By Bill Sullivan, Handy Racing Promotions Media Relations
PLACERVILLE, CA – Once again a stellar field of competitors packed the pit area Saturday night to compete in the fourth Red Hawk Casino championship event of the season at Placerville Speedway. The event, presented by Hoosier Tires, Pepsi Cola and Riebes Auto Parts concluded with four new local faces in victory lane.
Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli took home the win the in the winged sprint car division and celebrated in victory lane with John Durrett of Pollock Pines who won the Pure Stock feature win. Representing nearby Auburn in the way of success was Thomas Arbogast who won the Dirt Solutions Late Model feature event. Daniel Weger of Grass Valley was the winner in the visiting Nor Cal Dwarf Cars.
In the sprint car feature event, Trulli arrived at Placerville to celebrate his 41st birthday in winning fashion. Starting on the pole of the 25-lap A-feature, Trulli outlasted a multitude of caution periods and challenges for the lead to take home his first win of the 2010 racing season at his hometown track.
At the waving of the green flag, Trulli muscled into the lead over second place starter James Sweeney of Placerville and was soon challenged by third place starter Sean Becker of Antelope. Before the second lap was complete, Becker took the high line out of the fourth turn to pass Trulli for the lead.
As Becker worked the front position and began driving his way to a distant lead, Trulli felt the pressure of Andy Forsberg of Auburn who advanced from ninth into third by the sixth lap. With ten laps into the race the battle heated up for the lead as Becker drifted off turns one and two allowing both Trulli and Forsberg to close in for the lead.
Entering the backstretch, Becker returned to the racing surface where he raced wheel to wheel with Trulli, who redeemed the top spot as they entered the next set of turns. Two laps later, Becker slid sideways in the third turn to draw his first of two yellow flags, putting Forsberg up to second place for the series of restarts that would take place for the many incidents including roll overs by Josh Bates of Carmichael and Mike Henry of Sacramento.
At the checkered flag, Trulli captured the win and was followed by Forsberg, Mason Moore of Princeton, Placerville’s Scott Russell and Shane Golobic of Fremont.
“This was tiring race with all the yellows and it came after a week I worked a ton of hours before I came home to race,” said Trulli. “I hand my hands full. When you have Sean Becker and Andy Forsberg racing behind you, well, you better have your stuff together at this place because they are coming to the front.”
In the Dirt Solutions Limited Late Model division, Jay Norton of Shingle Springs powered off the second place starting position into the lead at the waving of the green flag. Norton held off the challenges of Arbogast for the first nine laps that saw its share of aggressive driving and caution flags on Saturday night.
On the 10th lap, Arbogast utilized his signature slingshot move when he dove low and then shot up high to steal the lead from Norton as they approached the front stretch. Once in front Arbogast maintained the lead and was later challenged by Live Oak’s Matt Micheli. Micheli advanced from the seventh position into second place on lap 13 but later suffered a collision with Les Friend of Galt that ended his night.
At the finish line Arbogast was followed by Norton, Dan Brown Jr. of Grass Valley, Matt Davis of Auburn and Friend.
“I love racing these cars at this place,” said Arbogast, who has a resume of dirt modified and wingless sprint car racing in his past. “This is really where my heart is, racing the late models and I just want to thank the promoter Alan Handy for believing in this division and bringing to Placerville. I think it’s going to keep growing and be a really strong class here. I can’t wait for Chico next week.”
In the Pure Stock division, Durrett started sixth in the field and began pressing to the front at the green flag where Danielle Clauson took the initial lead. With just two laps down, Durrett moved into second place and began a side by side rally with Clauson that lasted several laps. With 7 laps complete, Clauson fell out of contention for the lead when traffic became cramped on the backstretch and she suffered front end damage and a flat tire, forcing to the work area to make repairs.
In the closing laps Durrett was challenged by Placerville’s Chris Curtiss who couldn’t tighten the gap enough between he and Durrett by the time the checkered flag waved. At the line Durrett was followed by Curtiss, Rick Grunert of Woodland, Chris Van Roekel of Grass Valley and El Dorado’s Tim Mack.
“This was a great run for me tonight, this division gets more and more competitive each year,” said Durrett. “It’s nice to see the high car counts and I think a lot of that is due to the fact they are inspecting the cars really good now and making sure everyone is legal. It’s a pretty even playing field out here now which makes it exciting.”
Saturday’s event for the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars was very special as they competing in their first “Crohns Race” at Placerville Speedway. The organization participated in a large race car show at Carl’s Jr during the day to raise funds and awareness for Kady Munroe, a victim of Crohns Disease that has been selected to speak on the steps of the Capitol in the upcoming Steps Walk in Sacramento.
Saturday the group met with hundreds of fans at the Carl’s Jr event where they held a raffle and later the group donated a portion of their winnings to Kady’s cause. Kady is the daughter of Frank and Janis Munroe, founders of the Nor Cal Dwarf Car Association.
“This was a honor to win this race tonight,” said winner Daniel Weger of Grass Valley. “It’s great to be part of a group that comes together in times like this and helps out. I had a great car tonight and was able to get out in front pretty early and stay out of trouble.”
Weger started fifth in the field and moved in to steal the lead as front runners Brian Quilty and Josh Hiatt dueled for the lead. Wegar used the high side of turn four to build enough momentum to steal the lead as they traveled down the front stretch. Once in front he stretched his lead to several car lengths over Quilty who finished in second followed by Ryan Winter, Mike Grenert and Kevin Bender.
Next Saturday night Placerville Speedway will host a big night of high dollar racing as the Hoosier Racing Tires California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series returns to town. The championship series will resume on Saturday May 8th following the all open wheel event this coming Saturday night.
For more information visit the track’s official website at www.placervillespeedway.com. In the coming week. Placerville Speedway can also be found by using twitter where race fans can get updates of upcoming events send directing to their pc or cell phone by signing up at www.twitter.com/pvllspeedway.