Rocha Finally Gets Back to Victory Lane in a “Wild West Shootout” at Stockton
Bakersfield, CA – The first lap Blaine Rocha turned on Saturday at The New Stockton 99 Speedway (CA) was his Qualifying lap. The last lap he turned earned him $10,000 in the JM ENVIRONMENTAL, INC.. Wild West Shootout – There’s Gonna Be Some Rockin’ 127”. Rocha, who earlier in the day attended his friend’s wedding, scored his third career victory in the series and first since 2017, a span of 57 races. It was a relief for the Oakdale, CA racer, after so many near misses.
“It feels really awesome”, Rocha exclaimed after grabbing series win number three!! Those last five laps at the end of it… I was just praying that there were no cautions please, no cautions please. We got to the end finally. Those lapper cars…., it’s bad when you think about the worst, but we have had about the worst luck you can get. I’ll take this one, and it is a big boost of confidence for me and the whole team. These guys bust their butts every time they come out, and it is hard not to give them the result every time. It feels really good to get them the results they deserve.”
Eric (Bubba) Nascimento Jr. earned his first RaceCals Fast Time Award in qualifying for the penultimate event of the season. Nascimento turned a lap of 13.446 seconds to start on the pole for Saturday’s 127-lap event. Rocha turned the second fastest lap, after Ross Strmiska substituted for Rocha in the day’s earlier practice session. Buddy Shepherd, who entered the event as the championship leader was third, followed by three-time series champion Jacob Gomes, and 2022 Kulwicki Driver Development Program champion Dylan Zampa. The tight field found all of the top 10 within three-tenths of Nascimento’s fast lap.
Nascimento grabbed the lead after the initial start, clearing Rocha by lap number one, with Gomes up to third around Shepherd in the outside line. Rocha applied heavy pressure to the back bumper of Nascimento for the lead, with Nascimento around in Turn 1 on lap 5, and Rocha pitting for fender damage as well. With the two leaders at the back of the pack, Gomes assumed the lead over Shepherd, Zampa and John Moore.
That moment caused severe trepidation for Rocha, as he wasn’t sure if the car would be able to continue.
“I knew as soon as the green flag dropped, we had a really fast racecar. I was really angry with the way he (Nascimento) chopped me off during the first five laps. I thought our night was done then. I didn’t know what the car was going to handle like, but Duane Sharp had me a hot rod today. I’m gonna have to start missing Saturday’s practice more often”, Rocha joked.
The first restart found Gomes choose the outside line, holding off Shepherd, who slotted into the number two position. By lap 10, Shepherd began applying heavy pressure to the back bumper of Gomes for the lead, dipping inside the former champion repeatedly. By lap 30, Gomes had finally gained a small advantage, as Zampa, Moore, and a recovering Rocha battled hard for the second position with Shepherd. On lap 36, Rocha climbed the left rear of Moore’s Super Late Model, as he had to check up in tight racing. The second caution flew on lap 39, as debris from Rocha’s right front fender slowed the action.
Gomes once again chose the outside line on the restart, but Shepherd got a good run and muscled his way to the lead. Gomes fought back, trying to get under Shepherd, but contact was made in Turn 3, causing Shepherd to spin on lap 42, with Gomes sent to the rear. Shepherd tagged the tail, after repairs were made, but a tire rub left the 2021 series ROTY attempting to save the tire until the break.
Through the melee, Rocha was able to emerge with the lead, with Zampa, Moore, Nascimento, and Eric Schmidt the top five. The restart found Moore losing positions, falling to fifth. The field then settled in for a long green flag run with positions remaining unchanged in the top five. Gomes was working his way forward, however, reaching sixth by lap 60. Lap 71 found both Moore and Gomes getting under Schmidt, with Gomes taking Moore two laps later. When the break arrived on lap 77, Rocha led Zampa, Nascimento, Gomes, Moore, and Schmidt.
When the teams returned after adjustments, Rocha pushed to the lead with Gomes getting around Nascimento for third and Schmidt around Moore for fifth. On lap 94, Gomes began to put heavy pressure on Zampa for the runner-up position. The duo battled side by side and nose to tail over the next 33 laps, swapping the position back and forth, as they chased Rocha. But Gomes was never able to fully clear the 2022 Kulwicki Driver Development champion, in the inside line.
At the lap 127 checkered, Rocha held on to score his third series victory, pushing his career earnings over the $100,000 mark with the $10,000 win. He also closed the gap on Buddy Shepherd to a mere one-point deficit for the championship. Rocha finished ahead of Dylan Zampa, Jacob Gomes, Bubba Nascimento, and Eric Schmidt. John Moore, Buddy Shepherd, Michael Sandoval, Tim Spurgeon, and Mike Beeler rounded out the top 10.
It was also a good night for Zampa, who closed to within 27 points of the championship lead. Earlier in the evening Zampa got the win in the Spears Pro Late Model Series and backed it up with a hard-fought runner-up finish behind Rocha.
“The Zampa Motorsports Team worked really hard all weekend, and we did double duty, getting the win in the Pro. We had good expectations going into this race. We had a good car, but we were fighting a little bit of snugness. We may have got a bad set of tires. With staggers and pressures, everything was good. The ST1 and ST2’s we have been fighting. We fought them here and fought them in Colorado (National Speedway) a little bit.”
Zampa recalled the battle with Gomes for the runner-up position, fending off the three-time series champion in the outside groove.
“It was a good hard battle with Jacob (Gomes), one of the best on the west coast”, Zampa recalled. “To duke it out with him for second like that was pretty impressive. We were pretty much sideways and saving it. The other guys were doing that on lap six and spinning, I’ve got to hand it off to all my sponsors, Randy Hedrick with Sierra Speed Technology, and the Apache Rental Group with Sean (Woodside). Those are two sponsors that we would not be able to do this without them. Also, all my other sponsors like Allied Auto, Anderson Logging, Earnest Performance, and everyone else that is on this car. I couldn’t do it without them. “
After winning the previous two events he entered, Gomes was a strong favorite heading to his home track. He battled from fourth starting to grab the lead after the lap six incident between the leaders. He led until the lap 39 caution, but he lost the lead on the restart and was sent to the rear of the field after he and Shepherd got together on lap 42. Gomes recalled the hard battles throughout the race at the historic ¼-mile.
“We had a good car all night, we just had little things we had to work on for the halfway break. We got bumped quite a bit and he (Shepherd) got bumped by us. I got into (Turn) 3 a little too hot and got into him. I got a little sideway on entry and got into him. I ruined his night and ultimately ended my night, it was just a shi… deal and I felt bad I spun him out and wrecked his day. I guess it’s racing but just trying to come back, and we came back after the pit stop, and got up there. But we just didn’t have enough.”
Gomes continued, recalling the closing laps battle with Dylan Zampa. “Battling Zampa, he wasn’t giving me an inch, and I wasn’t giving him an inch, and it was just hard racing. Nobody spun out and nobody wrecked, so it was good. I’m sure he had fun and so did I.”
The next event for the series will be the season finale October Classic at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway (CA). It will feature the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series Super Late Models, Spears Modified Series, and the Spears Pro Late Model Series on October 26th.
Celebrating its twenty fourth season in 2024, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. “The SPEARS Southwest Tour Series…Where the Champions Race”.
Story, PC: K. Peters, SRL Media
