(11/15/2018)
After a rough first half to 2018, the Northern California based Kaos Racing team decided to switch their Placerville Pure Stock program over to compete at Marysville Raceway in the Hobby Stock division. The change went far better than their expectations for the Van Roekel brothers, with both claiming their first Top 5’s of the year.
For Mike Stoeckle, 2018 was a year he’s hoping to put behind him. Despite Stoeckle fighting mechanical issues all season, he was able to claim 5 Top 10’s, including 3 against the Placerville Pure Stocks, a division that often reaches 15-20 cars a night. With the team shifting to Marysville, Stoeckle was forced to build a new car that met the track’s stricter rule set. Unfortunately for Stoeckle, the new car had issues every night out. The car finally began to show promise at the season ending Taxi Cab Open, but again, mechanical issues forced Stoeckle to retire from the race early. When asked about his thoughts on 2018, Stoeckle said: “We built a new car mid season to appease the rules for Marysville, the car fought with us the rest of the season from broken axles to broken distributors, and scattered differentials. The last night out we got it to handle well and until the distributor gave us fits it was working really well.”
Chris Van Roekel on the other hand, experienced a much improved season in 2018. Like Stoeckle, Chris Van Roekel was able to collect 3 Top 10’s in his 7 Placerville starts. Though Chris was running with an underpowered 283 motor, he knocked on the door of the Top 5 multiple times, highlighted by a 6th place run in his 2nd race of the season. After the July 4th, the team switched their attention to running Marysville, and the change brought some much needed success. The first 2 races didn’t go to plan, including a 2nd place DQ after being short on vacuum by half an inch. After the Dq, Chris came back the next race and showed that the previous race wasn’t a fluke, running 2nd yet again, this time passing tech. The next race he’d follow with another Top 10 claiming 8th. Though the year could have definitely went better, Chris remained positive when asked about 2018: “For changing seasons mid season we did exceptionally well, my little 283 hung with the best of them. Most enjoyable season I have had in a long time. Despite the breakdowns and weird stuff we had break we did really well!”
Jesse Van Roekel easily had the best season of the 3 car Van Roekel stable. In 10 races, Jesse only finished outside the Top 10 twice, including only once at Placerville in 5 tries against some of the toughest competition in the state. Though his season was already going pretty well, the mid season move to Marysville brought immediate success to Jesse Van Roekel. In his first race at the track, Jesse came up just short in the pursuit of his first career win, settling for a career best 2nd. The next few races didn’t go nearly as well, as he took 7th twice and had 1 DNF going into the last race of the season, the Taxi Cab Open. Though the car didn’t look very good in the heat race at all, things turned around in a big way in the main event. In the 15 car main event, Jesse Van Roekel was able to work his way through the big field to take 4th.
The Van Roekel Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors and supporters, including:
Vans auto body and paint
Performance marine
Kilroys towing and auto repair
Quick response septic and portable toilets
Valley machine
Lennox muffler
Boutry’s engine shop
Chris Van Roekel would like to thank his personal sponsors and supporters, including:
Sinners 2 saints apparel
Mike Stoeckle would like to thank his personal sponsors and supporters including:
Sinners 2 saints apparel
Chris Van Roekel:
Starts: 11
Top 5’s: 1
Top 10’s: 5
Best Finish: 2nd (August 18th, Marysville)
Worst Finish: 14th (August 11th, Marysville)
Placerville:
April 21st: 13th
April 28th: 6th
May 5th: 8th
May 19th: 12th
June 2nd: 11th
June 9th: 9th
July 4th: 13th
Marysville:
July 14th: 12th
August 11th: 14th
August 18th: 2nd
September 1st: 8th
Jesse Van Roekel:
Starts: 10
Top 5’s: 2
Top 10’s: 8
Best Finish: 2nd (July 14th, Marysville)
Worst Finish 13th (September 1st, Marysville)
Placerville:
April 21st: 11th
April 28th: 10th
May 5th: 7th
June 2nd: 10th
June 9th: 7th
Marysville:
July 14th: 2nd
August 11th: 7th
August 18th:7th
September 1st: 13th
October 21st: 4th
Stoeckle:
Starts: 11
Top 10’s: 5
Best Finish: 7th (Placerville April 21st)
Worst Finish: 17th (Placerville April 28th)
Placerville:
April 21st: 7th
April 28th: 17th
May 5th: 10th
May 19th: 11th
June 2nd: 15th
June 9th: 11th
July 4th: 9th
Marysville:
August 11th: 10th
August 18th: 9th
September 1st: 9th
October 21st: 14th
DRC Motorsports Media 