By Gary Thomas
Images courtesy of Tim Holland and Petersen Media
Placerville, CA…A wild and intense evening highlighted Thompson’s Fan Appreciation Night in front of a large and vocal crowd at Placerville Speedway on Saturday. In the end it was Templeton’s Kaleb Montgomery, who became the sixth different driver this season to claim their initial Winged Sprint Car win on the quarter mile.
Montgomery was joined in victory lane by Dan Brown Jr. with the Mtn. Democrat Ltd. Late Models, Wayne Trimble with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Mike Miller with the Mtn. Democrat Mini Trucks. Dan Jinkerson wrapped up the Late Model title on Saturday, while Thomas Jensen secured his first Truck championship.
Things started off exciting at the waving of the green flag in the 25-lap Thompson’s Winged Sprint Car feature, as Montgomery, Jodie Robinson and Shane Hopkins battled three-wide off the second corner. Montgomery got the better of the deal and blasted out front aboard the Dale Miller Septic/ Thompson’s Auto No. 4SA mount. Immediately after that however, young Joel Myers Jr. carved his way to the inside of the speedway and climbed to second, before peeking to the inside of the leader.
Myers was relentless as he stalked Montgomery and on lap four would charge around the outside to nip him at the line. The pair proceeded to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats during a torrid side by side fight for the top spot. The lone caution of the race then waved on lap 12, setting up a double file restart that saw Hopkins challenge Myers for the second spot. Montgomery sat out front riding the cushion to perfection, but late in the going caught up to traffic and it did allow both Myers and Hopkins to close.
Coming to the white flag Montgomery banged the cushion off turn four and Myers tucked right up to his inside. Montgomery hit his marks on the final lap however and crossed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag for the win. He joins Tony Gomes, Chase Majdic, Jodie Robinson, Corey Day and Michael Faccinto as drivers who have captured their first Placerville Speedway Sprint Car victory this season. Myers Jr. crossed the stripe in second to record back-to-back runner up finishes on the red clay. Hopkins, Landon Brooks and Steven Tiner completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 in the main event were Willie Croft, Blake Carrick, Andy Forsberg, 18th starter Dylan Bloomfield and Tanner Holmes. Montgomery began the evening by earning his second ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award of the season. The 22-year-old ripped around the bullring in 10.747 seconds to set the standard in the 31-car field.
Winged Sprint Car finish: 1. 4SA-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 2. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[5]; 3. 21-Shane Hopkins[3]; 4. 5V-Landon Brooks[7]; 5. 7C-Steven Tiner[9]; 6. 29-Willie Croft[4]; 7. 5H-Blake Carrick[11]; 8. 92-Andy Forsberg[6]; 9. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[18]; 10. 18T-Tanner Holmes[12]; 11. 98M-Michael Pombo[8]; 12. 4-Jodie Robinson[2]; 13. 94-Greg Decaires V[17]; 14. 12J-John Clark[15]; 15. 21W-Josh Wiesz[16]; 16. 29T-Ryan Timmons[20]; 17. 1-Chance Grasty[13]; 18. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[10]; 19. 98-Chris Masters[19]; 20. 9L-Luke Hayes[14]
The Mtn. Democrat Ltd. Late Models showcased a 20-lap main event that featured a little bit of everything. Solid racing, some drama and a championship were all wrapped up in one night. Martinez driver Anthony Slaney held command early on as Lincoln’s Dan Brown Jr. and Diamond Springs Dan Jinkerson slotted themselves in second and third respectively. Brown then found the high side to his liking and charged after Slaney for the top spot, leading lap 11 by inches at the line.
The outstanding race up front saw Jinkerson pop his nose in there to make it a three-car tussle for the top spot. With the race winding down Brown navigated his way around the cushion and got a run on the leader. With the white flag in the air, it was an all out battle for the win. Brown snuck to the outside of Slaney and as they entered turn three slight contact appeared to take place that resulted in Slaney spinning to a stop.
The main event was not over just yet though. With Brown looking for his first win since 2020 he rounded the final set of corners during a restart, but would feature hard contact from Slaney, who rode around slowly waiting for the leader. The result was a DQ for Slaney due to the intentional contact. Brown was put back in the lead during the final restart and ended up claiming the victory over Jinkerson, Matt Michelli, Jay Norton and Tyler Lightfoot.
Dan Jinkerson put together a magical campaign and secured his second consecutive Late Model title at Placerville Speedway. He ended up with six wins in the eight events held this season.
Ltd. Late Model finish: 1. 15-Dan Brown Jr[6]; 2. 23-Dan Jinkerson[5]; 3. 96M-Matt Micheli[8]; 4. 15J-Jay Norton[7]; 5. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[4]; 6. 57-Rod Oliver[2]; 7. 23A-Mike Lightfoot[9]; 8. 29-Matt Davis[11]; 9. 98-Kiely Ricardo[3]; 10. 4SALE-Josh Combs[10]; 11. (DQ) 4X-Anthony Slaney[1]
In the 20-lap Red Hawk Casino main event it was all about Auburn’s Wayne Trimble for much of the contest, but towards the end he felt heavy pressure from the Jinkerson brothers. With just a few circuits left you could have put a blanket over the top three cars as Kevin Jinkerson looked to Trimble’s inside on a few occasions. Trimble ran a mistake free last two laps and drove off to snag his second career Pure Stock win at the track. Kevin Jinkerson, Dan Jinkerson, Jonny Walsh and Chris D’angelo completed the top-five.
Pure Stock finish: 1. 68E-Wayne Trimble[3]; 2. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[11]; 3. 52-Dan Jinkerson[9]; 4. 4-Jonny Walsh[6]; 5. 1-Chris D'angelo[13]; 6. 93-Mel Byers[12]; 7. 17-Nick Baldwin[5]; 8. 87-Jason Poppert[4]; 9. 316-Ryan Murphy[1]; 10. 47-Michael Murphy[2]; 11. 74-Russell Murphy[7]; 12. 27-William Upton[8]; 13. 196-Micky Dangelo[10]
The Mtn. Democrat Mini Trucks finished off their 2022 season on Saturday. Reigning champion Mike Miller of Rancho Cordova held command out front and raced to his third victory of the year. Placerville’s own Thomas Jensen came home in second and it was good enough to lock up his initial championship at Placerville Speedway. “Security Tom” claimed the title by just four slim points over Miller. Rounding out the top-five on Saturday were Ean Deal, Ted Ahart and Brycen Bragg.
Mini Truck finish: 1. 16-Mike Miller[3]; 2. 08JR-Thomas Jensen[2]; 3. 28-Ean Deal[4]; 4. 12-Ted Ahart[5]; 5. 75-Brycen Bragg[8]; 6. 61-Paizlee Miller[6]; 7. 07-Page Miller[7]; 8. 70-Austin Struthers[1]; 9. 65X-Brian Tremblay[9]
Full results from Fan Appreciation Night can be found at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/2031924?fbclid=IwAR2HAIRFvsjH7cyiOmOLHUTz45gxbHovvRoUwV9uAVIkUq0lkEHan-27jKI
Next up at Placerville Speedway will be “Legends Night” on Saturday August 27th. It marks the final Hoosier Tires Championship Point Race of the season.