By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Justin Sanders started from the pole and led flag-to-flag for his 26th career Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph at Placerville Speedway during the Nor*Cal Posse Shootout opener.
Sharing victory lane on Friday at the Nor*Cal Posse Shootout/ Legends Weekend presented by Berco Redwood was Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, who earned a thrilling late race win with the Ultimate Sprint Car Series.
With the victory on Friday evening, Sanders matched Sean Becker for fourth place on the all-time Winged 360 Sprint Car win list at the track. The driver of the Dale Miller Septic/ Thompson’s Dealerships No. 4sa was poised as always in lapped traffic, while keeping a very fast Shane Golobic at bay throughout the feature.
Sanders earned the pole of the Dash by way of winning his heat race out of fourth starting with a bold move on the initial start. He went on to win the six-lap contest, putting him on the pole in the feature. When the green flag waved in the 30-lap main event, he immediately jumped out front ahead of Golobic.
The duo showed that they were the drivers to beat on this night and never got too far away from each other. Golobic kept Sanders within sight, but a couple of timely slow downs just as he was getting ready to pounce hampered his efforts.
A trio of red flags along with several cautions plagued the flow of the race, but in between it, several movers and shakers were seen. As the race wound down in lapped traffic, Golobic caught Sanders, and it looked like we would be in for a classic battle towards the checkered.
Just as that happened, however, a red flag period occurred with only four circuits remaining. The incident involved Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox, who had put on an exceptional charge from 14th to fifth up until that point.
Sanders then hit a perfect restart and led the final four laps to pick up the win over Golobic, Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, Sacramento’s Austin Wood and Auburn’s Andy Forsberg.
Completing the top 10 were Colby Copeland, Joel Myers Jr., Tyler Thompson, Chance Grasty and Hard Charger Shane Hopkins, who started 19th after fighting through issues in hot laps and qualifying.
A strong field of 39 Winged Sprint Cars competed on opening night. Tony Gomes set the standard in qualifying with a lap of 10.726 around the quarter mile.
The Ultimate Sprint Car Series made an epic Placerville Speedway debut on Friday night. Outstanding racing was seen right from the drop of the green flag and lasted all the way to an overtime- green, white, checkered conclusion.
Winged Sprint Car regular Tanner Carrick hopped out to the early lead and set a torrid pace up front. The Lincoln driver was very impressive as he looked for his second career USCS victory.
The action behind him was hot and heavy all throughout the field. Braden Chiaramonte took over second early on and methodically closed the gap between himself and the leader.
With traffic coming into play, Chiaramonte closed quickly off turn two and snagged the top spot with 20 laps complete. After that he pulled away, eventually accepting the white flag. He looked to be headed for victory, only to have a stalled car bring out a yellow instead of the checkered.
Always the Non-Winged ace, Ryan Bernal started from ninth and had battled back and forth with several drivers. He moved into third just past the halfway point, before utilizing the late caution to make his move.
The overtime restart saw Bernal rocket by Carrick for second coming to the white flag and then shoot under Chiaramonte down the back stretch. The exhilarating finish saw Bernal come out on top over Chiaramonte, Carrick, Roseville’s Josh Young and Illinois traveler Carson Short.
Finishing sixth through 10th were Ryan Timmons, 16th starter Nathan Schank, 19th starting Jon DeWees, 23rd starter Dominic Scelzi and Austin Wood. A total of 23 cars competed on opening night with the Ultimate Sprint Car Series. Carson Short began the night by setting a brand new Non-Winged track record at Placerville Speedway with a lap of 11.616.
The Nor*Cal Posse presented by Berco Redwood finishes up tonight with an $8,000 to win finale for the Winged Sprint Cars, along with the Ultimate Sprint Car Series.
