Petaluma Speedway

With the lure of a lucrative payday and the promise of intense open competition bringing them from far and wide Petaluma Speedway welcomed more than 82 race teams to its tacky clay oval on Saturday night. Points racing is over and money racing is in as the four hotly contested feature races displayed, with visiting drivers pocketing most of the loot.

With a $1000 payoff waiting for the winner, Jeremy Bartlett of Yuba City out dueled Todd Gomez of Antioch over the final 12 laps of the 35-lap super stock feature to capture the victory. The battle between the two heat race winners erupted on lap 15 after Bartlett grabbed second place from John Johnson and lasted until Bartlett nipped Gomez by two car lengths at the checkered flag.

Third place went to B-main transfer Bobby Motts Jr. and fourth place to Johnson, who survived a stern challenge by B-main winner and 20th starting Woody Woodward, who finished fifth.

Seven years of futility ended on a prosperous note for Santa Rosa’s Adam Johnson in the 30-lap dwarf car feature. Despite three second place finishes this season Johnson had never won a feature. His first victory proved to be as exciting as they come as Johnson led the initial nine circuits from the front row before losing the lead to John Wear, before recapturing it again when Wear tangled with lapped traffic with six laps remaining. The crash dropped Wear to 15^th place and lifted Johnson to victory over Michael Grenert, Ryan Diatte, Sonny Calkins, and John Barker in the 24-car event. Johnson, Wear, Calkins, and Jeremy Blackshere won the heat races.

Pole-sitter Dan McCown needed a surge of power to get past the two cars in front of him on a Lap 11 restart in the 16-car pure stock feature and he got what he wanted when his car responded perfectly as the Oakley driver regained the lead and never looked back in the 35-lap event.

“I had confidence I could get by both of them,” said McCown after collecting the $500 first place purse. Adam Kulaja of Concord was awarded second place after the disqualification of Jason Robles, and Amber McAllister finished third. Rounding out the finish were Bob Brown, Jason Harless, Timber Cookson, Fred Ryland, Nick King, and Jay Cookson.

Floyd Youngblood was scratching his head and thinking what might have been if he hadn’t come out of Turn 4 with just one lap remaining in the $500 to win mini stock feature and took race leader Erik Bookout up to the wall. The incident got Youngblood disqualified and dropped Bookout to seventh place behind winner Jon Kirby.

What Youngblood didn’t know was Bookout was about to draw a one-car penalty from track officials and the victory would have been his. Instead, the triumph went to Kirby, a second row starter who held onto third place since Lap 4. Kirby was delighted with the outcome, as was runner-up George Neilson. Dennis Best finished third ahead of Steven Elliott, Kenny Drew, Dominic Lopez, Bookout, Ron Mayberry, Steve Elliott, and Stan Devore.

SUPER STOCKS

Heat 1—Jerry Bartlett; John Johnson; Bobby Motts Jr.; Nick Caughman Jr.; Jason Englund; Mark Thompson; Melissa Hansen; Nate Schleth.

Heat 2—Mitch Machado; Daniel Mendes; Steve Cunningham; Danny Potts; Woody Woodward; Johnny Jensen; Heather Bartlett.

Heat 3—Todd Gomez; Terry DeCarlo Jr.; Manny Avila; Doug Hagio; Dave Byron.

Heat 4—David Lindt Jr.; Shawn McCoy; Jeremy Prince; Bill Thibault; Michelle Byron ; Kenny Drew; Paul Hanley.

B Main—Woodward; D. Byron; Jensen; Hansen; H. Bartlett; Thibault; Schleth; Hanley; Englund; Thompson; Dave Stephens DNS; Drew DNS; Dean DeVolder DNS.

A Main—J. Bartlett; Gomez; Motts; Johnson; Woodward; Mendes; H. Bartlett; Caughman; Jensen; Thibault; Hansen; D. Byron; DeCarlo; M. Byron; Potts; Lindt; Avila; Hanley; Prince; Cunningham; McCoy; Hagio DQ.

DWARF CARS

Heat 1—Adam Johnson; Curtis Craig; Michael Grenert; John Peters; Michael Davis; Dustin Coffee.

Heat 2—John Wear; Russ Roy; Neil Stinson; Robert Mesloh; Randy Coffee; Mark Lankhorst.

Heat 3—Sonny Calkins; John Barker; Ryan Diatte; Kevin Bender; Alan Cox; Joel Osias.

Heat 4—Jeremy Blackshere; Bob Accardo; Dan Williams; Jerry Doty; Charlie Correia; Nick Davis.

Main—Johnson; Grenert; Diatte; Calkins; Barker; Blackshere; Bender; Stinson; Williams; Accardo; Mesloh; Davis; Osias; Wear; D. Coffee; Lankhorst; Roy; R. Coffee DNS; Craig DNS.

PURE STOCK

Heat 1—Adam Kujala; Dan McCown; Jason Harless; Amber McAllister; Richard Taylor; Ivan Gromala.

Heat 2—Bob Waldrop; Billy Barnes; Fred Ryland; Austin Fernandez; Jason Robles; Natalie Perry; Timber Cookson.

Main—McCown; Kujala; McAllister; Bob Brown; Harless; T. Cookson; Ryland; Nick King; Jay Cookson; Perry; Barnes; Taylor; Waldrop; Perry; Fernandez; Gromala DNS; Robles DQ.

MINI STOCK

Heat 1—Erik Bookout; Dennis Best; Josh Souza; Michael Drew; Steve Elliott; Justin Mattos DQ; Dominic Lopez DQ.

Heat 2—Jon Kirby; Floyd Youngblood; Ron Mayberry; Steven Elliott; George Neilson; Stan Devore; Ross Binder.

Main—Kirby; Nielson; Best; Steven Elliott; Drew; Lopez; Bookout; Mayberry; Steve Elliott; Devore; Souza; Mattos; Binder DNS; Youngblood DQ.