Exhilarating action highlights Kings Meats Night at Placerville Speedway Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Images courtesy of Devin M Photography
Placerville, CA…The Russell Motorsports Inc. managed Placerville Speedway showcased some of its best racing of the season on Saturday night. In the end it was 17-year-old Blake Carrick of Lincoln who stood in victory lane, following his second career Thompson’s Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph.
Also snagging wins on Kings Meats Night were Kevin Jinkerson with the Pure Stocks, Thomas Jensen with the Mini Trucks and Terry Bergstrom with the BCRA Lightning Sprints. All four victors during the night went home with a box of assorted meats valued at $250, courtesy of our friends at Kings.
The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships feature started off with Tracy’s Kyle Offill impressively jumping into the lead. The 2017 SCCT Rookie of the Year ran the bottom side of the speedway to perfection, as he kept the field at bay. Placerville’s own Shane Hopkins ran the cushion like a champ as well though, keeping pace with Offill and looked to pounce as lapped traffic came into play.
A caution waved on lap 12 and during the restart Hopkins charged to the outside for the lead, only to suffer mechanical problems shortly after, which put a tough end to his evening. During the ensuing restart Blake Carrick rode the cushion to challenge Offill for the top spot, before achieving the pass with 15-circuits complete. Offill did not let Carrick get away however and stayed close hoping for a chance at traffic.
The action behind those two also kept the crowd on the edge of its seats with 11th starting Kalib Henry, Tanner Carrick and 17th starter Michael Faccinto throwing it down on the bullring. One final caution waved on lap 19 and during the restart B. Carrick pulled away to take the Ron Stahl checkered flag. Henry was able to battle his way around Offill on the final corner to snag second. Offill, Faccinto and T. Carrick completed the top-five. Andy Forsberg, Joel Myers Jr., Justyn Cox, Andy Gregg and Dylan Bloomfield rounded out the top-10.
A total of 31 Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars competed at the seventh point race of the year.
Winged 360 finish: 1. 38B-Blake Carrick[6]; 2. 17-Kalib Henry[11]; 3. 88-Kyle Offill[2]; 4. 5H-Michael Faccinto[17]; 5. 83T-Tanner Carrick[7]; 6. X1-Andy Forsberg[9]; 7. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[4]; 8. 7C-Justyn Cox[10]; 9. 16X-Andy Gregg[16]; 10. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[3]; 11. 7P-Jake Andreotti[20]; 12. 94-Greg Decaires V[14]; 13. 34-Landon Brooks[8]; 14. 5V-Angelo Cornet[5]; 15. 12J-John Clark[13]; 16. 80N-Justin Bradway[12]; 17. 21X-Michael Ing[18]; 18. 24-Justin Henry[15]; 19. 78-Bret Barney[19]; 20. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]
The Pure Stocks have put on some fantastic racing all year long, but Saturday may have been the best one yet. Diamond Springs’ Kevin Jinkerson, Oakley’s Nick Baldwin and Dan Jinkerson ran nose to tail for the entire 20-lap feature. The talented trio showcased the true excitement that Stock Car racing can present on the tight Placerville quarter-mile. As the laps ticked away Baldwin stepped up his challenges and took the lead at the stripe on lap 17, but got caught above the cushion with lapped traffic creating havoc up front.
With the crowd on their feet K. Jinkerson used traffic to his advantage and pulled away just enough to seal the deal. Brother Dan encountered issues just a couple laps shy of the finish that left him up the exit ramp and back to the pit area. Kevin crossed the checkered to bring home his fourth career win at the track over Baldwin, Tom Tilford, Chris Mcginnis and Jonny Walsh.
Pure Stock finish: 1. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[2]; 2. 17-Nick Baldwin[4]; 3. 23-Tom Tilford[10]; 4. 22-Chris Mcginnis[1]; 5. 4-Jonny Walsh[6]; 6. 15A-Ryan Murphy[8]; 7. 23S-Stephanie Hanson[7]; 8. 29-Dan Jinkerson[3]; 9. 93-Mel Byers[11]; 10. 47-Michael Murphy[5]; 11. 48-John Evans[9]
The Mini Truck 20-lap main event was a battle of attrition that ultimately saw Placerville racer Thomas Jensen come out on top. Several movers and shakers were seen at various points but towards the end it was Jensen and Austin Struthers who fought for the lead. Struthers got into a spin late and that was all she wrote for Jensen, who claimed victory over Aaron Rupley, Britt McMains, Struthers and Mike Miller.
Mini Truck finish: 1. 08JR-Thomas Jensen[8]; 2. 77-Aaron Rupley[4]; 3. 72-Britt McMains[7]; 4. 70-Austin Struthers[1]; 5. 16-Mike Miller[2]; 6. 28-Howard Miller[3]; 7. 04-Wyatt Lakin[6]; 8. 61-Paizlee Miller[5]
The 20-lap BCRA Lightning Sprint finale started out with Josef Ferolito hopping into the lead. He held command solidly for the first 11 laps until suffering a flat tire, which forced him to the pit area. Terry Bergstrom had shown speed all night long and inherited the top spot after that. Bergstrom had made the pass of Dakota Albright for second shortly before that to put himself in the golden position. Bergstrom led the remaining distance to take home the win over Albright, Cody Meyer, Scott Kinney and Greg Dennett.
Lightning Sprint finish: 1. 17F-Terry Bergstrom[6]; 2. 35JR-Dakota Albright[1]; 3. 21C-Cody Meyer[3]; 4. 25-Scott Kinney[8]; 5. 47-Greg Dennett[5]; 6. 3F-Brandon Leedy[7]; 7. 13-Danika Jo Parker[4]; 8. 21J-Jayden Meyer[9]; 9. 18-Josef Ferolito[2]
Full results from the night can be found at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1866886?fbclid=IwAR08ojMpSjCs9H_xHSBlVGX5KhAnqdMwN4W_Kl7hlwwJjk3gWQchjAVzwO0
The Placerville Speedway now gears up for the 30th Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial next Saturday June 12th. The King of the West-NARC Fujitsu 410 Sprint Cars and Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards will be in competition. Tickets go on sale Monday morning at www.placervillespeedway.com