By Andrew Kunas
Placerville, CA … Dominic Gorden held off a hard charging Shane Golobic in the closing laps and earned the biggest win of his young racing career, picking up the big NARC victory at the 34th Annual Dave Bradway Jr Memorial Saturday night at Placerville Speedway.
It was Gorden’s second career NARC 410 sprint car triumph, and with leading all 40-laps of the feature and earning other awards, pocketed $9,400 for his efforts aboard the Silva’s All-Natural Beef-sponsored Fortitude Driver Development No. 10 Rider-powered Maxim.
While he did lead every lap, the win didn’t come easily for Gorden. After starting on the outside of the front row he motored away from the field in the early going, but as heavy traffic became a factor in the latter half of the race, Gorden was soon under fire. Dylan Bloomfield, still hunting for his first 410 sprint car victory, threw a haymaker of a slider in Turns 3 and 4 in his attempt to get that first win, but Gorden turned his car back down the hill and held the top spot. Golobic, who started fifth and ran in the top five throughout the race, soon battled with Bloomfield and eventually got the runner-up position.
Golobic chased down Gorden in the final laps of the race, trying to throw multiple sliders at the end, but could not find a way around Gorden. Gorden’s first NARC triumph was the second prelim night of last year’s Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.
“Skagit (first win) was awesome, but this win is up there. This is just as cool,” a happy Gorden said about winning the prestigious event in victory lane. “Track was crazy tough; we almost couldn’t get it on the curb. My (Team) gave me a great piece (car) to work with and we led wire to wire. I can’t thank everyone who helps us enough.”
While enjoying the long green flag runs early, Gorden was frustrated by frequent yellow flags towards the end but gave praise to the drivers challenging him late. “Great job by Shane and Dylan. They gave me a run for my money, but we got it done.”
Golobic, who has seen so much success at Placerville Speedway but is still looking for his first Bradway win, settled for second aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kister-powered KPC. Despite the disappointment of not winning, Golobic gave praise for the event and wished for the younger racers to further embrace the Bradway race.
After running second throughout the event, Bloomfield had his best NARC finish of the season when he took third aboard the Gary Silva / Bowman & Sons-sponsored Vertullo Racing No. 83v Kistler-powered Maxim.
Reigning NARC champion Justin Sanders, last year’s Bradway winner, earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, coming from 13th to finish fourth aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC.
Kaleb Montgomery ran in the Top 5 throughout and finished fifth in the Luxon Real Estate-sponsored Montgomery Motorsports No. 3 Speedway-powered Maxim. Tanner Carrick, Tyler Thompson, pole-sitter Chance Grasty, Bud Kaeding and Landon Brooks rounded out the Top 10.
Caeden Steele won the 12-lap Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier, taking Nick Parker, D.J. Netto and D.J. Freitas with him to the Bradway main event.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Bloomfield, Golobic, Brooks, and Carrick, each earning $300 bonuses coming from sponsors as part of the special event.
Montgomery paced the 32-car field in Automotive Racing Products qualifying with a time of 10.635 seconds around the ¼-mile, high-banked clay oval. That also earned him the annual Carwash Mike Avilla Fast Time Award and the $1,000 cash bonus that was raised for it.
Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (40 laps): 1. 10 Dominic Gorden (2), 2. 17w Shane Golobic (5), 3. 83v Dylan Bloomfield (7), 4. 2x Justin Sanders (13), 5. 3 Kaleb Montgomery (3), 6. 83t Tanner Carrick (6), 7. 35km Tyler Thompson (15), 8. X1 Chance Grasty (1), 9. 29 Bud Kaeding (17), 10. 21L Landon Brooks (8), 11. 2k Gauge Garcia (19), 12. 121 Caeden Steele (21), 13. 7p Jake Andreotti (12), 14. 21 Tanner Holmes (20), 15. 42x Justyn Cox (9), 16. 88n D.J. Netto (23), 17. 14 Mariah Ede (18), 18. 7 Austin Torgerson (14), 19. 15p Nick Parker (22), 20. 92 Andy Forsberg (16), 21. 41 Dominic Scelzi (11), 22. 7b Sean Becker (10), 23. 94th Braden Chiaramonte (4), 24. 9 D.J. Freitas (24).
Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 2x Justin Sanders, 13th to 4th (+9)
METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: Dominic Gorden 1-40
ARP Automotive Racing Products Fast Qualifier (32 cars): 3 Kaleb Montgomery, 10.635 seconds
Brown & Miller Racing Solutions First Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 2. 42z Justyn Cox, 3. 7p Jake Andreotti, 4. 3 Kaleb Montgomery, 5. 29 Bud Kaeding, 6. 121 Caeden Steele, 7. 26 Billy Aton, 8. 85 A.J. Alderman.
Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash Second Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 17w Shane Golobic, 2. 7b Sean Becker, 3. 2x Justin Sanders, 4. 10 Dominic Gorden, 5. 14 Mariah Ede, 6. 15p Nick Parker, 7. 88n D.J. Netto, 8. 17 Joey Ancona.
WEDG High Performance Karts Third Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 21L Landon Brooks, 2. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 3. X1 Chance Grasty, 4. 92 Andy Forsberg, 5. 2k Gauge Garcia, 6. 15 Michael Sellers, 7. 21z Josh Wiesz, 8. 12j John Clark.
Winters Performance Fourth Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 83t Tanner Carrick, 2. 94th Braden Chiaramonte, 3. 7 Austin Torgerson, 4. 35km Tyler Thompson, 5. 21 Tanner Holmes, 6. 9 D.J. Freitas, 7. 02 Tyler Walker, 8. 3s Cole Schroeder.
Beacon Wealth Strategies – Raymond James Trophy Dash (6 laps): 1. X1 Chance Grasty, 2. 10 Dominic Gorden, 3. 3 Kaleb Montgomery, 4. 94th Braden Chiaramonte, 5. 17w Shane Golobic, 6. 83t Tanner Carrick, 7. 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 8. 21L Landon Brooks.
Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier (12 laps): 1. 121 Caeden Steele, 2. 15p Nick Parker, 3. 88n D.J. Netto, 4. 9 D.J. Freitas, 5. 15 Michael Sellers, 6. 26 Billy Aton, 7. 3s Cole Schroeder, 8. 02 Tyler Walker, 9. 21x Josh Weisz, 10. 12j John Clark, 11. 85 A.J. Alderman, 12. 17 Joey Ancona.