HANFORD, Calif. — D.J. Netto won the King of Thunder 30-lap feature at Keller Auto Speedway on Saturday night.
The Hanford native drove his family owned Netto Ag No. 88n to the win over Ryan Bernal and Mitchell Faccinto. Craig Stidham and Tucker Worth rounded out the top five.
Netto got the jump on Ryan Bernal, driving the Keith Day Trucking No. 22, at the start. The two started reeling off quick laps around the King’s County Fairgrounds track which remained racy by feature time despite 106-degree afternoon temperatures in the California Central Valley.
The race’s first caution was brought out by Travis Coelho who sent sailing off the third turn banking and into the outside guardrail which protects the pit area. After a quick trip to the work area, Coelho’s yellow No. 6c returned to tag the rear of the field.
On lap 11, Landon Hurst would cause a caution when he spun in the first turn.
The race went green for the next six laps, allowing Netto to catch slower traffic. After running the first part of the race in the higher groove, right off the top cushion, Netto elected to pick off the lapped cars in the bottom groove.
The change disrupted the youth’s rhythm and allowed Bernal to close in and pass Netto’s No. 88n, however, the red flag would come out for two cars over the second turn banking. Jared Faria was one of the cars and he had to be towed back to his pits, ending his race.
Coelho was charged with causing his second caution when he spun off track, but this time it was turn four. The green-flag restart was short lived, when Grant Duinkerken ran into Kaleb Montgomery sending both cars off turn two into a cloud of dust.
With six laps to go, Netto strong armed his way around the track while Bernal had to settle for the second spot.
The finish:
D.J. Netto, Ryan Bernal, Mitchell Faccinto, Craig Stidham, Tucker Worth, Zane Blanchard, Jace Vander Weerd, Grant Duinkerken, Ben Worth, Koen Shaw, Connor Danell, Kaleb Montgomery, Travis Coelho, Mauro Simone, Jacob Pacheco, Britton Bock, Jared Faria, Landon Hurst