By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA…Auburn’s Andy Forsberg has always been fond of competing at the sticky and hooked up Petaluma Speedway. On Saturday night the SCCT point leader put together a dominating performance in the feature, racking up $5,500 by way of winning the 13th annual Adobe Cup.
The now 27-time Sprint Car champion piloted the Pacific Highway Rentals/ Pit Stop USA No. 92 to his 5th career Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory, placing him into a tie with Colby Copeland for fourth all-time.
“That track was certainly right up my alley in the main event,” Forsberg said on the front stretch. “I know that some of the newer generation of drivers don’t particularly enjoy a track like that, but it brought back a lot of memories of the old days. I took an extra lap at the end just to soak it all in. My guys gave me an amazing car there, so I really have to thank them and all the fans for coming out to support the Adobe Cup.”
Ocean Speedway champion Caleb Debem jumped out front at the waving of the green flag in the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour finale. Debem set the pace up front until Forsberg blasted by for the lead on lap four, which he would never relinquish.
Following that Forsberg had his way with things and had to survive an excessive amount of restarts, but each time hit his marks to perfection. The recently crowned Placerville Speedway champ rocketed away to bring home the $5,000 grand prize, along with the $500 Shop Kyle Larson Bonus as a full-time car winning the feature.
Dunnigan youngster Luke Hayes put together the finest night of his Sprint Car Challenge Tour career, winning the High Sierra Dash and scoring a runner up finish in the main event. Roseville’s Sean Becker did a fantastic job in the 35-lapper to carve his way from 16th to third, rounding out the podium. It marked his fourth top-five effort of the year with SCCT.
Jodie Robinson looked impressive for the second week in a row and brought home a fourth-place result at the checkered flag. The Roseville driver had battled her way to second at one point on a restart, only to have a slowdown negate the beautiful move.
Placerville’s Shane Hopkins continued his strong 2024 campaign by earning the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award with an exquisite run from 19th to fifth. The 30-year-old set fast time to begin the night, however, a seventh-place finish in his heat race set him farther back to start the main.
Completing the top-10 in the Adobe Cup finale were John Clark, Kurt Nelson, Dustin Freitas, Bradley Terrell and Brad Bumgarner.
Nelson was another driver who had a solid night, but experienced tough luck in the main event. The past Ocean titlist had raced his way into second on lap 23, only to have a lapped car spin in front of him with three circuits remaining. Nelson had nowhere to go and brought out a caution but was able to salvage a seventh-place effort at the end.
The Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour heads next for Hanford’s Kings Speedway on Friday October 4th. The event marks the 39th running of the Cotton Classic.
Sprint Car Challenge Tour
Petaluma Speedway
Petaluma, California
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Qualifying
1. 21-Shane Hopkins, 13.503[21]
2. 17J-Josh Young, 13.985[12]
3. 9L-Luke Hayes, 14.021[19]
4. 7H-Jake Haulot, 14.047[18]
5. 3D-Caleb Debem, 14.151[3]
6. 12J-John Clark, 14.158[2]
7. 4-Cody Gray, 14.197[4]
8. 9-Dustin Freitas, 14.273[10]
9. 92-Andy Forsberg, 14.322[16]
10. 72W-Kurt Nelson, 14.368[17]
11. 43-Bradley Terrell, 14.455[5]
12. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte, 14.497[11]
13. 7DJ-Dryver Dothage, 14.512[1]
14. 25S-Seth Standley, 14.541[14]
15. 61-Travis Labat, 14.552[20]
16. 35-Sean Becker, 14.565[8]
17. 14W-Jodie Robinson, 14.614[6]
18. 38-Tyler Cato, 14.771[22]
19. 4X-Burt Foland Jr, 15.003[9]
20. 11A-Amber Fields, 15.102[13]
21. 75-Bill Smith, 15.228[7]
DNS: 88-Brad Bumgarner
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 7H-Jake Haulot[1]
2. 72W-Kurt Nelson[3]
3. 4-Cody Gray[2]
4. 88-Brad Bumgarner[8]
5. 7DJ-Dryver Dothage[5]
6. 35-Sean Becker[6]
7. 21-Shane Hopkins[4]
8. 4X-Burt Foland Jr[7]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 3D-Caleb Debem[1]
2. 17J-Josh Young[4]
3. 43-Bradley Terrell[3]
4. 14W-Jodie Robinson[6]
5. 9-Dustin Freitas[2]
6. 25S-Seth Standley[5]
7. 11A-Amber Fields[7]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]
2. 12J-John Clark[1]
3. 9L-Luke Hayes[4]
4. 61-Travis Labat[5]
5. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[3]
6. 75-Bill Smith[7]
7. 38-Tyler Cato[6]
Dash (6 Laps)
1. 9L-Luke Hayes[1]
2. 3D-Caleb Debem[3]
3. 92-Andy Forsberg[6]
4. 4-Cody Gray[2]
5. 17J-Josh Young[5]
6. 7H-Jake Haulot[4]
A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 92-Andy Forsberg[3]
2. 9L-Luke Hayes[1]
3. 35-Sean Becker[16]
4. 14W-Jodie Robinson[11]
5. 21-Shane Hopkins[19]
6. 12J-John Clark[8]
7. 72W-Kurt Nelson[7]
8. 9-Dustin Freitas[14]
9. 43-Bradley Terrell[9]
10. 88-Brad Bumgarner[10]
11. 61-Travis Labat[12]
12. 4-Cody Gray[4]
13. 38-Tyler Cato[21]
14. 75-Bill Smith[18]
15. 25S-Seth Standley[17]
16. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[15]
17. 11A-Amber Fields[20]
18. 3D-Caleb Debem[2]
19. 7H-Jake Haulot[6]
20. 7DJ-Dryver Dothage[13]
21. 17J-Josh Young[5]
22. 4X-Burt Foland Jr[22]