STOCKTON, Calif. — The two-night Dual at Delta Speedway presented by Valley Strong Credit Union kicked off Saturday night with Jeffrey Pahule and Austin Wood driving to $500 victories on the one-seventh-mile dirt track in Stockton.
The Micro Sprint points race also saw wins for Nathan Ward and David Anderson.
Alex Panella led the winged Super 600 time trials with 20 entrants on hand. Pahule and Drake Carter split the ten-lap heat races. An eight-car inversion placed Logan Trevino on the pole for the 30-lap affair.
Trevino led the field into lapped traffic on lap 13 with Pahule and Wood in pursuit. Pahule drove around the outside of Trevino in traffic to nab the lead on lap 20.
The top four cars of Pahule, Trevino, Wood and Panella lined up in traffic, all running around the top of the speedway. Trevino showed his nose with a dive to the inside to no avail. Pahule began to stretch out his lead before a caution on lap 23. Nikko Panella spun in turn four while Izaak Sharp retired from sixth.
Nikko Panella and Jayden Huppert then collided for a red flag in turn three on lap 27.
Pahule drove away from Trevino and Wood for his fourth Super 600 win of the year. Carter and Cole Schroeder were the top-five finishers.
Non-Wing
Non-Wing also had 20 entries with Bakersfield’s Jett Yantis pacing time trials. Nikko Panella and Wood won the heat races. Non-Wing also had an eight-car invert which gave Wood the pole alongside Panella.
A series of incidents slowed the action and turned the feature into a survival of the fittest. Panella had to surrender second position on lap seven with mechanical woes. Drew Laeber hit the turn two wall hard to end his race early.
Wood and Carsen Perkins staged a furious battle for the lead with numerous side-by-side laps and crossover moves. Perkins took the lead on lap 17 but Wood battled back to lead lap 28. Perkins then crashed into turn one and collected Corbin Rueschenberg on lap 29.
Wood paced the field on a one-lap shootout to lead eighth-starting Yantis, Rocklin’s Tucker LaCaze, 11th-starting points leader Dalton Hill and Matt Salmon, who started 16th, finished fifth.
Restricted
Nathan Ward dominated the Restricted 25-lap feature for his third $300 win of the season to extend his points lead. Ward topped qualifying before Josiah Vega and Lucas Mauldin won the heat races.
A zero invert paved the way for Ward to lead the feature. Vega and Kyle Fernandez battled hard for second throughout the first half of the race. Cameron Carraway tumbled in turn three for a red flag on lap 16. It erased a 3.5 second lead for Ward.
Ward maintained control of the feature to the checkered flag. Vega finished second. Vito Celli and Mauldin charged past Fernandez in the closing laps.
Jr. Sprints
David Anderson won the 20-lap Jr. Sprints feature for a $200 payday. Haven Sherman, Jayden Carey, Nathan Fernandez and Maya Mauldin won the heat races.
Alex Ranuio started on the pole position for the feature. Heston Stepps turned on his side for a red flag. He was able to rejoin the race. Ranuio and Mauldin got together on the restart to send Ranuio tumbling.
Anderson assumed the lead after starting tenth and held off a resurgent Stepps for the win. 2022 champion and 2023 points leader Briggs Davis started eighth and advanced to third. Easton Wright and Fernandez rounded out the top-five finishers.