Veteran racer Jeffrey Peterson, of Grand Terrace, proved to be virtually invincible by going wire-to-wire for a dominating victory in Saturday night’s 100-lap zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model West Series feature at Stockton’s 99 Speedway.
The zMAX Series was formed in 2014 and competed predominantly in the South until this year when 10 races at West Coast tracks were added to the schedule including two races in Stockton. Peterson finished fourth in the May 25 zMAX race at the 99 Speedway, well behind race winner Henry Barton, of San Francisco, who elected not to compete at the local track on July 20.
“My goal coming into tonight was to bring it home in one piece and at least get a top five, especially after we struggled at the first race here,” confessed Peterson, who now has three wins and leads the points on the zMAX Tour. “We put it on the pole and led every lap. This thing was hooked up tonight.”
Starting from the front row of the 14-car field alongside his teammate Linny White of Colton, Peterson quickly moved into the race lead as White, Tracy’s Justin Philpott, Parker Malone of Redlands, and Trevor Huddleston of Agoura Hills all gave chase.
The running order of the leaders would remain status quo until Malone moved by Philpott on a restart following a mandatory competition caution on lap 35. Philpott’s night would come to a disappointing end just 15 laps later when he pulled into the pits with a mechanical issue, allowing Stockton’s JoJo Stearns, the 2022 track champion, to crack the top five.
The restart following the second and final competition caution produced the only other shake-up among the leader pack when Huddleston got loose in Turn 2 and was tagged by Salida’s Hans Beeler. Peterson would successfully navigate the final restart and hold on against the hard-charging White and Malone to take the checkered flag.
“He was on my bumper the whole race and really made me drive hard. I just tried to manage the gap and keep changing things up just a bit,” Peterson said of battling against his teammate. “I’ve raced Linny for a long, long time and we know all of each other’s tricks so it makes it a lot of fun, but very challenging.”
Starting from the pole of the 30-lap Legends main, Tyler Reif of Las Vegas spent most of the race fending off the constant attacks of Tracy’s Brenden Ruzbarsky, Bakersfield’s Taylor Mayhew and Linden’s Zach Samsun. The threat from Ruzbarsky came to a sudden end after he spun out at midrace, but Mayhew remained glued to Reif’s tail as the race wound down.
With three laps remaining Mayhew finally got the break he was looking for after he wedged the nose of his car under Reif’s rear wheel as they encountered traffic coming down the back straight. Using the back marker as a shield, Mayhew was able to slip by Reif for the lead. Reif attempted to counter-attack by maneuvering underneath of Mayhew, but he was unable to make the move stick and was forced to settle for second place just ahead of Samsun.
“He hit a bump coming out of the turn really hard and that allowed me to get a big run on him and make the pass. Then he kind of tried a slide job on me like we were on the dirt by crossing under me, but somehow I was able to hold him off,” Mayhew explained of edging out Reif for the checkered flag.
The Mini Stock race turned into more of a survival contest when most of the front runners were forced to the sidelines before the completion of their 25-lap main.
Manteca’s Jorden Mast held the early lead while Stockton’s AJ Flowers and Manteca’s Josh Cross sat right on his rear bumper looking for a way to get around him. The threat from Cross ended after he began to slow with a mechanical issue, but when Flowers attempted to make a pass for the lead, he clipped Mast sending him directly into the wall while he spun out into the infield grass.
With all three of the front runners parked for the night, former two-time division champion Joe Flowers of Manteca suddenly found himself in position to inherit the lead. However, Flowers’ good fortune turned out to be short-lived when he also chugged into the pits just five laps later with smoke billowing from a blown engine, handing off the lead to Ethan Rumsey of Stockton.
Rumsey would avoid any misfortune of his own to capture his first win of the season over Stockton’s Natalie Harper and Linden’s Leilani Sprenkel.
“I hate to win it this way, but it is great to get a victory,” said Rumsey, before dedicating the win to his grandfather, who passed away earlier in the week.
Napa’s David Goodwill held off Shauna Hogg, of Fair Oaks, and his younger brother Pat Goodwill to claim the 25-lap NCMA Sprint Car feature.
The Stockton 99 Speedway will return to action on Saturday, Aug. 3, with “double points” on the line for the Stockton Late Models along with the Mini Stocks, Legends of 99 and Street Stocks.
