The “Boss” is Back After Doss Scores $10,000 Wild West Win at Stockton 99 Speedway
Bakersfield, CA – Jeremy Doss finally got Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series win number one of the season, and a championship in the three-race “JM Environmental Inc. Wild West Shootout” mini-series. Doss took the lead on a lap 64 restart and had to fight off JD Motorsports teammate Jeff Bischofberger to score the victory in the “JM Environmental Inc. Wild West Shootout “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 127 presented by 51 FIFTY”. He had to beat out incoming mini-series championship leader Jacob Gomes by three positions, and he did it by five. It was a big night for the Upper Lake, CA driver, which paid off to the tune of $10,000 at the historic ¼-mile Stockton 99 Speedway.
“I don’t think words can even describe it”, Doss exclaimed. “It just feels amazing to not only win, as we really needed it this season, but to get one-two with my teammate Jeff (Bischofberger). We have only done this for the second time. I think the last time was five years ago in Vegas. I just have to hand it off to Cody Glick and my dad Mike Doss, for working really hard on the setup. I have to thank the whole JD Motorsports crew for working so hard all weekend. Hamke Racecars, Earnest Performance, PFC Brakes, Swift Springs, Horsepower Project, S&S Sports Enterprises, Franks Racing Radios, Pit Stop USA, Apache Rental Group and Bob Lyon for letting us run his motor. It feels really, really good and it has been a long time coming.”
John Moore, the owner of race sponsor JM Environmental Inc., got his day off to a great start, earning his first career PFC Brakes “Zero Drag Fast Time Award”, turning a lap of 13.176 seconds to beat out Dustin Ash for the top spot. Doss qualified third with Bischofberger fourth and Jacob Gomes rounding out the top-five. A straight up start, based on qualifying, found Moore sitting on the pole as the green flag waved. Moore got off to a slow start, however, when both Dustin Ash and Jeff Bischofberger got around him in the preferred upper groove, prior to a quick yellow, which flew for an Eric Humphries spin in Turn 1 on lap three.
The restart found Ash out to a tenuous lead, as Doss used the preferred upper groove to move around Moore for third, with Gomes and Blaine Rocha also getting by the struggling Moore. The second caution came out on lap 13, with Eric Schmidt, Cale Kanke and Bubba Nascimento all going around in a chain reaction incident. Schmidt would retire a few laps later as a result of the damage, with Kanke and Nascimento returning.
When the field took the restart, Bischofberger used a power move to take the lead from Ash, using the inside groove, as Ash bobbled for an instant. Tight racing ensued until the yellow flew again for a stalled Dylan Zampa, who had began to pressure the top-five. Another restart found Bischofberger leading with Doss using the inside line to get by Ash on lap 38. The field ran green until a Competition Caution flew at the end of a 27-lap green flag run on lap 64.
The deciding restart found Bischofberger and Doss in a side-by-side duel for the lead, with Doss inching ahead before the caution flew on lap 68 for a spinning Zach Telford. Rocha had moved to third at that point, using the outside to get by Ash. As the green flag flew again, Doss and Bischofberger would continue their battle, as Ash got back by Rocha on the restart for third. A couple more cautions found Ash and Rocha swapping the position back and forth. The final restart on lap 89 saw Doss holding on to the lead, as Bischofberger nosed inside the 2018 series champion on multiple occasions, looking for the top spot. With about 20 to go, Bischofberger made slight contact with the outside wall, in the battle for the top spot. It was just enough to let Doss slowly pull away, as he scored his 10th career victory, earning the “Wild West Shootout” championship.
Doss recalled the battle with his teammate in the final laps of the event, and the trust he had in his fellow competitor.
“I was a lot of fun”, Doss exclaimed! “Honestly it is a little more comforting when you have him (Bischofberger) running second with you or visa versa. You know that you are not gonna wreck each other. He ran me really clean, and it was just a fun race to finally get to run door-to-door with him for that many laps and with him pressuring me. He kinda made a mistake with about 20 to go, and he got into the wall. Fortunately for me, that made my job a little bit easier. But man, it was fun!”
Bischofberger was happy with his second-place finish, and for the team’s one-two finish at a track at which he was a previous winner. It was fun for the Tracy, CA driver, competing against one of the best drivers in the nation.
“Well at the end of the day, it was really fun running with Jeremy”, Bischofberger stated. “First of all, it is a pleasure and honor to be running up there with him. He is one of the best in the United States. Mike Doss and the team; Jeremy, Cody (Glick), everybody put a lot of effort into this. Mike and Dale (Dodds) have been off racing and collecting a lot of data, and it sure showed because I am not running a lot of races. But they gave me one hell of a car, to make my job easy. I bounced it off of the wall in qualifying, and then with 20 to go I was trying to set up Jeremy, and I don’t know what happened, but I bounced it off the back stretch wall. Once I did that, I didn’t have anything for him, and I was just hanging on. I really wanted to get the one-two finish for the team. We really strive to do that.”
Bischofberger continued, “I just want to thank everybody, my team, I’ve got my son and my daughter here, my parents, and my brother did a great job of spotting. The guys I was racing around, Dustin Ash, they raced us real clean, and it was just really good racing. At the end of the day, I really appreciate it. Thanks to Spears for putting this on. It is good to come out here every once in a while, and to finish second in the SRL, to Jeremy Doss, is no easy task, and I’m enjoying it.”
Dustin Ash battled at, or near the lead all night, eventually settling for a third-place finish, his best of 2022. It was his first trip to Stockton as a driver, and the track lived up to his expectations.
“It was pretty much what I thought it would be”, referring to his thoughts about the track’s character. “We lost the lead there, not by choice, and I just made a mistake there on the restart, losing the lead. At that point it was so tough to try to get the track position back that we needed. I felt like we had a really good car tonight. We just came up a couple of positions short. But we are making headway and we are going in the right direction, so it is all we can ask for right now.”
The next event for the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series will be a Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka, CA on August 13th. Jacob Gomes will enter the event with a slim 12-point lead over Jeremy Doss, as the two former Rookie-of-the-Year and series champions battle it out for the 2022 title.
Results:
- Jeremy Doss, 2. Jeff Bischofberger, 3. Dustin Ash, 4. Blaine Rocha, 5. Jace Hansen, 6. Jacob Gomes, 7. Bubba Nascimento, 8. John Moore, 9. Zach Telford*, 10. Carlos Vieira, 11. Scott Sanchez, 12. Michael Sandoval, 13. Cale Kanke, 14. Andy Allen, 15. Eric Humphries, 16. Dylan Zampa*, 17. Eric Schmidt
*Rookie-of-the-Year Contender
