By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Aromas, California’s Justin Sanders is always a favorite when he signs into the pit area at Placerville Speedway and on Saturday he continued to show why, racing to his third win of the year at the track in as many starts.
Sharing victory lane with Sanders at “Mother’s Day Madness” presented by Mountain Democrat were Hanford’s Michael Faccinto with the USAC/BCRA Midgets, Waterford’s Dakota Albright with the BCRA Lightning Sprints and Placerville’s Austin Struthers in the Mtn. Democrat Mini Trucks.
The Thompson’s Winged 360 Sprint Car feature started off with second-year driver Landon Brooks putting the Spencer Motorsports No. 34 out front. Sanders settled into second, but it didn’t take him long to slide in front for the lead following a lap three restart. After that the “Bullring Bullet” had his way with things out front and crossed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag for his 19th career Winged 360 win at Pville.
The triumph for Sanders came aboard the always potent Dale Miller Septic/ Thompson’s Family of Dealerships No. 4sa entry. The team also took home an extra $100 courtesy of Silva Motorsports Inc. for the win. Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick raced his way up to second, followed by Penngrove’s Chase Johnson, Brooks and Jacksonville, Oregon’s Tanner Holmes, who also earned the ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award to begin the evening.
Completing the top-10 in the main event were Andy Forsberg, Kyle Hirst, Tony Gomes, Blake Carrick and Jodie Robinson. A total of 35 Thompson’s Winged Sprint Cars competed at the fourth Hoosier Tire Championship Point Race.
Winged 360 finish: 1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]; 3. 28-Chase Johnson[4]; 4. 34-Landon Brooks[2]; 5. 18T-Tanner Holmes[6]; 6. 92-Andy Forsberg[9]; 7. 42X-Kyle Hirst[10]; 8. 7C-Tony Gomes[18]; 9. 38B-Blake Carrick[3]; 10. 4-Jodie Robinson[8]; 11. 93-Stephen Ingraham[20]; 12. 21M-Michael Ing[15]; 13. 21-Shane Hopkins[17]; 14. 94-Greg Decaires V[13]; 15. X1-Kaleb Montgomery[11]; 16. 20-Justin Bradway[19]; 17. 68-Jayson Bright[14]; 18. 01-Andy Gregg[7]; 19. 3C-Casey Schmitz[12]; 20. 85-CJ Humphreys[16]
The USAC Western States and BCRA Midgets put on an outstanding show in their 30-lap finale. Tracy’s Austin Liggett charged into the early lead and would hold command for several laps, but the action behind him was hot and heavy. Castro Valley’s Jake Andreotti then proceeded to apply heavy pressure to Liggett and was able to snatch the lead on lap 12, until issues left him parked on the infield with 14 circuits complete.
Liggett found himself back out front for the restart but soon felt the heat in the form of Hanford’s Michael Faccinto, who eventually dove under for the top-spot on lap 22. Liggett attempted to get back by up top but banged the cushion a few laps later, which moved Oakley’s Dylan Bloomfield up to second. Bloomfield powered after his teammate and kept him honest, but at the stripe it was Faccinto claiming the win. Bloomfield finished a very respectable second over 12th starter Chase Johnson, Liggett and Brody Fuson.
USAC/BCRA Midget finish: 1. 14J-Michael Faccinto[6]; 2. 14JR-Dylan Bloomfield[3]; 3. 73X-Chase Johnson[12]; 4. 83-Austin Liggett[1]; 5. 51-Brody Fuson[8]; 6. 9-Blake Bower[10]; 7. 45-Jake Morgan[7]; 8. 21W-Ben Wiesz[16]; 9. 73-Cade Lewis[9]; 10. 7NZ-Travis Buckley[22]; 11. 8-Randi Pankratz[17]; 12. 2C-Colten Raudman[2]; 13. 77-Dave Stoltz[19]; 14. 14-Beau Lemire Rescue[21]; 15. 00-Jake Andreotti[4]; 16. 6K-Mike Snider[11]; 17. 13-Danika Jo Parker[14]; 18. 5K-Ben Worth[5]; 19. 32-Caden Sarale[13]; 20. 1K-Anthony Esberg[18]; 21. 22G-Zach Telford[15]; 22. 1X-AJ Bender[23]
The BCRA Lightning Sprints contested their annual “Tracy Taylor Memorial” on Saturday night. Elk Grove’s Matt Land sliced into the lead at the waving of the green flag and held control early on. Waterford’s Dakota Albright was picking off cars one by one however, and soon stormed into the runner up spot.
When leader Land suffered a broken shock Albright pounced on the opportunity. Once in front it was all about the defending series champ, as Albright crossed under the checkered flag for victory. Harlee Aguilera, Brandon Leedy, Hunter Kinney and Peter Paulson rounded out the top-five.
BCRA Lightning Sprint finish: 1. 35JR-Dakota Albright[6]; 2. 17F-Harlee Aguilera[2]; 3. 3F-Brandon Leedy[5]; 4. 25K-Hunter Kinney[4]; 5. 37-Peter Paulson[7]; 6. 21C-Cody Meyer[9]; 7. 91-Matt Land[3]; 8. 21J-Jayden Meyer[11]; 9. 99-gage meyers[10]; 10. 9-Scott Kinney[8]; 11. 47-Greg Dennett[1]
In the Mountain Democrat Mini Truck division it was Placerville’s Austin Struthers bringing home the win. After battling with Wyatt Lakin during the early stages Struthers pulled away at the end to earn his second victory of the season over Thomas Jensen, Paizlee Miller, Mike Miller and Lakin.
Mini Truck finish: 1. 70-Austin Struthers[4]; 2. 08JR-Thomas Jensen[3]; 3. 61-Paizlee Miller[5]; 4. 16-Mike Miller[1]; 5. 04-Wyatt Lakin[2]; 6. 12-Ted Ahart[7]; 7. 65X-Brian Tremblay[9]; 8. 75-Brycen Bragg[8]; 9. 28-Howard Miller[6]
Ful results from Saturday can be found at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1978108?fbclid=IwAR1QhkGFqA7fLJ0ma1bG5dqJbuxmBpK9XehlGrrDYHOdrFbdk8-dc22xJWY
Placerville Speedway will be dark this weekend, before resuming things with the annual John Padjen Kids Bike Night on Saturday May 21st.