Saturday night was all about honoring Harry Belletto, and after claiming his fourth Stockton Late Model class victory and sixth overall this season on Aug. 1, points leader and reigning track champion Sammy Solari of Escalon reached into the past for a fitting quote on Stockton 99’s “Night of Champions – Tribute to Harry Belletto,” saying, “As hard-charging Harry Belletto said, ‘It’s hard to charge from the back,’ right? But Steve Belletto used to always tell me, ‘The thing’s gotta be running at the end of the race to win the race,’ and it’s still running.”
Harry Belletto, who passed away in 2022, began racing at Stockton in 1970, amassing three track championships at Stockton in his 42-year career. He was inducted into the NASCAR West Coast Hall of Fame in 2020.
In addition to his own vast accomplishments, Harry passed his racing genes on to his sons Steve, who passed away from COVID in 2021, and Jeff, who would both earn two track championships, while his other son Rick, acted as crew chief for the family operated race cars until he passed away in 2023.
In a tribute to the family patriarch, the Belletto family once again prepared Harry’s 25-year-old iconic black, red, and yellow Texaco-sponsored No. 74 Chevy for Steve’s son Nic Belletto to drive. The car produced one of the family’s greatest highlights when Harry led Steve and Jeff to a 1-2-3 finish in the 1999 Firecracker 100 at the 99 Speedway.
“The Noceti group does a great job putting this big event on and paying tribute to my grandpa,” Nic Belletto said. “We only come out one time a year to honor my grandpa’s legacy along with my dad and uncle. They are the stars of this deal, and I just try to ride their coattails and put on a good show.”
After working his way up from his third-row starting position, Solari dueled Stockton’s Danny DeVore in some entertaining side-by-side action over the early portion of the race before finally swooping under him to take over the lead on lap 29. Solari then began to pull away from the rest of the 10-car field until a yellow caution on lap 45 suddenly dissolved his advantage.
Devore, who nipped Solari for the win by just. 2 seconds in the previous event two weeks ago, would regain the lead on the restart and once again the pair went door to door until Stockton teenager Mason Beghtel tapped Solari from behind entering Turn 3 of lap 53 causing both of the front runners to spin out.
“We were together. It was all racing,” said Solari, who was quickest in both practice sessions and the No. 2 qualifier at 14.694 seconds behind Beghtel’s 14.66 time slip around Stockton 99’s quarter-mile paved oval. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault; it was hard racing.”
Solari would rebound to pass DeVore for a second time on lap 57 before getting the jump on Beghtel off a restart on lap 63 to retake the lead for good, easily pulling away over the final 11 laps to win the 74-lap feature by 1.869 seconds. Beghtel was second, and Modesto’s Todd Corral capped an impressive performance by passing DeVore on the last lap and nipping him at the finish for third.
Nic Belletto started on the outside front row but fell from second to fifth on lap 20. He made a handful of trips to the infield during caution periods for adjustments and said after the car performed well Friday in practice, things “went the wrong way for us” after putting on new tires.
“The car was tight, and we tried to free it up before the main event, and we went too aggressive freeing it up,” Belletto said after finishing in fifth. “All in all, I’m happy for my team and my family.”
Solari has a deep history with the Belletto family, starting with Harry. Solari said he knew Steve Belletto best from Belletto’s time working for Bob Panella Enterprises just up the street from Stockton 99. Panella builds Solari’s racing engines. Solari also works with Nic.
“It is cool to win the race for his grandfather,” Solari said. “And I have a lot of respect for his dad. His dad was a great man.”
The win enabled Solari to increase his lead in the Stockton Late Model season standings to nine points (368 to 369) over Beghtel while Devore falls to 41 points off the pace at 327.
NorCal Legends: Jeremy Doss of Upper Lake seemed to have a battle brewing with Bakersfield’s Logan Chambers, but it didn’t turn out that way.
Doss won for the second time this season at Stockton 99, but Chambers wasn’t around for the last 10 laps of the 40-lap feature. Chambers, who won Friday night’s INEX Legends race at Stockton 99, was sent to the back of the 19-car pack for spinning another car and then exited to the pits.
“I just hate to win races like that. I’ve had the same deal happen to me, so I can feel for the 13 car,” Doss said of Chambers. “It felt like we were going to put on a hell of a show there. That’s a bummer for him.”
Doss (15.145 seconds) and Chambers (15.161) posted the two quickest laps of the race. Chambers started seventh and took the lead from Trey Daniels of Fort Bragg on lap 14. Doss started eighth and jumped into second on lap 24. Chambers led 17 laps before the incident occurred when he attempted to lap Stockton’s Justin Gantt in the first turn.
Doss was never challenged over the remainder of the race as he beat Cody Winchel of Sebastopol to the checkered flag by .63 of a second, followed by Robby Czub of Huntington Beach in third and Linden’s Zach Sansom and Wyatt Sansom in fourth and fifth.
Doss was quickest in both practice sessions and joined Steven Gannon as trophy dash winners.
Fast Kar Solutions Mini Modified: Modesto’s Freddy Irvin passed Barret Sugden of Stockton for the lead on the 18th lap and went on to win the 25-lap main event by .861 of a second. It was Irvin’s fifth checkered flag this season.
Stockton’s Mike Brooks Jr. led the first 10 laps before being passed by Sugden, who led the next seven circuits until Irvin moved in front. Sugden placed second, Patrick Geiger of Clovis third and Brooks fourth. Irvin thanked Geiger, who loaned Irvin the No. 21 Mini Modified for the night.
Irvin turned the quickest lap of the night at 16.073 seconds in winning the first trophy dash. Geiger won the second dash.
Racing correspondent Dale Bosowski contributed to this story.
