough to get the win,” Nuno said. “Congrats to Scott Winters on his championship. He’s one hell of a driver.”
Winters won two races this season en route to his second consecutive division title. A longtime frontrunner, Winters scored his first victory at Stockton 99 in July 1995.
Winters, who has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, tipped his cap to the team of Wayne Ferrari and Dean Kramer, who he said “worked their tails off” to rebuild his red No. 24 following a crash at the end of the 2024 season.
“Gotta give a shout-out to the Ferrari-Kramer team. All season long, they gave us a hot rod,” Winters said. “We just love Stockton 99. Wayne Ferrari and Don Kramer do an outstanding job.”
Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified: Patrick Geiger of Clovis started last in the seven-car field but raced into the lead on lap 5 on his way to victory in the 25-lap main event, his fourth of the season in winning the division championship.
Kyle Labrie of Merced, a three-time winner this season, was second, .159 of a second behind Geiger, and Tim Kammerer finished third.
“He was riding me the whole time. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull it off. (Labrie) gave it all he had,” said Geiger, who added a second championship to a previous title at Madera. “I’m really happy about that.”
Labrie lost his mirror during the race and cut his hand while trying to keep it out of the steering wheel. He said Geiger “had a great car tonight. I didn’t want to touch him. Championship night, it would have been bad if we would have tangled.”
NCMA Sprints: Brothers Pat and David Goodwill finished 1-2 in the 30-lap main event and Tony Hunt of Rocklin finished third to add yet another championship to his stellar résumé – this one following a 12-year hiatus. Hunt returned with his team intact to win the first five races on the circuit.
“They put their heart and soul into this every week, and we come to win,” Hunt said. “We spent over 20 years together, took a 10-year gap. Everybody got older, a little wiser. I was a little concerned … but we had a great year and we had a lot of fun.”
In order, David Goodwill of Napa, Pat Goodwill of Rescue and Hunt were quickest in both practice sessions, but it was Pat Goodwill fending off his brother by .517 of a second in the feature.
Up Next: Although the 99 Speedway will go dark until next spring, the Stockton racing season will conclude with the 42nd Tribute to Gary Patterson Championship Finals at the Stockton Dirt Track, located at the San Joaquin Fairgrounds, on Friday, Oct. 31 and Saturday, Nov. 1. Friday night’s action will feature the Elk Grove Ford 360 Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Hunt Magneto Wingless Sprint Car Series and West Coast Pro Stocks while Saturday’s Triple Crown championship finales will feature the NARC 410 Sprint Cars, Nor Cal Dwarf Cars and BCRA/WMR Midgets.
Other News: Ripon’s Ethan Nascimento sat on the pole and led for much of the early going in Saturday’s 175-lap $10,000 Short Track Shootout for Pro Late Models at Madera Speedway. Unfortunately, following the mandatory break at lap 100, Nascimento was caught up in a multi-car accident that ended his night on lap 115.
Nascimento’s misfortune left Oakdale’s Blaine Rocha and 14-year-old Vito Cancilla of Martinez, who had already been involved in several “spirited” battles for position throughout the race, duking it out for the lead over the closing laps. Cancilla slid past Rocha to lead lap 170, but Rocha immediately answered back with hard contact, sending Cancilla spinning to bring out the caution flag. The contact drew the ire of track officials, who parked Rocha for the night. When the race resumed, Kyle Keller of Las Vegas, NV, gladly inherited the lead and drove to the victory.
Manteca’s Jacob Gomes and Jace Hale continue to lead their respective divisions in the Spears Cars Tour West Series. Gomes holds a narrow 145 to 139 point edge over Colorado’s Jace Hansen in the Super Late Model division heading into the season finale at Kevin Harvick’s Kern County Raceway in Bakersfield on Saturday, Oct. 25 while Hale has a more comfortable 406 to 363 lead on Taylor Mayhew in the Pro Late Model class, which will finish on Saturday, Nov. 15, also at Kern Raceway.
Racing Correspondent Dale Bosowski contributed to this report.
