By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA…Mather’s Kalib Henry completed a daring move to snag the lead on the start and eventually held command for all 25-laps, claiming his third Thompson’s Winged Sprint Car victory of the year on Saturday.
Sharing the stage with Henry on Coors Light Big Trophy Night were Dan Jinkerson with the Mountain Democrat Limited Late Models, Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Ben Wiesz with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association.
Placerville’s Shane Hopkins and Oakley’s Dylan Bloomfield shared the front row in the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged Sprint Car feature. Henry lined-up on the inside of row two but immediately shot in front of Bloomfield, before driving past Hopkins heading down the backstretch. Henry led the field but when lapped traffic came into play it allowed Hopkins the chance to close in.
With 11-laps down things tightened up as Hopkins made a bid for the top-spot, only to have things come to a halt when Bloomfield got upside down to bring out a red. On the restart Henry motored away and all eyes became glued to the race for second between Hopkins and Sebastopol’s Joel Myers Jr. The duo exchanged the spot while navigating their way around the bullring, which had become tricky and treacherous up on the cushion.
Unfortunately for Hopkins his shot at victory came to an end when he suffered a flat tire late in the going and was forced to the work area. The final restart of the night with three laps remaining saw Myers stay within striking distance while giving it everything he had. Henry hit his marks upstairs however and flashed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag for the win. Henry’s seventh career Winged 360 triumph at the track came aboard the McColloch’s RV Repair & Storage No. 17 machine and tied him with Tim Clauson on the all-time list.
Myers came home second aboard the Dirt Dudes Excavating No. 46jr to cap off a solid run in the feature, followed by 11th starting Landon Brooks who also made headway in the 25-lapper at the helm of the Van Lare No. 5v entry. Hanford’s Michael Faccinto drove the F&F Racing X1 to another strong finish on Saturday ending up fourth, with Roseville’s Jodie Robinson completing the top-five in the Roseville Precision No. 4 Sprinter. The top-10 was filled out by Blake Carrick, 17th starting Michael Ing, Luke Hayes, Bubba Decaires and 18th starter Gauge Garcia.
Auburn’s Andy Forsberg earned the ADCO Driveline Fast Time Award to begin the night but encountered problems in the main event that left him with a 14th place finish in the feature. He continues to maintain a 24-point lead with two championship races remaining. A total of 27-cars competed on Saturday.
Winged Sprint Car finish: 1. 17-Kalib Henry[3]; 2. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[6]; 3. 5V-Landon Brooks[11]; 4. X1-Michael Faccinto[7]; 5. 4-Jodie Robinson[9]; 6. 5H-Blake Carrick[10]; 7. 21M-Michael Ing[17]; 8. 9L-Luke Hayes[4]; 9. 94-Greg Decaires V[12]; 10. 21X-Gauge Garcia[18]; 11. 12J-John Clark[13]; 12. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]; 13. 20-Justin Bradway[15]; 14. 92-Andy Forsberg[5]; 15. 7C-Steven Tiner[8]; 16. 77-Ryan Lippincott[19]; 17. 93-Stephen Ingraham[14]; 18. 38-Colby Johnson[16]; 19. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[2]; 20. 25-Justin Johnson[20]
The Mountain Democrat Limited Late Models provided several thrills during their 20-lap feature event on Saturday. Kiely Ricardo jumped into the early lead but felt pressure in the form of Dan Brown Jr. right off the bat. The pair battled hard for the top-spot as Ricardo ran down low while Brown abused the thick cushion up top. The outstanding fight for the lead saw Brown inch ahead with five laps down.
Soon after that Ricardo had to deal with a fast-moving Dan Jinkerson, who was manhandling the Lightfoot Automotive No. 23 around the quarter-mile. Once in second the current point leader began to rope in the leader and with just under 10 circuits remaining, the race was on. Jinkerson dove low looking for the top-spot with seven laps left, but Brown was able to fend off that challenge.
