PLACERVILLE – Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick had been ultra consistent this year at Placerville Speedway and on “Burgers & Brew Night” the 21-year-old put it all together for his first triumph of the season.
Joining Carrick in victory lane on Saturday were Bakersfield’s Brody Fuson with the USAC Western States Midgets, Waterford’s Dakota Albright with the BCRA Lightning Sprints and Diamond Springs’ Dan Jinkerson with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks.
All winners went home with a meat box package valued at $300 courtesy of Kings Meats and a wine mix assortment thanks to Solid Ground Brewing.
The enthusiastic crowd saw some wild action during the night. The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged Sprint Car feature saw Tanner Carrick jump into the lead and easily distance himself from the rest of the pack. Lots of moving and shaking was going on behind him though as Seth Standley, Michael Faccinto, Landon Brooks, Tony Gomes, Michael Ing and others went back and forth.
Lap nine saw Gomes and Ing make contact, resulting in Ing coming to a stop over the edge of the corner. Once Ing was pushed off however, he drove up and contacted Gomes under caution, which saw both drivers come to a stop. The red lights were then flashed on, and officials allowed Gomes to make repairs, while keeping his spot in fourth at the same time. Once going back green, two more laps were clicked off, before a caution waved yet again.
On the double file restart, point leader Faccinto shot into the lead, only to see the yellow lights come on for a jump start call. He was then docked two spots for being deemed early and on the ensuing restart things began to heat up again. With Carrick up front having his way, Gomes worked his way forward and did his best to catch the leader.
A final restart with three laps to go saw Gomes keep him honest, but Carrick hit his marks on the final circuit to accept the Ron Stahl checkered flag. It marked his seventh career Winged 360 triumph at the track.
Gomes finished second, with Brooks capping a strong night by finishing third. The Rio Oso racer set fast time and captured his heat race in exciting fashion earlier on. Faccinto crossed the line in fourth with Bubba Decaires having a fantastic run from 14th to fifth. Decaires looked very racy in the main event.
Rounding out the top-10 were Dominic Gorden, 16th started Jake Morgan, Michael Sellers, Luke Hayes and Gauge Garcia.
Winged Sprint Car results: 1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 2. 7C-Tony Gomes[9]; 3. 94X-Landon Brooks[5]; 4. X1-Michael Faccinto[4]; 5. 94-Greg Decaires V[14]; 6. 10-Dominic Gorden[6]; 7. 45-Jake Morgan[16]; 8. 15-Michael Sellers[11]; 9. 9L-Luke Hayes[7]; 10. 21X-Gauge Garcia[15]; 11. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[13]; 12. 21-Shane Hopkins[10]; 13. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[8]; 14. 25S-Seth Standley[1]; 15. 98-Chris Masters[12]; 16. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[17]; 17. 21M-Michael Ing[3]
The 30-lap USAC Western States Midget feature saw former series champion Blake Bower take the early lead, before two-time champ Michael Faccinto carved his way by on lap four. Some of the best entertainment in the main event came from Cade Lewis, who ran the high side like a young Jac Haudenschild.
After bringing out an early caution Lewis blasted through the field and got back up third with 16 laps complete. As he rapidly closed on Faccinto and runner up Brody Fuson, Lewsi got into the cushion a bit too hard and stalled the car, ending his stellar run.
After the restart Fuson made the pass of Faccinto in impressive fashion and went on to accept the checkered flag. Faccinto, Randi Pankratz, Danika Jo Faccinto and Ron Hazleton completed the top-five.
USAC Western States Midgets results: 1. 51-Brody Fuson[6]; 2. 14J-Michael Faccinto[5]; 3. 8-Randi Pankratz[2]; 4. 13-Danika Jo Faccinto[4]; 5. 15-Ron Hazelton[9]; 6. 14JR-Ben Worth[8]; 7. 65-Ben Covich[11]; 8. 78-Marvin Mitchell[12]; 9. 00-Blake Bower[1]; 10. 5K-Cade Lewis[3]; 11. 7L-Kevin Gray[10]; 12. 20-CJ Sarna[7]
The 20-lap Tracy Taylor Memorial for the BCRA Wingless Lightning Sprints saw Dakota Albright lead up front for the duration, but several others did not make it easy on him. Youngster David Gasper, Winged Sprint Car regular Shane Hopkins and others raced high and low on the bullring.
Lightning Sprint legend Scott Kinney looked early on that he may have a shot at the win but encountered issues with 11 laps down. Hopkins then appeared to have a car to beat but hopped over a right rear just past the halfway point, which sent him for a set of barrel rolls. He luckily emerged okay but was done for the race.
After that Gasper ran the ragged edge in his attempt to get by the leader, but Albright never wavered en route to the victory. Gasper ended up second, with Greg Dennett, Cody Meyers and Zack Schmidt rounding out the top-five.
BCRA Lightning Sprints results: 1. 35JR-Dakota Albright[2]; 2. 51-David Gasper[5]; 3. 47-Greg Dennett[7]; 4. 17F-Cody Meyer[4]; 5. 21C-Zack Schmidt[10]; 6. 21-Shane Hopkins[6]; 7. 91-Matt Land[9]; 8. 00-Bradley Schmidt[1]; 9. 9-Scott Kinney[3]; 10. 25K-Hunter Kinney[8]; 11. 22-Jason Schostag[11]
The Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks displayed several thrills of their own on Burgers and Brew Night. The 20-lap finale saw Oakley’s Nick Baldwin and Dan Jinkerson battle it out with the duo racing inches apart from each other. Fourth of July winner Thomas Arbogast then joined the party and made it a three car fight up front.
At one point in heavy duty lapped traffic the trio zigged and zagged their way down the front stretch, as the crowd came to their feet. Jinkerson ultimately withstood every challenge from Arbogast as the race wound down to pick up his 38th career Pure Stock win at Placerville Speedway.
Arbogast capped a solid week by finishing in the runner up spot, followed by Baldwin, Kevin Jinkerson and Bill O’Neal.
Pure Stock results: 1. 52-Dan Jinkerson[3]; 2. 86-Thomas Arbogast[5]; 3. 17-Nick Baldwin[1]; 4. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[4]; 5. 23-Bill O’Neal[8]; 6. 83-Ryan Peter[7]; 7. 43-Kenny Bernstein[2]; 8. 1-Chris D’angelo[9]; 9. 55-Micky Dangelo[10]; 10. 47-Michael Murphy[6]; 11. 93-Mel Byers[11]; 12. 27-William Upton[12]
The Placerville Speedway returns to racing this coming Saturday July 15th with Red Hawk Casino Night.
Photos by D&P Photos
Brody Fuson celebrates victory in the USAC Western States Midgets at Placerville Saturday. D&P Photos
