TRACY, California — Points leader Jim Pettit of Prunedale claimed his fourth win of the season in the sixth round of the Stockcar Racing League at Altamont Raceway Park, Saturday afternoon. Pettit earned $2000 for the win on the fastest half-mile in the west in the “Moeller Bros. Body Shop / Performance Electrical 100.”
Other action on the afternoon at Altamont included the United States Auto Club Western Sprints and Midgets, with JoJo Helberg of Rohnert Park taking the victory in the 50 lap Sprint main, while Evan Margeson from Seattle won the 30 lap Midget feature.
Morgan Hill’s Rob Hammond was victorious in the NCMA Limited Sprint Car 30 lap main event, taking his first career victory in wire-to-wire fashion.
Pettit ran third for much of the event behind 2007 SRL champion and 2006 Altamont champion Dave Byrd of Seaside. Pettit applied strong pressure up to lap 64, when he finally made the diving pass.
“The track was real hot and greasy today so it was really tough to make a pass on the outside,” Pettit said on the 90 degree temperatures. “So I was pushing Dave and hoping he’d heat his tires up and slip and fortunately he did.”
Race leader and 2004 Altamont track champion Todd Bammer of Pleasanton was gobbled up by Pettit just three laps later.
“I told my guys ‘Dave’s holding me up right now and if I can get by him we’ll have something for Todd,’” Pettit said. “As you see, we got to Todd in a couple of laps and just took care of business.”
Pettit then checked out to a five car length lead, but appeared to pace the car over the closing laps.
Bammer led from the green flag after qualifying tenth in a ten car invert.
Racing was slowed immediately on lap three with a violent crash involving fast-time qualifier Jason Fensler of Wilton, and nearly half of the top-ten in the points.
Fensler went over the top of third in the points Greg Voigt of Goleta and hit the turn three wall head-on.
A total of eight cars were gathered up in the incident, with Sacramento rookie of the year contender Josh Combs, along with Fensler, eliminated from contention.
Cottonwood’s Craig Raudman and Voigt both returned to action, albeit with heavy damage. Justin Wesmoreland of Merced succumbed to his damages 20 laps later.
With the field thinned to just 13 cars, Raudman went to work from the back, while Bammer struggled to fight off a raging six car lead pack.
2005 and 2008 Altamont track champion Jason Gilbert of Pleasanton dropped out of the event on lap 41 to surrender a top-five run.
Raudman was up to sixth at that point and joined the torrent duel between the top cars.
A late restart on lap 85 gave Bammer a shot at passing Pettit, with Bammer nearly taking the lead coming into turn one.
“(On last restart) I almost opened up the door for Todd, but thank god Todd drove me clean and didn’t stick his nose there. Todd had a good run,” Pettit said.
At the finish the top-five were: Pettit, Bammer, Byrd, Dan Holtz of Los Angeles, and Raudman.
The event marked the fourth and final appearance for the SRL Southwest Tour at Altamont in 2008, with an event on November 1 in Vegas set to end the season.
The USAC Sprints ran their seventh and final event at Altamont, with Helberg taking his second straight win at the half-mile oval.
Helberg, second in the series points, passed Fresno’s Tim Skoglund on lap 13 to cruise home to the comfortable win.
“I’m proud of all the guys they do a good job. My whole family came out here and that made this win special.”
Action was hot and heavy throughout the pack, as the 145 mile per hour, 750 horsepower machines jockeyed for position.
Helberg rolled off the grid eighth and made a stunning charge on the outside groove, advancing up to second place by just the sixth lap.
Helberg applied heavy pressure to the rookie Skoglund, with Skoglund locking up the brakes on several occasions.
When Helberg took the lead on lap 13, he brought points leader 17 year-old Tanner Swanson of Kinsburg with him.
A lap 21 caution closed the top-two together, but Swanson could not take advantage and Helberg took a two second win to the checkers.
“We definitely had something for him on that restart and I just took it too easy,” Swanson said. “It’s a good win for JoJo. We’ll just have to look to Madera in a couple of weeks to lock up this championship.”
Porter Smith of Aztec, NM was third, with Fresno standout Audra Sasselli fourth and 2005 Sprint champion Kody Swanson fifth.
“I am excited. We’ve had a pretty good season, we’ve had some bad luck here and there but for the most part it’s been a good season. I’m pretty happy,” Smith said.
The USAC Midget main event was lined with caution flags, taking over 30 minutes to complete the 30 lap distance.
San Carlos’ Chad Nichols led over points leader Nic Faas of Huntington Beach, with Faas attempting several crossovers in a thrilling battle.
Racing was slowed on lap three when Steven Matthews of New Liskerd, Ontario, Canada lost a wheel in turn three. CJ Sarna of Palm Desert dropped out as well.
The restart saw a four car breakaway, with Faas continuing his challenge on Nichols. Faas had his race win hopes dashed when he spun into the infield in turn four to bring out a caution on lap 11.
Faas rejoined the field at the rear while Margeson jumped from third to first on the restart.
At the finish, it was Margeson over Scott Peirovich of Alamo, Ridgefield, WA’s Paul Zimmerly, Faas, and Santa Clarita’s Robby Jossett.
The NCMA Limited Sprints made their eighth appearance of the season, and through the first seven races the only race winners had been Napa’s David Goodwill and Manteca’s Pat Ariaz.
Hammond led the entire 30 lap feature in a closely matched battle with Ariaz. Ariaz came from eighth to second in just two laps, but could not complete the pass on Hammond for the final 28 laps.
Goodwill, the series points leader, was relegated to a third place finish three seconds back on the top-two after struggling to get through traffic early.
The remaining top-five were Manteca’s Jeff Burrows and Dennis Burrell.
Coming up next weekend at Altamont Raceway Park is the final round of the Noceti Grupe, Inc. Big Dog Series, with a fully loaded plate of action over two days.
Saturday’s racing action will see the Western Late Models / Westcar Late Model Series division, along with the American Limited Stock Cars, and Grand American Modfiieds all competing in heat race action. These heat races will be used to set the line-ups for Sunday’s features.
Also on tap for Saturday’s racing action will be the NCMA Limited Sprints, the Late Model B-main event, a Figure 8 race, and a 200 lap West Coast Enduro Series enduro.
Sunday’s action will be headlined by the 125 lap Late Model finale, with over $20,000 in prize monies up for grabs for the 40 starting cars. The event marks the richest Western Late Model event in California.
The American Limited Stock Cars and Grand American Modifieds will also stage features, with a Powder Puff Enduro rounding out the program.
For full information and ticket information, visit www.nocetigrupeinc.com or www.altamontracing.com
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
