By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Landon Brooks made the move by Jake Andreotti with 10 laps left and proceeded to lead the remaining distance, grabbing his first career Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory on opening night in Placerville.
Brooks topped a 41-car field to claim his third career Placerville Speedway triumph after earning his first two at the Forni-Humphreys Classic, including last September in his debut for Hamilton Racing with Tiner-Hirst Enterprise.
At the waving of the green flag in the Shop Kyle Larson feature it was Castro Valley’s Jake Andreotti who blasted into the lead following his win in the High Sierra Industries Dash.
Andreotti had his way with things up front and kept the field at bay until a red flag period for Sean Becker, who got upside down big in turn one. The Shark luckily emerged okay but was done for the night.
When getting back underway things clicked off until another caution right at the halfway point in the 30-lap contest. At this point it became a classic battle between Andreotti and Landon Brooks as the duo exchanged the top spot on, prior to a yellow flag period on lap 19.
On the restart, Brooks charged under Andreotti to claim the lead, only to have a red flag occur shortly after and negate the pass. Brooks was not deterred however and executed the same move shortly after scooping up the top spot.
Once up front he pulled away from the field until Andreotti cut the gap down over the final few circuits. The driver of the Buchanon Auto Electric No. 7P gave it one final stab on the final corners but Brooks his marks and crossed under the Ed Entz checkered flag for victory.
Andreotti came home in second with 14-year-old Landon Henry making a lap 28 pass to record his first career Sprint Car Challenge Tour podium finish. Roseville’s Jodie Robinson had a strong run to finish in fourth, with “Ville Challenge” winner Dominic Gorden rounding out the top five.
Completing the top five in the main event were Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox, who set the Sierra Foothills Wine Services Fast Time to begin the night, Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Justin Sanders, Placerville’s Shane Hopkins, Marysville’s Dawson Hammes and Fremont’s Shane Golobic.
Gorden brought home $1,250 for his highest average finish between Watsonville Friday and Placerville Saturday. Jett Barnes claimed $600 for the second-best average and Landon Henry accumulated $300 for being the third best average finisher.
The Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour returns to action at Merced Speedway on Saturday April 25th.
Results
Sprint Car Challenge Tour Opener
Placerville Speedway
Thrill on the Hill
April 4, 2026
A Main 30 Laps
1. 21L-Landon Brooks[5]; 2. 7P-Jake Andreotti[1]; 3. 93-Landon Henry[3]; 4. 14W-Jodie Robinson[2]; 5. 10-Dominic Gorden[12]; 6. 42X-Justyn Cox[8]; 7. 2X-Justin Sanders[19]; 8. 21-Shane Hopkins[7]; 9. 55D-Dawson Hammes[14]; 10. 17W-Shane Golobic[15]; 11. 14-Jett Barnes[11]; 12. 83T-Tanner Carrick[18]; 13. 9L-Luke Hayes[9]; 14. 121-Caeden Steele[24]; 15. 2A-Austin Wood[10]; 16. 75-Tony Gomes[16]; 17. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]; 18. 7C-Colby Copeland[6]; 19. 2XM-Max Mittry[20]; 20. X1-Chance Grasty[21]; 21. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[17]; 22. 25-Seth Standley[13]; 23. 35-Sean Becker[22]; 24. 29-Cole Croft[23]
B Feature 12 Laps
