Jacob Gomes Wins Wild West Shootout at Tucson Speedway
Bakersfield, CA – Jacob Gomes came to Tucson Speedway (AZ) on a roll in the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series. He escaped the wild west frontier town with a JM Environmental “Wild West Shootout – Heatseeker 127” win, and $10,000 in hard earned cash. Gomes started the season with a $25,000 win in the “All-Star Showdown 200” at Irwindale Speedway (CA), followed it up with a $10,000 victory at the “Winter Showdown 135” at Kern County Raceway (CA), then made it three-in-a-row at Tucson. It wasn’t an easy victory but one that took strategy from the Derek Thorn Racing Team, and Gomes Motorsports, to bring home the rich win.
“We were just trying to save our stuff to be there at the end”, Gomes began, regarding their strategy. “This place is pretty abrasive and pretty crazy to be in. You just have to be at the right place at the right time, and pick your battles, and pace yourself off the times of where everyone is at. You knew some guys were going to fire off in the first 50 (laps). We just knew where we had to be. This is probably the most challenging race, strategy-wise. Coming here to the “Chilly Willy” and helping out with Derek (Thorn) and Sean Hingorani, really got my feet wet here, and it was really worth it.”
Gomes continued, about the closing laps of the race. “I didn’t feel very comfortable about the win until about 12 to go, not knowing what was going to happen and possibly getting a caution with 10 to go. I was pressing it, and not pressing it, and pressing it again, not knowing where I was going to be. I was praying that there wasn’t going to be a caution, and if there was, that I would have enough. It is pretty cool (winning $45,000 in the last three races). We are going to Madison (International Raceway, WI) in a few weeks, and we are looking forward to getting out of our little area and going to that one. We really have a great group of guys, and I feel we have a shot to get that one.”
The series blew into town having witnessed 18 winners in 18 different Spears SRL Southwest and NASCAR Southwest Tour Series event appearances. Gomes made that number 19, after 127 laps of action. Gomes got the evening off to a strong start by setting a New Track Record for the series with a 14.981 second lap, around the 3/8-mile oval. He was the first Super Late Model ever into the 14 second bracket. Gomes was followed by John Moore, Sean Hingorani, Austin Herzog, and Kole Raz. 18 of the 22 qualifiers were less than 0.4 seconds off the pace, in the tight 22-car field.
On the initial green, Gomes grabbed the lead and settled into a pace, as tire conservation was the main topic of conversation throughout the pit area, in regard to the abrasive track surface. That was the case for nearly all the competitors, except for Dan Holtz, who was the only competitor with a chance at winning a second event at the facility. Holtz started 20th and stormed to the lead on lap 15, a strategy that had worked in his 2016 victory. By the lap 30 Competition Caution, Holtz had began to lap several teams that employed a tire saving strategy, leading Andy Allen, John Moore, Gomes, and Austin Herzog.
The restart found Moore charging to the front, but it took Holtz only six laps to grab the top spot back and check out. Positions outside the top-five swapped back and forth, as two and three-wide racing was prevalent throughout the field. After another 30 laps, the Competition Caution waved again, with Holtz leading Moore, Allen, Gomes, and Hingorani at the flag.
The second restart saw Moore back to the front, after a battle with Holtz. On lap 68, Gomes began to make his move, passing Holtz and closing on the bumper of Moore. Hingorani and Austin Herzog followed Gomes cue, and put Holtz back to fifth, as the field reached the scheduled lap 77 break in that order. Teams were allowed to make changes to their Super Late Models at that point, but no tire changes were allowed.
Restarting on the pole, Moore fought with Gomes for the lead, before the 2022 champion grabbed the lead for the first time. The only incident related caution flew on lap 82, as contact between Cody Dempster and Dylan Zampa found the defending Colorado National Speedway champion in the outside wall entering Turn 1, as the 2022 Kulwicki Driver Development Program champion continued on. Gomes led Moore, Herzog, Hingorani, and Andy Allen.
The final restart found Gomes back to the top spot as Moore followed. By lap 92, Kole Raz and Brandon Farrington were on the charge, with Raz breaking into the top-five, and Farrington to six, dispatching Jace Hansen from the top five. Raz continued his charge getting by Herzog on lap 98 and setting sail for Hingorani in third, as Gomes led the top-three breakaway. It took Farrington a few laps longer, but he knocked Herzog out of the top-five on lap 102 as Hingorani gained second from Moore on lap 106. It took Raz three more laps, but he continued his fine run grabbing third from Moore.
The leaders began to hit heavy lapped traffic, with a dozen laps to go, giving Gomes an opportunity to put a little distance on Hingorani. That allowed Raz to close on the talented young racer. On lap 122, Raz took advantage of a three-wide battle to grab the runner-up spot, as Hingorani was slowed, as he moved to the apron to get under the lapped car of Thane Alderman. The pass earned Raz the Fluidyne High Performance “Cool Move of the Race”. With only five laps remaining, Raz ran out of time, as Gomes cruised to a four second victory and a $10,000 payday. Raz would finish second, followed by Hingorani, Brandon Farrington, and John Moore. Michael Scott made a late charge to finish sixth with Dylan Lupton, Jace Hansen, Austin Herzog, and Jimmy Parker Jr. the final car in the top-10.
Kole Raz had an even more conservative strategy than Gomes, as the former Tucson Super Late Model track champion was just ahead of the leader as the lap 77 break was reached. Raz powered forward after the break and ultimately finished second. It was the only incident induced caution that derailed what could have been a winning strategy.
“I think we played our cards right, but I think unfortunately we didn’t have the luck to go with it”, Raz commented on his runner-up finish. “We had the caution come out a lap too late (the caution on lap 82 prevented a Competition Caution coming out before 15 laps to go), or we could have gone another 30 laps and got a Competition Caution just after lap 100. It just didn’t fall out that way and we were too far back of the 16. He was lights out once he got clean air. Lapped traffic was pretty rough, but another second-place finish stings for sure. It feels good to finish second here, don’t get me wrong. This is our family-owned Port City, so I am really happy. This group of guys really puts the work in. We have put a lot of time and effort into our notebook, and we just need a little bit more, and a little more luck, and I’m sure we will get that win.”
Sean Hingorani battled in the top-five for a majority of the race, taking advantage of his third-place qualifying effort. It aided his strategy of saving tires, but a late race altercation stalled his effort for the win, as he recalled.
“We were saving, and we had a really good strategy we had going, I felt like. The lapped car ran into us pretty hard there, and I think it messed something up pretty good in the left rear. Maybe we had a slow leak in the tire. It caused us to be free during the last part of the race. I definitely think we would have had something there for the leader, if we didn’t have that contact there. It was a lot of fun and I can’t thank my guys enough for coming out here. I am really appreciative of all of them.”
The next event for the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series will be on May 20th at Irwindale Speedway. The Super Late Models will be joined by the Spears Modified Series and the Spears Pro Late Models presented by Sigma Performance Services.
Results:
1. Jacob Gomes, 2. Kole Raz, 3. Sean Hingorani*, 4. Brandon Farrington, 5. John Moore, 6. Michael Scott, 7. Dylan Lupton, 8. Jace Hansen, 9. Austin Herzog*, 10. Jimmy Parker Jr., 11. Nick Cooper*, 12. Kasey Kleyn*, 13. Dylan Zampa*, 14. Darren Robertson*, 15. Andy Allen, 16. Cale Kanke, 17. Zach Telford, 18. Thane Alderman, 19. Scott Sanchez, 20. Dan Holtz, 21. Brett Yackey, 22. Cody Dempster*, DNS. Dylan Jones*
*Rookie-of-the-Year Contender
