Race fans certainly got their money’s worth on Legends Night at Placerville Speedway, as Shane Golobic captured an entertaining Winged 360 Sprint Car feature, while Michael Faccinto wrapped up his first career track championship.
A packed house on Saturday also saw Lincoln’s Dan Brown Jr. snag the win with the Anrak Ltd. Late Models and Diamond Springs’ Dan Jinkerson lock up the track title for the third straight year.
Oakley’s Nick Baldwin capped off his fifth Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock championship in style with a victory in the main event, with Lincoln’s Dylan Shrum earning another triumph in the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association feature. Rio Oso driver Landon Brooks finished off the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek South title as well on Saturday.
The 25-lap Thompson’s Winged Sprint Car finale began with excitement as Colby Copeland and Andy Forsberg exchanged the lead multiple times at the start. The duo got extremely close together at one point in turn four, which forced Forsberg to make a great save to continue. Copeland then felt pressure from Fremont’s Shane Golobic, as several drivers battled it out behind them.
With action all over the track the top three cars began to bunch up as lapped traffic came into play. Golobic had his opening on lap 13 and made the move to assume the point, relegating Copeland back to second. Forsberg then found a new life and was right in the thick of it when things changed on lap 18. With a pair of cars sitting idle in turn four, the field had to take evasive action, which resulted in Forsberg getting caught by another car near the infield k-rail, ultimately ending his night.
Golobic then clicked off the final seven laps for his 13th career Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph at Placerville Speedway, which paid $4,850-to-win aboard his Matt Wood Racing/ NOS Energy Drink No. 17w. Copeland, Justin Sanders, Landon Brooks and Tanner Carrick completed the top-five.
The top-10 was rounded out by 15th starting Dylan Bloomfield, Michael Faccinto, Justyn Cox, Ryan Bernal and Kalib Henry. Faccinto’s seventh place run was good enough to lock up his initial Placerville Speedway title. He becomes the fourth different driver to claim a track championship for Friends & Family Racing, joining Andy Forsberg, David Robinson Jr. and Mason Moore.
Faccinto began the evening by earning the $850 Fast Time Award thanks to ADCO Driveline and Sierra Foothills Wine Service. His lap of 10.833 paced the 40-car field in time trials.
Sprint Car results: 1. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]; 2. 5V-Colby Copeland[1]; 3. 2X-Justin Sanders[7]; 4. 94X-Landon Brooks[11]; 5. 83T-Tanner Carrick[6]; 6. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[15]; 7. X1-Michael Faccinto[4]; 8. 42X-Justyn Cox[14]; 9. 22-Ryan Bernal[16]; 10. 17-Kalib Henry[8]; 11. 29-Willie Croft[10]; 12. 21X-Gauge Garcia[20]; 13. 15-Michael Sellers[19]; 14. 12-Steven Snawder[9]; 15. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]; 16. 7C-Tony Gomes[12]; 17. 21-Shane Hopkins[17]; 18. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[5]; 19. 5H-Josh Wiesz[13]; 20. 1K-Kinzer Cox[18]
The 20-lap main event for the Anrak Corporation Ltd. Late Models saw a dominating performance turned in by Dan Brown Jr. aboard the Ahart Racing/ Jenson Constriction No. 15 machine. The multi-time Placerville Speedway track champion pulled away from the field in impressive fashion over the course of the contest and was never seriously challenged.
Brown eventually accepted the Ron Stahl checkered flag for his 15th career Late Model win at the track, which ranks number four on the all-time list. Paul Gugliomoni came home in second, with Wayne Trimble third, recent winner Matt Micheli in fourth and birthday boy Rod Oliver in fifth. Dan Jinkerson crossed the stripe in sixth and finished off his third consecutive Anrak Late Model title.
Late Model results: 1. 15-Dan Brown Jr[1]; 2. 22G-Paul Gugliomoni[2]; 3. 71T-Wayne Trimble[3]; 4. 96M-Matt Micheli[5]; 5. 57-Rod Oliver[4]; 6. 23-Dan Jinkerson[9]; 7. 115-Chris Mcginnis[8]; 8. 37-Ray Trimble[7]; 9. 54-Matt Davis[10]; 10. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[11]; 11. 42F-Les Friend[13]; 12. 25-Cole Ciraulo[12]; 13. 23A-Kevin Jinkerson[14]; 14. 71-Shawn DeForest[6]
The Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock main event showcased some thrilling moments right down to the wire. Oakley’s Nick Baldwin started from the front row, but things were definitely not easy for the veteran. Auburn’s Thomas Arbogast has been fast all season long and found the high-line to his liking on Saturday night.
As Baldwin ran consistent laps up front, Arbogast began cutting away at his advantage while running the cushion. With race fans on the edge of their seats it was anybody’s race over the final circuits. The final lap saw Arbogast give it one final shot upstairs, but Baldwin was calm, cool and collected en route to narrowly accepting the checkered flag for his 25th career win.
It marked the fourth straight Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock championship for Baldwin and his fifth overall. Arbogast, Kevin Jinkerson, Kenny Bernstein and Clarence Holbrook rounded out the top-five.
Pure Stock results: 1. 17-Nick Baldwin[2]; 2. 86-Thomas Arbogast[7]; 3. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[11]; 4. 43-Kenny Bernstein[1]; 5. 2H-Clarence Holbrook[4]; 6. 1-Chris D’angelo[9]; 7. 55-Micky Dangelo[6]; 8. 92-Jay Bryant[10]; 9. 5-Jakob Doke[8]; 10. 93-Mel Byers[12]; 11. 23-Tyler Lightfoot[3]; 12. 54-Vigna Anthony[5]
The 20-lap Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association main event also provided fans with some entertaining competition on the red clay. Fairfield veteran Mike “Spanky” Grenert held command out front over much of the contest, as he looked to make it two wins in a row at Placerville Speedway.
Behind him though cars raced on every inch of the bullring and put on an excellent show. Lincoln’s Dylan Shrum had already picked off a pair of wins at the track this season and eventually began to work the high-side in his pursuit of the top-spot.
Shrum finally got the run he needed on lap 16 as Grenert also got loose off the fourth corner. After that Shrum raced away to record victory number three on the season at Placerville over brother Cody in second, Ben Wiesz third, Kevin “Hollywood” Bender in fourth and Mike Reeder fifth.
Dwarf Car results: 1. 31N-Dylan Shrum[7]; 2. 69N-Cody Shrum[2]; 3. 57N-Ben Wiesz[10]; 4. 9N-Kevin Bender[5]; 5. 72N-Mike Reeder[6]; 6. 12N-Mike Grenert[3]; 7. 15N-Shawn Whitney[8]; 8. 8N-Aron Mosier[11]; 9. 32N-Dan Geil[15]; 10. 41N-Brandon Aylesworth[16]; 11. 29N-Corey Eaton[4]; 12. 99N-Gage Meyers[9]; 13. 50N-Brenden Shrum[12]; 14. 42N-Isaak Geil[13]; 15. 05N-Tim Dodson[20]; 16. 94N-Denny Hannel[21]; 17. 30N-April Halliday[14]; 18. 2-Hailey Wiesz[19]; 19. 2N-Shane Thomas[17]; 20. 616N-Tyler Quilty[18]; 21. 19N-Patrick Weger[1]
Placerville Speedway returns to action this coming Labor Day weekend with the two-night Nor*Cal Posse Shootout for Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Wingless Spec Sprints. Reserved tickets are available for Saturday and Sunday September 2nd and 3rd by visiting www.placervillespeedway.com
Images courtesy of Tim Holland
