PLACERVILLE, CA (4-10-10) - She has been trying for the last ten years and Saturday night Placerville's Danielle Clauson drove her way to a dream come true at Placerville Speedway. The 28-year-old lady racer drove to her first career victory in the opening night of the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock Racing Season.

"This is a dream come true for me, I have been trying for so long to win one of these," said Clauson. "There are so many people that have helped me over the years and especially preparing for this season, I have to thank all of them and my whole family for their support."

Saturday's win was not a cake walk for Clauson. The opening night field saw an impressive 19 cars in competition, In preliminary heat race action she led much of the event until a steering complication set her back to fourth place and put the crew to work in the pit area to prepare for the feature event.

"The car was doing great in the heat race," said Clauson, who does much of her own maintenance on the car during the week with the help of friends and family. "Then I couldn't get to steer right but I knew the car was fast then."

Returning to the track for the feature event, Clauson started deep in the field in the tenth position. With the waving of the green flag the initial lead was picked up by pole sitter Jared Vilt of Cameron Park as he was chased by Jason Englund of Citrus Heights and veteran driver Dennis Armstrong of El Dorado.

With ten laps complete, Armstrong and Englund were racing close for second place and Clauson had advanced into the fifth position. Englund eventually lost a rear tire and Clauson overtook Armstrong for the third position and slipped in behind Vilt and second place runner Rick Grunert of Woodland.

Just past the event's halfway mark trouble broke out for Vilt who was damaged in a multi-car melee in the fourth turn as Clauson worked into the top three. Shortly thereafter she set her sights on Grunert who assumed the lead briefly after the incident with Vilt in the fourth turn.

Traveling through the fourth turn Clauson went low beneath Grunert and the two rubbed doors trying to claim their position. Clauson gained the advantage and muscled into the lead ahead of the former champion as the fans came to their feet.

"There was talk in the pits that I took him out of the lead," said Clauson, who was also awarded the McDonald's Hardcharger title Saturday night. "That wasn't the case, I wouldn't really stoop to that level. We were both racing hard, he came down on me and I went up and we got a together. It was really a racing deal."

Once in the lead, Clauson had Armstrong move into second place during the final laps of the event. For years Armstrong has helped the lady racer develop as a driver and her new car came out of his garage this off season. Armstrong happily finished second ahead of Placerville's Keith Fournier, Michelle McClure of Nevada City and Chris Curtiss of Placerville.

"I couldn't be happier standing her in second place," said Armstrong. "I've watched her grow up and that car came out of my garage. She earned this one and I don't think I have ever been happier about second place."

Clauson became just the third female driver to win a feature event in the history of Placerville Speedway. In 2008 Michelle McClure was the first, last year Heather Bartlett was the second. Prior to Saturday Clauson's best finish was a third place.

The Pure Stock division returns to Placerville Speedway this Saturday for point race number two with Late Models and Winged Sprint Cars. Visit www.placervillespeedway for information on that event.