By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Last time out Mather, California’s Kalib Henry put on an exciting charge from deep in the field during the main event at Placerville Speedway. Fast forward to last night and things were a little different as he lined up from the front row, before leading all 25-laps in the feature to capture the $5,000 Mark Forni Classic.
It marked the biggest Placerville Speedway win of Henry’s career and came aboard the Jensen Motorsports No. 5J Sprinter. Sharing victory lane on Saturday at the 16th annual Forni Classic was Diamond Springs competitor Dan Jinkerson with the Ltd. Late Models, along with Auburn’s Wayne Trimble with the Pure Stocks and Galt’s Ryan Winter with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association. Special thanks goes out to Elk Grove Ford, Doug Veerkamp General Engineering and High Sierra Industries for putting up extra money during the event.
The Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car feature got off to a slow start with a couple of caution periods, mixed in one red flag for Justyn Cox, who luckily emerged okay after the incident. The final 20-laps clicked off caution free however, and during it Henry did a solid job navigating his way through lapped traffic. Hanford’s DJ Netto put together the finest night of his career on the red clay and did close the gap as the laps wound down.
The 2019 KWS-NARC champ stalked Henry over the waning circuits and looked to have a shot at executing some late race magic. Henry didn’t falter though and drove off to cross under the Ron Stahl checkered flag to score his fourth ever Placerville Speedway triumph. Netto’s runner up effort netted him $2,500 along with the High Sierra Industries mystery draw on the front stretch, which earned the Netto Ag team an additional $1,000.
Current point leader Andy Forsberg put forth a championship style performance in the feature, charging from 11th to third. Shane Hopkins looked solid in the main event and grabbed fourth, while Cody Spencer was also very impressive at the Forni, capping the evening with his first top-five finish. Winged Sprint Car rookie driver Landon Brooks, Sean Becker, Dylan Bloomfield, Andy Gregg and Joel Myers Jr. rounded out the top-10.
Winged Sprint Car finish: 1. 5J-Kalib Henry[2]; 2. 88N-DJ Netto[4]; 3. X1-Andy Forsberg[11]; 4. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]; 5. 2-Cody Spencer[9]; 6. 34-Landon Brooks[6]; 7. 83V-Sean Becker[13]; 8. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[7]; 9. 16X-Andy Gregg[14]; 10. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[12]; 11. 15-Michael Sellers[8]; 12. 21X-Michael Ing[16]; 13. 94-Greg Decaires V[18]; 14. 14W-Ryan Robinson[10]; 15. 55A-Angelo Cornet[15]; 16. 98-Chris Masters[21]; 17. 24K-Koa Crane[20]; 18. 7H-Jake Haulot[17]; 19. 4SA-Justin Sanders[3]; 20. 7C-Justyn Cox[5]; 21. 93-Stephen Ingraham[19]
Placerville Speedway is back at it next Saturday August 14th for the much-anticipated “Legends Night” at the races. The event marks the penultimate championship point race of the season. Tackling the quarter-mile during Legends Night will be the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks and the Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Tour.