STOCKTON, California -- Rookie driving sensation, Jose Luis Ramirez scored his second top ten of the year in last Saturday night's running of the Havoline/NAPA 150. The Mexico City native scored an impressive 6th place finish. The race, run at Stockton 99 Speedway, was completed in two 75 lap segments. Jose qualified the Del Valle, Guerrero Food Products, Auto Marine Engineering Ford Taurus in the 10th position and was able to start the race from the fifth row outside. Patience was the key as the rookie hit his marks and kept the # 17 on the lead lap and within striking distance all night. "My team gave me a good car." said Jose. "We came and practiced on Friday with all the other teams and my crew chief kept telling me that I have to be patient. That's hard for me to do as I like to go fast now." said the diminutive driver. The last few laps of the race were very exciting from the spectator stands as Jose picked-up 3 positions in the closing laps. The last lap moves also moved Jose up to second in the rookie of the year standings with 29 points.
Nick DeFazio's woes continued as he had a gear box fail in the first 75 lap segment. The # 77 Food4Less, Mission Foods, Pipetrades, CMPCA, Moorefield Construction, Superior Gear, Rudolph Foods, Stoughton Printing Ford Taurus was running on the lead lap in 5th, when the transmission broke. "We just had that box gone through and it sure surprised us that it failed" said an obviously disappointed Nick. "If we didn't have bad luck, we wouldn't have any" added Nick.
The "rookie program" running out of the Performance Motorsports stable have performed admirably all this year. This year being one of growth for the team has met the challenges with fierce determination." We're going to get a win this year" said team manager Tom Label." These guys have what it takes to run up front. We're a little spoiled after leading the points battle most of last year and coming up just a little short at the end, but I know that they are not about to give up. We're going to give them everything that they need to win."