Results
Placerville Speedway
Nor*Cal Posse Shootout presented by Berco Redwood Night One
May 2, 2025
Winged Sprint Cars:
A Main 30 Laps
1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[2]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[5]; 4. 2A-Austin Wood[10]; 5. 92-Andy Forsberg[3]; 6. 5V-Colby Copeland[11]; 7. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[13]; 8. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[7]; 9. X1-Chance Grasty[15]; 10. 21-Shane Hopkins[19]; 11. 41-Dominic Scelzi[20]; 12. 14W-Jodie Robinson[9]; 13. 7P-Jake Andreotti[16]; 14. 83T-Tanner Carrick[21]; 15. 25-Seth Standley[8]; 16. 2XM-Max Mittry[6]; 17. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[12]; 18. 7-Carson Short[22]; 19. 42X-Justyn Cox[14]; 20. 88B-Brad Bumgarner[23]; 21. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[18]; 22. 7C-Tony Gomes[4]; 23. 10-Dominic Gorden[17]; 24. 93-Stephen Ingraham[24]
B Feature 12 Laps
1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 2. 7-Carson Short[4]; 3. 88B-Brad Bumgarner[3]; 4. 93-Stephen Ingraham[5]; 5. 88-Austin Torgerson[12]; 6. 61-Travis Labat[10]; 7. 3-Cole Schroeder[7]; 8. 31-Kyle Beilman[13]; 9. 9-Dustin Freitas[14]; 10. 12J-John Clark[11]; 11. 94-Greg Decaires V[6]; 12. 17-Anthony Snow[1]; 13. 7X-Trey Walters[9]; 14. 9L-Luke Hayes[8]
C Feature 8 Laps
1. 31-Kyle Beilman[4]; 2. 9-Dustin Freitas[6]; 3. 85-AJ Alderman[7]; 4. 56-Taylor Hall[3]; 5. 21C-Cody Meyer[5]; 6. 28-Gauge Garcia[2]; 7. 9X-Adrianna DeMartini[1]
Dash 1 6 Laps
1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[2]; 3. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 4. 7C-Tony Gomes[6]; 5. 73-Ryan Bernal[5]; 6. 2XM-Max Mittry[7]; 7. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[3]; 8. 25-Seth Standley[8]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[1]; 2. 14W-Jodie Robinson[2]; 3. 7C-Tony Gomes[4]; 4. X1-Chance Grasty[3]; 5. 10-Dominic Gorden[5]; 6. 88B-Brad Bumgarner[7]; 7. 3-Cole Schroeder[6]; 8. 12J-John Clark[9]; 9. 9X-Adrianna DeMartini[8]; 10. 21-Shane Hopkins; 11. 21C-Cody Meyer[10]
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 2. 5V-Colby Copeland[3]; 3. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[2]; 4. 25-Seth Standley[4]; 5. 21-Shane Hopkins[10]; 6. 93-Stephen Ingraham[7]; 7. 7X-Trey Walters[6]; 8. 17-Anthony Snow[5]; 9. 56-Taylor Hall[8]; 10. 85-AJ Alderman[9]
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 2XM-Max Mittry[1]; 2. 2A-Austin Wood[2]; 3. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 4. 42X-Justyn Cox[5]; 5. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[6]; 6. 7-Carson Short[7]; 7. 9L-Luke Hayes[3]; 8. 61-Travis Labat[9]; 9. 28-Gauge Garcia[8]; 10. 9-Dustin Freitas[10]
Heat 4 8 Laps
1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[4]; 2. 73-Ryan Bernal[2]; 3. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[5]; 4. 7P-Jake Andreotti[3]; 5. 41-Dominic Scelzi[7]; 6. 94-Greg Decaires V[6]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick[1]; 8. 88-Austin Torgerson[9]; 9. 31-Kyle Beilman[8]
Qualifying A
1. 7C-Tony Gomes, 00:10.726[9]; 2. 25-Seth Standley, 00:10.840[8]; 3. 35KM-Tyler Thompson, 00:10.841[12]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic, 00:10.866[3]; 5. 14W-Jodie Robinson, 00:10.878[13]; 6. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr, 00:10.926[1]; 7. X1-Chance Grasty, 00:10.936[17]; 8. 5V-Colby Copeland, 00:10.950[6]; 9. 10-Dominic Gorden, 00:10.981[15]; 10. 17-Anthony Snow, 00:11.162[16]; 11. 3-Cole Schroeder, 00:11.174[2]; 12. 7X-Trey Walters, 00:11.182[10]; 13. 88B-Brad Bumgarner, 00:11.200[18]; 14. 93-Stephen Ingraham, 00:11.275[20]; 15. 9X-Adrianna DeMartini, 00:11.400[4]; 16. 56-Taylor Hall, 00:11.428[14]; 17. 12J-John Clark, 00:11.454[19]; 18. 85-AJ Alderman, 00:11.617[11]; 19. 21C-Cody Meyer, 00:11.692[7]; 20. 21-Shane Hopkins, 00:11.692[5]
