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Created: Sunday, 12 September 2010 07:30

Written by Dan

Gomez Flies to Victory in Spears Manufacturing 100

Bakersfield, CA - The margin of victory was only .012 seconds, or just inches, but winner Jonathon Gomez of Twin Falls, Idaho had to travel over 2700 miles to get his second SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series win of 2010.

Gomez, who moved to second in the 2010 SRL championship standings after his win on Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, was also competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Portland International Raceway in Portland, OR over the weekend.  Gomez's travel schedule brought him from Twin Falls to Irwindale on Friday for SRL practice.  Saturday morning he flew to Portland for his K&N Pro Series practice sessions, then returned to Toyota Speedway just in time to belt in his Heritage Cattle/Century Boatland Chevrolet to qualify third in the field.  Before the weekend was over, Gomez would travel over 4200 miles before returning home in Twin Falls.

Starting from his seventh starting position after the nine-car invert, Gomez took the lead on lap 18 from Ryan Foster and drove to a photo finish victory over a hard charging Derek Thorn by a margin .012 seconds at the checkers.

Thorn set a new qualifying track record for the SRL at 17.635 (102.070 mph). Eleven drivers beat the SRL one lap record of 18.095 (99.475 mph).

At the drop of the green flag Auggie Vidovich moved into the lead from his third starting position to lead the first ten laps.  Fifth place starter Foster moved to the lead on lap 11 and remained at the point until Gomez took over the point from Foster with an outside pass coming off the fourth turn. The first of seven cautions flew on lap 22.

On lap 25, Thorn had moved up from his ninth starting position to over take Foster for second.  Twenty laps later Foster moved back ahead of Thorn to reclaim second.

At the half-way point of the race at lap 50, the top ten was Gomez, Foster, Thorn, Nick Joanides making his first SRL start, Kyle Cattanach, Vidovich, sixteen year old Ryan Reed, Carlos Vieira, Justin Westmoreland and Jacob Gomes who had moved up from the rear of the field due to mechanical issues.

At lap 66 the caution flew once again for a spin by Vieira and Thorn off Turn 2.  Thorn would pit for a tire change.

On the restart it was Gomez, Foster, Cattanach, Voigt and Joanides. On lap 80, Voigt was up to third, Cattanach now fourth and Gomes up to fifth.

Seven cars tangled on lap 88, with all those involved driving away.  On the Lap 90 restart Thorn was now up to eighth.  Gomez, Foster and Voigt were nose to tail.  Lap 95 saw Gomez out front, with Foster, Voigt, Gomes, Westmoreland and Thorn battling for positions.

Foster and Voigt made contact on the front straight sending the damaged Glenhaven Resort #41 of Foster spinning and eventually towed to the pits.

Gomez led Voigt, Gomes, Thorn, Westmoreland, Cattanach, Keith Spangler, Joanides (with a deflating rear tire), Ryan Reed and Eric Richardson in the top ten. At lap 96 Thorn's # 2 Chevrolet jumped to second and on the inside of Gomez. The two cars completed lap 98 with Gomez in front by 0.017 seconds. Thorn edged into the lead and led lap 99 by 0.007 seconds. Gomez refused to lose the lead he held since lap 18 and rubbed his way ahead of Thorn on the outside of turn two as they banged fenders "about four times on the final lap" according to both drivers. Coming out of the fourth turn Thorn had the advantage by inches, side-by-side towards the waving checkered flag, with Gomez edging ahead by less than a fender at the finish line, 0.012 the margin of victory.

"My car was really good on long runs. I wanted it to go green all the way. I hated those yellows. It took five laps to get going after yellows. It was well worth the flight from Portland." stated Gomez from the winner's circle.

Thorn addressed the crowd, "I'm disappointed. The car was good. I had a left rear tire go flat. He's my teammate so I couldn't get into him too hard."

Voigt was 0.257 behind Gomez for third. "The longer the race the better. My car kept getting better. SRL puts on the best short track racing."

A race fan was quoted after the race, "The best finish to a stock car race that I've ever seen at Irwindale (Toyota) Speedway."

20 of 24 starters were racing at the finish with 19 cars on the lead lap. Gomes, Cattanach, Spangler, Joanides, Ross Strmiska, Reed and Clay Wattenbarger completed the top ten.

The SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series will take its six-week summer break and return to Toyota Speedway on Saturday, September 4th for the "NTS, Inc 100."

About the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series: Celebrating its tenth season in 2010, the SRL Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S.  http://www.srlsouthwesttour.com.  "The SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series...Where the Champions Race"

About SPEARS MANUFACTURING: Spears Manufacturing is a world leader in plastic pipe fittings and valves.  SPEARS' maintains over one million square feet of manufacturing facilities in four states and nine distribution centers across the USA for worldwide distribution.  For more information go to http://www.spearsmfg.com.

Follow the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series on facebook (Spears Srl Southwest Tour) and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SRLSWTourSeries <http://www.twitter.com/SRLSWTourSeries>