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MANTECANS WIN TRACK TITLES
Nascimento, Flowers cap off dominant runs at 99
Bulletin racing 2020
Stockton Late Model season champion Eric Nascimento is joined by 2018 winner Sam Solari after their duel in the 2020 finale Saturday at Stockton 99 Speedway. Solari won the race, but it was not enough to overcome Nascimento, who placed second, and his big lead in the season standings. - photo by Photo by Jessica McAnelly/Jessie's Fast Photos

Veteran “Slammin” Sam Solari, of Escalon, drove a near-flawless race to capture the checkered flag in Saturday’s 100-lap Stockton Late Model season finale at the 99 Speedway, while Eric “Bubba” Nascimento Jr., of Manteca, finished in second to secure the 2020 track championship.

Nascimento started the day with a 27-point lead, and with double points on the line he needed to finish within six spots of the second-place Solari to clinch the title.

Last week’s race winner Larry Tankersley, the 2016 track champion, sat on the pole as the 17-car field got off to a shaky start with two yellow-cautions in the opening three laps. Amazingly, the track would stay green for the remainder of the race as Tankersley, Gary Shafer Jr., and Ty Carlson — all of Stockton — along with Solari and Nascimento battled it out for the early lead, sometimes going three-wide in the corners.

After getting roughed up a bit, Nascimento wisely backed off, dropping down to fifth, until the front runners sorted things out with Shafer emerging with the lead.

Bulletin racing 2020
Sam Solari (22) tries to hold off Gary Shafer Jr. and Eric Nascimento in the Stockton Late Model season finale. - photo by Photo by Jessica McAnelly/Jessie's Fast Photos

“They were pushing hard in those first couple of laps, but I knew where I needed to finish so I was just kinda riding it out and cruising,” Nascimento said. “I didn’t want to touch anybody or get involved in anything. I just wanted to finish the race.”

Shafer would continue to hold down the top spot until Solari swept by him with 20 laps to go when his tires began to fade. 

As the laps wound down, Nascimento began to cautiously move his way toward the front, passing Shafer for second and settling in behind Solari with nine laps remaining to lock down the championship. Shafer would hold on for third, while Tankersley and Carlson completed the top five.

“This feels so great. My family has been racing here for two decades and to have my name up there with the likes of the Bellettos and Philpotts is amazing,” said Nascimento, a seven-time race winner this season. “I can’t thank my crew and sponsors enough. They work so hard to give me a bad, fast race car every week. We are going to be celebrating tonight!”

It was his third win of the season for Solari, the 2018 track champion, and despite finishing second overall in the standings he was satisfied with the result.

“I had a great car and I was really determined to do well tonight,” Solari said. “You can’t win the championship in one race and Eric was a class act all season. I didn’t win a lot, but I had fun all year.”

Bulletin racing 2020
Manteca's Joe Flowers celebrates his 10th win in 11 starts Saturday in the B-4 Division. - photo by Photo by Jessica McAnelly/Jessie's Fast Photos

Joe Flowers, of Manteca, put the finishing touches on his near perfect season by rolling to his 10th win in 11

In a near-repeat of the race last weekend, Flowers started the 25-lap main from the second row of the 20-car field before passing early race leader Andrew Rumsey, of Stockton, on lap 10 and cruising to the checkered flag. starts for the B-4s.

“This feels great! I wanted to win this one so bad and I had a blast tonight. It was so fun to win one 

with people in the stands,” said Flowers, giving tribute to the 600-plus fans spaced out in the grandstands. 

The 2020 championship was especially satisfying to Flowers after his bad luck last season when he tied with fellow Mantecan Josh Cross for first in the points but lost the championship due to having fewer wins between them, which is the tiebreaker. 

The Bomber division featured Stockton’s tightest championship battle where Mikala Stearns, of 

Lin

den, entered the race just seven points behind Jeanna Ramos, of Lodi.

Stearns race almost came to an end on the opening lap when Troy Walz, of Valley Springs, tapped her from behind, sending her out of control and into the wall on the front straight. Luckily, Stearns’ crew was able to make repairs and return her to the back of the pack before the race resumed.

By mid-race, Stearns was able to claw her way back to third behind Ramos and race leader AJ Rider, of Linden, but she was never able to get any closer as Ramos held her off over the final laps to pick up the first championship of her career.

“All I thought about was not crashing, dodging the lapped traffic and staying ahead of Mikala,” confessed Ramos. “Mikala was tough all year and I am honored to compete with her.”

Evan Laires, of Linden, capped off his Mini Cup championship by picking up the victory in the 15-lap feature after race leader Jordan Mast overcorrected coming out of turn 4 and spun himself out in the closing laps. 

The North Star Modified Touring Series also concluded its abbreviated five-race season in Stockton on Saturday with a 60-lap main that brought out a strong field of 20 cars.

The battle for the North Star championship was completely up for grabs when all three of the title contenders — Scott Winters, of Lodi, Kyle Tellstrom, of Eureka, and Mike Sullivan, of Kelseyville — spun out in the early going.

Winters was able to regroup, make his way all the way back to the front and take the lead with 15 laps to go only to pit under green two laps later with a flat tire, handing the top spot over to Cameron Austin, of Santa Rosa. Austin stayed in front the rest of the way while Sullivan fought his way up to third which was good enough to earn him the season title.

As improbable as it may have seemed back in March when the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked havoc on the 2020 race schedule, promoter Tony Noceti was able to hold the annual season-ending banquet Sunday in the track’s outdoor pavilion to honor this year’s champions and participants.

Although racing at the 99 Speedway has concluded for 2020, the Stockton Dirt Track, located at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds will be hosting the 37th Annual Tribute to Gary Patterson, featuring the King of the West NARC 410 Sprint Cars and Winged 360 Sprint Cars on Saturday, Nov. 7; the Dirt and Sport Modifieds on Sunday, Nov. 8; and a six division program featuring the Winged 360 Sprint Cars on Saturday, Nov. 14.