Qualifying B
1. 92-Andy Forsberg, 00:10.734[5]; 2. 4SA-Justin Sanders, 00:10.961[18]; 3. 2XM-Max Mittry, 00:10.963[11]; 4. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 00:10.977[15]; 5. 2A-Austin Wood, 00:10.983[8]; 6. 73-Ryan Bernal, 00:10.995[12]; 7. 9L-Luke Hayes, 00:11.002[6]; 8. 7P-Jake Andreotti, 00:11.015[10]; 9. 42X-Justyn Cox, 00:11.053[4]; 10. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte, 00:11.085[7]; 11. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield, 00:11.088[3]; 12. 94-Greg Decaires V, 00:11.130[13]; 13. 7-Carson Short, 00:11.165[16]; 14. 41-Dominic Scelzi, 00:11.208[19]; 15. 28-Gauge Garcia, 00:11.219[9]; 16. 31-Kyle Beilman, 00:11.223[2]; 17. 61-Travis Labat, 00:11.227[17]; 18. 88-Austin Torgerson, 00:11.372[14]; 19. 9-Dustin Freitas, 00:11.555[1]
Ultimate Sprint Car Series:
A Feature 30 Laps
1. 17-Ryan Bernal[9]; 2. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[4]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick[1]; 4. 17J-Josh Young[3]; 5. 7-Carson Short[5]; 6. 29T-Ryan Timmons[10]; 7. 1-Nathan Schank[16]; 8. 63D-Jon DeWees[19]; 9. 72T-Dominic Scelzi[23]; 10. 21-Austin Wood[15]; 11. 15-Michael Sellers[12]; 12. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[21]; 13. 73-Cole Wakim[2]; 14. 7X-Trey Walters[18]; 15. 87P-Jacob Tuttle[7]; 16. 51-Rob Lindsey[13]; 17. 18-Josh Gillis[20]; 18. 79-Mark Hanson[6]; 19. 8M-Jake Andreotti[8]; 20. 12-Adam Christian[14]; 21. 2STX-Brent Steck[11]; 22. 29C-Camie Bell[17]; 23. 28K-Kaden Ramos[22]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 17-Ryan Bernal[3]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]; 3. 73-Cole Wakim[2]; 4. 2STX-Brent Steck[6]; 5. 51-Rob Lindsey[1]; 6. 1-Nathan Schank[4]; 7. 63D-Jon DeWees[7]; 8. (DNS) 72T-Dominic Scelzi
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 79-Mark Hanson[3]; 2. 7-Carson Short[5]; 3. 87P-Jacob Tuttle[2]; 4. 15-Michael Sellers[4]; 5. 12-Adam Christian[6]; 6. 29C-Camie Bell[8]; 7. 18-Josh Gillis[1]; 8. 28K-Kaden Ramos[7]
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[2]; 2. 8M-Jake Andreotti[1]; 3. 29T-Ryan Timmons[4]; 4. 17J-Josh Young[5]; 5. 21-Austin Wood[3]; 6. 7X-Trey Walters[7]; 7. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[6]
Qualifying 1
1. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 00:11.670[8]; 2. 73-Cole Wakim, 00:11.958[6]; 3. 17-Ryan Bernal, 00:11.980[3]; 4. 1-Nathan Schank, 00:12.094[2]; 5. 51-Rob Lindsey, 00:12.114[1]; 6. 2STX-Brent Steck, 00:12.382[7]; 7. 63D-Jon DeWees, 00:12.556[5]; 8. 72T-Dominic Scelzi, 00:12.556[4]
Qualifying 2
1. 7-Carson Short, 00:11.616[6]; 2. 87P-Jacob Tuttle, 00:11.677[4]; 3. 79-Mark Hanson, 00:11.767[3]; 4. 15-Michael Sellers, 00:12.034[1]; 5. 18-Josh Gillis, 00:12.314[7]; 6. 12-Adam Christian, 00:12.408[2]; 7. 28K-Kaden Ramos, 00:12.618[5]; 8. 29C-Camie Bell, 00:13.158[8]
Qualifying 3
1. 17J-Josh Young, 00:11.713[7]; 2. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte, 00:11.722[4]; 3. 21-Austin Wood, 00:11.742[6]; 4. 29T-Ryan Timmons, 00:11.821[1]; 5. 8M-Jake Andreotti, 00:11.826[2]; 6. 33-Heath Holdsclaw, 00:11.858[5]; 7. 7X-Trey Walters, 00:12.241[3]