STOCKTON — After a disappointing run during the season opener at Madera Speedway, Darrin Knight of Kelseyville reconfigured his car and led wire to wire to capture the second points race of the North State Modified Series, presented by Protect the Harvest, Saturday night at the Stockton 99 Speedway.
Cameron Austin of Santa Rosa followed Knight across the line for a second-place finish. Sacramento’s Jason Philpot finished third, Robbie Knittel of Lodi placed fourth, and Cloverdale’s Dustin DeRosier drove his new car to a top-five finish.
The Stockton 99 Speedway Hoosier Tire track record of 14.319 seconds was set by Lakeport’s Ian Elliott in the Terry Deal No. 1 modified. Darrin Sullivan of Kelseyville clocked in second fast at 14.336, and Austin was third at 14.354. Knight’s fourth-place qualifying effort was 14.374, placing him on the pole for the 60-lap feature
Knight powered into the lead at the drop of the Johnny Miskill green flag with Austin and Elliot hot on his trail. Both Sullivan and Knittel drove under Elliott on lap two as Knight was pulling away from the field. By lap 10, Knight had a five-car length lead, and by lap 14 he caught the back-runners and began the lapping process.
Jason Philpot poked his nose under Elliott on lap 22 to make the pass for sixth. At the same time Knittel was trying everything he could to get around Sullivan, but Sullivan held his ground.
The first of three yellow flags flew on lap 26 when Keith Bloom’s car touched Sal Lopez’s mount, resulting in Lopez spinning in turn two. When racing resumed, Knight continued his forward motion, and at the Gone Fishin’ Marine halfway mark, it was Knight, Austin, Sullivan, Knittel, Philpot, Elliott, DeRosier, Rich Cobb, Stockton veteran driver Buzz DeVore, Bloom, Rick Avila, Donovan Cox and Lopez.
DeVore cut down a tire and scraped the wall on lap 42 to slow the action a second time. The double-file restart saw Knight pull away again, leaving the other frontrunners in a tight pack where contact was made, sending Sullivan against the turn three concrete. This moved Philpot up to third, DeRosier to fourth and Knittel to fifth.
Knittel snuck under DeRosier four rounds later. The remaining laps went without incident with Knight the $1,000 winner. Austin collected $700 for second. Philpot earned $600 for third, Knittel took home $500 for fourth, and DeRosier’s fifth-place finish was good for $400. Rounding out the top 10 were Elliott, Bloom, Sullivan, Cobb and Lopez.
With points leader Randy Houston absent, Cameron Austin took over the points lead by four points over Jason Philpot. Knight’s win boosted him to third in points with Sullivan fourth and Elliott fifth.
Bloom collected $100 for his win in the Lucas Oil Dash for Cash with Cobb earning $50 for second. Arce Racing Engines donated $50 each to third-place finisher DeRosier and to Avila in fourth place.
The Keyser Hard Charger award went to Philpot. John Baker picked up the Naake Shocks certificate, Bloom and Cobb took home the Scribner jugs, and the Frank’s Radios gift cards went to Knight, Knittel and DeRosier.
The North State Modified Series moves north to the Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka for points race No. 3 on May 11, with a practice day on May 10.
The North State Modified Series is presented by Protect the Harvest, Lucas Oil, Hoosier Tire West, Sunoco Race Fuels, Naake Suspension, Five Star Bodies, Racer Bling, Keyser Racing Products, Scribner Plastics, Gone Racin’ Marine, Buckhorn Bar & Grill, and Franks Radios.
NSMS modified rules, procedures, schedule, entry forms and other information are available on the web site www.northstatemodifieds.com.
