Sotomayor claims win in newly formed sport modified class
By TONY KARIS


Only dedicated race fans withstood the spring chill Friday night at Ocean Speedway to witness the return of Bobby Hogge IV, Jim Pettit II and Jeff Decker to IMCA-sanctioned modified racing in Watsonville.

They also witnessed first-time feature wins by Watsonville's Matt Sotomayor in the new sport modified class and San Jose's Charlie Hunter in the American Stock division.

In all, 100 cars signed in for the seven-division season opener.

Hogge earned a win in the 25-lap modified feature, although it was a work in progress as the division created more than a half-dozen caution periods in the first 10 laps. There were four tries to restart the race on lap 10 alone.

The prior track champion from Salinas went wheel-to-wheel through the final 15 laps with Cody Burke, also of Salinas.

"It's always a good feeling to win, especially on your home turf," Hogge said. "Cody has developed into a heck of a good driver. I definitely had my hands full. It became both a race of speed and who could get through the rough spots better than the next guy."

Martinez's Nick DeCarlo salvaged a third-place finish after leading laps five through nine. Andy Obertello of Hollister led the first four rounds, but finished ninth. Morgan Hill's Jeff Decker, who holds the distinction of being the only track champion with an undefeated season, placed fourth. Austin Burke, Cody's younger brother, rounded out the top five. Trouble found Prunedale's Pettit in the early laps, sending him to the pits for repairs. He returned to finish eighth.

Sotomayor's win came in the newly formed IMCA sport modified division's 20-lap feature. Along with American stock competitor Cliff Lindgren of Aromas and two-time 4-banger champion Adriane de Sousa, Sotomayor made the move to modifieds after promoter John Prentice announced the addition of the class to the track schedule last season.

"I think we made the right decision to join the new Sport Mod class," Sotomayor said. "It's a fun car to drive. Interestingly, the faster you go the easier it is to drive. That's the real difference between the American stock and the modified."

AMERICAN STOCKS
American stock driver Charlie Hunter scored his first career feature win and made a clean sweep in the division, winning the first heat race. He started on pole position in both events.

Drivers who began the class a couple of seasons ago are maturing and making their mark against some of the long-time class competitors. Palma High graduate Alex Wilson of Salinas finished second. His opportunity to win fell short after the race was timed out on lap 18. William Kennedy, veteran American stock competitor, finished third. Santa Cruz's Bobby Huckaby and rookie driver Patrick Pieper completed the top five.

Graduates from the 4-bangers to American stocks are Prunedale's Matt Hagio and San Jose's Jerry Supernaw.

DWARF CARSJohn Wear out of Los Gatos won an exciting dwarf-car feature over San Jose's Shawn Jones. Jones struggled in the heat race and started 23rd in the 20-lap feature. Wear started from pole position and led the first 15 laps. Solving his chassis problem, Jones passed cars at will using the high line around the track. Catching Wear on the 15th lap, the two swapped the lead with Jones getting credit for leading lap 16. Shortly after, though, Wear regained the lead and was able to hold off Jones for the win.

LATE MODELS
Salinas' Phil Priddy won Ocean's late-model feature.

4-BANGERS
Tracy's Dan McCabe won the 4-banger 20-lap main event and 2011 Micro 600 sprint champion Tomas Bray won the their 15-lap feature.

MICRO 600
Newcomers to the Micro 600 class are Watsonville's Alexander Mead, 12, and Prunedale's Ashley Schnorf, 15. Mead finished second to Bray in both the heat race and main event. He is the youngest competitor at the speedway this season.