Stockton’s JoJo Stearns proved to be in a class by himself as he navigated his way through a crash-filled race to claim the Night of Champions victory at Stockton’s 99 Speedway on Saturday night.
The win did not come easy for the youngest champion in the track’s Late Model history. After dominating the early stages of the race, Stearns had to overcome a flat tire and battle past some of the most legendary names in the track’s 75-year history to earn his first victory of the season.
Several former track champions – including Dave Byrd, Ken Boyd, Jeff Belletto, Arron Shankel, Ron Strmiska Jr., Wayne Pierce, and David Philpott – were just some of the drivers who returned to their old battleground to sign autographs, reminisce with the fans, and relive past glories.
The Stockton Late Model feature was set for 74 laps in honor of the late Harry Belletto, a former three-time track champion who passed away in 2022 and his two sons, Steve Belletto, a former two-time track champion who passed away after battling COVID in 2021 and Rick Belletto, the crew chief for the family operated race cars, who passed away last summer. In a tribute to his father, Jeff Belletto, the youngest of his three sons and also a former two-time track champion, dusted off and prepared Harry’s 20-year-old iconic black, red, and yellow Havoline Oil sponsored No. 74 Chevy for Steve’s son Nic Belletto to drive. The car produced one of the family’s greatest highlights when Harry led Steve and Jeff to a 1-2-3 finish in the 1999 Firecracker 100 at the 99 Speedway.
After posting the fastest qualifying time, the invert draw relegated Stearns to the fifth position for the start of the race. Leading the 14-car field were 12-year-old Vito Cancilla of Martinez and former three-time track champion Justin Philpott of Tracy while Ripon driver Bubba Nascimento, the 2020 track champion, and Racin’ Jason Aguirre of Atwater rolled off just ahead of Stearns in the second row. As Cancilla jumped out to the early lead trouble quickly started on just the second lap when Nascimento spun Philpott while racing for the second position. The stack up behind them resulted in damage for both Philpott and Ripon native Hank Gaalwsyk. After making repairs both were able to return to the back of the pack where they were joined by Nascimento, who was sent to the rear by track officials for causing the mess.
On the following restart, Stearns powered past Cancilla to take over the lead while second-generation driver Kyle Gottula of Modesto moved up to third. As Stearns began to pull away from the field, Gottula tangled up with Cancilla creating a chain reaction behind the two that swallowed up several other drivers. Stearns continued to dominate the action until lap 29 when he suddenly began to slow down with sparks showering from the underbody of the car after he cut down a right front tire from running over debris. He was forced to make the long drive down into the pits to replace the tire and rejoin the field from the rear.
Stearns’s misfortune left the race wide open and the aggression rose considerably. The next restart saw Gottula punt Cancilla up the track again but this time Gottula slid up with him. Moments later, the yellow was shown once again when Cancilla got turned by Gottula while racing in the pack. The two would continue to joist until officials parked Gottula for the night with 20 laps remaining in the race. With all the mayhem at the front, Nic Belletto assumed the lead much to the delight of the crowd. He battled hard with Las Vegas native Amilleo Thomson to remain out front as Stearns slowly worked his way back into the picture and closed in on the leaders.
“Once you are with the cars in the back you never know what can happen. We are not even halfway through the race and people are going four-wide like it is the final lap,” Stearns explained after the race. “I had to bide my time trying to get back to the front and not burn up the car. Luckily we got through it clean.”
On lap 37, Stearns moved past Thomson and set his sights on Belletto. After a subsequent wreck took out more contenders just behind him, the 2022 track champion retook the top spot on the ensuing restart when Thompson got into the corner too hard, lost control over the bumps, and almost sent Belletto into a spin. Fittingly, as Stearns began to check out from the field the tenth caution flag of the race came out when Nascimento wrecked coming off of turn two. Stearns survived the single file restart to take the checkered flag ahead of Livermore’s Ryan Philpott, Cancilla, Belletto and Thomson.
