Sean Becker, Ryan McDaniel, Dan Jinkerson and Shawn Jones pick up Tribute to Al Hinds victories Saturday

Placerville, CA – July 13, 2019…An exciting night of grass roots dirt track racing at the Tribute to Al Hinds on Saturday culminated with Roseville’s Sean Becker scoring his 25th career Winged 360 Sprint Car victory at the Placerville Speedway. His entertaining triumph aboard the Dan Monhoff owned M&M Structures No. 88N machine moved the decorated driver into a tie for fourth all-time in Winged 360 wins at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds facility.

Solid racing was seen throughout the night in all four divisions, as we honored the late promoter who helped mold the quarter-mile into one of the premier venues in Northern California. Also claiming wins during the 16th annual Tribute to Al Hinds were Ryan McDaniel with the Ltd. Late Models, Dan Jinkerson with the Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks and Shawn Jones with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association. A total of 70 cars filled the pit area during point race number 10 on Saturday.

The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 feature got off to a rocky start as the red flag came out for Cole Macedo and Blake Carrick, who got upside down in between turns three and four. Point leader Andy Forsberg was also involved in the melee and went to the work area, before restarting from the rear. Forsberg’s nearest rival in the standings Kalib Henry started from the pole in the main event and looked to get the jump when the green came back out, but third starting Tony Gualda had other ideas.

Gualda, who had spent the week competing at Northwest Speedweek, sliced to the inside of Henry and snagged the early lead of the race. The action was fast and furious after a bit of track prep prior the feature, which gave drivers multiple lines to use. Race fans were ultimately treated to several non-stop laps of exciting competition on the red clay bullring. Sean Becker had found the high side to his liking and rocketed into second, before hounding the rear bumper of Gualda’s machine. With lapped traffic in play drivers raced high and low navigating through the slower cars.

On lap 11 the hard charging Becker blasted into the lead, before the caution waved on lap 17 to let everyone catch their breath. When going back green it became the Becker and Shane Golobic show, as the duo raced close together and kept fans on the edge of their seats. While Becker remained upstairs beating down the cushion, Golobic ran the patient low line in his bid to take over the point. With just a couple laps left Golobic finally got the run he needed and inched of Becker to grab the top spot. Just after that however the yellow waved for a stalled car in turn two.

The caution flag saved Becker’s lead and he would go on to lead the final two circuits for his second Placerville Speedway victory of the season. By earning his 25th career Winged 360 triumph at the track it tied him with CJ Humphreys and Roger Crockett for fourth on the all-time win list. Golobic’s valiant run ended in the second spot, with Gualda, 15th starting Andy Gregg and Henry rounding out the top-five. Gregg should be commended for an exciting run in the feature, as he earned the Hard Charger Award in just his third start of the season.

Filling out the remainder of the top-10 were Bobby McMahan, Jimmy Trulli, Shane Hopkins, Andy Forsberg and Bubba Decaires. Four heat races were held during the night and were picked off by Cole Macedo, Kalib Henry, Andy Forsberg and Blake Carrick. Tony Gualda began the night by setting his fifth ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time of the season. His lap of 10.913 topped the solid 26 car field that signed into the pit area.

Ryan McDa