ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Dylan Zampa made the most of the JM Environmental Wild West Super Series debut, fending off John Moore for the inaugural victory on Saturday night at All American Speedway.
A capacity crowd of over 3,000 fans were on hand for the 69th NASCAR Opening Night in Roseville, Calif.
“That was crazy. Hats off to John Moore. That was one of the best races we’ve ever had. Respects to him and everyone in the field,” Zampa said. “Definitely to all the fans — thank you all for coming out. This is my home track so it means a lot to me.”
2009 and 2019 track champion Jason Romero led a field littered with champions in time trials, using a 20-year-old car to lead the way in the new NASCAR-sanctioned super late model division. Moore then won the six-lap dash.
2008 Altamont Raceway Park and NASCAR California State Champion Jason Gilbert shared the front row with Aidan Daniels for the main event. Gilbert led the opening lap in a side-by-side battle before Daniels led lap two. The top-six cars ran two abreast, three rows deep throughout the first 20-lap segment.
Loomis’ Chris Scribner retired from the race and Romero took his first pit stop for a vibration, which cost him multiple laps.
Moore broke free of the pack and chomped into Daniels’ advantage, but was unable to complete a pass for the lead. On the lap 22 restart, Zampa used the inside to drive underneath Moore for second. Zampa then drove inside of Daniels in turn four to lead lap 32. The race was stopped on lap 50 for a card draw to reorder the lead lap entries.
Zampa and Moore drew the front row while 2007 Roseville champion Eric Schmidt and Daniels fell back to row three, behind Gilbert and Josh Whitfield.
Zampa and Moore thrilled the fans on the restart with back and forth crossover maneuvers for the lead. Moore took over on lap 52 while Zampa tried to get back into the top spot. Zampa’s crossover attempts finally prevailed on lap 57 when he made the decisive move back into the lead.
Romero’s night finally ended with mechanical failure in turn four, setting up a 10-lap sprint to the finish. Zampa darted off to a .691 second, $3000 victory over Moore while Schmidt outdueled Gilbert for third. Daniels rounded out the top five.