Dads and Grads Night wins at Placerville Speedway go to Jimmy Trulli, Matt Michelli, Dan Jinkersen a
Placerville, CA – June 2, 2018…It had been since 2015 that Placerville’s favorite son Jimmy Trulli visited victory lane at the Placerville Speedway. Going into last night he sat atop the Thompson’s Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Car standings and showed that it was no fluke, leading all 25-laps in the feature to score his fifth career victory at the quarter-mile.
It had also been over a year since Dan Jinkersen stood in victory lane with the Pure Stocks, but he changed that after making a late-race move to earn the win. Defending track champion Matt Michelli scooped up the Ltd. Late Model main event and Hunter Kinney was victorious with the BCRA Midget Lites. A total of 61-cars graced the pit area to help open the month of June on Saturday during “Dads and Grads” Night.
The Thompson’s Auto Group Winged 360 A-main boasted extra money from High Sierra Industries, which increased the winning total to $2,000.
Veterans Mike Benson and Jimmy Trulli shared the front row for the 25-lap feature on Saturday. Trulli shot to the lead, but things came to a halt when Justin Johnson slowed off turn four on lap-two. Trulli stretched his advantage on the double file restart, but a multi-car pileup with Steven Tiner, Kyle Offill and Kaleb Montgomery occurred in the second corner to bring out the yellow again a few laps later.
On the restart Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox executed a bold move to make it three-wide and rocketed into second running the high-scary side. Roseville’s Sean Becker started ninth and moved into fourth on lap six, just prior to a red flag period for Matt Peterson, who was unhurt in the tommy tip over. A couple more cautions would wave, before another red flag stoppage was seen for Shane Hopkins with 16-laps complete. Hopkins emerged okay. Once going back green another lap was completed, before Jodie Robinson spun off the first corner.
During the ensuing restart second running Cox was called for a jump and penalized one row, which now moved Andy Gregg up to the front row alongside Trulli for the double file restart. When going back green Becker continued his march forward and sliced his way into the runner up position. The remaining distance saw Becker try his hardest to find a way around Trulli, as he hounded the tail tank of the familiar No. 33T Sprinter. The crowd certainly got their monies worth over the closing laps and at the checkered it was Trulli holding off Becker by half a second to claim the popular win.
Becker capped a solid run aboard the Dan Monhoff owned No. 88N mount in second and looked extremely strong in the later stages. Gregg had a fine outing and finished in third, while Watsonville’s Justin Sanders had a successful debut in the Dale Miller owned No. 4SA machine to claim fourth. The former Ocean Speedway champion made some nice moves late in the race. Cox completed the top-five in what was the third point race of the season for the Winged 360 Sprint Cars.
Auburns Andy Forsberg, Visalia’s Steven Tiner, Reno’s Adam Walters, Fair Oak’s Jake Morgan and Calistoga’s Mike Benson rounded out the top-10 in the main event. Heat race wins went to Andy Forsberg, Tony Gualda, Justyn Cox and Jimmy Trulli. The B-main was captured by Kaleb Montgomery.
The ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award to start th