1. X1-Chance Grasty[2]; 2. 35-Sean Becker[6]; 3. 29-Cole Croft[4]; 4. 121-Caeden Steele[5]; 5. 17-Jesse Schlotfeldt[9]; 6. 15X-Nick Parker[3]; 7. 56C-Carson Hammes[13]; 8. 51-Jake Morgan[12]; 9. 61-Travis Labat[8]; 10. 28K-Bryant Bell[10]; 11. 92-Andy Forsberg[1]; 12. 24K-Koa Crane[11]; 13. 1W-Trey Walters[7]; 14. 56-Taylor Hall[14]
C Feature 10 Laps
1. 56C-Carson Hammes[2]; 2. 56-Taylor Hall[4]; 3. 24S-Izaak Sharp[1]; 4. 7H-Jake Haulot[7]; 5. 7CS-Corbin Seay[5]; 6. 85-AJ Alderman[3]; 7. 8-Justin Henry[8]; 8. 15-Michael Sellers[6]
Dash 8 Laps
1. 7P-Jake Andreotti[1]; 2. 14W-Jodie Robinson[2]; 3. 93-Landon Henry[4]; 4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[3]; 5. 21L-Landon Brooks[6]; 6. 7C-Colby Copeland[5]; 7. 21-Shane Hopkins[8]; 8. 42X-Justyn Cox[7]
Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 14W-Jodie Robinson[2]; 2. 7P-Jake Andreotti[3]; 3. 14-Jett Barnes[1]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]; 5. 2X-Justin Sanders[6]; 6. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 7. 121-Caeden Steele[7]; 8. 17-Jesse Schlotfeldt[9]; 9. 24S-Izaak Sharp[8]; 10. 7CS-Corbin Seay[11]; 11. (DNS) 8-Justin Henry
Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 7C-Colby Copeland[1]; 2. 9L-Luke Hayes[2]; 3. 25-Seth Standley[3]; 4. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[5]; 5. 93-Landon Henry[4]; 6. 15X-Nick Parker[7]; 7. 1W-Trey Walters[10]; 8. 24K-Koa Crane[8]; 9. 85-AJ Alderman[9]; 10. 7H-Jake Haulot[6]
Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[2]; 2. 2A-Austin Wood[1]; 3. 42X-Justyn Cox[4]; 4. 55D-Dawson Hammes[3]; 5. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]; 6. 29-Cole Croft[8]; 7. 61-Travis Labat[7]; 8. 15-Michael Sellers; 9. 28K-Bryant Bell[10]; 10. 56C-Carson Hammes[9]
Heat 4 8 Laps
1. 21L-Landon Brooks[1]; 2. 21-Shane Hopkins[3]; 3. 10-Dominic Gorden[5]; 4. 75-Tony Gomes[6]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry[8]; 6. 35-Sean Becker[7]; 7. X1-Chance Grasty[4]; 8. 51-Jake Morgan[2]; 9. 56-Taylor Hall[9]; 10. (DNS) 15-Michael Sellers
Qualifying A
1. 92-Andy Forsberg, 10.383[17]; 2. 93-Landon Henry, 10.387[14]; 3. 14-Jett Barnes, 10.401[8]; 4. 7C-Colby Copeland, 10.422[9]; 5. 14W-Jodie Robinson, 10.448[13]; 6. 9L-Luke Hayes, 10.450[1]; 7. 7P-Jake Andreotti, 10.460[16]; 8. 25-Seth Standley, 10.474[15]; 9. 17W-Shane Golobic, 10.478[11]; 10. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg, 10.506[10]; 11. 2X-Justin Sanders, 10.548[3]; 12. 7H-Jake Haulot, 10.558[12]; 13. 121-Caeden Steele, 10.588[18]; 14. 15X-Nick Parker, 10.656[19]; 15. 24S-Izaak Sharp, 10.828[4]; 16. 24K-Koa Crane, 10.835[5]; 17. 17-Jesse Schlotfeldt, 10.890[7]; 18. 85-AJ Alderman, 11.414[2]; 19. 8-Justin Henry, 11.529[20]; 20. 1W-Trey Walters, 11.982[21]; 21. 7CS-Corbin Seay, 12.801[6]
Qualifying B
1. 42X-Justyn Cox, 10.363[10]; 2. X1-Chance Grasty, 10.523[1]; 3. 2A-Austin Wood, 10.538[8]; 4. 21L-Landon Brooks, 10.578[18]; 5. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 10.595[12]; 6. 51-Jake Morgan, 10.696[5]; 7. 55D-Dawson Hammes, 10.725[4]; 8. 21-Shane Hopkins, 10.727[7]; 9. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 10.748[17]; 10. 10-Dominic Gorden, 10.774[19]; 11. 12J-John Clark, 10.790[3]; 12. 75-Tony Gomes, 10.794[15]; 13. 61-Travis Labat, 10.816[20]; 14. 35-Sean Becker, 10.828[2]; 15. 29-Cole Croft, 10.837[6]; 16. 2XM-Max Mittry, 10.898[9]; 17. 56C-Carson Hammes, 10.909[16]; 18. 56-Taylor Hall, 10.929[11]; 19. 28K-Bryant Bell, 11.007[13]; 20. 15-Michael Sellers, 11.007[14]