Fifteen-year-old Hayden Stepps of Oakdale pulled off a daring pass on the final lap of Saturday’s Championship Night 50-lap Pro Late Model feature at the Stockton 99 Speedway to earn the first victory of her young career, while Ripon’s Henk Gaalswyk’s conservative third-place drive was good enough to lock up the season championship.
“I’m very happy. I really felt I needed to get this done this year, and it is super exciting. To get my first win, especially with so many people here, this means a lot to me,” said Stepps, who won a dirt championship at Delta Speedway last season before concentrating on pavement racing this year. “I have a lot of people helping me out, and I didn’t want to let them down, so when I saw I had an opportunity to do this, I knew I had to take it.”
Garland Tyler of Modesto used his pole position to jump into the early race lead just ahead of Stepps, Mariposa’s Glenn Cook, Stockton’s Danny Devore and Gaalswyk. Stepps remained glued to Tyler’s tailpipe over the next 48 laps while the other three gradually fell back as they battled each other for third.
After entering the night with a 17-point edge over Tyler in the season standings, Gaalswyk added to that lead by setting fast time in qualifying with a 14.513-second lap. As a result, he only needed to finish within five spots of Tyler in the race to secure the 2025 Pro Late Model championship. His title hopes got an additional boost when Devore dropped out of the race with a mechanical issue on lap 14, allowing Gaalswyk to contently settle into fourth just behind Cook where he would remain for the next 28 laps.
“I have always gone with the philosophy of letting them string out and then picking them off as I go. Glenn is super tough to pass, and he races really clean, so I didn’t want to take a chance,” Gaalswyk said.
On the penultimate lap, Stepps made her move by bumping her way under Garland heading into Turn 3. Garland was able to inch ahead heading down the front straight to take the white flag, but Stepps dove low going into Turn 1 and pushed Garland up the track just enough to take the lead. As the crowd in the grandstands roared with approval, she was able to hold off Garland for the rest of the lap to take the stunning victory by about a half of a car length.
“It was crazy. I really didn’t think I had a chance with five laps to go because he was too far away. In the final laps I let him know I was there a couple of times, but not hard enough to spin him,” confided Stepps. “On that last lap I just thought that I have to go for it, and I don’t think I even braked.”
Meanwhile, in less dramatic fashion, Gaalswyk was finally able to slide by Cook on lap 42 to secure third place, seven seconds behind the leaders, to lock up the season title.
“I wish we could have been up there to fight with them. I think we had the car for it, but we were kind of conservative because we knew where we were in the points,” said Gaalswyk. “This is special. We do this as a family without much backing, so this means everything.”
After the race, as Stepps stopped on the front straight to celebrate the win with her team, Garland drove up alongside of her and gave a thumbs up in congratulations.
“I was happy he did that. It was great sportsmanship,” said Stepps, who hopes to race in NASCAR Cup someday. “I don’t want to be known as a bad driver with bad sportsmanship.”
Legends of 99: A scary crash brought the 35-lap Legends feature to an immediate halt even before it got started when Lawrence Massone’s throttle stuck wide open in warm-ups, sending the Stockton driver hard into the Turn 1 wall. Massone was eventually extricated from his badly damaged car, giving the crowd a thumbs up as he was carted off the track with a broken ankle.
After a long delay, the remaining 12-car field finally took the green flag to begin the race with Danville’s Jason Gilbert and season points leader Kayci Phillips of Stockton leading the way, but it took only six laps for Linden’s Zach Sansom to pass both of them and take over the lead.
Deftly maneuvering through lapped traffic, Sansom held the top spot for the remainder of the race, keeping his older brother Wyatt Sansom at bay over the final 15 laps.
“We worked hard on it all weekend, found a good balance for it, and we had a good night,” explained Sansom. “If there were a couple more laps, Zach probably would have been beating on me a lot harder. I can’t complain though, going one-two with my brother.”
Gilbert held on to finish in third just ahead of Merced’s Kyle Lebrie, and Phillips took the checkered flag in fifth, which was good enough to take the Legends season points title ahead of Sansom, despite her failing to win a single race all season.
“I think we finished in the top five in every race,” said Phillips, who hustled back to Stockton from a race in Las Vegas on Friday night. “I keep being told that consistency matters, and that is what got us here.”
NorCal Mini Stock: Points leader Ethan Rumsey of Stockton jumped to the front of the field on the opening lap of the 25-lap Mini Stock feature and then spent the next 10 laps desperately holding off the hard-charging car of Rocklin’s John Sproule. Unfortunately, their intense battle was suddenly interrupted when Rocklin’s Tony Beto clipped another car and flipped violently into the outer wall on the back straight.
Thankfully, Beto was unhurt, and following a lengthy delay to clean up the mess and what was left of Beto’s car, Rumsey and Sproule lined up side by side for the restart.
As the race resumed, Sproule tried to hold the high side, but when Rumsey drifted up to block, Sproule suddenly dove down underneath him to squeeze into the lead. Rumsey spent the rest of the race trying to track him down, but it was to no avail as Sproule took the checkered flag just 0.33 seconds ahead of Rumsey.
“I don’t know if I could have gotten by him without that restart. Ethan never gives up and he always drives you clean and hard, but fair,” said Sproule. “You have to drive a safe race and pick your battles. I had a place to try and take the lead, and I am glad I did.”
Despite his disappointing runner-up finish, Rumsey easily captured the Mini Stock championship points title over Stockton’s Natalie Harper, who finished the race in fourth behind Linden’s Leilani Sprenkel.
“This feels unbelievable,” exclaimed Rumsey after clinching his career-first championship. “I tried to follow his (Sproule’s) line, but he was too fast tonight.”
Pure Stock: Sam Reynolds of Lockeford ran away and hid from the rest of the field to notch his first main event victory in the caution-free 20-lap Pure Stock main. Points leader Mason Beghtel of Morada lost the battle, but won the war, as his second-place finish was more than enough to lock down the season championship over Reynolds.
“I tried to get around him, but we only had 20 laps, and there was just nothing much I could do,” Beghtel said. “But it all worked out. We are the champions.”
Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified: Kyle Labrie of Merced captured the 25-lap main event after prevailing in an exciting door-to-door shootout with points leader Patrick Geiger of Clovis that lasted for multiple laps.
“I got through the traffic a little cleaner than Patrick did. If he had gotten through it first, I don’t know if anyone would have been able to catch him,” admitted Labrie. “He did everything he could to get by me, but it worked out for us tonight.”
Despite his setback, Geiger was able to increase his season points lead over Modesto’s Freddy Irvin, who exited the race on lap 13 after clipping the wall, heading into the season finale next Saturday.
Next Up: The 2025 season at the 99 Speedway concludes Saturday, Oct. 18, with Championship Night #2, where double points and season titles will be on the line for the Stockton Late Models, Grand American Modifieds, and Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified divisions. In addition, the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars and NCMA Sprints will be in action plus fans will be treated to a season-ending fireworks show.
Tickets cost $20 for ages 16-59 and $15 for seniors ages 60 and up, juniors ages 11-15, and military with an ID. Kids 10 and under get in free, and parking is free at Stockton 99. Gates open at 5 p.m., with racing beginning at 6 p.m. Visit stockton99.com for information.
