TRACY, Calif — Brazilian-born Carlos Vieira of Merced and Pleasanton’s Jason Gilbert split victories in Saturday’s USG / Volvo Rents Day at the Races, Saturday at Altamont Raceway Park. Gilbert claimed the 2008 Altamont Raceway Park Western Late Model division championship, his second career title.
Gilbert’s win in feature number one was his 10th win of the season, with Vieira earning his first career win in the second feature.
Other winners in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series-sanctioned program included Sammy Solari of Salida in the American Limited Stock Cars, Tracy’s Todd Lynch in the Grand American Modifieds, and Modesto’s Kelly Martin in the Legends of the Pacific. Bob Wilson and Jake Morgenstern split the two Formula-4 mains.
Vieira led 26 of the 30 laps in the best race of the day.
Vieira and Gilbert went toe-to-toe in thrilling fashion throughout the sprint race. Gilbert followed the sophomore driver around the half-mile asphalt oval closely, making several attempts to move to the inside.
As Vieira held off Gilbert, the lead pack began to grow, with Tracy’s Justin Philpott and as many as five others in the fray.
Gilbert made a bold move on the inside of Vieira with two laps to go, but the move was prevented by Vieira.
Gilbert came off of turn four sideways and was hit by Philpott. Gilbert spun to a stop to bring out the caution, and Philpott retired for the day.
Vieira had a great restart over rookie of the year Greg Hock of Ione, and held on for his first career win.
The 36 year old driver is in his only second year of racing.
“I didn’t know too much about what was going on behind me,” Vieira said. “I just needed to stay focused and keep my line. That was all I was worried about.”
“Gilbert’s a great driver and it’s a great accomplishment to win a race against him.”
The top-five at the finish were: Vieira, Hock, Danville’s Tim Spurgeon, Modesto’s Kyle Gottula, and Doff Cooksey of Brentwood.
The other Late Model feature was a complete opposite, with Gilbert leading all 30 laps and Vieira running second for nearly the entire race.
Vieira was not without pressure, however, after spinning his tires on a lap 13 restart and facing off with Philpott and Cooksey.
Cooksey passed Philpott on the inside on lap 22, and staged a thrilling duel with Vieira all the way to the finish in one of the best battles of the year.
The top-five were: Gilbert, Cooksey, Vieira, Philpott, and Hock.
The finish also gave Gilbert the 2008 track championship, his second championship at Altamont Raceway Park.
“It’s been awesome, to win ten races here at Altamont against close to 25 cars every weekend,” Gilbert said. “…tough competition all season. If we can hold on to the state championship that would make this even sweeter.”
Gilbert claimed $4000 for winning the track championship.
“The guys on my team and my crew came to the track prepared and that’s what gets it done.”
Sammy Solari has a near clinch of the 2008 American Limited Stock Car championship, with one more round remaining on September 20th.
Solari earned more crucial points to extend his points lead with a huge win on Saturday.
It took Solari just five laps to wrestle the lead away from Stockton’s Brian Vosburg. Aaron Coonfield of Riverbank was the first race leader.
Solari motored away to the largest win of the season in any Altamont race, nearly 11 seconds, over Vosburg. Coonfield, Thomas Vosburg of Chico, and Stockton’s Rich Harper rounded out the top-five, all one lap down.
Tracy’s Todd Lynch also locked in a near clinch in the open-wheeled Grand American Modified division championship.
Lynch used his signature outside passing move to go around both San Fransisco’s Robert Kennedy and Riverbank’s Todd Lewis.
Lynch then took the checkers comfortably over Kennedy, with the third place Michael Ostrowski four seconds back. Lewis rounded out the running order.
The win gives Lynch a nearly impossible to overcome lead of 28 points over Lewis entering the division’s final points race on September 20th.
Modesto’s Kelly Martin took the lead from Stockton’s “Duct Tape” Dave Ball on a lap four restart, and held on in front of a hard charging group of young racers to win the Legends of the Pacific feature.
The scale and spec cars raced on the Altamont Raceway Park quarter-mile oval.
Martin, the veteran driver, had to deal with a trio of 15 year-old racers, with points leader Matt Scott of Pine Grove his closest competitor.
Martin took the wire-to-wire win with Scott improving his points lead over Modesto’s Dylan Albiani. Lincoln youngster Robby Czub was fourth and Stockton’s Fred Clement was fifth.
The Formula-4s staged another thrilling day of racing on both the Altamont quarter-mile and 1.1 mile road course.
Jake Morgenstern got away from the field early to win on the quarter-mile, while front runners Bob Wilson and Richard Hull navigated traffic.
The top-five were: Morgenstern, Hull, Wilson, Rodney Lopez, and Jason Edgecomb.
Dan Durbin led the early portions of the road course event before being overcome by Wilson. Wilson, who has been very impressive on the road courses, gained a crucial win.
Hull ran third with Lopez and Morgenstern the top-five.
Hull has a slim lead over Wilson and Lopez with just one more evening of racing to go.
Altamont Raceway Park will now turn its sights on its big show, this Saturday September 13. The Altamont Fall Classic will mark the first ever event combining USAC and NASCAR Camping World Series West racing into one program.
More information on this history making night of racing is available at www.altamontracing.com/fallclassic
The official site for the Altamont Fall Classic features more information on both the NASCAR Camping World Series West and USAC Sprints & Midgets as well as event schedules and ticket information.
Altamont Raceway Park is located just west of Tracy at the merger of Highways 205 and 580. An extensive remodeling project during the winter of 2005/06 has made the facility one of the most up-to-date on the West Coast.
For more information on this NASCAR- and USAC-sanctioned, multi-use facility, visit www.altamontracing.com
