By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Opening night of the Nor*Cal Posse Shootout brought an abundance of thrills and ultimately ended with 2023 Placerville Speedway track champion Michael Faccinto parking the Friends & Family Racing X1 in victory lane.
San Jose’s Shawn Jones also drove to an entertaining win during the High Sierra West Coast Wingless Shootout portion of the evening on Saturday.
The 30-lap Winged Sprint Car finale turned out to be a wild back and forth affair that kept fans on the edge of their seats. Hanford’s Michael Faccinto jumped into the early lead and held command, as he searched for his first triumph of the season on the red clay.
Lapped traffic made things hectic early on and created some fantastic bullring racing. Roseville’s Colby Copeland and Auburn’s Andy Forsberg hounded the leader and on lap seven, Copeland pounced to grab the point. Forsberg followed along just after to take over second.
The first yellow of the feature came on lap 13 and brought the party to a momentary halt. On the ensuing restart Forsberg blasted around the outside to snag the top-spot, only to have another caution make it all for naught. Once going back green the racing remained hot and heavy throughout the field. With nine-laps remaining, Copeland banged the turn two cushion a bit hard, while Forsberg took advantage to become the new leader.
A couple laps later Copeland would stop with front end damage and shortly after that, Forsberg also slowed with a fuel line coming loose. It was a definite heartbreak for the nine-time champion, who has been in contention to win each of the last four events, only to have something take that chance away.
Faccinto led the remaining six-laps to score his second career Placerville Winged 360 victory over Oakley’s Dylan Bloomfield, Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Shingle Springs Justin Johnson and Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox. Johnson must be commended for putting together his finest night of the season and initial top-five finish since 2016.
The remainder of the top-10 was filled out by 15th starting Tony Gomes, Colby Johnson, Shane Hopkins, Adventures and Tours with Kellie Hard Charger Kaleb Montgomery and Tanner Carrick. A total of 29 cars competed on night one of the Nor*Cal Posse Shootout, with Colby Copeland claiming the fast time award using a lap of 10.807.
Winged Sprint Car A-main results:
1. X1-Michael Faccinto[1]; 2. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[3]; 3. 17W-Shane Golobic[9]; 4. 25-Justin Johnson[6]; 5. 42X-Justyn Cox[7]; 6. 7C-Tony Gomes[15]; 7. 38-Colby Johnson[8]; 8. 21-Shane Hopkins[5]; 9. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[20]; 10. 83T-Tanner Carrick[21]; 11. 9L-Kalib Henry[22]; 12. 9-Dustin Freitas[12]; 13. 02-Ashton Torgerson[23]; 14. 21X-Gauge Garcia[19]; 15. 94-Greg Decaires V[16]; 16. 88-Austin Torgerson[11]; 17. 5H-Josh Wiesz[14]; 18. 25S-Seth Standley[17]; 19. 222-Wyatt VanLare[13]; 20. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 21. 5V-Colby Copeland[2]; 22. 34-Cody Spencer[24]; 23. 121-Caeden Steele[10]; 24. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[18]
B Feature 12 Laps
1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 2. 9L-Kalib Henry[4]; 3. 02-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 4. 34-Cody Spencer[1]; 5. 35-Sean Becker[5]; 6. 115-Nick Parker[8]; 7. 93-Stephen Ingraham[7]; 8. 15-Michael Sellers[9]; 9. (DNS) 54S-Drake Standley
Heat 1 10 Laps
1. 38-Colby Johnson[2]; 2. 42X-Justyn Cox[4]; 3. 5V-Colby Copeland[6]; 4. 21-Shane Hopkins[5]; 5. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[3]; 6. 9L-Kalib Henry[7]; 7. 15-Michael Sellers[8]; 8. 54S-Drake Standley[1]
Heat 2 10 Laps
1. 88-Austin Torgerson[2]; 2. 21X-Gauge Garcia[1]; 3. 25-Justin Johnson[4]; 4. 92-Andy Forsberg[6]; 5. 121-Caeden Steele[5]; 6. 02-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 7. 93-Stephen Ingraham[7]
Heat 3 10 Laps
1. 7C-Tony Gomes[1]; 2. 222-Wyatt VanLare[2]; 3. X1-Michael Faccinto[5]; 4. 94-Greg Decaires V[3]; 5. 5H-Josh Wiesz[4]; 6. 17W-Shane Golobic[6]; 7. 115-Nick Parker[7]
Heat 4 10 Laps
1. 25S-Seth Standley[1]; 2. 9-Dustin Freitas[3]; 3. 34-Cody Spencer[2]; 4. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[6]; 5. 35-Sean Becker[7]; 6. 83T-Tanner Carrick[4]; 7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[5]
Shawn Jones has proven to be one of the very best in California when it comes to Wingless Sprint Car racing. That was on full display last night after he brought home victory in the High Sierra West Coast Wingless Shootout opener.
