By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA…Tony Gomes and Menne Motorsports have formed a solid combination this season and on Saturday night it all came together at Petaluma Speedway, as the Modesto driver claimed his initial Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards victory.
Going into this past weekend Gomes had earned one prior podium with SCCT in 2022, with that being a third-place effort at Marysville Raceway over Memorial Day weekend.
Despite numerous restarts on Saturday the 22-year-old kept his composure each time to accept the Scott Erwin checkered flag after 35-laps of competition aboard the Menne Hay Ranch/ North Forty Films No. 75 mount. The Menne Motorsports team received $3,000 for their efforts, by also earning the Shop Kyle Larson full-time bonus.
“It’s a great feeling to pick up my first SCCT victory tonight here at Petaluma Speedway,” commented Gomes to Promoter Rick Faeth on the front stretch. “I can’t thank Dan and Cindi Menne enough for the opportunity to drive this 75 car. We had a phone conversation in the off-season and fortunately put a deal together. I thought we would be a pretty good team and so far it’s all been clicking between us. It’s great to see Petaluma with a strong crowd tonight as well, so thank you all for coming out to support it.”
Penngrove’s Chase Johnson crossed the stripe in second to continue his impressive season at the helm of the Sean Quinn owned Our Heroes Dreams/ Pit Stop USA No. 28 machine. The former track champ closed in early during the only time traffic momentarily came into play and had shot during a late restart, but Gomes was mistake free out front. Johnson also captured the High Sierra Industries Dash.
Auburn’s Andy Forsberg brought home a third-place finish in the Pacific Highway Rentals/ Wilkie Masonry No. 92 and by doing so, became the brand new SCCT point leader. Penngrove’s Chase Johnson blasted through the pack to earn the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award with a drive from 16th to fourth. Sebastopol’s Bradley Terrell had an equally impressive run from 17th to fifth, in what was just his second Winged Sprint Car start of the year.
Rounding out the top-10 were Fresno’s Caeden Steele, Suisun City’s Chance Grasty, Rohnert Park’s Brett Barney, Corning’s Brian McGahan Jr. and Chico’s Brad Bumgarner.
Gomes won the Tiner-Hirst Ent. heat race, while Chase Johnson pocketed the BR Motorsports heat and Forsberg took home the King Racing Products heat. Jake Haulot began the evening by earning the Bianchi Farms Fast Time Award. The Cotati racer toured the 3/8 mile oval in 13.064 seconds during qualifying.
The Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards returns to action over Independence Day weekend at the Stockton Dirt Track. The Saturday July 2nd event will pay tribute to the late Roy Lee Van Conett and marks the second SCCT appearance of the season at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds.
Sprint Car Challenge Tour
Petaluma Speedway
Petaluma, California
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 75-Tony Gomes[1]
2. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[2]
3. 14W-Ryan Robinson[3]
4. 1-Chance Grasty[4]
5. 78-Bret Barney[5]
6. 121-Caeden Steele[7]
7. 9L-Luke Hayes[6]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 28-Chase Johnson[2]
2. 12-Steel Powell[3]
3. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[4]
4. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[6]
5. 7V-Wyatt VanLare[5]
6. 43-Bradley Terrell[1]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]
2. 5V-Landon Brooks[1]
3. 7H-Jake Haulot[4]
4. 88-Brad Bumgarner[3]
5. 8JR-Brian McGahan Jr[6]
6. 38-Colby Johnson[5]
Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 28-Chase Johnson[2]
2. 75-Tony Gomes[4]
3. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[1]
4. 92-Andy Forsberg[6]
5. 7H-Jake Haulot[5]
6. 1-Chance Grasty[3]
A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 75-Tony Gomes[2]
2. 28-Chase Johnson[1]
3. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]
4. 38-Colby Johnson[16]
5. 43-Bradley Terrell[17]
6. 121-Caeden Steele[18]
7. 1-Chance Grasty[6]
8. 78-Bret Barney[13]
9. 8JR-Brian McGahan Jr[14]
10. 88-Brad Bumgarner[11]
11. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[3]
12. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[8]
13. 9L-Luke Hayes[19]
14. 7V-Wyatt VanLare[15]
15. 12-Steel Powell[9]
16. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[12]
17. 5V-Landon Brooks[7]
18. 14W-Ryan Robinson[10]
19. 7H-Jake Haulot[5]