Croft Climbs to 5th at Placerville

Willie Croft. - Steve Lafond Photo

PETERSEN MEDIA

One week after spinning out of the third spot, Willie Croft rebounded at the Placerville Speedway as he charged forward from his ninth start spot to score a fifth place finish at the high-banked ¼ mile speedway.

With a stout field of 28 fire-breathing Cancen Oil King of the West sprint cars checked in the pit area, Croft timed his Holey Smokes BBQ/Christian Stover Foundation/Brown and Miller entry in with the seventh fastest lap of the night.

Scoring a second place finish in his heat, Croft missed out on the dash, but still transferred into the 30-lap feature and started in the ninth spot.

As the track continued to take shape all night long, Croft eagerly watched as himself and the crew made final adjustments to tighten his A.R.T. No. 29 up on what was a picturesque slicked off track.

Underway, Croft quickly took to the top of the red-clay as he quickly worked his way forward getting past the likes of Bobby McMahan, and Justin Sanders to get up to sixth.

On the 13th lap, Croft got around Jonathan Allard, and took over the fifth spot, as he set his sites on Andy Gregg, and a hard charging Shane Golobic.

With the waning laps clicking away, Croft’s car seemed to loosen up, and wrestled it around the high-banked speedway to hang on to his fifth place finish.

“It’s awesome to get back to Placerville and run well,” said Croft. “Last time we were here with the KWS we ran third, and a top five is a pretty good finish. We were a little free all race, but as the race wore on we got really loose towards the end and hung on.”

Willie Croft would like to thank Holey Smokes BBQ, The Christian Stover
Foundation, ButlerBuilt , Brown and Miller, Sander Engineering, FK Rod Ends, Hinchman Indy, Schoenfeld, K&N, Smith Precision Products, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Shark Racing Engines, A.R.T., M.R.O. Industrial Supply, Redline Oil, Kaeding Performance, PaPa’s Beef Jerky, Dan Olson Products, Vortex Wings, AIC Powdercoating, Les Schwab, and GUTS for their support in 2012.

ON TAP: Willie and his Willie Croft Racing team will be in action on Saturday, July 7th at the Ocean Speedway Watsonville for the 2nd Annual Howard Kaeding Classic.

STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Willie by visiting www.williecroftracing.com or following @WCroft29 on Twitter.