Motor Sports: Winning comes full circle at Sonoma drag races

Sonoma gave Doug Kalitta his first career Top Fuel victory and 27 years later, he was celebrating another wine country win Sunday.

Kalitta chased down Antron Brown in the Top Fuel finals of the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals for his first win of the season. The victory reaffirms Kalitta’s status as the winningest active Top Fuel driver at Sonoma with six, although it’s his first at the track since 2005. Brown has five victories at Sonoma.

“Back in the day when I first started, this is the first place I won at, so Sonoma definitely has some cool history for me,” said Kalitta, who has 56 career wins. “Antron is never easy. I was just happy when the light came on in my lane. It’s been a while. It’s good timing for me and my team, you know, going into the stretch here.”

Brown had the better start in the lane next to Kalitta in the finals, but Brown spun the tires late allowing Kalitta to catch him for the win. Kalitta went 3.752-seconds at 334.57 mph in his Mac Tools dragster to power past Brown’s run of 4.067.

While other champions celebrated with the traditional goblet of red wine, Funny Car winner Austin Prock toasted his victory with a bottle of Pliny the Younger, having visited the Russian River Brewing Company earlier in the week.

“I never realized how many fans I have here in Sonoma County,” the John Force Racing driver said after his fifth win of the season, but his first career win at Sonoma. The win has Prock comfortably on top of the standings with two events left before the points reset for the Countdown for the Championship.

“This was a pretty awesome weekend, but to win here for the first time means a lot,” said an emotional Prock, who was mentored by the late Eric Medlen, whose last win came at the 2006 Sonoma Nationals, eight months before he died in a testing accident in Florida. “It’s come full circle today.”

Also celebrating victories were Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Greg Stanfield (Pro Stock). Sportsman winners were Dale Green (Super Comp), Trey Vetter (Super Stock), Justin Lamb (Stock Eliminator), Val Torres (Super Gas) and Aaron Steinkey (Top Sportsman).

Thunder shook the hills during NHRA’s annual visit to Sonoma, beginning with Brittany Force’s record-setting 343.16 mph run in Friday night’s Top Fuel qualifying. Rivalries from the previous weekend’s action in Seattle carried over to Sonoma, adding to the heat. Force lined up against Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon in Sunday’s opening elimination round, a rematch of the finals from Seattle. Once again, Langdon got the better of Force, but then he ran up against Brown, who had his Matco machine dialed in for the semifinals.

Kalitta avenged an earlier loss to Ron August Jr. in the opening round, then drove past Josh Hart on his way to the finals.

In Funny Car action Sunday, Ron Capps matched up against Spencer Hyde for the second week in a row. The veteran Capps was faster than Hyde in Seattle, but the rookie from Ontario, Canada, got his revenge in Sonoma to advance to the semifinals.

Hyde, who started the weekend 12th in the standings, got a big boost with a strong performance — and bit of luck. Hyde got the semifinal win over Beckman, who was disqualified when his car hit the centerline.

Hyde had to do some smart driving in the final to avoid the wall in the finals, but couldn’t beat Prock’s 3.904-second pass at 333.82 mph.

Prock posted Funny Car’s first 340.90 mph run of the season in his first-round win against Cruz Pedregon. He followed that with wins against Paul Lee and Matt Hagan, setting up the matchup with Hyde.

Matt Smith needed a holeshot to beat Denso teammate Jianna Evaristo in the Pro Stock Motorcycle quarterfinals. Smith nailed the green light with an .017 reaction time, just ahead of the 28-year-old from San Jose, who had an 0.35 RT. Evaristo actually pulled ahead midway down the track, but couldn’t hang on at the end. Smith narrowly lost to teammate John Hall in the semifinals. The team’s hopes of an all-Denso finals were dashed when Angie Smith’s bike wouldn’t fire up at the start line, handing the win to Gadson, who cruised uncontested to the finals.

“I was dreaming that Angie’s bike wouldn’t start,” Gadson said.

Gadson lost to Matt Smith on a red light in Saturday’s All-Star Callout finals, but he had better luck against Smith’s teammate. Gadson’s Vance & Hines Suzuki beat Hall’s Buell for his second Wally this season.

Pro Stock racing saw a father-son final with Greg and Aaron Stanfield battling each other for the championship for the first time in their careers. Aaron Stanfield encouraged his father, a five-time Super Stock world champion, to return to Pro Stock racing this season as his teammate.

“I grew up watching him race, so he’s always been a hero of mine,” Aaron Stanfield said of his father after his semifinal win.

The two had nearly an hour between races before they lined up against each other in the final. Aaron Stanfield tuned his father’s car, perhaps a little too well. Greg Stanfield made a stellar 6.552-second run at 211.49 mph to edge his son and earn his first Pro Stock win since 2011.