Despite falling just short, Belletto was happy with his performance.
“I haven’t raced in about five or six years. We made some big swings on the car to get it to work. We fought and fought, dodged a bunch of wrecks, and actually got to lead for a little bit. The car started to fade a little near the end and I couldn’t hang with the top guys, but I was tickled to death to get a top-four finish,” Belletto said. “Many times under the cautions I almost came to tears thinking about how well we were doing in my granddad’s car.”
The victory earned Stearns a $5,000 payday and after grabbing the checkered flag, he triumphantly took his No. 6 machine around the track in a Polish Victory Lap.
“It means a lot. We’ve been off just a little bit. We finally got through and broke through that little curse we had,” admitted Stearns, who would later give the winner’s trophy to the Belletto family. “And the history behind this race is meaningful not only to me but my dad. He raced against them all, raced champions who were winning championships. It couldn’t have been a better night.”
Chaos was the word of the race as Pure Stocks points leader Brandon Jones of Lodi captured another victory this season. After a multi-car melee aborted the initial start of the race, Stockton’s Jeremy Tucker muscled his way into the lead as Brian Miller of Railroad Flats and Jones nipped hot on his heels. The top three ran nose to tail for the better part of the main event until Jones moved by Miller on the inside during lap 16. Just five laps later, Jones ducked to the bottom lane again to pry away the top spot from Tucker.
Tucker pounded on Jones’ bumper for the remainder of the race as he desperately attempted to retake the lead. On the final lap, the pair traded paint as Jones ran Tucker down low heading down the backstretch. Coming out of the final corner both Jones and Tucker slid sideways while Miller had to swerve to avoid the leaders. Against all odds, Jones was able to regain control and slammed the pedal to the floorboard to hold off Tucker and Miller for the win.
“I know I’ve been dominant out here since the beginning of the year,” Jones said. “These guys are getting faster and figuring it out and it’s making it tougher for me. And I like that, that’s what it’s about.”
Stockton’s Kayci Phillips and Donnie Darter of Valley Springs led the 11-car Legends field to open their 35-lap main. However, all eyes were on Tracy driver Brendan Ruzbarsky who started the race in sixth but quickly worked his way to second place on lap four. Phillips could do nothing to hold off the hard-charging Ruzbarsky as he made the pass for the lead on lap six. Linden’s Zach Sansom was able to follow Ruzbarsky past Phillips for second but could not close the gap on the new leader.
Ruzbarsky never looked back and by the end of 35 caution-free laps, he had driven to a half-lap lead to pick up his first win of the season. Sansom finished in second with Phillips coming home in third.
The Nor Cal Mini Stocks featured a dominating performance by Rocklin’s John Sproule. He led every lap of the 20-lap feature en route to his second win of the season. Jordan Mast of Manteca finished right behind Sproule to extend his points lead in the class.
In the Legends of Kearney Bowl dash, a historic race car found its way to the front of the field as the famed car once driven by the legendary Johnny Brazil – who still owns the record for the fastest lap in 99 history with a blistering 11.899-second qualifying run in 1985 – earned the win for CJ Stubbles of Grass Valley.
Kingsburg’s Joe Kirk started out front but quickly lost the lead to Fresno’s Bob Hutton as the field roared into the first corner while Stubbles and Discovery Bay’s Rick Brophy patiently worked their way towards the front before going on to the offensive on lap seven. Stubbles took to the inside lane in turn three and by lap eight had moved past Hutton to take control of the race. Brophy got past Hutton a lap later and kept Stubbles within sight, but could never close the gap as Stubbles cruised to the victory.
The 75th Anniversary season at the 99 Speedway continues on Saturday, Aug. 17, where the Stockton Late Models, Nor Cal Mini Stocks, Grand American Modifieds, NCMA Sprint Cars, and the AAA Energy System Pro-4 Modifieds are set to hit the track.
