By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Modesto’s Tony Gomes took the lead on lap two and held off a hard charging Andy Forsberg to claim his fifth career Placerville Speedway Winged Sprint Car victory on Saturday.
Fellow winners on Kings Meats Burger Night included Jacob Tuttle with the Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Tour, Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Mike Miller with the Mountain Democrat Mini Trucks. All four winners went home with a lucrative and loaded meat box thanks to presenting sponsor Kings Meats.
At the waving of the green flag in the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car finale it was a battle between Shane Hopkins and Tony Gomes up front. Hopkins led the initial lap, before Gomes took over as they completed lap two.
The first 13 circuits clicked off caution free in fast and furious fashion, prior to a yellow for Chris Masters. On the restart nine-time track champion Andy Forsberg carved his way into the runner up spot and gave chase after the leader. On the initial green flag run Gomes worked lapped traffic to perfection and did so once again during the final half.
A couple of close moments in traffic caused Gomes to have catlike reflexes, however. As the race wound down Forsberg cut into the lead and when the white flag waved, he was right there on the tail tank of the C&M Motorsports No. 7c. A hair raising moment then occurred for the leaders heading down the backstretch, as a lapped car shot across the groove directly in front of the top duo.
Somehow, both Gomes and Forsberg were able to sneak by without worry, much to the amazement of the crowd on hand. Gomes crossed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag for his first win of the season over Forsberg, Hopkins, Chance Grasty and hard charger Jimmy Trulli.
Rounding out the top-10 were Corbin Rueschenberg, Austin Wood, Bubba Decaires, Braden Chiaramonte and Stephen Ingraham. Andy Forsberg now finds himself up front in the standings by one slip point over Shane Hopkins and just five markers ahead of Bubba Decaires.
The Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Cars made their initial appearance of the season on the red clay Saturday. In the end it was Oakley’s Jacob Tuttle who brought home the victory after leading all 20-laps in the feature.
The main event was plagued with several slow downs that didn’t allow drivers to get into much of a constant flow. High Sierra Wingless winner last month Josh Young tried to keep pace with the leader and brought home a second-place finish, ahead of DJ Johnson, Shawn Arriaga and Evan Gularte in the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Trey Walters, Bob Newberry, Mark Hanson, Cody Meyer and Tyler Cato. Another healthy field of 29 Wingless Sprint Cars competed with the Hunt Tour on Saturday.
The Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks put on one of the best races of the evening in their 20-lap finale. Several cars battled up front during the contest and kept fans on the edge of their seats for much of it. Tyler Lightfoot jumped out front and set the pace but had numerous drivers breathing down his neck.
Five-time Placerville Speedway champion and current point leader Nick Baldwin then charged his way into the lead on lap 14 and never looked back. The Oakley driver crossed the stripe for his 29th career triumph at the track. Lightfoot scored another consistent finish in second, with Kevin Jinkerson, Tommy Sturgeon and Arnita Bradshaw completing the top-five.
The 20-lap Mountain Democrat Mini Truck main event featured three different leaders, all with the last name Miller. The opening lap was led by Paige Miller, before Paizlee Miller was able to slip by for the top-spot on lap two.
Paizlee looked to have the speed up front to bring home the win however, had an issue during a lap 13 restart, which saw Mike Miller shoot from third to first. At the checkered it was Mike Miller followed by Luke Costa, Paige Miller, Paizlee Miller and Tyler Goggin.
Placerville Speedway returns to action this coming Saturday July 20th with the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour and Dwarf Cars. The evening of racing will finish off SCCT Western Sprint Speedweek, which begins Monday in Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Results
Placerville Speedway
Burger Night presented by Kings Meats
July 13, 2024
Winged Sprint Cars:
1. 7C-Tony Gomes[2]; 2. 92-Andy Forsberg[5]; 3. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]; 4. 1-Chance Grasty[6]; 5. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[9]; 6. 94R-Corbin Rueschenberg[4]; 7. 2A-Austin Wood[3]; 8. 94-Greg Decaires V[12]; 9. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[10]; 10. 93-Stephen Ingraham[13]; 11. 9L-Luke Hayes[7]; 12. 8JR-Brian McGahan Jr[8]; 13. 1F-DJ Freitas[11]; 14. 15-Michael Sellers[16]; 15. 98-Chris Masters[19]; 16. 34-Dakota Albright[18]; 17. 2-Cody Spencer[17]; 18. 24S-Izaak Sharp[14]; 19. 85-AJ Alderman[20]; 20. 5-Kenny Wanderstadt[15]
Hunt Wingless Sprints:
1. 3F-Jacob Tuttle[2]; 2. 7EJ-Josh Young[4]; 3. 33DJ-DJ Johnson[6]; 4. 32-Shawn Arriaga[3]; 5. 17M-Evan Gularte[9]; 6. 1W-Trey Walters[10]; 7. X-Bob Newberry[11]; 8. 79-Mark Hanson[13]; 9. 21-Cody Meyer[20]; 10. 38-Tyler Cato[15]; 11. 31P-Eathon Lanfri[16]; 12. 47-Brent Steck[17]; 13. 95-Joshua Wooten[18]; 14. 9-Paul Vandenberg[14]; 15. 8-Peter Paulson[12]; 16. 17T-Braden Tenora[19]; 17. 23-Rob Lindsey[1]; 18. 24N-Nick Larson[8]; 19. 63-Dylan Newberry[5]; 20. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[7]
Pure Stocks:
1. 17-Nick Baldwin[3]; 2. 23-Tyler Lightfoot[1]; 3. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[6]; 4. 16-Tommy Sturgeon[4]; 5. 27B-Arnita Bradshaw[2]; 6. 91-Andrew Brulez[7]; 7. 27-William Upton[9]; 8. 43-Dan Jinkerson[5]; 9. X86-David Silvia[10]; 10. (DNS) 12J-Jason Ramos
Mini Trucks:
1. 16-Mike Miller[5]; 2. 7-Luke Costa[6]; 3. 21-Paige Miller[1]; 4. 26-Paizlee Miller[4]; 5. 07-Tyler Goggin[10]; 6. 03-Bobby Clark[2]; 7. 65X-Brian Tremblay[8]; 8. 24K-Michael Barreno[7]; 9. 70-Austin Struthers[3]; 10. 28-Howard Miller[9]