By Billl Sullivan, Media Release from Handy Racing Promotions Inc.
PLACERVILLE, CA (9-4-10) – In season’s past, Auburn’s Andy Forsberg has been a dominant force at Placerville Speedway, routinely winning more feature events in a single season then any other driver.
This Saturday night, the former track champion and four time Civil War Champion will look for his second Placerville Speedway championship of his successful career. However, this season has not been as dominant as those in the past for the driver known as Mr. Excitement and one local driver will be chasing Forsberg down Saturday night in one final shot at stealing the crown, Placerville’s Scott Russell.
“At the start of the season we set a goal to win another championship at Placerville,” said Forsberg, who debuted the new Coors Light-Autism Awareness #47 sprint car this season owned by his longtime crew chief Brian Cannon. “This has been one of our toughest years, it’s been a real eye opener. It’s nothing we’ve been doing wrong, the competition has just been really good this season.”
This Saturday night Forsberg may be faced with racing in a fashion in which he is not accustomed to. The driver that is known for his win it or wear driving style will have to find the medium between aggression and conservatism. To insure his second career Placerville Speedway title Forsberg must advance from his preliminary races into the A-feature. In one night of racing a driver can earn a maximum of 55-points, Forsberg sits 21-points in the lead over Russell entering this final night of action.
In racing anything can happen, just last Saturday night Placerville driver CJ Humphreys fell a position in the point standings after a devastating heat race crash that was no fault of his own. In an effort to lock the championship, Forsberg needs to keep Russell in his sights from the time the first green flag flies in qualifying until the last checkered flag of the night waves.
“We are well aware that this championship is far from over,” said Forsberg. “This season luck hasn’t gone our way too much and I’m not going to rely on it for the last race of the year. Scott Russell has been coming on strong these last few weeks. This championship is ours to lose and we have to give it our all. Hopefully we can get another win and the title at the same time.”
In the 12 events that have taken place this season, Forsberg has claimed one fast time award, one feature event win, nine top five finishes and ten placements in the top ten. Russell is still searching for the elusive feature win of the season. Russell has seven top fives and nine top tens along with one heat race win.
Former champion Mike Henry is third overall, 45-points from the lead. Shane Golobic of Fremont is fourth overall, 52-points out of the lead. Mason Moore of Princeton is fifth. Justin Johnson of Shingle Springs is one spot out of the top five ahead of Placerville’s CJ Humphreys, Chad Compton of Fair Oaks and Jimmy Trulli of Placerville.
Saturday night will mark the inaugural “Pepsi Trophy Presentation” at Placerville Speedway. The sprint cars, late models and pure stocks will be awarded giant perpetual trophies for their efforts on this special night. Each year the trophy will be passed on to the next winner with their name added to the plaques. This long tradition has been very popular at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico and is sure to be the same in Placerville.
Windfall Classifieds Inc. will bring some 100 special guests to the race track this Saturday night as well. The local classified advertising paper that has shown great support of auto racing in the area will be giving away a number of prizes throughout the evening as they continue their great support as one of Placerville Speedway’s media partners.
The grandstands at Placerville Speedway will open at 5 p.m Saturday night Qualifying starts at 6;30 followed by racing at 7. Adult tickets will be $12, juniors and seniors $10, children $5 and under six will be admitted for free. For additional information visit www.placervillespeedway.com and www.handyracingpromotions.com.