STOCKTON — Reigning track champion Larry Tankersley of Stockton successfully defended his Stockton Late Model title by the slimmest of margins in Saturday night’s final race of the 2024 season at the 99 Speedway.
“This is a great feeling, because it takes a lot of dedication and time to win a championship,” Tankersley said following the race. “My crew, my sponsors, friends, mom, family, and my girlfriend were all part of this and helped me get through this thing.”
JoJo Stearns, the 2022 track champion out of Stockton, entered the night with a three-point lead over Tankersley. After taking the top spot in qualifying, Stearns increased that lead to seven points for the start of the 50-lap feature. With “double points” on the line for the finale, in which winning the race paid 100 points and each position after that four less, Stearns needed to finish directly behind Tankersley or better in the main to secure the championship.
Starting next to Escalon’s “Slammin” Sam Solari in the front row of the 11-car field, Tankersley wasted little time in taking over the lead before the end of the opening lap. With a four-car invert, which relegated him to the second row, Stearns quickly settled in fourth, just behind Stockton veteran Gary Shafer Jr.
Solari immediately began to shadow Tankersley, hanging right on his tail, before using a back marker to slip under him on lap 12. Stearns was now only one spot away from taking the points lead; however, just before midrace, Stearns’ championship hopes took a hit when Stockton’s Danny Devore muscled his way around him to take over fourth.
Tankersley held on to second for the remainder of the race, although his last lap attempt to dive under Solari coming out of the final turn came up just short when Solari was able to beat him by a nose in their side-by-side battle to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the season.
“Great race. I wasn’t in my mind about points at all. I didn’t care who won it,” Solari said. “We have actually had a great year, but we have not gotten any results, because we kept getting crashed out, so I was determined with what I was bringing tonight. This sends us off on the right foot.”
Stearns, meanwhile, was finally able to wrestle his way back around Devore with six laps to go, but he could never close in on Shafer and, as a result, finished in fourth, which left him just one point down to Tankersley in the final standings.
“We were not points racing, but I kind of knew where I needed to be. I tried to win the race, but I got caught by that lapped traffic, and Sammy got by me. I asked my guys over the radio where JoJo was and they would not even respond to me, so I kept pushing forward. I tried to take a couple of shots at the lead near the end, but I am glad for Sammy,” explained Tankersley, who now has three 99 track championships. “We came in three points behind, but I did a little prayer before the race and my prayers were answered.”
Stearns, who captured the 99 Pro Late Model championship last Saturday, was disappointed that he could not pick up the title this week.
“I thought we had the car to beat tonight, but we didn’t get a very good start, and we ended up playing catch-up the whole race. We definitely needed a yellow to bring everyone back together and give us another shot. Track position is big here, and it didn’t work in our favor,” Stearns said. “It hurts to lose by one point, but now all we can do is go back to the shop, regroup and think about what we can do to come back better next year.”
The remaining divisions were not as close, with the points leaders coming into the night just needing to start their main to lock down a championship.
Lodi’s Brandon Jones continued his dominance of the Pure Stock class and looked like he was well on his way to his ninth victory of the season when he slowed down on the final lap to allow his father, Bryan Jones, also of Lodi, to pick up his first career win. Stockton’s Jeremy Tucker salvaged third to hold his second-place spot in the season standings.
Afterward, much to the crowds delight, the pair celebrated by spinning synchronized donuts on the front straight that produced more smoke than a Cheech and Chong movie.
“I have been wanting to get one for my dad for years. Racing with him has really been really enjoyable, so this is special,” Brandon said with tears in his eyes. “We had a pretty rough start to the year, but we worked through it and ended up on top.”
Manteca’s Jordan Mast put an exclamation mark on his second consecutive championship by going wire-to-wire in the 25-lap Mini Stock feature for his third win of the season. Mast was challenged briefly by Manteca’s Joe Flowers before the former two-time division champion was forced to the sidelines on lap 10 with mechanical issues for the second week in a row.
Natalie Harper held off Ethan Rumsey, both of Stockton, to take second place in the race and the season standings.
“I was able to get around the five car (Harper) on the initial start and never really looked back. We were also really good on the restarts,” said Mast, who is unsure of his 2025 plans. “There is always stress, but it felt good knowing I didn’t have to do too much work tonight to get the championship. I can’t thank my team enough. I couldn’t do this without them.”
Tracy’s Brenden Ruzbarsky also went wire-to-wire in the 35-lap Legends of 99 feature, but it wasn’t easy. After jumping out to a large lead, Ruzbarsky was slowly reeled in and repeatedly pressed for the lead by his teammates Wyatt and Zach Samsun, both of Linden, during the second half of the race. Ruzbarsky was eventually able to stave them off to pick up his third victory of the year and lock up the season title.
“Wyatt started closing in, and I had to step it up a bit. I got caught slacking, because the car kind of tightened up, but I was able to step it up and find a little more speed to get to the finish line first,” Ruzbarsky explained. “We had a good car all weekend, and the main event pretty much showed it off. It was great to go 1-2-3, because we worked hard all year on these cars to dial them in, and it was nice to see it pay off like this.”
Morada’s Wade Eldredge and Ukiah’s Mike Peterson spent much of the 12-lap Pro Mod main racing door-to-door and trading off the lead. Eldredge would ultimately prevail to take both the victory and season title.
While the 99 Speedway will go into hibernation until spring, the Stockton Dirt Track, located at the San Joaquin Fairgrounds, will close out the local racing season with the 41st Annual Tribute to Gary Patterson, featuring the NARC King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series, 360 Sprint Cars, Hunt Magneto Wingless Tour finals, and Nor Cal Dwarf Car finale, on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2.
