By Brad Kennedy and Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – August 12, 2017…Steven Tiner’s late-season hot streak continued Saturday night as made a lap 23 pass to grab the lead and went on to claim his third Red Hawk Casino point race win of 2017 at Placerville Speedway.
Also sharing victory lane were Matt Michelli with the Ltd. Late Models, Nick Baldwin with the Pure Stocks and Derek Boarman with the Mini Trucks.
Sixty-one cars signed into the Placerville Speedway on Saturday night for round number 15 of the Red Hawk Casino championship point series. Twenty-six Winged 360 Sprint Cars signed into the pit area for the festivities. Jimmy Trulli and Dustin Freitas set the pace in the 25-lap main event.
Trulli jumped out front and set a wicked pace over the opening stages of the main event as Greg Decaires trailed the early circuits. On lap nine Decaires would throw a turn three slide job to take the lead from Trulli, as Becker followed along to take the runner up spot on lap 11.
Becker would then apply pressure to Decaires for the race lead, until Decaires got tight behind traffic. Becker entered with more mile per hour than anticipated and hit the turn one cushion, getting upside down.
On the restart Decaires pulled away from the field as point leader Steven Tiner would challenge Trulli for the runner up spot. The two drivers then battled hard for multiple laps. With multiple restarts, the top five would shuffle like a deck of cards between Trulli, Tiner and Cox.
On lap 20 Cody Lamar spun to a stop bringing out the caution, bunching the field back up for yet another restart. During it Tiner would find something magical in turns one and two as Decaires tried to protect the bottom of the race track. Tiner found momentum to throw a slide job on Decaires on lap 23 and cruised off to win his third main event of the season at the Placerville Speedway, tying Justin Sanders for the most in 2017. Greg Decaires finished second over Justyn Cox who started 18th and received the hard charger award.
Heat winners during the night included Jimmy Trulli, Dustin Freitas, Greg Decaires and Shawn Conde. Jake Morgan won the B-main, as Kaleb Montgomery set the ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time with a lap of 10.940.
Nineteen Pure Stocks entered the baddest bullring in California on Saturday. Current point leader Jason Palmer and Orville Owens led the field to green for the 20 lap main event. Palmer took the early lead as Owens challenged for the top spot until Owens would spin off turn two on the second lap and fall back to 11th.
Palmer set a fast pace up front as defending track champion Nick Baldwin then applied heavy pressure for the lead. With multiple restarts the top five would also shuffle like a mirror image of the sprint car main event. Baldwin and Palmer exchanged the lead for multiple laps until Baldwin would secure the top spot on lap 11.
Baldwin would go on to win his second points race of the season over Jason Palmer, Travis Emery, Oroville Owens and Jeff Sly. Heat winners were Jason Palmer, Oroville Owens and Travis Henry.
Eleven Ltd. Late Models entered the Placerville Speedway with Mike Lightfoot and Matt Michelli setting the field. Michelli jumped out front in the main event and never looked back, as he led all 20 laps to win his 9th main of the year at the speedway. Mike Lightfoot and Jay Norton put on a great show for the fans as the two swapped positions for multiple laps until Norton jumped the cushion in the closing circuits, allowing Lightfoot to secure second over Norton, Eddie Gardner and Scott Woessner.
Heat winners during the night were Mike Lightfoot and Matt Michelli.
Six Mini Trucks tested the waters of the Placerville Speedway Saturday as Derek Boarman was the man to beat all night long. Boarman led the entire 15 lap main event with no challenges. Boarman also had a clean sweep of the night winning the lone heat race. Ted Ahart ran second over Alex Gutierrez.
The Placerville Speedway returns to action this coming Saturday August 19 for the 12th annual Mark Forni Classic. The Thompson’s Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be vying for $5,000-to-win the feature. The Ltd. Late Models, Pure Stocks and Dwarf Cars will round out the card.
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The Placerville Speedway is operated by Russell Motorsports Incorporated, which can be reached at the track business office at 530-344-7592. Contact Kami Arnold or Scott Russell directly for 2017 sponsorship opportunities at the office. Results can be found at our website http://www.placervillespeedway.com/