Jones started from the front row and held command, but the racing behind him was action packed as drivers ran side-by-side throughout the 20-car field.
Fair Oaks’ Jake Morgan and Placerville’s Shane Hopkins battled closely with Finkerbinder Racing teammates Jacob Tuttle and Blake Bower on several occasions. Jones ended up accepting the Ron Stahl checkered flag by 2.412 seconds margin of victory over Morgan, Hopkins, Tutttle and Bower.
The top-10 was rounded out by Mark Hanson, Shawn Arriaga, Brent Steck, Trey Walters and Josh Young. A total of 28 Wingless Sprint Cars were on hand during the night. Arriaga began the evening by touring the quarter mile in 12.315 seconds to earn the fast time award.
Wingless Sprint Car A-main results:
1. 14-Shawn Jones[2]; 2. 47-Jake Morgan[3]; 3. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]; 4. 3F-Jacob Tuttle[5]; 5. 3T-Blake Bower[7]; 6. 79-Mark Hanson[9]; 7. 32-Shawn Arriaga[4]; 8. 2STX-Brent Steck[12]; 9. 1W-Trey Walters[11]; 10. 7EJ-Josh Young[18]; 11. 31P-Eathon Lanfri[8]; 12. 92A-Jeff Scotto[20]; 13. 8-Peter Paulson[16]; 14. 38-Tyler Cato[19]; 15. 33DJ-DJ Johnson[6]; 16. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[14]; 17. 17-Anthony Snow[13]; 18. 23-Rob Lindsey[15]; 19. 17M-Evan Gularte[17]; 20. 99T-Tanner Boul[10]
B Feature 12 Laps
1. 17M-Evan Gularte[1]; 2. 7EJ-Josh Young[2]; 3. 38-Tyler Cato[3]; 4. 92A-Jeff Scotto[8]; 5. 4XL-Jonathan Romano[10]; 6. 36-Bob Newberry[4]; 7. 63W-Hunter Owens[5]; 8. 7-Anton Hernandez[6]; 9. 49-Gary Cisco[9]; 10. (DNS) X-Antonio Aragon; 11. (DNS) 18-Josh Gillis; 12. (DNS) 7S-Steve Bruno
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 3T-Blake Bower[3]; 2. 3F-Jacob Tuttle[5]; 3. 32-Shawn Arriaga[6]; 4. 38-Tyler Cato[1]; 5. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[4]; 6. 63W-Hunter Owens[2]; 7. (DNS) 49-Gary Cisco
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 47-Jake Morgan[6]; 2. 23-Rob Lindsey[2]; 3. 31P-Eathon Lanfri[4]; 4. 8-Peter Paulson[3]; 5. 7-Anton Hernandez[1]; 6. 17-Anthony Snow[5]; 7. (DNS) 4XL-Jonathan Romano
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 14-Shawn Jones[6]; 2. 1W-Trey Walters[3]; 3. 21-Shane Hopkins[5]; 4. 2STX-Brent Steck[4]; 5. 36-Bob Newberry[2]; 6. (DNS) 92A-Jeff Scotto; 7. (DNS) 18-Josh Gillis
Heat 4 8 Laps
1. 33DJ-DJ Johnson[6]; 2. 17M-Evan Gularte[2]; 3. 99T-Tanner Boul[4]; 4. 79-Mark Hanson[5]; 5. 7EJ-Josh Young[3]; 6. X-Antonio Aragon[1]; 7. (DNS) 7S-Steve Bruno