STOCKTON, Calif. – Despite 114 competitors on hand, the crème continued to rise to the top at Delta Speedway presented by Financial Center Credit Union with former track champions Nikko Panella and Dan Mognaga grabbing $500 victories.
Logan Trevino and Jett Barnes also won in a busy second points race of the year Saturday on the seventh-mile dirt oval.
Corey Day jumped out to the early lead in the Super 600 feature with Nikko Panella in pursuit. The front wing lifted up on Jake Hagopian’s car from fourth on lap 10. Hagopian then pitted at the halfway point to end his night early. As the leaders approached lapped traffic, Day suddenly lost his right rear tire to necessitate a caution on lap 15.
Panella assumed the top spot with Day’s evening over. The 2018 Super 600 champion enjoyed a comfortable lead over Caden Sarale before a caution lap 21 for Brad Hannum bouncing off of Dylan Bloomfield in turn one.
Dillon Horsley flipped in turn one in an incident involving Colton Huelsmann for a lap 22 red flag. As the field stopped on the front stretch, Ashlyn Rodriguez flipped on her side as well.
Travis Labat went upstairs from the third position. He nearly passed Sarale for second but was impeded briefly. The battling allowed Panella to earn a three car length cushion. Labat finally cleared Sarale for second but was too far behind to go for the top spot. Panella led Labat, Sarale, season opening winner Raio Salmon, and Cody Christensen as the top-five finishers in the $500 to win event.
A wild scrum in turn four stopped the action on the opening lap of the 22 car Non Wing feature. Jonathan Henry went upside down and collected at least four cars including hard contact for Nick Robfogel.
After the red flag, 19 cars returned to competition with Robbie Lewis leading the way on fifth starting Dan Mognaga. Dave Mosier qualified in the top-five and ran within the top-five early in the feature.
A caution waved on lap eight for a multi-car crash in turn two that eliminated Lewis’ advantage on the field. The top-two in the 2018 points – T.J. Smith and Caden Sarale – both passed Mosier on the restart. Two-time Non Wing champion Mognaga hounded the rear bumper of Lewis as the field approached traffic on lap 18. Meanwhile, Smith and Brent Brooks battled tooth and nail for third with Smith trying a variety of maneuvers.
Angelina Dempsey lost her right front tire under green on lap 22 but the race continued without incident as she made it into the infield safely. Mognaga snookered Lewis for the lead nearly simultaneously. Both Smith and Sarale got past Brooks for third and fourth. The duo needed a caution to close the gap on the leaders. The caution never came. Mognaga scored the $500 win ahead of Lewis, Smith, Sarale, and tenth starting Chad Laughton.
Logan Trevino led all 25 laps for his second consecutive $300 Restricted feature over a strong field of 30 competitors. Jade Avedisian moved past Devon Courtnier for second and tried to chase down Trevino in traffic lap nine. Trevino was nearly pinched into the wall by former Jr. Sprint champion Isabel Barnes. Trevino then made contact with Logan Penman into turn one that sent him spinning for a caution on lap ten.
Trevino maintained the lead while heat race winners Blaine Baxter and Izaak Sharp battled for fifth. Austin Wood flipped hard off the turn four fence to force a red flag on lap 16. The young driver was uninjured. Gauge Garcia used the restart to throw a nice slidejob on Devon Courtnier. Courtnier crossed him over in a side-by-side battle.
Jeffrey Pahule Jr. advanced from 17th to sixth before a caution on lap 22 for James Andrichuk spinning in turn four.
The final three laps saw a great battle between Courtnier and Garcia for third. Logan Trevino grabbed his the checkered flag ahead of Avedisian and Courtnier for all Driven Chassis top-three. Garcia and Baxter rounded out the top-five.
A great field of 17 Jr. Sprints took the green flag for their 20 lap feature. The race was halted on the first lap when Cyrnic Vo spun in turn four and collected Colton Key.
On the restart, Jett Barnes swept around the outside of pole sitter Andy Hintz to take the lead. Hintz drifted back to fifth over the next two laps. Opening night winner Lucas Mauldin chased Barnes through traffic before making contact with Mason Smith. Smith spun to force a caution on lap eight.
Racing continued with Barnes up front while Kyle Fernandez battled with Mauldin for second. Colton Key had advanced from 17th to sixth by that point as well.
The yellow waved again on lap 15 when Makayla Tatoole stopped in turn four. The caution was opportune for Mason Smith who had pitted for repairs and returned only one lap down in seventh. Barnes held off Mauldin and Fernandez over the final five laps to take the win with T.K. O’Brien and Key rounding out the top-five.