Manteca’s Baby-Grand racing trio of Jake Gomes, Josh Gomes and Michael Sandoval were in high gear for the Infineon Raceway/Mad Housewife’s Night at the Madera Speedway on Saturday, April 19.

            The event featuring a packed schedule, included NASCAR Whelen Weekly Racing Series Western Late Models, American Limited Stock Cars (ALSC), Hornets, Toyota Sedans, Mini Cup, Baby Grands and the Spectator Racing Series. The night was capped off with the first Destruction Derby of 2008.

            The Baby Grands are two thirds the scale of real stock cars and can be driven by competitors as young as 14 years old. The cars’ 10:1 horsepower-to-weight ratio gives them impressive speed on the track with lap times in the low 16 second range — just as fast as the American Limited Stock Cars — and faster than the Toyota Sedans and Hornets.

            Jake Gomes proved to be hard to beat in Saturday’s action, running the fastest qualifying time and leading most of the race to take the checkers in the 25-lap event.

            “I am second in the nation right now,” Gomes said after the race. “But I got beat by a 25-year old (in Florida) so that is not so bad.”

            Michael Ray of Modesto finished in the second position with Citrus Height’s Dillion Hutchison rounding out the top three.  Jake’s brother, Josh Gomes, finished sixth while Sandoval was in ninth. In the trophy dash, it went Jake Gomes, Ray, Josh Gomes and Sandoval.

            Highlighting the show was 50 laps of heart-pounding NASCAR Whelen Western Late Model racing where, for the third time in three races, a new winner found victory circle at the end of the race.

            Stockton’s Joey Stearns nailed his first victory of the season, fighting off a hard charge from both Monterey’s Dave Byrd and Kyle Gottula of Modesto. Gottula won Madera’s last Western Late Model race, held at the track on April 5th.

            Donnie Darter of Manteca and Stockton’s Ross Strmiska had the fans on their feet with early door-to-door racing.  Darter, in just the second start of his Western Late Model career, pulled ahead of Strmiska and led most of the first 34 laps of the race. Strmiska eventually made it a show again, pressing Darter for the lead on lap 30 and getting around the racer from Manteca on lap 34.

            A lap-35 restart opened the door for Stearns and Gottula to move to the front and pressure Strmiska.  An incident on lap 42 involving No. 99 of Darter set up a three-lap shoot-out to crown the champion of the third Western Late Model race of the season.

            Contact between Strmiska and Gottula sent Strmiska to mid-pack on the restart, leaving Gottula and Dave Byrd to battle for the second position behind Stearns.

            Byrd put the heat on Stearns but could not make the pass; finishing second followed by Gottula, Strmiska and fastest qualifier Modesto’s Harry Belletto.

            The No. 99 of Stockton’s Brian Vosburg took the checkers in an action packed 30-lap ALSC event – the third ALSC race of the season.  Vosburg, who won the ALSC season opener, battled with No. 91 of Stockton’s Dennis Saunders Jr. throughout the middle of the race before taking the lead on lap 20.

            Vosburg also had to hold off a serious challenge from No. 41 of Clovis, Howard Holden in the last three laps of the event.  After some intense racing, Holden, who won the second ALSC race on April 5, finished one-third of a second behind Vosburg, who took his second win of the season on the track.

            Vosburg finished the second race of the season in last place with a bent frame.  Despite the win, Vosburg admitted after the race that he thought his car still had some problems.

            Former Western Late Model driver Sammy Solari made his presence felt at the track on Saturday night, piloting his first American Limited Stock Car of the season.  Solari, of Ripon, ran the second fastest qualifying time earlier in the afternoon and managed to take the checkers in the ALSC  Trophy Dash.