PETERSEN MEDIA- Making his first start of the season aboard the Cody and Mandi Geaney owned No. 7C on Saturday night in Merced, CA, Tony Gomes overcame an unusual qualifying effort as he fought back and finished 10th in the feature event.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened in qualifying, but at the end of the day its on me and I put us in an early hole,” Gomes said. “Luckily I have a great group behind me and they put a very racy car under me in the heat race and I was able to dig us out of hole and put us back in the game.”
Timing the Lund Construction/Anrak/Sam Rhodes backed No. 7c in 19th fastest in his flight in qualifying time trials, the Modesto, CA driver lined up 10th in heat race competition.
Needing a big run to transfer directly into the feature from the fifth row of his heat, Gomes had his elbows up as he went to work on the extremely slick bullring nestled in the central valley of California.
Simply going wehre there were openings as he was mired in dense traffic, Gomes made a fantastic recovery as he powered his way all the way up to fourth. Hanging on to finish fourth, Gomes was able to dig out of the early hole as he transferred into the feature event where he found himself 14th on the starting grid.
With the track remaining extremely slick heading into the feature event, Gomes opted to work the bottom groove when the race came to life with much of the field attacking the cushion on both ends of the speedway.
Jumping up to ninth, the track started to take rubber and Gomes fell into line in 10thon the race’s 14th lap.
Once the rubber went down, maneuvering through the field was out of the question as he focused on keeping his tires under him and hitting his marks.
Putting himself in a position to pounce should anyone bobble in front of him, Gomes kept his spot inside the Top-10 as he took the checkered flag in the 10th position.
“I am pumped, and extremely thankful for the opportunity to be back with C&M Motorsports, and I’m appreciative for how much Cody and Mandi believe in me,” Gomes said. “Really happy I could make up for the qualifying issues in our heat race and put us in a decent spot heading into the feature. Cody, Bobby, Nick, and I worked well together as a team, and I thank them for having my back and sticking with me.”
The C&M Motorsports team would like to thank Lund Construction, Anrak, Sam Rhodes, Alturas Tires, Swartz Diesel, Adrian Blanco Jewelry, Kings Meats, American Paving Systems, PT Shocks, Creason Enterprises, and all of their product sponsors for their continued support.
ON TAP: C&M Motorsports will head to Placerville Speedway on Saturday to open the tracks’ 2024 season with Tony Gomes.
BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-2, Wins-0, Top 5’s-0, Top 10’s-1
STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with C&M Motorsports by following @PrecisonShocks or @Mandi7C on Twitter.
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