STOCKTON, Calif. — Justin Sanders dominated and D.J. Netto just did what he needed to do, and both wound up in Stockton Dirt Track’s victory lane with big smiles as Sanders won another Tribute to Gary Patterson and D.J. Netto became “King of the West” as he clinched his second NARC championship.
Sanders was dominant and led all 30 laps aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Rider-powered KPC. Sanders outmuscled polesitter Tim Kaeding on the start, took off and never looked back. Sanders had one scare earlier in the race, as he was trying to clear slower cars. He made contact with one slower car who then tangled with another to bring out a caution, but Sanders escaped the melee and managed to continue with the lead. Despite breaking a right rear shock when that happened, he was never seriously challenged from there.
Sanders, last year’s NARC champion, elected not to chase points this year, but had a spectacular season when racing with NARC. Sanders’s victory on Saturday was his series leading eighth triumph for him and the Mittry Motorsports team this season. He also continued his recent dominance of the Tribute to Gary Patterson as Saturday’s win was his fourth in the last six years, and with those four wins he is now tied with Brent Kaeding and Steve Kent for the most all-time in the event. Sanders’s win was lucrative also, as track promoter Tony Noceti just a short time before the feature declared that it would be $10,000 to win.
“I actually really needed it. I just bought a house and I’m building a shop,” Sanders quipped about the surprise added payout. “I think I broke a shock or something, and I was worried on restarts but I got around on the outside good. Another big win for this team, thanks to (car owner) Demo Mittry. Awesome to close out the season with another Gary Patterson win also.”
Shane Golobic finished second in the NOS Energy Drink-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC, racing with Tim Kaeding for the position throughout the event. Kaeding finished third in the Emadco Disposal-sponsored Williams Motorsports No. 0 Maxwill-powered Maxim to complete the podium.
But D.J. Netto with his fourth-place finish was the biggest winner of the night. Netto needed to finish 11th or better to clinch the championship regardless of whatever Sean Becker would do. Netto’s Top 5 finish aboard the Sander Engineering-sponsored Netto Ag No. 88n Rider-powered KPC was more than enough while Becker finished ninth. Netto and team celebrated on the front stretch alongside Sanders and his team.
“You just didn’t want to make mistakes,” Netto said about just wanting to stay out of trouble and finish well in the situation he was win. “Those yellow flags came out at the right time for me. Every time we got into the traffic, the yellow flag came out for us. I just rode this thing out, got 30 good laps.”
Netto had three wins on the season, though it wasn’t without its trials. “It was a trying year for us. I think the first championship we won, it was a trying year also. This year we had a horrible speedweek (in June), but the guys at Netto Ag were behind me all year.”
Tanner Holmes finished fifth aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 Kister-powered Maxim. Tanner Carrick, Dominic Scelzi, Cannon McIntosh, Becker and Billy Aton rounded out the top 10.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 0-Tim Kaeding[1]; 4. 88N-DJ Netto[5]; 5. 21-Tanner Holmes[8]; 6. 83T-Tanner Carrick[7]; 7. 41-Dominic Scelzi[10]; 8. 83-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 9. 7B-Sean Becker[11]; 10. 26-Billy Aton[6]; 11. 29-Bud Kaeding[17]; 12. 10-Dominic Gorden[16]; 13. 45-Jake Morgan[14]; 14. 3-Cole Schroeder[19]; 15. 14-Mariah Ede[15]; 16. 12J-John Clark[18]; 17. 121-Caeden Steele[12]; 18. 45D-Derek Droivold[21]; 19. 2XM-Max Mittry[9]; 20. 92-Andy Forsberg[13]; 21. 11-Tyler Cato[20]; 22. 88-Koen Shaw[22]
