STOCKTON, Calif. — Shane Golobic won the 30-lap open competition 360 sprint car main event at Stockton Dirt Track on Friday night.
The race served as a preliminary event on the night before the annual Tribute to Gary Patterson. Golobic drove his familiar Matt Wood Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 17w.
Justyn Cox got close to Golobic several times but had to settle for a runner-up finish. Michael Faccinto, making another start in the VanDyke Motorsports entry, scored his best Stockton finish by taking the third spot.
Mitchell Faccinto, who started on the front row with Golobic, took command on the opening lap going into the first turn. His blue and white Western Metal Company No. 37 would eventually lead the first eight laps and was the race’s only other leader.
The red flag waved on the opening lap when Colby Copeland got upside down in the second turn. The wreck also took out Trent Canales.
Prior to the wreck, both Buddy Kofoid and Kyle Hirst elected to pull off the track, both doing a start and park and putting them as the first retirees.
After the restart Golobic would catch Faccinto in lapped traffic to take the lead on lap eight. On lap 10, the yellow lights came on for a two-car spin off the turn-two banking involving Cole Macedo, who had to be towed back to the pits, ending his race.
Rico Abreu was running mid pack when he went off the turn three banking and slowly re-entered the track only to pull off, resulting in a 18th-place finish.
Shortly after, Mitchell Faccinto, who was running second at the time, had a front axle break, sending him into the infield, kicking up a cloud of dust and causing another caution.
The remaining 18 laps ran caution free as Golobic mastered the slower traffic, and sometimes allowing Cox to gain ground to his back bumper but no further.
At the checkered flag, it was Golobic winning ,by 10 car lengths with 14 of the original 25 starters still on the track.
The Fremont, Calif., driver pocketed $2,500 for his winning effort.
The finish:
Shane Golobic, Justyn Cox, Michael Faccinto, Willie Croft, Jason Solwold, Kyle Offill, Ryan Robinson, Justin Sanders, Jesse Love, Blake Carrick, Tony Gualda, Nathan Rolfe, Andy Gregg, Caden Sarale, Kenny Wanderstadt, Bret Barney, Mitchell Faccinto, Rico Abreu, Cole Macedo, Sean Becker, Dominic Scelzi, Colby Copeland, Trent Canales, Buddy Kofoid, Kyle Hirst   Â