STOCKTON, Calif. – Sean Watts scored his first King of the West Series victory Saturday night at the Stockton Dirt Track.
The Atwater, Calif., native led all 25 laps after starting on the pole. His black No. 98 Billet America-sponsored car survived a marathon race which saw multiple caution periods, a red flag and a late-race challenge from D.J. Netto.
The first caution came out when Chase Johnson slowed coming out of the second turn. His powerless car caused a traffic jam behind him, but everyone made it around him, though he didn’t make it completely off the racing surface.
Front-row-starter Jonathan Allard had to pit and returned to the track, but was forced to tag the rear of the field. The next caution was charged to Tim Estenson, who spun off the turn-one banking.
Nathan Rolfe would cause the next slow down when he too ran over the turn-one banking and failed to make it completely back to the pit area.
The race’s scariest incident occurred when Willie Croft rode the frontstretch wall coming out of the fourth turn and flipped. He was then clipped by Mark Barroso. The wreck which destroyed Croft’s No. 29 and resulted in a red flag.
Netto was able to get around Dominic Scelzi, who was suffering from a bent front wing, to take the second spot and started to track down Watts. The black No. 98 continued to run flawless laps while Netto seemed to lose horsepower. Netto would stop high in the second turn after the checkered flag and had to be pushed back to the frontstretch for the victory ceremony.
Shane Golobic, in the Matt Wood Racing No. 17w, paced the 16-car field in qualifying.
The finish:
Sean Watts, D.J. Netto, Dominic Scelzi, Bud Kaeding, Jason Statler, Ryan Bernal, Matt DiMartini, Shane Golobic, Willie Croft, Mark Barroso, Jonathan Allard, Geoff Ensign, Gary Paulson, Nathan Rolfe, Kenny Allen, Tim Estenson, Chase Johnson, Richard Brace Jr.