Thorn Searching for Stockton Win Number Five
The winningest driver in Spears Srl Southwest Tour Series history, is not surprisingly the series winningest driver at The New Stockton 99 Speedway. Derek Thorn will bring that winning history to a track with 73 years of history, when the “Tour” visits on July 4th, for the “JM Environmental Inc. Wild West Shootout – Shoot to Thrill 127 presented by 51 FIFTY LTM.” Thorn will be searching for Stockton win number five, and overall series win number 44, after hitting his car number in the last event at Kern County Racewayin May.
Thorn broke a Stockton wins tie record with Jacob Gomes, when he took the victory at Stockton 99 Speedway in 2018. It was a hard-fought battle that took all the effort that Thorn could muster, fending off Ricky Schlick and then Eric Schmidt. Both Gomes and Schmidt will be there to challenge the four-time series champion, in addition to a handful of drivers who call Stockton their home track.
Thorn will be looking to put his winning experience at the historic facility, to good use next Saturday.
“The most important thing at Stockton is to have a fast car, then luck, and avoiding the chaos is right there with it”, Thorn acknowledged. “It’s such a small track and when things go wrong everything happens real quick. I’ve been fortunate to have a great team and some real fast cars there, so hopefully we can get through a majority of the race in one piece, and be in contention at the end.”
Thorn’s record at Stockton also includes a victory in the ARCA Menards West Series, where he turned the trick in his last series visit in 2013. His SPEARS Southwest Tour Series record encompasses nine starts, with four wins, six top-five’s, and seven top-10’s. He has set the Performance Friction Brakes Zero Drag Fast Time Award an amazing six times. And the facility is one of the closest to his hometown in Lakeport, CA.
Thorn will look to continue the success that brought him the honor of being recognized as one of the nation’s top-10 short track drivers of the decade, by Speed51.com. A victory at Stockton would make it four SRL wins in a row, dating back 2019. That doesn’t include a trip to Victory Lane at 5 Flags Speedway (FL) in the Snowflake 100, last December. To add to those honors, he set Fast time in the Snowball Derby, the most prestigious Super late Model race in the country. It was an event that he nearly won, sans a controversial late race officials’ decision.
To achieve all that Thorn has, throughout his career, it takes a talented supporting cast. Thorn possesses such a cast, and he is thankful for the support.
“I would like to thank Byron and Carol Patrick Campbell and all my Campbell Motorsports team as well as my Crew Chief Mike Keen. Also, all my great sponsors; H and M Motorsports, Santa Maria Brewing Co. Inc, Double Eagle Transportation, 51 FIFTY LTM., Dave Reeves and Reeves Complete Auto Center Inc., Family Funeral and Cremation, AP Racing Brakes, Advanced Racing Suspensions, FURY Race Cars, Swift Springs, Tripple R Transportation, Hightower Racing Transmissio N, Joes Racing Products, Victory Circle Chassis & Custom Fabrication, FinishLine Signs, Performance Parts Supply, West Air, Strange Ovaland Joiner Motorsports.”
Thorn will be shooting for the $5,000 victory on Saturday night, thanks to the Winner’s Bonus sponsored by Senneker Performance. $500 will be up for grabs to the fastest qualifier and the leader at lap 27 will receive and extra $1,000. For those unable to attend, the event will be live streamed from Stockton on www.SpearsRacing.TV and shown on a tape delayed basis on MAVTV. Updates on the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series Facebook, as well as Twitter pages will also be provided.
