STOCKTON, Calif. – Delta Speedway hosted micro sprint racing for the first time this season on Friday, with a pair of familiar faces claiming victories.
Caden Sarale, a double track champion at Delta in 2019, and 45-time 2019 California micro sprint feature winner Mitchel Moles starred on the opening night of action at Delta during the Summer Sizzler.
Each win paid $750 and put the drivers in position to challenge for a $500 bonus should they win Saturday’s features as well.
Moles added his first Delta win of 2020 by taking the opener for Non-Wing on Friday. Moles won five Delta features in 2019 in Non-Wing and had to battle with multi-time track champion Brandon Carey, with three 2019 victories on his trophy shelf.
Carey rocketed from fourth on the grid into the lead on lap one while Moles led Tim Vaught and 2018 track champion T.J. Smith past pole sitting Brody Petrie. Moles took over the lead from Carey on lap nine while Vaught battled with Smith behind them. Petrie eventually drifted to tenth by the 14th lap of the event.
Moles and Carey darted through lapped traffic in pursuit of the victory in an entertaining race. Cody Gray stopped in turn one to draw the caution on lap 19. Smith used the caution to nab third while ninth starting Caden Sarale, the 2019 champion, took over fifth as well. Moles won the feature ahead of Carey, Smith, Sarale, and Denver, NC’s Brent Crews at the checkered flag.
In a repeat of his dual championships in 2019, Sarale played a factor in both the Non-Wing and Super 600 features. After finishing fourth in Non-Wing, Sarale grabbed the season opening victory in the Super 600 main event.
Alex Panella started on the pole and led the feature while Moles and Sarale dueled for the second position. A series of slide jobs and crossovers ended with contact between the pair on lap five which sent Moles spinning in turn four. Moles was then hit several seconds later by Nate Matherly. Matherly flipped and was done of the evening.
Panella maintained the lead with Sarale in second while Moles went to work from the rear of the field. Brad Hannum made a big maneuver on Nikko Panella that led to contact, followed by a caution for Gauge Garcia stopped in turn four. Nikko Panella retired under the caution with a flat left rear tire.
Sarale pulled off a slide job to take the lead from Alex Panella on lap six while Caeden Steele advanced to sixth from the 12th starting position. Panella came to a stop in turn four a few laps later for the next caution but was able to return to the race.
Raio Salmon and Blaine Baxter both moved past Travis Labat on the restart to take second and third respectively. By lap 17, Moles was up to eighth before Sage Bordenave flipped in turn three for a red flag.
Salmon made the bottom work well over the final laps of the race, nearly passing Sarale for the win. Sarale hung on for the victory over Salmon, Travis Labat, Heath Duinkerken, and a hard-charging Moles.
Dalton Parreira won his first career 25-lap Restricted main event, worth $450. Rylee Whitehouse led the first two laps before Fresno’s Mattix Salmon took over the top spot.
Parreira battled back and forth with Isabel Barnes for the third position before clearing her on lap six. The top-three of Salmon, Whitehouse, and Parreira closed nearly nose to tail by lap ten. Whitehouse re-assumed the lead on lap 11 on the top side but Parreira was unable to follow her past Salmon. On lap 13, Parreira got past Salmon and turned his attention to Whitehouse.
Lapped traffic played a part in allowing Parreira to challenge, snookering Whitehouse down the backstretch to lead lap 16. Colton Key tagged the front stretch wall for a caution that same lap. Parreira never relinquished the lead, charging to victory over Whitehouse, Salmon, Austin Wood, and Barnes.
Hayden Stepps won her first Jr. Sprints feature, leading the final 12 laps of the 20-lap contest. Brody Rubio led the opening lap from the pole while Kyle Fernandez emerged from the pack with second position. On lap four, Fernandez began to slow before coming to a stop in turn four for a lap six caution.
Stepps went up the inside of Rubio down the backstretch for the top spot and never looked back. Rubio paced 2019 champion Lucas Mauldin for second. Nathan Ward and Fernandez rounded out the top-five.