PANELLA AND SARALE SPLIT DUAL AT DELTA WINS ON SUNDAY

(September 7, 2020 from Gary Thomas) – Stockton’s own Alex Panella grabbed an exciting Super 600 victory on Sunday night as the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds based Delta Speedway wrapped up the annual “Dual at Delta” weekend. Photo by Chris Cleveland

Also claiming wins at the finale of the two-night event were Caden Sarale with the Non-Wing 600s, Broedy Graham in Restricted and Lucas Mauldin with the Junior Sprints.

The Super 600 feature started off with excitement right off the bat as Alex Panella and Brody Fuson raced closely together at the front of the field. The front row starters put on a show until Fuson stalled in the second corner on the 11th lap to bring out a caution. When going back green the action continued to be hot and heavy with lapped traffic creating some incredible action on the Delta Speedway clay.

At one point the top-six cars on the speedway raced closely together prior to a caution waving with five-laps remaining. The yellow was brought out after Caden Sarale had gotten sideways on the backstretch and left Nikko Panella with nowhere to go, resulting in him spinning to a stop. After going back green Caeden Steele flexed his muscles and slipped to the inside of Sarale for second, before going to work on leader Alex Panella.

With the white flag waving Steele gave it one final shot on the last corner, but Panella ran mistake free and crossed the checkered to scoop up the big win. Steele, Sarale, Brad Hannum and James Andrichuk completed the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 were Gauge Garcia, Rickey Sanders, Colton Huelsmann, Devon Courtnier and Logan Trevino. Taking home wins in the Super 600 heat races were Colton Huelsmann, Logan Trevino and Gauge Garcia. Fast time was set by Nikko Panella with a time of 9.763. A total of 22 cars competed at the event.

The 30-lap Non-Wing main event got off to a tough start as a multi-car pileup in the first corner claimed several cars to bring out a red flag. When getting underway it was Atwater’s Tim Vaught who charged into the lead ahead of Austin Stone and Robbie Lewis. The race for second got a little too intense however, when contact between the pair left Stone spun around on lap 14. Lewis was then sent to the rear for what was deemed to be rough driving.

Once going back green the battle for the lead heated up with Brody Fuson sliding to the top spot. He and Vaught put on an entertaining show until the caution waved on lap 18. Caden Sarale eventually moved up to the second position and set up a classic battle to the finish. A green-white-checkered restart changed the complexion of the feature when Sarale gave Fuson a slider in turn three.

Fuson kept his foot in it and got just high enough to clip the wall, sending him for a wild end-over-end set of flips down the front stretch. Luckily, he climbed out okay, but his bid at victory was over. Sarale went on to tally the victory over Matt Sargent, Lewis, Vaught and Tucker LaCaze. Winning heats with the Non Wing class were Caden Sarale, Sage Bordenave and Matt Sargent. The B-main was captured by Colton Jones. Setting fast time with a lap of 10.535 was Caden Sarale. A total of 27-cars were on hand.

The Restricted feature saw an early battle between Brandon Riveira and Broedy Graham, before a yellow waved on lap-two followed by a red on lap-three. A long green flag run was then seen and the race up front continued to be a good one between Riveira and Graham. Graham held the field at bay as Dalton Parreira joined the mix and moved into second. Parreira gave it a hard run during the closing laps but Graham hit his marks and brought home the win. Riveira came home in third with Taylor Mayhew and Corbin Rueschenburg completing the top-five.

Restricted heat races were captured by Drake Carter, Keira Zylstra and Austin Wood. Quick time went to Brandon Riveria with a time of 10.399. Twenty cars signed into the pit area during the night.

The Junior feature turned out to a rough and tumble affair but in the end it was Lucas Mauldin who tallied the win. Brody Rubio led much of the distance before Mauldin executed a beautiful three-wide move on a late restart to carve his way into the lead. He went on to take the checkered flag over Kyle Fernandez, Braxon Vasconcellos, Rubio and Briggs Davis. Junior Sprint heats were claimed by Nathan Ward and Lucas Mauldin, along with Kyle Fernandez and Mauldin who swept his eight-lap contests. A total of 13 cars competed at the event.

Delta Speedway presented by Financial Center Credit Union thanks Interstate Truck Center, Lovotti Air, Van De Pol Petroleum, Kludt Oil, Hoosier Racing Tire, Starr Property Management, Performance Electronics, Genova Bakery, Bruno’s Peppers, Motion Media, and Panella Trucking for their support.