FOUR DRIVERS EARN FIRST 2021 WINS AT DELTA SPEEDWAY

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA (May 23, 2021) – Delta Speedway presented by Financial Center Credit Union enjoyed some new victors on Saturday night in the Micro Sprint competition, as all four drivers earned their first victories of the 2021 campaign. Past champions Nikko Panella and Tyler “Tj” Smith were joined by young drivers Andrew Smith and Hayden Stepps as winners in the fourth round of the championship season at the 1/7th mile dirt oval. Photo by Dennis Krumpleman

Panella timed in second quickest behind Devon Courtnier out of the 21 Super 600 entrants on hand at the speedway located at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. Medford, Oregon’s Austin Torgerson and Fresno’s Mattix Salmon split the heat races on the night. A zero inversion placed Courtnier on the pole position alongside Panella. Panella took the lead on lap four and never surrendered it en route to the $500 victory after 30-laps of competition. Courtnier was second with Raio Salmon driving from ninth on the grid to finish third. Incoming points leader Travis Labat of Livermore moved from seventh to fourth with Torgerson rounding out the top-five.

Another outstanding field of Non-Wing competitors were on hand with a 31-car field ready to race. 2019 and 2020 champion Caden Sarale of Stockton led them through time trials with 2020 Restricted champion Brandon Riveira in tow from the second position. Austin Torgerson added a Non-Wing heat race victory to his Super win as well, with other heat races won by past champion Dan Mognaga of Valley Sprints and Cody Gray. A 12-lap B Feature narrowed the field to 22 starters for the main event and was won by Stockton’s Johnathon Henry over 2017 champion Brandon Carey of Ripon.

A six-car invert had Austin Torgerson on the pole position alongside JJ Loss of Lodi. Loss led the first seven laps of the feature before flipping from the lead. The melee handed the top position to Smith which he used to win the $500 race by .348 seconds over Torgerson at the end of 30-laps of racing. Sarale finished third over Riveira and Brentwood’s Jeffrey Pahule, Jr.

TK O’Brien led the Restricted time trials over incoming points leader Austin Wood of Sacramento, before Kellan Harper and Andrew Smith won the heat races. Otto Perreira of Riverbank led the field to green for the 25-lap event. Perreira led two laps until Smith moved into the lead. Smith won the $300 feature over Visalia’s Jett Barnes. Wood overcame a ninth starting position to run third ahead of thirteenth starting Colton Key and Isabel Barnes.

Oakdale’s Hayden Stepps got back to victory lane in Jr. Sprints in the 20-lap feature. Jackson Tardiff, incoming points leader Brody Rubio, Josiah Vega, and Mavrick Pedroni split the four heat races. Vega started shotgun on the pack but drifted to third by the end of the opening lap. Jackson Tardiff led the opening lap before Stepps led lap two. Both Tardiff and front row starter Levi Osborne were unable to finish the race. Stepps topped Rubio, Vegas, Vito Cancilla, and Dean Skrifvars of Castro Valley who started 12th.

Delta Speedway takes an absence for a few weeks before heating up for the summer with the annual Summer Sizzler on June 25 and 26. Complete points races will be staged each night during the annual event.

Delta Speedway Stockton thanks Financial Center Credit Union, Interstate Truck Center, Lovotti Air, 22 Metal Works, Van De Pol Petroleum, Kludt Oil, Starr Property Management, Performance Electronics, and Hoosier Tire for their support of the 2021 season.

For more information on Delta Speedway presented by Financial Center Credit Union, follow us online at www.deltaspeedwaystockton.com or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SUPER 600 (30 LAPS)

1. 73-Nikko Panella[2]; 2. 34-Devon Courtnier[1]; 3. 21-Raio Salmon[9]; 4. 1-Travis Labat[7]; 5. 88-Austin Torgerson[5]; 6. 12-Alex Panella[10]; 7. 5-Mattix Salmon[6]; 8. 20-James Andrichuk[12]; 9. 02-Ashton Torgerson[8]; 10. 27-Ron Singh[11]; 11. 32A-Colton Huelsmann[13]; 12. 24S-Izaak Sharp[15]; 13. 2-Hailey Wood[3]; 14. 11-Jessica McManus[17]; 15. 22M-Brett McColloch[14]; 16. 10R-Rylee Whitehouse[21]; 17. 55T-Allan Taylor[19]; 18. 91C-Colby Greig[16]; 19. 81T-Tyler Chamorro[18]; 20. 19-Nate Matherly[20]; 21. 24-Caden Sarale[4]

NON WING (30 LAPS)

1. 14-Tyler Smith[3]; 2. 88-Austin Torgerson[1]; 3. 32-Caden Sarale[6]; 4. 05R-Brandon Riveira[5]; 5. 44X-Jeffery Pahule[4]; 6. 04-Cody Gray[9]; 7. 2-Brody Petrie[14]; 8. 1J-Cameron Paul[19]; 9. 19-Tucker LaCaze[20]; 10. 22M-Dan Mognaga[10]; 11. 55-Brandon Carey[17]; 12. 83K-Colin Kirby[13]; 13. 74-Adam Elbert[21]; 14. 16-Randy Sims[22]; 15. 02-Ashton Torgerson[7]; 16. 20-James Andrichuk[18]; 17. 67V-Tim Vaught[12]; 18. 77-Sage Bordenave[11]; 19. 10-Johnathon Henry[16]; 20. 2B-Travis Sullivan[15]; 21. 67-JJ Loss[2]; 22. 85-Robbie Lewis[8]

RESTRICTED (25 LAPS)

1. 7P-Andrew Smith[3]; 2. 55-Jett Barnes[4]; 3. 2A-Austin Wood[9]; 4. 63-Colton Key[13]; 5. 30-Isabel Barnes[5]; 6. 20-Otto Perreira[1]; 7. 55X-Lucas Mauldin[15]; 8. 69-Jordan Mast[12]; 9. 7K-Kennzzie Brown[14]; 10. 5-Kellan Harper[2]; 11. 33G-Caden Gotelli[10]; 12. 23C-Cierra Wullenwaber[16]; 13. 77K-Kyle Fernandez[11]; 14. 7J-Lucas Johnson[8]; 15. 76-Triton OBrien[6]; 16. (DNS) 10P-Peyton Whitehouse

JR SPRINTS (20 LAPS)

1. 98-Hayden Stepps[4]; 2. 25R-Brody Rubio[9]; 3. 75-Josiah Vega[1]; 4. V5-Vito Cancilla[10]; 5. 10D-Dean Skrifvars[12]; 6. 4M-Mavrick Pedroni[5]; 7. 99-Heston Stepps[7]; 8. 1K-Kyle Klagenberg[11]; 9. 55X-Maya Mauldin[8]; 10. 5M-Mackenie Montgomery[15]; 11. 9-Charlie Haines[14]; 12. 25A-Bradley Anderson[6]; 13. 38J-Jackson Tardiff[3]; 14. 9J-Levi Osborne[2]; 15. 35R-Reed Wait[13]

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About Steven Blakesley

Steven Blakesley is a motorsports announcer and public relations specialist with more than 15 years of experience. His biggest pet peeve is race fans who only enjoy one form of racing over all others.