Lakeport’s Derek Thorn continued on his Rocky Mountain high, as he cruised to a convincing win in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Colorado National Speedway last Saturday night.

Thorn’s No. 6 Sunrise Ford/Lucas Oil/Eibach Ford dominated the action in the West Series race, leading 148 of 150 laps at the .375-mile Colorado track for a 0.403-second margin of victory over rookie Jamie Krzysik of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. It was his second consecutive win and third of the year in seven starts in the West Series.

Three-time series champion Eric Holmes, of Escalon, brought home his No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry in eighth place after placing in the top-five of the time charts in both practices and qualify.

“That was some hard racing,” said Holmes who is only racing a partial schedule this season. “We had some challenges. The car turned good, but just was loose.”

Thorn now leads Mike Self 306-293 in the West Series points heading into the second NASCAR K&N Pro Series Combined event of the season at Iowa Speedway tonight.

A week earlier, Thorn was also taking the checkered flag in the Spears SRL Southwest Tour NAPA Auto Parts Star 150 at Rocky Mountain Raceway for his fourth win in just five starts in that series

Thorn drove conservatively through the early stages of the 150-lap main before passing Brandon White on lap 105 and fighting off all challengers during a handful of restarts in the final stages of the race to take the victory over veteran Jim Pettit II of Seaside.

Manteca young guns Jacob Gomes and Ross Strmiska finished in seventh and 14th, respectively.

Pettit continues to lead in the season point standing by a healthy 985 to 892 margin over Strmiska while Thorn, who skipped one event, sits in third with 890 points and Gomes holds down fourth with 855.

The SRL now returns to the new Stockton 99 Speedway on Saturday, August 17th for Teamsters Local 439 Night.

This Saturday, the racing stage in Stockton will be at the new dirt track located on the San

Joaquin County Fairgrounds where the fire breathing King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will make its anticipated debut.

The fast 3/8-mile clay oval provided some exciting action earlier this year during its grand opening on March 22 with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. The main event had the crowd on its collective feet as a  two former Golden State/ King of the West 410 champions, 2010 series titlist Kyle Larson and two-time series champ Tim Kaeding, battled it out for the win with Larson ultimately prevailing.

“We are really looking forward to hosting all the cars and stars of the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series coming up on August 3,” said promoter Tony Noceti. “This is one of those series that has fans all throughout California and has a great following wherever they go. They also put on a great event each night and know how to keep the fans entertained. It’s going to be a terrific show and we can’t wait to see the 410’s back at the Stockton 99 Dirt Track.”

Saturday’s event will be the 14th round of competition for the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series and the first of two season appearances at the Stockton 99 Dirt Track. It was recently announced that the series will be back to Stockton on Saturday, November 2 with an event will also serve as championship night.

The front gate will open at 5 p.m. on Saturday with qualifying at 6:30 and racing expected to start at 7. Adult tickets will cost $20, seniors and military will be $15, kids six to 12 will be $10 and children five and under free.

The following Saturday, Aug. 10,  the action returns back to the paved, high banked, ¼-mile oval for Back to the 50’s Night featuring the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Western Late Models in Twin Features, plus the Super Stocks, Pure Stocks, NCMA Sprint Cars, and Pro-4 Modifieds.



To contact Dale Bosowski, e-mail dalebosowski@yahoo.com.