Doss Earns Hard Fought SPEARS Pro Late Model Series October Classic Victory
Bakersfield, CA – Jeremy Doss held off a furious charge from Bradley Erickson in the final laps to take home a $5,400 win in the “Sigma Performance Services 54” from Kern County Raceway Park on October Classic weekend. Doss earned his ninth victory of the season Saturday night, but it certainly wasn’t his easiest win of the year, as Doss won by a scant 0.021 seconds over the 25-car field.
Doss got the weekend off to a good start by setting Fast Time over the field with a 19.265 second lap on the ½-mile oval. Bradley Erickson slotted in second with Austin Herzog, Dylan Zampa, and Dustin Ash the top-five. The eight-car redraw was almost a perfect invert with Brody Moore on the pole followed by Tyler Reif, Tanner Reif, Dylan Zampa, Dustin Ash, Austin Herzog, Bradley Erickson, and Doss.
The drop of the green flag found Tyler Reif getting the jump and taking the lead on the outside. Dylan Zampa got under Moore on lap one with Dustin Ash by a lap later. Tanner Rief and Erickson knocked him from the top-five with Doss and Austin Herzog going three-wide to also get by Moore. Erickson and Doss continued their charge getting by Tanner Reif on laps 10 and 11. By lap 15, the two-car duo closed to the back of Dustin Ash for third, passing him in heavy traffic. As Erickson and Doss continued to move forward, the ensuing battle for third was halted for a spin by Hans Beeler on lap 20.
Reif would chose the outside for the restart, with Dylan Zampa to the inside and Erickson and Doss behind. Reif would get the jump on the start with Doss using the preferred outside groove to follow Reif into second. Doss would pressure Reif, as Erickson raced side by side with Zampa. On lap 25, Doss used a power move on the inside to grab the lead. Erickson would complete his inside pass one lap later and take up chase of the younger Reif, passing the Las Vegas, NV driver on lap 30.
As the battles in the top-four raged on, June winner Seth Wise was pressuring Tanner Reif for fifth, with Blaine Rocha up to seventh from last starting by lap 30, as he pulled Dylan Cappello with him. Wise would grab fifth from the older Reif on lap 36, but lost it back again on the following stanza. Rocha would get a good run on Wise on lap 42, sending the one-time winner back to seventh, while chasing Tanner Reif for fifth.
But the action up front was heating up, as Erickson had closed a 1.2 second gap down to 0.6 seconds with 10 laps to go. With five to go it was five car lengths and shrinking. As the duo crossed the line with two to go, Erickson had pulled to the inside of Doss, racing him down the front straight. They raced side by side to the white flag, with Doss a mere 0.03 seconds out front, as the flag waved. In Turns 1 and 2, Doss attempted to pinch Erickson to the bottom, getting just enough of a run off the exit, to maintain the lead. As the duo exited Turn 4 on the final lap, Doss was able to get his #75 to turn just enough to pull out a hard-fought victory by a bumper. It was a thrilling victory that Doss credited to his team and the work they put in prior to race weekend.
“It’s just hard work in the shop”, Doss explained about his success in the Pro late Models. “I feel like we put in an awful lot of effort in at the shop, and it just how races are won. But man, they made me work for it tonight. The stagger kinda shrunk on us and we got tight there at the end. I don’t think it can get much closer than that. I think he was gonna get by (if he had a few more laps). I was pinching him, trying to do everything I know to get it as wide as possible. My hats off to him (Erickson), for racing me clean. It was good racing with him.”
Doss continued, “I’d like to thank my dad Mike Doss, my mom, Denise Doss, and the whole JD Motorsports crew for all their hard work this year. That’s a lot of wins in one season and it feels really good. I’d like to also thank Earnest Performance, Senneker Performance, PFC Brakes, S&S Sports Enterprises, Apache Rental Group, Kulwicki Driver Development Program, Horsepower Project and Joe Farre’ for everything he does for this series. It is much appreciated, and pretty cool for us Pro Late Model drivers to get to run for that type of purse.”
Following Erickson, Tyler Reif came home third with Sigma Performance Services “Young Gun” Champion Dylan Zampa fourth. Tanner Reif held on for fifth ahead of Blaine Rocha, Seth Wise, Dylan Cappello, Dustin Ash and Cassidy Hinds.
The Pro Late Model Series will now take a break until the All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway, the first weekend in June. 37 Pro Late Models entered last years contest, with Doss emerging with the $15,000 win.
Results:
- Jeremy Doss, 2. Bradley Erickson, 3. Tyler Reif*, 4. Dylan Zampa*, 5. Tanner Reif*, 6. Blaine Rocha, 7. Seth Wise*, 8. Dylan Cappello, 9. Dustin Ash, 10. Cassidy Hinds, 11. Austin Herzog, 12. Brody Armtrout, 13. Travis McCullough, 14. Mike Beeler, 15. Christian Bazen, 16. Takuya Okada, 17. Frankie Maniz, 18. Logan Zampa*, 19. Ron Cross, 20. Brody Moore, 21. Greg Puskarich, 22. Anthony Mainella, 23. Paul Ebersbaucher, 24. Mike Puskarich, 25. Hans Beeler*
*Sigma Performance Services “Young Gun”
