By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – July 4, 2019…A sold out and enthusiastic grandstand on Thursday saw Fremont, California’s Shane Golobic lead flag-to-flag, claiming victory with the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars during the annual Freedom Fireworks showcase at Placerville Speedway.
Also sharing victory lane on the Fourth of July were Jay Norton, who claimed his first Ltd. Late Model win of the season and John Ewing, who picked up his first Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stock triumph. As always, the event was a fun night for long-time race fans and several new ones while we celebrated Independence Day. After the action was completed the packed house was treated to an epic firework display that lit up the sky.
Golobic jumped into the lead at the waving of the Ron Stahl green flag in the 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 main event. The two-time Trophy Cup champ had picked up a weekly win back on June 1st and was never seriously challenged on this night. Hollister’s Tony Gualda was able to grab second from Bradley Terrell on a lap-two restart and tried to keep pace with Golobic, as Auburn’s Andy Forsberg charged to third.
Gualda’s run came to an end on lap 14 however, when issues sent him off turn one making heavy contact into the wall. The final 11-laps saw Golobic roll the bottom to perfection and race away to pocket his seventh career Winged 360 victory at Placerville Speedway, tying him with Tim Clauson for 13th on the all-time win list. Forsberg crossed the stripe in second, with Fair Oaks’ Jake Morgan putting together impressive run for a season-high finish of third. Bobby McMahan and Justyn Cox rounded out the top-five.
The remainder of top-10 was comprised of Terrell, Kalib Henry, 18th starter and hard charger award winner Ryan Robinson, Bubba Decaires and Andy Gregg. Four heat races were held during the night and were captured by Bubba Decaires, Jake Morgan, Bradley Terrell and Cole Macedo. Shane Golobic kicked-off the event by earning the ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award among the 26-car field with a lap of 10.813.
The 20-lap Ltd. Late Model A-main featured some good, close and competitive competition throughout it. Jay Norton and Ray Trimble led the field down to green. Trimble was looking to claim his fourth victory of the season and held command until the No. 37x machine of Dave Trimble got sideways in turn two, leaving Ray nowhere to go. Contact between the pair occurred and Trimble dropped a handful of spots, but he wasn’t done just yet.
Up front Norton ran solid laps and crossed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag for his first win of the season. Ray Trimble battled his way back forward and put on a show for the fans racing with Dan Brown Jr. and Matt Davis. Trimble ended up finishing second with Brown, Davis and Tyler Lightfoot rounding out the top-five. It was a clean sweep for Norton during the evening, as he also picked up the heat race win.
The Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stock main event saw Stephanie Hanson and Orville Owens make up the front row. Several cautions slowed the flow of the race but in-between them the action was hot and heavy on the quarter-mile bullring. Owens jumped to the lead and kept the rest of the field at bay for much of the contest. Numerous movers and shakers were featured during the main event that saw cars race high and low all over the speedway.
Owens was making a cameo appearance in the No. 4 machine normally piloted by Lonnie Leonard and as the laps wound down, he had a very fast Nick Baldwin coming after him. Baldwin started on the outside of row number six as he looked to bring home his third win of the season. With the race reaching its conclusion contact between the duo off the second corner left Owens parked to bring out a yellow. Officials then called Baldwin for rough driving, which forced him to the rear of the field.
John Ewing, who charged from 13th starting, now found himself in the lead of the race. The driver known as the “ATM Guy” got a good restart and went on to pick up his first Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stock victory over Jason Palmer, Rick Grunert, Scott Grunert and Ronnie Richards. The top-10 was completed by Mel Byers, Rich Lindgren, Owens, Baldwin and Dan Jinkerson. A total of 18 Pure Stocks competed on the 4th of July and saw heat race wins go to Jarred Beddow, Jason Palmer and Nick Baldwin.
The Placerville Speedway will now be dark this Saturday night, before resuming action with the 16th annual Tribute to Al Hinds on Saturday July 13th. Divisions on hand for the event will include the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Ltd. Late Models, the Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks and the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association. Online tickets for the event can be purchased at www.placervillespeedway.com