(PETERSEN MEDIA-Stockton, CA)- Shawn Jones looked to be well on his way to his second consecutive win with the Hunt Wingless Tour to close out the 2022 season. Jacob Tuttle had other ideas. Letting it all hang out in the final turn, Tuttle shocked the everyone, including himself, as he made a move to nip Jones at the line and claim his first ever win in a sprint car. While Tuttle celebrated immensely, Jake Morgan was also celebrating in victory lane as he claimed the series crown by simply starting the feature event.
Leading the field to green, Jones was a rocket ship early in the 25-lap season finale. Quickly working his way to a robust lead, Jones looked to have the field covered as he reached the back of the field.
With cars racing two and three wide in front of him, Jones’ pace was drastically slowed and it allowed second running Tuttle, and third running Shane Hopkins to close in on the leader only to see the caution flag fly and take the leaders out of traffic.
When the race restarted, Jones again was able to pull out to the lead, however this early green flag run saw Tuttle and Hopkins keep him in striking distance as the field navigated a rough and tumble racing surface.
Jones slowly opened his lead back up in the waning laps, and again had the field in check, but the back of the pack would shake things up.
As Jones got into traffic, Tuttle was again able to cut into his lead, but time appeared to be running out on any late race heroics.
Taking the white flag as the race leader, Jones still had a solid advantage over Tuttle, but heading into turn four cars slowed the leader down and Tuttle turned down and made it a drag race to the checkered flag where Tuttle nipped Jones be a fraction of a second to earn the win.
As Tuttle clipped Jones for the top spot, Shane Hopkins ran third, Nick Robfogel fourth, and 2022 Series Champion, Jake Morgan ran fifth.
While Morgan was crowned the Champion, Saturday night also capped off a strong Rookie campaign by Mark Hanson and he was officially named the 2022 Rookie of the Year.
A total of 28 cars checked in for the series finale in Stockton, CA and it was Shane Hopkins earning Dependable Crain Fast Time.
Jake Morgan won Benic Ent Heat 1 and essentially clinched the series title by doing so as Jones won Brown and Miller Heat 2, Tuttle King Racing Products Heat 3, and Braidon Moniz won Santomauro Heat 4.
Running fourth in the ‘A’, Robfogel was the Santomauro Hard Charger as he transferred from the ‘B’ and passed 13 cars in the feature event.
Josh Gillis was the MSR Hard Luck Award Winner, and Anthony Snow earned the BR Motorsports P.15 award as well as the Arbo Tec Best Presenting Feature Event Car.
By way of his move at the line, Tuttle earned the Vahlco Wheels Cool Move of the Night.
A Main Finishing Order
1. Jacob Tuttle #3F
2. Shawn Jones #14
3. Shane Hopkins #51
4. Nick Robfogel #3
5. Jake Morgan #7M
6. Jarrett Soares #12
7. Nick Larson #24N
8. Mark Hanson #79
9. Josh Young #79
10. Brent Steck #2STX
11. Evan Gularte #17M
12. Shawn Arriaga #32
13. Jacob Williams #13W
14. Braidon Moniz #22JR
15. Anthony Snow #17
16. Ka'imi Moniz-Costa #5
17. Eric Hopkins #B51
18. Trey Walters #7
19. Jordan Garretson #X
20. Keith Calvino #73
ON TAP: The Hunt Series has concluded their 2022 season.
WINNERS: Bradley Terrell (March 26th Petaluma Speedway), Jake Morgan (April 2nd Placerville Speedway), Daniel Whitley (May 21st Merced Speedway), Daniel Whitley May 28th Stockton Dirt Track), DJ Johnson (June 18th Marysville Raceway), Jake Morgan (July 16th Placerville Speedway), Bradley Terrell (August 20th Petaluma Speedway) Jake Morgan (Sept. 3rd Placerville Speedway) Shane Hopkins (Sept. 4th Placerville Speedway), Shawn Jones (September 7thSilver Dollar Speedway), Shawn Arriaga (October 1st Petaluma Speedway), Shawn Jones (October 8th Antioch Speedway), Jacob Tuttle (November 5th Stockton Dirt Track)
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JOE HUNT MAGNETOS WINGLESS SERIES- Joe Hunt Magnetos’ Roger Gleeson brought the traveling concept to non-wing sprint cars by popular demand in 2010. Over the years, the Joe Hunt Magnetos Sprint Car Series has ran a limited schedule at select tracks around the state. After running under the leadership of Prentice Motorsports Group and Glad Enterprises from 2016-2018, 2019 saw Gleeson come back aboard. 2022 the series will be in action on 12 occasions as they visit five different Northern California venues.