By Gary Thomas
WATSONVILLE, Calif. (Mar. 27, 2026) — The Karl Kustoms IMCA Northern SportMods brought a fantastic 24-car field to Watsonville Speedway on Friday. Pismo Beach driver Landon King rocketed out to the early lead in the 20-lap finale. Bakersfield’s Nicholas Johnson was on the move right from the get-go and assumed the runner-up spot on lap eight.
Johnson applied pressure to King and seemed to have the speed to win, but got into a spin seven circuits shy of the finish to draw a caution. King, who cut his teeth in Outlaw Karts, went on to tally his first Watsonville Speedway IMCA Northern SportMod triumph.
Following King across the stripe were Ethan Johnson, Jason Bannister, Danny Wagner, and Buddy Kniss.
The Watsonville Speedway debut of the Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars saw the main event go right down to the wire. A solid field of 16 IMCA Stock Cars came out and provided some excellent action in their finale.
Atwater racer Mike Villanueva ended up leading all 20 laps, but he certainly had to work for it. “Tricky” Troy Foulger and “Fast” Freddie Ryland gave him everything he could handle over the closing stages. Villanueva never faltered though and narrowly topped Foulger to bring home the bacon for his first win of the year in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region.
Ryland came home third followed by Tyler Bannister, and Paul Stone.
The event was broadcast live on IMCA TV affiliate Stars On Dirt TV. Catch every lap again with the IMCA TV Replay Subscription, available for just $24.99/month. Don’t miss Season 2 of the Boone docuseries, now streaming exclusively on IMCA TV.
