The annual Big Trophy Night at Placerville Speedway saw current SCCT point leader Justyn Cox dominate the feature for his second consecutive victory with the Thompson’s Winged Sprint Cars on Saturday.
Also scooping up wins on Coors Light Big Trophy Night were Matt Micheli with the Anrak Ltd. Late Models, Kevin Jinkerson with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Mike Miller in the 2023 Mini Truck finale. Miller also wrapped up his second career Truck title at Placerville Speedway.
The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged Sprint Car main event began with Justyn Cox jumping into the lead. The action was hot and heavy right from the start with several drivers battling it out just behind the leader. The initial eight circuits clicked off caution free, before a yellow and red in subsequent laps was seen.
On the restart Cox led Sean Becker, Andy Forsberg, Jake Andreotti and Colby Johnson in the top-five. Another slowdown on lap 12 set up a restart that got fans out of their seat, as Forsberg charged around Cox to grab the top-spot. Cox stuck with it though and slid back in front the following corner to reassume the point.
After that, Cox was never seriously challenged en route to accepting the Ron Stahl checkered flag for his 12th career Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph at the track. By doing so he tied Shane Golobic, Andy Gregg, Scooter Lambert and Stephen Allard for 14th on the all-time list.
Andreotti must be commended as well for putting together his finest night yet at Placerville Speedway aboard a Sprint Car. The Castro Valley racer earned the ADCO Driveline Fast Time Award to begin the evening and capped it with a runner up effort in the feature.
Forsberg crossed the stripe in third, with 11th starting Tony Gomes battling his way to fourth and Gauge Garcia rounding out the top-five. Ashton Torgerson charged from 14th to sixth, while Johnson, Becker, point leader Michael Faccinto and Ashlyn Rodriguez rounded out the top-10.
Winged Sprint Car results: 1. 42X-Justyn Cox[2]; 2. 7P-Jake Andreotti[6]; 3. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 4. 7C-Tony Gomes[11]; 5. 21X-Gauge Garcia[9]; 6. 88-Ashton Torgerson[14]; 7. 38-Colby Johnson[1]; 8. 35-Sean Becker[5]; 9. X1-Michael Faccinto[10]; 10. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[7]; 11. 93-Stephen Ingraham[12]; 12. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[15]; 13. 34-Justin Henry[17]; 14. 9L-Luke Hayes[19]; 15. 3QC-Michael Pombo[18]; 16. 5H-Josh Wiesz[20]; 17. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[8]; 18. 45-Jake Morgan[3]; 19. 25-Justin Johnson[13]; 20. 21-Shane Hopkins[16]
Live Oak, CA competitor Matt Micheli started from the outside of row one and kept everyone at bay to record his 26thcareer Anrak Ltd. Late Model victory on Saturday.
Early in the 20-lap finale Micheli felt pressure from last week’s Carnett Clash winner Paul Gugliomoni. Lincoln’s Dan Brown Jr. then climbed into second place with a handful of laps remaining and kept the leader honest at times.
Micheli hit his marks however and brought home the dub over Brown, Gugliomoni, point leader Dan Jinkerson and Rod Oliver. Micheli has been one of the very best behind the wheel of a Ltd. Late Model on the red clay, ranking number two in all-time wins.
Late Model results: 1. 96M-Matt Micheli[2]; 2. 15-Dan Brown Jr[6]; 3. 22G-Paul Gugliomoni[3]; 4. 23-Dan Jinkerson[4]; 5. 57-Rod Oliver[1]; 6. 37-Ray Trimble[5]; 7. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[9]; 8. 71T-Wayne Trimble[8]; 9. 71-Shawn DeForest[7]; 10. 115-Chris Mcginnis[10]; 11. 777-Michael Anderson[11]
The 20-lap Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock main event saw Kevin Jinkerson and Richard Brace Jr. share the front row. At the waving of the green flag Jinkerson charged into the lead with Nick Baldwin battling his way into the runner up spot.
Jinkerson, Baldwin and Brace raced closely together for a majority of the contest. The top-two ran the bottom to perfection, while third place Brace tested the waters on the high-side of the bullring. With the laps winding down Baldwin hounded the rear bumper of Jinkerson, but the Diamond Springs driver held him off for the victory.
It marked the second win of the season for Jinkerson and his eighth career triumph at the track. Baldwin, Brace, Tyler Lightfoot and Kenny Bernstein completed the top-five in the feature.
Pure Stock results: 1. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[1]; 2. 17-Nick Baldwin[3]; 3. 86-Richard Brace Jr[2]; 4. 23-Tyler Lightfoot[5]; 5. 43-Kenny Bernstein[6]; 6. 48-John Evans[4]; 7. 54-Vigna Anthony[7]; 8. 25-Ryan Parkhurst[9]; 9. 55-Micky Dangelo[8]; 10. 93-Mel Byers[11]; 11. 23D-Angela Dias[10]
Mike Miller started from the front row and wrapped up the championship in style with a dominant drive in the 20-lap Mini Truck finale.
Miller sat out front by a comfortable margin for most of the contest, although Kevin Jinkerson did close in at the end. Miller picked up his third win of the year over Jinkerson, Thomas Jensen, Logan Lakin and Wyatt Lakin.
Mini Truck results: 1. 16-Mike Miller[2]; 2. 03-Kevin Jinkerson[6]; 3. 112-Thomas Jensen[4]; 4. 08-Logan Lakin[3]; 5. 04-Wyatt Lakin[10]; 6. 26-Paizlee Miller[11]; 7. 21-Paige Miller[5]; 8. 75-Brycen Bragg[8]; 9. 28-Howard Miller[7]; 10. 7-Luke Costa[1]; 11. 07-Michael Murphy[9]; 12. (DNS) 65X-Brian Tremblay; 13. (DNS) 22-Nick Perkins
Placerville Speedway is dark this coming weekend but returns in a big way on Saturday August 26th with Legends Night, which also doubles as the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek finale. It also marks the Hoosier Tires championship point finale for the speedway, showcasing the Thompson’s Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Anrak Late Models, Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Dwarf Cars.
Photo by Tim Holland for Placerville Speedway
