Two Top-Five Finishes for BMR at Stockton 99 Speedway
Bill McAnally Racing had three entries in the G-Oil “150” race May 4th with two of the three racing there for the first time in a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Stockton 99 Speedway. Jamie Krzysik, BMR rookie driver, made his first ever NASCAR K&N Pro Series start at Stockton 99 Speedway in the No. 99 First Choice Pipehandlers/Northwood Hauling Toyota.
Behind the wheel of the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota was Sergio Pena who recorded his a podium finish second. Piloting the No. 20 NAPA/Almond Ace Packing Toyota was the three-time series champion, Eric Holmes who finished in fifth.
Pena was on the top of the timing chart in the first practice closely followed by Holmes. The BMR teams would qualify with the Pena on the inside of row two, Holmes on the inside of row four and Jaime Krzysik would start on the outside of row five.
It was Saturday night short track racing for the 24 cars taking the green in Stockton. Before the field even got thru the first two corners, there was a new leader as the second place car got past the pole sitter. The first caution came out at lap 12 as a car when for a spin coming out of turn two. By lap 35, the leaders began navigating thru traffic putting several cars a lap down. Caution came out at lap 44 as a second car took a spin in turn two. There would be eight more cautions by lap 136 of the 150 lap race.
At the restart at lap 140, Pena knew it was “go-time”. Restarting in fourth, Sergio Pena grabbed second with dive-bomb, three-wide move to get past Cameron Hayley and attempt to get the lead. A hard fought battle in the final lap would net Pena the second place finish with Derek Thorn winning the race.
“I had such a blast today at Stockton 99,” said Pena. “It was definitely short track racing at its finest. I had really hard battles with all the guys in the top five or six all race long. I have so much respect for Derek Thorn, Cameron Hayley, Eric Holmes, Michael Self and Greg Pursley. They are showing me that winning this championship isn’t going to be easy at all. This series is tough!”
“I had to go for it with a dive bomb pass there with about five to go if I wanted to win; Cameron Hayley and Derek Thorn were just too fast.”
“I’m really happy coming home with a 2nd place finish,” he continued. “Thanks so much to all the guys for their hard work this weekend. Thanks to NAPA, Toyota, and BMR. Last but not least, thanks to all of the fans who came out to support not only our team but the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Glad we could put on a great show for them!”
Krzysik raced in the top-ten for the first 60 laps and was in seventh before taking a spin in turn two when a competitor covered the track with gear oil. Krzysik would restart the race in 20th. The young driver navigated thru heavy traffic as cars often went three-wide on the tight short track. By lap 85, he was in 15th and at lap 101 was shown in 13th where he would finish. This was only the young driver’s third start in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.
BMR would like to thank NAPA Sacramento and Fresno, the NAPA Batteries Group as well as all of our race partners for their support this season. A group was able to take a tour of the pits and BMR transporter prior to the start of the evening’s race activities.
The G-Oil “150” race will be televised on SPEED May 16 at 3 pm ET. For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and our race partners, please visit our website at www.BMRNAPA.com. Become a fan of Bill McAnally Racing and follow us on our Facebook Fan page. We can also be followed on Twitter @BMR_NASCAR.