By STEVEN BLAKESLEY

MADERA  – 15-year-old Ethan Nascimento of Manteca  became the latest first-time winner in the Lunkerdaddy Pro Late Models at Madera Speedway, dominating the second half of the 80-lap at the one-third mile speedway on Saturday night.

Nascimento started alongside of pole sitter Brody Armtrout, the 2021 51FIFTY Jr. Late Model champion of Smartsville, on the opening 50-lap leg of the race. Nascimento patiently stalked Armtrout from the green flag until he was able to slip by him for the lead on lap 35.

 Nascimento led Armtrout, and multi-time track champion Matt Erickson, of La Grange, at the lap 50 scheduled break for adjustments. Armtrout promptly tagged the wall from the outside line on the restart, allowing Erickson to drive underneath into second.
Nascimento was never challenged in the second leg of the race as he cruised to a 1.259 second advantage over Erickson at the checkered flag in a caution-free event. Tyler Herzog was the biggest mover of the second half, driving from seventh position to capture the final spot on the podium.

“Right before the break we lost brake pressure. We tightened up the car after the break and pretty much did not look backwards,” Nascimento said in victory lane. .

With the win, Nascimento has Madera victories in INEX Bandoleros, INEX Legends, four wins and the 2022 51FIFTY Jr. Late Model championship, and a Pro Late Model triumph on his young resume and he plans to continue to hone his driving skills by competing in a wide variety of racing series in the future.

“I’ve been racing ARCA cars and Super Late Models and I have grown a lot,” he explained. “I’m going to Nashville tomorrow to race five races in the Legends cars. Hopefully we can some more Ws and keep up this momentum.”