Placerville, CA — (May 30, 2015) — For the second consecutive year, Greg DeCaires defended his home turf against the Civil War Series, and again earned a spot in the 55th Annual Johnny Key Classic after leading all 30-laps during the Saturday night feature event at the Placerville Speedway and becoming the series’ sixth winner in six events thus far.
Leading the field to green alongside fellow Placerville Speedway ace, Andy Forsberg, DeCaires would get the jump as he quickly went to work on the bottom of the speedway as the field tip-toed around the slicked off racing surface.
While DeCaires was comfortable up front, the battle behind him was intense as Andy Forsberg, Colby Copeland, and Jonathan Cornell would battle in a pack as they chased after the early race leader.
Following a caution on the seventh lap, DeCaires would continue to keep Forsberg at bay as Missouri’s Jonathan Cornell surged into the third spot, as Shane Golobic would crack the top five from his 14th starting position.
The red flag would fly on the 12th lap for Dominic Scelzi, who would escape uninjured, but as he went flipping, Cornell would get spun from behind as he slowed up, changing the look of the Top-5.
When the action came back to life, DeCaires would take off and hide as he continued to dominate out front, though Forsberg would have his hands full with Colby Copeland, Justin Sanders and a hard charging Shane Golobic.
As the race got into an extended green flag run, lapped traffic came into play and the 2014 series champion, Golobic, came alive as he took the third position on the 24th lap before taking the second spot on the 26th lap. Reeling DeCaires in amidst heavy traffic the race’s final caution flag would fly on the 27th lap giving the leader an open track in what was a single file restart.
DeCaires would get a very strong restart as he would pull away and earn the win while Golobic would come across the finish line in the second spot. The final restart saw 12th starting Sean Becker come from nowhere and make a bold move on the high, scary side of turns three and four to secure the final spot on the podium.
“I just can’t say enough about this team, this car, and this Wesmar Racing Engine,” a jubilant DeCaires said in victory lane. “We know what to do when it (the track) gets slick like this, and it is great to be up here getting interviewed, and also great to lock into the Johnny Key Classic.”
After putting an a hard charge, Shane Golobic was happy with how his team performed in the 30-lap feature event. “I messed up qualifying, but the team gave me a great car, and we had a really nice charge forward,” he would say. “They don’t call DeCaires ‘The Catfish” for nothing, and he was awesome on the bottom, we really did not need that last yellow.”
A brilliant restart with three laps to go, saw Sean Becker score his third straight Civil War Series podium finish aboard the FnF Racing No.x1 machine. “This team is so much fun to drive for, and it shows with our success,” he would explain. “That last restart I told myself I had to try something, and when everyone went to the bottom, I went up top, and it stuck, and here we are.”
Chasing Becker across the line was Andy Forsberg in fourth, Bradley Terrell in fifth, Colby Copeland in sixth, Justin Sanders seventh, Kirt Organ eighth, Mike Benson ninth, and Jonathan Allard rounding out the Top-10.
A total of 23 Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster 360ci sprint cars checked into the pit area Saturday night, and it was Placerville’s own Andy Gregg getting things started with the fast time award.
Three heat races were ran and wins went to Justin Sanders, Colby Copeland, and Jonathan Cornell. Greg DeCaires would win the six-lap dash and start the feature event from the pole position.