Night two of opener weekend double header brings wingless madness back tonight !
[i Press Release from the office of Handy Racing Promotions]
PLACERVILLE, CA (4-8-11) – Drivers and fans alike braved the unusual cool temperatures Friday evening to partake in the long awaited Placerville Speedway Red Hawk Casino championship opener presented by Hoosier Tires, Riebes Auto Parts, The Mountain Democrat and Pepsi Cola. The evening brought three divisions to the track that has undergone significant repair by Handy Racing Promotions following underground drain damage due to the recent rains and runoff.
"I don't really care that it's cold enough to snow out here tonight, we've been waiting for this night for weeks now," said race fan Dave Adele of Pleasant Valley. "This place is the best thing for a family to do in this county and we love it. We're glad they were finally able to get it up and running for everyone to enjoy. This is our new home on Saturday nights until September."
In the 360 sprint car division, Shane Golobic of Fremont was dominant in Saturday's feature event to post his first win of 2011 about the Bullet Racing #35 owned by multi-time champion John Taylor. Golobic shared in the glory on Friday with Les Friend of Galt who took home the win in the Dirt Solutions Limited Late Model feature event sponsored by Performance Muffler and Brake of Galt. In the pure stock division, West Sacramento's Clarence Holbrook III snagged his first victory in a rough and tumble event.
In the sprint car division, Golobic started on the outside of the front row Friday. At the waving of the green flag, the former Calistoga Speedway champion powered off the high line of the track and advanced in front of former champion Mike Henry of Citrus Heights. From the start of the race to the finish, Golobic was the dominate entrant in the 25-lap affair that saw its share of caution flags for spins and incidents.
The most serious incident of the night came on the 20th lap when Antelope's Sean Becker flipped end over end in the fourth turn to draw a red flag. Becker, who is running both the Placerville Speedway and Civil War Championships this year, was uninjured but his Scott Miller owned #2sb suffered extensive damage and ended his night early.
When the checkered flag flew, Golobic took the victory over Brett Milller of Chico. Henry finished in the third position followed by Placerville's Scott Russell who started 7th. Chad Compton of Fair Oaks charged up from the 12th position to round out the top five.
A total of 22 sprint cars formed the field Friday night, in preliminary action, Sacramento's Billy Butler who turned a 10:758 second lap. Butler also won the B main later in the program over Jeremy Phillips of Arboga, Placerville's Jimmy Trulli, Jake Morgan of Red Bluff and Elk Grove's Matt Land. Heat races were claimed by John Michael Bunch of Paradise, Compton, and Cody Lamar of Rio Linda.
In the Dirt Solutions Limited Late Model feature, 14 entrants formed the race card and put on a display of side by side racing that heated up the whole place. The event was sponsored for the night by Performance Muffler and Brake and it was the owner of the company, Les Friend of Galt, who took home the win after a hard fought battle.
"Man it feels good to be standing here after the race again, it's been too long," said Friend. "What an exciting race tonight and that was just the first one. I hope we can do this more this year because its time for me to win a championship. I've been racing too long to not have one and this is the year."
Friend started on the outside of the front row Friday night and powered off the high side of the track into the lead over pole sitter Tom Sullivan of Citrus Heights. Even though he took the early lead, Friday's 20 lapper was far from a cake walk for Friend. With nine laps complete Thomas "on the gas" Arbogast of Auburn muscled his way up from the fourth position to steal the lead down the backstretch in lapped traffic.
Friend and Arbogast went to battle for several laps, trading the lead back and forth. Matt Micheli of Live Oak soon moved in on the action and took the second spot from Arbogast on the 16th lap to pressure Friend for the win. The two drivers battled side by side all the way to finish where Friend took the checkers followed by Matt Davis of Auburn who slipped past Micheli in the final turn. Matt Micheli took third place, Arbogast finished in fourth followed by Ken Micheli.
In the Pure Stocks feature event, Dennis Armstrong of Placerville took the initial lead. With four laps complete Ted Ahart of Placerville traded some paint with Armstrong in turn two and then took the lead on the backstretch. Ahart led the marjority of the event with exception of the final one. Coming through the third and fourth turns, Holbrook stole the lead position from Ahart. Holbrook started 11th in the field. At the checkered flag the first time winner was followed by Ahart, Armstrong, Rick Grunert of Woodland and Burney McClure of Nevada City.
The grandstands at Placerville Speedway will open up once again at 5 p.m. on Saturday night with night two of opening weekend featuring the Bay Cities Racing Association Midgets and Midget Lites along with the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car tour and the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars. Qualifying begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by heat races at 7. Adult tickets will be $13, Juniors and Seniors will be $11, Children $6. Those five and under will be admitted for free. All seating at Placerville Speedway is first come-first serve at 5 p.m. No reserving of seats is permitted and an early arrival to the speedway is advised as opening night is routinely standing room only.
[i Photo by Donna's Race Photos]
- Bill Sullivan on Apr 09, 2011
- Article Date: 4/9/2011