By BILL POINDEXTER
& DALE BOSOWSKI
For the Bulletin
STOCKTON — JoJo Stearns admitted — and continued to point out — his Chevy Camaro wasn’t in its most cooperative mood Saturday night at Stockton 99 Speedway.
The Stockton driver described the race car as “super tight,” saying, “I couldn’t do anything.” But he and the Camaro continued to battle over the 50-lap grind and won the Stockton Late Model main event on a warm, comfortable night.
Sam Solari of Escalon, winner of the opening night race in March, registered the quickest lap of the race at 14.783 seconds around the quarter-mile paved oval and drove around early leader Justin Philpott of Tracy in the front stretch to take the lead on lap 10. Solari widened his lead, as Philpott and Stearns battled for second but couldn’t avoid a crash that started with Jeana Ramos of Lodi spinning while coming out of turn 4 on the 34th lap. Another car hit Ramos just before Solari followed.
Stearns and Danny Devore of Stockton restarted in the front row. Devore took the lead until being passed by Stearns coming out of turn 4 on lap 38. Stearns led the rest of the way to the checkered flag and won by .614 of a second.
“The car was not good there; you have those races where you gotta battle and overcome what the car’s not good at, work on it, and we brought it home,” Stearns said in victory lane. “It took everything I had to get that car into the corner and keep it straight, but we got the win.”
Stearns said the team didn’t plan to race until Thursday night, instead spending the week “helping other people get their cars going fast. We got to our car Thursday night and threw it together. We weren’t good on Friday, so we went home and went through the whole entire car.”
Devore was second, followed by Philpott, Ty Carlson and Solari.
NCMA Sprint: Two races down in the 2025 season, and two main-event victories for veteran Tony Hunt of Rocklin. An 11-car field was quickly whittled to eight on the opening lap, with Hunt passing Mark Amador of Ceres for the lead going into turn 3 on the first lap and leading for the duration of the 30-lap main event.
Hunt built a lead of several car lengths in the race, which was interrupted by a lengthy red flag to sweep up fluid spilled by another car. Hunt lapped several cars, including one racer twice.
“It’s always a chore, you know. I’m winded,” Hunt said. “I got a great car. I had a couple things work my way there at the start. All in all, it’s just a great night.”
Hunt’s team will now focus on the 76th Annual Little 500 at Anderson Speedway in Indiana over Memorial Day weekend with Logan Seavey driving.
Said Hunt, the veteran Hollywood stunt driver and decorated sprint car champion, “I’m going to take a break and do some wrenching and hope to get him into victory lane, too.”
Pure Stock: Stockton’s Donnie Darter took the lead on the fifth of 20 circuits to capture the Pure Stock main event.
Jeramy Tucker of Stockton went low entering turn 3 to shoot by Dylan Powell and Mason Beghtel of Morada on the opening lap before being passed by Darter, who started fourth, coming out of Turn 4 on lap 5. Darter worked inside for a couple of laps before making his move.
Darter received quite a challenge from Tucker over the middle laps, with Tucker looking outside and inside. Darter held on each time before pulling away to lead by several car lengths on lap 13.
As Darter pulled away to a dominant 5.306-second victory, lapping Sam Reynolds just before taking the checkered flag, Beghtel drove around Tucker on lap 19 to place second.
Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified: Patrick Geiger of Clovis was leading by a wide margin when Chuck Best had an engine problem and spewed fluid along the back stretch. As Geiger entered Turn 3, he looked like he had hit a patch of black ice, as he lost control and skidded sideways straight out the back gate on lap 16 of the 30-lap main event bringing out an immediate red flag.
Geiger was unhurt and the PA wryly played “Wipe Out” by The Ventures during the clean-up delay.
Kyle Labrie inherited the lead and survived a brief threat from Adam Coonfield of Modesto following a caution flag on lap 25 to claim the checkered flag by a .231-second margin. Aaron Coonfield of Riverbank was third.
Legends of Kearney Bowl: Grass Valley native CJ Stubbles started well back in the fourth row of the 15-lap exhibition race, but he easily sliced through the field to take over the lead on lap 7. He would roll on to post a convincing victory over Fresno’s Mike James when the race was called prematurely on lap 14 after Carey Christman of Selma smacked hard into the Turn 3 wall.
Stubbles was driving the yellow and blue No. 100 car that Manteca native Johnny Brazil drove to his 100th feature win at Stockton in 2011 at the age of 77. Brazil (1933-2019) stills holds the record for the fastest lap at the 99 Speedway at 11.899 seconds in a Super Modified on June 1, 1985.
Next Up: Racing returns next weekend, Saturday, May 17, with racing in five divisions, led by the Pro Late Models and including Legends of 99, NorCal Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks and Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modifieds.
Tickets are $20 for adults ages 16-59, $15 for juniors 11-15, seniors 60 and over and military with an ID. A family 4-pack (two adults, two children) is $55. Children 10 and under are admitted for free.
STOCKTON 99 SPEEDWAY
Main-event results, May 10
Stockton Late Model (50 laps): 1. JoJo Stearns, 2. Danny Devore, 3. Justin Philpott, 4. Ty Carlson, 5. Sam Solari, 6. Lawrence Massone, 7. Roy Luft, 8. Jeana Ramos, 9. Steven Fraser.
NCMA Sprint (30 laps): 1. Tony Hunt, 2. Austin Carter, 3. Mauro Simone, 4. David Dias, 5. Dan Gonderman, 6. Jerry Kobza, 7. Tylor Amador, 8, David Burchett, 9. Mark Amador, 10. Alan Beck, 11. Shauna Hogg.
Pure Stock (20 laps): 1. Donnie Darter, 2. Mason Beghtel, 3. Jeramy Tucker, 4. Dylan Powell, 5. Sam Reynolds.
Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified (30 laps): 1. Kyle Labrie, 2. Adam Coonfield, 3. Aaron Coonfield, 4. Freddy Irvin, 5. Marty Baker, 6. Patrick Geiger, 7. Chuck Best.
