By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Mather’s Kalib Henry has put together a solid start to the 2022 campaign and continued that pace on Saturday by earning his second Thompson’s Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph of the season at Placerville Speedway.
John Padjen Kids Bike Night brought to you by the Pizza Factory played host to a packed house of race fans and a large number of youngsters on Saturday. Sharing victory lane with Henry during the night were Dan Jinkerson in the Xtreme Ltd. Late Models, Jason Poppert with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Ben Wiesz with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association. A total of 73-cars filled the pits to help honor the late great Promoter John Padjen.
The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car finale began with Placerville’s Shane Hopkins putting the High Sierra Industries No. 21 out front. Hopkins held the point until getting tripped up on the cushion in turn two, which allowed the Brown Eagle Racing No. 01 of Kalib Henry to pounce and snag the lead heading down the back stretch.
Henry spent the rest of the distance having his way with things out front, before crossing the checkered for his sixth career Winged 360 victory at Placerville Speedway. With the triumph Henry tied his father Mike, along with Mason Moore and Bryan Bullard for 24th on the all-time win list.
Hopkins continued his ultra-consistent year by finishing in the runner up spot, marking his third podium in five Thompson’s Winged 360 Sprint Car events. Roseville’s Jodie Robinson also had a fine run in the feature to cross the stripe in third after getting by both Andy Forsberg and Tanner Carrick during the final half of the feature. Carrick ended up fourth with Forsberg in fifth.
Rounding out the top-10 were Tony Gomes, Blake Carrick, Bubba Decaires, Colby Wiesz and 19th starter CJ Humphreys. Andy Forsberg began the night by earning the ADCO Driveline Fast Time Award with a lap of 10.649. Kalib Henry and Stephen Ingraham took home the Silva Motorsports Bonus Money in the feature.
Winged 360 finish: 1. 01-Kalib Henry[3]; 2. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]; 3. 4-Jodie Robinson[5]; 4. 83T-Tanner Carrick[7]; 5. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]; 6. 7C-Tony Gomes[6]; 7. 38B-Blake Carrick[4]; 8. 94-Greg Decaires V[11]; 9. 8-Colby Wiesz[12]; 10. 85-CJ Humphreys[19]; 11. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[10]; 12. 25-Justin Johnson[15]; 13. 21M-Michael Ing[9]; 14. 20-Justin Bradway[16]; 15. 98-Chris Masters[14]; 16. 78-Bret Barney[17]; 17. 75-Bill Smith[20]; 18. 1F-DJ Freitas[13]; 19. X1-Sean Becker[8]; 20. 93-Stephen Ingraham[18]
Defending Mountain Democrat Limited Late Model champ Dan Jinkerson made it three for three on the season after taking home another win on Saturday. The Late Model portion of John Padjen Kids Bike Night was sanctioned by the Xtreme Limited Late Model Series and showcased some entertaining action in the 20-lapper.
Early on it was Jinkerson who blasted out to the lead over Lincoln’s Dan Brown Jr. The top-duo had their way with things out front but the racing behind them was hot and heavy with Jay Norton, Tyler Lightfoot, Rod Oliver, Matt Michelli and others dicing it up. When all was said and done Jinkerson took the checkered flag over Brown, Norton, Michelli and Anthony Slaney. It marked Jinkerson’s seventh career triumph in the division.
Xtreme Ltd. Late Model finish: 1. 23-Dan Jinkerson[2]; 2. 15-Dan Brown Jr[1]; 3. 15J-Jay Norton[4]; 4. 96M-Matt Micheli[6]; 5. 01-Anthony Slaney[7]; 6. 57-Rod Oliver[3]; 7. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[5]; 8. 98-Kiely Ricardo[8]; 9. 29-Matt Davis[10]; 10. 66-Jake Dewsbury[13]; 11. 22G-Paul Gugliomoni[9]; 12. 3-Eddie Gardner[12]; 13. 38H-Haley Gomez[11]
The 20-lap Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock feature started out with Scott Grunert and current point leader Nick Baldwin battling it out up front. The excellent race then saw a four car battle for the top spot with Kevin Jinkerson fighting his way to the lead and bringing Jason Poppert along as well. Just as Jinkerson took command however, he would loop it in turn four to draw a caution.
On the restart Poppert, Grunert and Baldwin went three wide for the lead, but the party would come to a halt when the yellow flag waved for a stalled car. After going back green Poppert charged to the lead and Baldwin moved into second not long after. The remaining laps saw Poppert remain calm, cool and collected to record his first career Pure Stock win at Placerville Speedway. Baldwin, Grunert, Tommy Sturgeon and Jason Palmer completed the top-five.
Pure Stock finish: 1. 87-Jason Poppert[7]; 2. 17-Nick Baldwin[3]; 3. 14-Scott Grunert[1]; 4. 16-Tommy Sturgeon[12]; 5. 22K-Jason Palmer[10]; 6. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[8]; 7. 47-Michael Murphy[13]; 8. 08-Jarred Hess[5]; 9. 77T-Jason Armstrong[15]; 10. 316-Ryan Murphy[14]; 11. 64-Thomas Jensen[2]; 12. 93-Mel Byers[17]; 13. 4-Jonny Walsh[16]; 14. 23-Tom Tilford[6]; 15. 1-Chris D’angelo[11]
The traveling Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association also showcased an enjoyable 20-lap main event on Saturday. Placerville’s own Mike Reeder ran up front in the early stages but behind him it was anybody’s race for second. The Dwarf Car competitors kept fans on the edge of their seats with a wide racing surface allowing for multi-groove competition.
Colfax racer Ben Wiesz has become one of the top Dwarf Car drivers in the west and that was on full display once again. Wiesz methodically worked his way to the front and after that it was no worries in sight, as he took the Ron Stahl checkered flag for his second Placerville win of the season. Mike “Spanky” Grenert won out in a thrilling duel for second over Reeder. Dylan Shrum and Corey Eaton rounded out the top-five.
Dwarf Car finish: 1. 57N-Ben Wiesz[4]; 2. 12N-Mike Grenert[3]; 3. 72N-Mike Reeder[2]; 4. 31N-Dylan Shrum[6]; 5. 29N-Corey Eaton[7]; 6. 99N-gage meyers[19]; 7. 9N-Kevin Bender[10]; 8. 32N-Dan Geil[16]; 9. 52N-Chuck Conover[17]; 10. 69N-Cody Shrum[8]; 11. 50N-Brenden Shrum[9]; 12. 111DD-Tom VanTuyl[12]; 13. 59N-Austin Struthers[11]; 14. 7N-Jace Badecker[14]; 15. 616N-Tyler Quilty[22]; 16. 6N-Austin Quilty[15]; 17. 30N-April Halliday[20]; 18. 43N-Robert Kozinski[18]; 19. 15N-Shawn Whitney[5]; 20. 2N-Josh Wiesz[1]; 21. 36N-Jameson Sole[21]; 22. 42N-Isaak Geil[13]
Full results from the night can be viewed at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1985436?fbclid=IwAR2Q74mh7y3N-t0vC4OwoA8e9O56gH0QOANGxR-Q7nnDNamrpeFu_IJdB3U