Lewis finishes fourth in Stockton

After winning at Orange Show Speedway the last time Michael Lewis drove the No. 60 Western Speed Ford Focus midget in the United States Auto Club California Pavement Ford Focus Series, he visited New Stockton 99 Speedway on Saturday with high expectations.

Before a packed house of enthusiastic Northern California race fans, the Laguna Beach resident qualified second, which placed him inside the third row for the start of the 40-lap feature at the quarter-mile asphalt oval track in Stockton. When the main event began, Michael and his teammate Cody Gerhardt made a clean start but it took them both a few laps to move past traffic, which allowed the leader to pull away.

The feature event ran non-stop so they drove the two Western Speed team cars to third and fourth, respectively.

“As always Kevin Gerhardt gave me a great car and we qualified well,” Lewis said in a release.

“For the first 10 laps of the feature it looked like I could quickly get to the front but suddenly the brakes went away and I did not want to force the issue with Cody so fourth place was about the best we could achieve.”

Lewis now stands fifth in the USAC California Pavement Ford Focus Series’ drivers points, even though he has missed several events because of his Formula BMW Americas commitment. Two more races are scheduled in the Ford Focus series for 2009, at Madera Speedway on Oct. 24, and at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26.

“If we can keep the pace we maintained throughout the year and finish well at the final two races, the No. 60 Western Speed Ford Focus midget has a great chance to win the car owners championship and we could even make the top four in the final drivers’ standings,” Lewis said.

“” From staff reports