ANTIOCH, Calif. — When the dust settled on one of the more wild NARC 410 sprint car main events in recent memory, Hanford’s D.J. Netto stood in the winner’s circle at Antioch Speedway.
Netto took the checkered flag in the Contra Costa County Clash for his second NARC triumph of the season.
Bud Kaeding led the first 13 laps, fending off multiple Netto challenges for the top spot, but out of seemingly nowhere Sean Becker came with a strong run off the second turn on the 14th circuit, passing both Netto and Kaeding down the back stretch and around the top side in the third and fourth corners to take the lead.
Becker led the next six laps, but on a restart with 19 laps completed Netto had a strong run and challenged Becker for the lead. Exiting turn four, Netto was outside of Becker when the two made contact, upsetting and damaging Becker’s car enough that it then struck the outside wall down the front stretch. Dominic Gorden was unable to avoid, smashing into Becker’s car and collecting Kaleb Montgomery, sending both cars flipping wildly. Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt in the incident.
That left Netto out front. Both Bud Kaeding and Tim Kaeding tried to catch Netto, but wound up racing each other hard for second place. Benicia’s Billy Aton went on a late tear to pass both Kaeding’s for the runner-up spot in the closing laps.
Despite the late surge, Aton was too far back and ran out of time at Netto drove to his second victory of the season, and his ninth career NARC triumph, in the Penny Newman Grain-sponsored Netto Ag No. 88n Rider-powered KPC.
Netto, while happy to win the race, expressed regret over what happened to Becker and the other cars.
“I was trying to be clean as I possibly could,” Netto said. “I guess my left rear caught his right front. You never want to win them that way. Sean races me clean. My apologies to him and that team. That’s not the way I wanted to win that one.”
Aton settled for a season-best second place aboard the Legacy Glass-sponsored Aton Racing No. 26 Kistler-powered Triple X.
“At the start of the race the car was just firing,” Aton said of his car’s ability to run anywhere on the track and pass cars. “After that restart (following the Becker crash), we were just dynamite.”
Bud Kaeding, the former series champion out of Campbell, finished third aboard the Alviso Rock sponsored BK Motorsports No. 29 Shaver-powered Maxim.
“Overall, it was a good night. Was great to lead laps,” Kaeding said. “Good racing.”
Tim Kaeding finished fourth after starting 12th aboard the EMADCO Disposal-sponsored Williams Motorsports No. 0 Maxwill-powered Maxim. Jake Adreotti was fifth.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 88n D.J. Netto (1), 2. 26 Billy Aton (10), 3. 29 Bud Kaeding (2), 4. 0 Tim Kaeding (12), 5. 7p Jake Andreotti (4), 6. 2k Gauge Garcia (7), 7. 17w Shane Golobic (9), 8. 41 Dominic Scelzi (15), 9. 35km Tyler Thompson (18), 10. 83v Dylan Bloomfield (13), 11. 121 Caeden Steele (5), 12. 12j John Clark (20), 13. 5k Blaine Cory (16), 14. Mariah Ede (14), 15. 12 Jarrett Soares (17), 16. 2xm Max Mittry (12), 17. 7b Sean Becker (11), 18. 10 Dominic Gorden (8), 19. 3 Kaleb Montgomery (16), DNS – 2x Justin Sanders, 88a Joey Ancona, 09s Geoffrey Strole.
