The hottest driver on the West Coast continued his impressive run at the Forni-Humphreys Classic Saturday, as Dominic Gorden raced to his first ever Placerville Speedway victory.
The youngster took home $8,585.85 for his impressive drive in the main event aboard the Gary Silva Ranches/ Fortitude Driver Development No. 10 mount.
Joining him in victory lane during the entertaining night of racing were point leader Anthony Slaney with the Late Models, Kevin Jinkerson with the Pure Stocks, who made a thrilling final corner pass to claim the win and Dylan Shrum with the Dwarf Cars.
The 30-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car feature began with Templeton’s Kaleb Montgomery blasting out front. Montgomery set a torrid pace while the action was hot and heavy behind him.
Some of the best racing we have seen all season long certainly gave the fans their monies worth on this night. Cars raced high and low with positions changing on the regular. A long green flag run saw traffic come into play and as Montgomery navigated his way through it, Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick closed in.
After battling for the top-spot tooth and nail, Carrick charged into the top-spot on lap 14, with Dominic Gorden coming along for second. Gorden then made a beautiful move to grab the lead on lap 16, before third running Shane Golobic got upside with 18 circuits complete. Luckily, Golobic was okay, but his car was damaged too much to continue.
Gorden went on to dominate the closing laps for his initial Placerville score. Carrick brought home his third finish of second or better in the last few weeks, with Montgomery crossing the stripe to round out the podium. Justin Sanders and Austin Wood finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Completing the top-10 in the main event were 13th starter Justyn Cox, Landon Brooks, 18th starting Tony Gomes, Bubba Decaires and Andy Forsberg. Gomes went home with $2,185 for earning the Davy Thomas Hard Charger Award.
A solid 35-car field was on hand for the Mark Forni-CJ Humphreys Classic. Veteran Jimmy Trulli, his final Sprint Car season, began the evening by earning a very popular Fast Time Award with a lap of 10.793.
The Mountain Democrat Ltd. Late Model main event was all about Martinez driver Anthony Slaney, who claimed his fifth victory of the season in dominated fashion. Slaney picked up the win by a half track margin over Jay Norton, Rod Oliver, Tyler Lightfoot and Dan Brown Jr.
The Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks brought the house down with their phenomenal 20-lap main event. Several cars battled for the lead for much of the contest with multiple grooves in place.
Five-time track champion Nick Baldwin sat out front but had to drive a perfect race to keep a number of competitors at bay. Kevin Jinkerson, Jason Poppert and Dan Jinkerson raced within inches of each other as the crowd roared their approval.
With the race winding down Kevin Jinkerson hounded Baldwins rear bumper, while trying a higher line on the speedway. Jinkerson blasted around the high side as they rounded the final corners and nipped Baldwin at the line for the win.
Baldwin must be commended as well for driving an excellent race. Dan Jinkerson, Jason Poppert and Tyler Lightfoot rounded out the podium.
The Nor-Cal Dwarf Car feature also provided some outstanding racing as Lincoln’s Dylan Shrum rode the high line to victory. Cars raced on every square inch of the quarter mile bullring during the 20-lapper. Mike Reeder, Patrick Weger, Kevin Bender and Mike Grenert completed the top-five.
A strong field of 23 Dwarf Cars competed on Saturday night.
Placerville Speedway now gears up for the Gold Rush Classic on Saturday August 17th, showcasing Kubota High Limit Racing and the Nor-Car Dwarf Car Association.
Results
Placerville Speedway Forni-Humphreys Classic August 3, 2024
Winged Sprint Cars:
1. 10-Dominic Gorden[3]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[4]; 3. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 4. 4SA-Justin Sanders[8]; 5. 2A-Austin Wood[10]; 6. 42X-Justyn Cox[13]; 7. 94TH-Landon Brooks[5]; 8. 7C-Tony Gomes[18]; 9. 94-Greg Decaires V[9]; 10. 92-Andy Forsberg[7]; 11. 88N-DJ Netto[12]; 12. 1-Chance Grasty[17]; 13. 7-Max Mittry[2]; 14. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[14]; 15. X1-Michael Faccinto[11]; 16. 88-Austin Torgerson[20]; 17. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[19]; 18. 38-Colby Johnson[16]; 19. 17W-Shane Golobic[6]; 20. 21-Shane Hopkins[15]
Late Models:
1. 4X-Anthony Slaney[1]; 2. 15J-Jay Norton[2]; 3. 57-Rod Oliver[6]; 4. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[7]; 5. 15-Dan Brown Jr[9]; 6. 22G-Paul Gugliomoni[8]; 7. 98-Kiely Ricardo[3]; 8. 7R-Thomas Reynolds[10]; 9. 37-Ray Trimble[4]; 10. 28G-Clark Gougliomani[5]
Pure Stocks:
1. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[4]; 2. 17-Nick Baldwin[2]; 3. 43-Dan Jinkerson[3]; 4. 87-Jason Poppert[1]; 5. 23-Tyler Lightfoot[5]; 6. 16-Tommy Sturgeon[7]; 7. 12J-Jason Ramos[6]; 8. 93-Mel Byers[9]; 9. 27B-Arnita Bradshaw[8]
Dwarf Cars:
1. 31N-Dylan Shrum[16]; 2. 72N-Mike Reeder[4]; 3. 19N-Patrick Weger[3]; 4. 9N-Kevin Bender[2]; 5. 12N-Mike Grenert[15]; 6. 29N-Corey Eaton[10]; 7. 15N-Shawn Whitney[5]; 8. 8N-Aron Mosier[8]; 9. 41N-Brandon Aylesworth[6]; 10. 99N-Gage Meyers[13]; 11. 508N-Steve Costello[19]; 12. 12-Justin Bingman[12]; 13. 02N-Shane Thomas[18]; 14. 410-Chris Durden[21]; 15. 57-Hailey Wiesz[20]; 16. 30N-April Halliday[14]; 17. 27N-Alysa Gallegos[17]; 18. 57N-Ben Wiesz[7]; 19. 40N-Eric Fromong[23]; 20. 42N-Isaak Geil[9]; 21. 69N-Cody Shrum[22]; 22. 59N-Austin Struthers[1]; 23. 05N-Tim Dodson[11]
Story by Gary Thomas. Images courtesy of Tim Holland
What are the standings for the three sixty sprint cars for the season?