Modesto’s Tony Gomes tallied his second Thompson’s Winged Sprint Car win of the season on Saturday at Placerville Speedway, while Auburn’s Andy Forsberg secured his 10th career track championship.
Fellow winners on Coors Light Big Trophy Championship Night included Ray Trimble with the Mountain Democrat Late Models, Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Austin Struthers with the Mountain Democrat Mini Trucks.
Martinez driver Anthony Slaney locked up the Late Model title, with Baldwin earning his sixth Pure Stock championship. Mike Miller also claimed his third Mini Truck title on Saturday.
The 25-lap Sprint Car feature began with Jodie Robinson, Andy Forsberg and Tony Gomes battling up front. Multiple different leaders were seen in the main event, with Forsberg up front until Robinson drove by early on.
Several cautions plagued the contest over the first five laps, but in between them the action continued to be hot and heavy. Restarts made things interesting, and Gomes soon found his groove, getting into second on lap nine. He then made the move by Robinson on lap 10 and looked to pull away from the pack.
Placerville’s Shane Hopkins was also on the charge from his 12th starting spot. Hopkins ran the bottom side to perfection and grabbed second on lap 16. Lapped traffic late in the going made things hectic for Gomes, which allowed Hopkins to close the gap.
Gomes hit his marks however and crossed under the Ron Stahl checkered flag for victory over Hopkins, Robinson, Bubba Decaires and Jake Andreotti in the top-five. Forsberg crossed the stripe in sixth and it was good enough to wrap up championship 10 at Placerville. Decaires finished second, just seven markers back, while Gomes missed out on the title by only nine points.
Ray Trimble started from the front row in the Mountain Democrat Late Model feature and led every step of the way en route to victory. Dan Brown Jr. came home in second, followed by Matt Micheli, Rod Oliver and Tyler Lightfoot.
Anthony Slaney had battled his way towards the front at one point until getting crossed up while making a bid for the lead and ended up eighth. He finished up with five wins this season en route to the title.
With the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks, it was Sacramento’s Jason Poppert leading the way early on. Poppert has shown immense speed this season and looked to park it in victory lane on Big Trophy Night.
Nick Baldwin hounded Poppert though and on lap 10 made a beautiful outside move to grab the point. Baldwin led the remainder for his seventh win of the year to lock up the title. Poppert, Ryan Peter, Tyler Lightfoot and Kevin Jinkerson rounded out the top-five.
The final Mountain Democrat Mini Truck race of 2024 was all about Austin Struthers, who picked up his first win of the season. Paige Miller, Luke Costa, Paizlee Miller and Bobby Clark completed the top-five.
Mike Miller battled towards the front until encountering issues that left him with a seventh-place result. It was still good enough to win his third track title.
Results
Placerville Speedway
Coors Light Big Trophy Night
September 14, 2024
Winged Sprint Cars:
1. 7C-Tony Gomes[4]; 2. 21-Shane Hopkins[12]; 3. 14W-Jodie Robinson[1]; 4. 94-Greg Decaires V[8]; 5. 7P-Jake Andreotti[10]; 6. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]; 7. 02-Ashton Torgerson[9]; 8. 2A-Austin Wood[3]; 9. 25S-Seth Standley[5]; 10. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[7]; 11. 15-Cody Key[16]; 12. 98-Chris Masters[13]; 13. 25JR-Cody Johnson[19]; 14. 3-Cole Schroeder[14]; 15. 24S-Izaak Sharp[6]; 16. 97-Blaine Craft[15]; 17. 88-Austin Torgerson[17]; 18. 24K-Koa Crane[11]; 19. 85-AJ Alderman[20]; 20. 17-Anthony Snow[18]
Ltd. Late Models:
1. 37-Ray Trimble[1]; 2. 15-Dan Brown Jr[3]; 3. 96M-Matt Micheli[4]; 4. 57-Rod Oliver[5]; 5. 23J-Tyler Lightfoot[8]; 6. 28G-Randy Shafer[9]; 7. 22G-Paul Gugliomoni[11]; 8. 4X-Anthony Slaney[7]; 9. 15J-Jay Norton[6]; 10. 7R-Thomas Reynolds[13]; 11. 54-Matt Davis[2]; 12. 98-Kiely Ricardo[10]; 13. 17-Evan Craig[12]
Pure Stocks:
1. 17-Nick Baldwin[3]; 2. 87-Jason Poppert[1]; 3. 83-Ryan Peter[6]; 4. 23-Tyler Lightfoot[5]; 5. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[11]; 6. 22K-Jason Palmer[9]; 7. X86-David Silvia[2]; 8. 91-Andrew Brulez[10]; 9. 93-Mel Byers[13]; 10. 16-Tommy Sturgeon[4]; 11. 46-Roy Fulmer[8]; 12. 47-Michael Murphy[7]; 13. 27B-Arnita Bradshaw[12]
Mini Trucks:
1. 70-Austin Struthers[3]; 2. 21-Paige Miller[7]; 3. 7-Luke Costa[1]; 4. 26-Paizlee Miller[4]; 5. 03-Bobby Clark[8]; 6. 28-Howard Miller[5]; 7. 16-Mike Miller[2]; 8. 07-Tyler Goggin[6]
Images courtesy of Tim Holland
