TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Jonathon Gomez, a 27-year old from Twin Falls, Idaho dominated the action this past Saturday night at Stockton (CA) Speedway starting on the pole and leading all 130-laps en route to his first careerSPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series victory. The victory moved Gomez up to fourth place in the point standings just 49-points out of the lead.
"When we set out this season it was all about winning and this is the first of what I hope are many more wins. "— Jonathon Gomez
The Mid Valley Iron and Metals "130" had more than 25 cars on hand vying for 21 starting positions in the 130-lap contest. Qualifying at Stockton is one of the biggest challenges as the track is uniquely shaped on both ends testing the driver's and teams. Gomez qualified sixth for the feature race but but when quick qualifier Eric Holmes drew a six invert, it put Gomez on the pole to start the race.
Armed with lessons learned from the previous three series events this season, Gomez started the race with one thing in mind and that was avoid on track incidents. Stockton Speedway is a track where you must drive aggressively in order to set the pace but also be defensive as you will be racing in lapped traffic throughout the entire race.
On this night Gomez had one key advantage that he had been missing all season. He started out front and he took control of the race from the onset hitting his marks every lap and holding off each challenge for the lead. Over the closing laps he waged a spirited battle with three-time series champion Jim Pettit II but kept the multi-time champion at bay each time he edged closer.
"There is no doubt this is a huge win for our team," Gomez said. "When we set out this season it was all about winning and this is the first of what I hope are many more wins. I was a little nervous about the race having never been to Stockton before but I can tell you this is one fun track to drive and it is certainly one of my favorites."
Gomez is currently 4th in the SRL standings just 27-points out of third place and closed the gap to within 49-points out of first place. He has two top five and three top ten finishes in four starts this season. The next event on the SRL schedule is Saturday, June 26 at Madera (CA) Speedway, another track he has never competed at before.
Jonathon Gomez is in his fourth year of competitive racing having won local track titles at Magic Valley Speedway in Twin Falls and competed in various Late Model events the past couple of seasons. He has started twelve NASCAR K&N Pro Series races since 2008 scoring seven top ten finishes and currently sits fourth in the championship standings. Gomez will contend for championships in both the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour this season.
Jonathon Gomez is supported by Heritage Cattle Company, Century Boatland, J&C Custom Harvesting, United Oil, Modern Machinery, DJ Safety, and Gomez Farms. The next NASCAR K&N Pro Series event for Gomez will be at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA June 19. The next event on the SRL schedule is June 26 at Madera (CA) Speedway. For more information on Jonathon Gomez, please log onto his website at www.jonathongomez.com. you can also follow all of the best in West coast racing action by visiting www.racingwest.com.
