STOCKTON — The Grand American Modified field featured 18 cars on the tight half-mile high-banked oval at Stockton 99 Speedway Saturday.

The race included local racers Ryan Stepps (2010 Rookie of the Year), Gary Glenn of Riverbank, Mike Regalan from Ripon, Scott Winters and Jason Philpott from Tracy, Alan Ryder from Stockton, David Strickland from Stockton, Joey Licata from Stockton and David Crouch from Manteca along with several others from the Sacramento and Bay areas.

The 2012 Grand American Modified series champion, Wes Miller of Turlock, found himself qualified in the eighth position and ended up finishing a disappointing 18th after falling victim to an on track racing incident early in the going.

Once the race started, PJ Pedroncelli of Sonoma in the No. 0 car started at the front of the field and started to drive away.He quickly started to fade and within 10 laps found himself struggling to get around the track as the set up on his race car went away. The race was determined by both speed and attrition as cars and drivers jockeyed for position for what started out as a 40 lap event.

By the end of the race, only 11 of the 18 cars finished on the lead lap, as the event was shortened due to time restraints to 25 laps. Pedroncelli ended up 14th (eight laps back). Glenn and Stepps utilized consistent driving and strategy, getting the best out of their respective race cars. Glenn finished in the sixth position about 1.6 seconds behind the leader, and Stepps finished in the 10th, about 2.8 seconds behind the leader after struggling with ill-handling race cars throughout the event.

Crouch, who started fourth, wound up finishing 11th following a couple of on track race incidents mid-race. Regelman finished second , while Winters put his No. 24 car into the winner’s circle, moving up from a 10th starting position.

In the Super Stock category, defending 2011 series champion, Mike Graham qualified well in the third position for the Super Stock main event. This also placed him into the four-lap trophy dash battle of the top 4 cars.

But, the “good” went away during the pace lap for the trophy dash, when a power steering connecting line broke loose on his car. He and his crew thrashed to quickly get the car repaired, just in time for the Super Stock main event. But, then things became even more difficult for Graham.

Having qualified third (good), his number was drawn along with the seventh place qualifier for the random qualifier equalizer swap. This is where two qualifying positions are randomly drawn and their starting positions on the track are reversed. This placed him in the lower half of the field at the start of the event.

If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, his team, due to the delays in getting the car repaired, did not have the time to adjust the car set up from the four-lap trophy dash “run hard and fast for four laps” to the race event set up that was needed.

This made his car fast for a few laps, before it develop some ‘handling woes” as the race continued on. Graham didn’t capture the 2011 Stockton 99 Super Stock series championship by giving up when the going got tough and he had no intention of “throwing in the towel” at this race. He battled his way up to the third position before the handling started to go away, then fought hard and held on for a very tough sixth-place finish.
But, qualifying positions are not everything. Racers can get their cars set up to run very fast for short runs, like the two laps needed for qualifying, then miss the race set up and face a long evening.

Brock Monroe in the No. 2 car from Oakdale did just that. Monroe had a very fast car in qualifying, capturing the second position. Once the main event race started his car “flew” for about the first 10 laps or so. Then as the tires started to go away due to wear and heat, his car quickly fell back into the field.

Monroe finally finished seventh, having lost five positions during the race.

How does fate or luck play into things?

Rick Harper from Manteca, who was the driver that Graham swapped with, in the random the “equalizer drawing”, went on to win the Super Stock main event!

It wasn’t just luck, though every racer needs a little luck to win, but he also showed his driving skills, pretty much dominating the event. His team did an excellent job of correcting the cars race setup, giving him a strong race car to drive.