From Dean Mills
The third contested round of the 2016 Red Hawk Casino Championship season saw a total of 68 cars sign into the pits amongst the 4 divisions on hand, and saw 4 new faces land in victory lane.
Twenty-Four Thompson’s Auto Group Sprint Cars were in attendance and were greeted with an old-school slick surface to a thick cushion for the night’s 25 lap feature. Outside pole sitter Mason Moore of Princeton, aboard his Geico Local Offices #x1, got the jump on the start and was never seriously challenged on the way to his first victory of the season. Logan Seavey finished second over Tyler Seavey, Matt Peterson, and Jimmy Trulli.
“Everything is falling into place and working well for us this season”, remarked Moore in victory lane. “(Car Owner) Alan Bradway wasn’t all that pleased with my efforts in qualifying, but we put it all together in the heat race to put us in the re-draw, which put us on the front row for the feature. It feels great to win. I’m very fortunate to have Geico Local Offices and Econo Lube N’ Tube on board with the F&F Racing Team.”
Andy Gregg was the evening’s Fast Qualifier and picked up the Adco Driveline & Custom Exhaust bonus. Heat Races were won by Kyler Shaw, Logan Seavey, and Greg DeCaires, while the AL Driveline Hard Charger was Adam Walters, who improved 5 positions from his 22nd starting spot.
Only nine Domco Plumbing Limited Late Models were on hand for the night, but the 20 lap feature was a thrilling one that saw pole sitter Will McMillan spin in turn 1 and then collected third place starter Ryan McDaniel, as well as Jay Bryant and Ryan Peter. However, McDaniel tagged the tail of the field and by lap 4 had moved back to third, then took advantage of a spin on the ensuing restart by leader Wayne Trimble. McDaniel slid new race leader Eddie Gardner for the lead in turn 1 on lap 9, then ran away from the field over the course of the final few laps to win his first of the year at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds over Mike Lightfoot, Jay Norton, Trimble, who rebounded for 4th, and Gardner.
“We got lucky after getting tangled up on the start”, Ryan said following the race. After driving through the field back to the front in just five laps, McDaniel admitted that the incident on the opening lap lit a fire under him. “I was pretty upset after that first lap. But, it feels good to win last night at Chico, and then again tonight. I’ll take it.”
Will McMillan won the lone heat race, while Mike Lightfoot earned the RMI Hard Charger Bonus with his 2nd place finish after starting 7th.
A stout field of 22 Jay’s Mobile Welding Pure Stocks took the green for the 20 lap feature, but it was outside front row starter Dan Smith of Vacaville who led all 15 laps of the curfew shortened feature. Smith fended off multiple advances of both Scott Grunert and Russ Murphy until late race contact ended Grunert and Murphy’s bid for victory. Despite multiple cautions that shortened the event, it was Smith who ended up in victory lane over Greg Rayl, Dave Silva, Travis Emery, and Dan Jinkerson to round out the top five.
04_30_2016_193awIn the winner’s circle, Smith was happy with his first victory. “It feels good to finally put all the laps together in the main to win. I have to thank all my sponsors, BRC Race cars, Vick’s Harbor Machine, and Oates’ Country Store for all their support.”
Orville Owens, Smith, and Scott Grunert were heat race victors while Greg Rayl earned the RMI Hard Charger Bonus by starting 18th and finishing second.
For their first visit to Placerville in the 2016 season, 13 IMCA Sport Mods took to the 1/4 mile, with 6th starting Brian Cooper of Yuba City aboard his Friesen Chevrolet #17c winning the shortened event. Cooper inherited the lead and the victory on lap 12 after his brother Todd Cooper made contact with the infield berm trying to avoid the spun lapped car of Lonnie Leonard. Despite having led the majority of the race, Todd Cooper’s night was over with rear suspension damage. For Brian Cooper, the win came over Howard Law, Dave Gibson, Alan Furuta, and Chuck Golden, who were the top five finishers.
“My brother Todd had the race won”, Brian Cooper said wistfully, on the front stretch after. “Unfortunately, his night came to an abrupt end trying to avoid contact with the lapper, which gave me the win. Obviously, it didn’t end the way he wanted it to, but it gave us good notes on the race track and what the cars liked and didn’t like. Now we have a good baseline set up that can be used for next time.”
04_30_2016_213Heat races were taken by Raymond Benkowski and Cooper, while the RMI Hard Charger was awarded to 5th place feature finisher Chuck Golden who improved 7 positions during the race.
Racing action returns again next Saturday, May 7th, to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds with the second scheduled Placerville Posse event, featuring the normal three classes as well as the second visit of the year by the BCRA Midget Lite division. Pit gates will open at 2PM with the front gates opening at 3PM. Racing begins at 7PM.
For complete details of the 2016 Red Hawk Casino Championship Racing Season, visit Placerville Speedway’s official website at www.placervillespeedway.com.
Join the over 7000 followers of Placerville Speedway on Facebook, where you can interact with fellow fans, drivers, and staff. You can also find Placerville Speedway on Twitter for schedule updates and more by following us @pvillespeedway. In addition, Placerville Speedway is now on Instagram. Please follow us @PvilleSpeedway.
Placerville Speedway is located on the El Dorado County Fairgrounds at 100 Placerville Drive in Placerville. The racing facility is operated by Russell Motorsports Incorporated, which can be reached at the track business office at 530-344-7592.