Two first time winners highlight Freedom Fireworks event at Placerville Speedway on Independence Day

Placerville, CA -July 4, 2018…The Placerville Speedway hosted its annual Independence Day spectacular on Wednesday and saw a pair of first time winners during the evening with Minden, Nevada’s Tanner Thorson scooping up his first career Thompson’s Auto Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph and Clay Daly earning his first Ltd. Late Model victory. The always tough Dan Jinkerson captured the win in an exciting Pure Stock feature.

The 25-lap Thompson’s Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Car feature awarded $2,500 to the winner thanks to extra money from Placerville Speedway and High Sierra Industries. Visalia’s Steven Tiner and Tanner Thorson shared the front row for the sixth point race of the season with the Sprint Cars. Thorson charged into the lead at the waving of Ron Stahl’s green flag.

Hollister’s Tony Gualda immediately showed his muscle and came after Tiner for the second position, before an exciting pass off turn two on lap four.

Gualda then closed in on Thorson and made it a battle for the lead on lap nine. The top-two raced close together through lapped traffic, as Gualda searched for his first career Winged Sprint Car win after three runner-up efforts already this season. The fans were kept on the edge of their seats with it being anybody’s game through the slower cars. On lap 16 Gualda and a lapped car came together off the second corner and allowed Tiner the chance to get under him for p2.

A caution flag with seven circuits remaining then brought things to a halt. After that it was all Thorson up front, who put together flawless laps on the cushion to race off and snag his first ever Placerville Speedway victory. The driver of the Tri-C Manufacturing No. 3C also became the sixth different winner in six races this season. Tiner crossed the stripe in second, while Fremont’s Shane Golobic made a nice charge to claim third. Gualda and Auburn’s Andy Forsberg completed the top-five.

Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick, Aromas’ Justin Sanders, Roseville’s Sean Becker, Placerville’s Andy Gregg and Cameron Park’s Shane Hopkins rounded out the top-10. The three heat races held during the night were captured by Jodie Robinson, Steven Tiner and Shane Golobic.

The ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award to start the evening was set by Andy Gregg with a time of 10.678. A total of 20 Thompson’s Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Cars were on hand during the night.

The 20-lap Ltd. Late Model main event started out with a side by side race for the lead at the waving of the green between Wayne Trimble and Jay Norton. Trimble carved his way to the lead with Mike Lightfoot rocketing into second on lap two. Ryan McDaniel then made his presence known and began to challenge Lightfoot for second, before taking over the spot on lap five. He immediately went to work on Trimble and got alongside him one lap later but couldn’t quite pull off the pass.