The action remained intense up front and with just a few laps remaining Jinkerson blasted to the inside to overtake the point. The “Diamond Springs Dynamite” drove off to claim his sixth win in seven Late Model events this season at Placerville Speedway. Brown earned another consistent finish in second, followed by Ricardo, Jay Norton and Rod Oliver. It marked Jinkerson’s 10th career Limited Late Model triumph at Placerville Speedway.
Ltd. Late Model finish: 1. 23-Dan Jinkerson[3]; 2. 15-Dan Brown Jr[2]; 3. 98-Kiely Ricardo[1]; 4. 15J-Jay Norton[5]; 5. 57-Rod Oliver[6]; 6. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[7]; 7. 196-Joey Olschowka Jr[4]
Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock point leader Nick Baldwin continued to be the man to beat on Saturday at Coors Light Big Trophy Night. It didn’t come easy for the Oakley driver however, as Russ Murphy stayed right on his rear bumper for a majority of the 20-lap contest.
Behind the front duo things were hot and heavy between Kevin Jinkerson, Ryan Robinson and Wayne Trimble. The trio put a thrilling display of Stock Car racing and kept fans on the edge of their seats.
As the laps wound down Baldwin and Murphy had to deal with lapped traffic, but after dispatching of the slower cars they ran nose to tail right down to the wire. The closely contested race saw Baldwin fend off Murphy by a car length at the checkered flag to record his fifth win of the season. For the driver of the Blue Chip Muffler No. 17 it marked his 19th career triumph on the red clay. Murphy’s valiant run ended with a stout runner up finish, followed by Robinson, Trimble and Jinkerson in the top-five.
Pure Stock finish: 1. 17-Nick Baldwin[2]; 2. 74-Russell Murphy[1]; 3. 23-Ryan Robinson[3]; 4. 68E-Wayne Trimble[8]; 5. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[6]; 6. 87-Jason Poppert[5]; 7. 4-Jonny Walsh[11]; 8. 316-Ryan Murphy[7]; 9. 77T-Jason Armstrong[10]; 10. 1-Chris D'angelo[12]; 11. 47-Michael Murphy[4]; 12. 196-Micky Dangelo[13]; 13. 27-William Upton[14]; 14. 93-Mel Byers[9]
The season of Ben Wiesz also continued Saturday with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association. The Colfax driver navigated his way to a fifth win in five Dwarf Car events at Placerville Speedway in 2022. Shawn Whitney and a host of others kept him honest though during the 20-lap finale. Whitney tried his best to find a way by, but Wiesz was too smooth and calculated up front. He eventually crossed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag to keep up his dominance of the red clay.
Whitney ran second, followed by Mike Grenert, Dylan Shrum and Brenden Shrum in the top-five. The remainder of the top-10 was comprised of Jace Badecker, Dennis Gilcrease, Cody Shrum, Isaak Geil and Austin Struthers.
Dwarf Car finish: 1. 57N-Ben Wiesz[2]; 2. 15N-Shawn Whitney[5]; 3. 12N-Mike Grenert[6]; 4. 31N-Dylan Shrum[4]; 5. 50N-Brenden Shrum[7]; 6. 7N-Jace Badecker[13]; 7. 80N-Dennis Gilcrease[9]; 8. 69N-Cody Shrum[14]; 9. 42N-Isaak Geil[10]; 10. 59N-Austin Struthers[11]; 11. 94N-Denny Hannel[19]; 12. 43DD-Sean Catucci[15]; 13. 2N-Hailey Wiesz[16]; 14. 30N-Gene Herndon[18]; 15. 99N-Gage Meyers[1]; 16. 6N-Austin Quilty[3]; 17. 75-Toby Brown[8]; 18. 29N-Corey Eaton[12]; 19. 32N-Dan Geil[17]
Placerville Speedway returns to action next Saturday August 13th with Thompson’s Fan Appreciation Night. All grandstand tickets cost just $5 at the event.
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