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Sean Becker, Matt Micheli, Jason Palmer, Danny Wagner and Derek Boarman claim Placerville Speedway wins during Thompson’s Auto Fan Appreciation Day
By Gary Thomas and Brad Kennedy
Placerville, CA – June 10, 2017…Roseville’s Sean Becker showed his veteran expertise on Saturday night at the Placerville Speedway, snagging the lead in traffic and going on to take the checkered flag for his first victory of the Red Hawk Casino championship season at the quarter-mile. Also sharing victory lane on Saturday were Matt Micheli with the Ltd. Late Models, Jason Palmer with the Pure Stocks, Danny Wagner with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association and Derek Boarman in the Mini Trucks. A total of 75 cars signed into the pit area on Thompson’s Auto Fan Appreciation Day at the races. Becker was making his third Thompson’s Auto Winged Sprint Car start of the year aboard the Dan Monhoff owned M&M Structures No. 88n sprinter and certainly made it pay off, scooping up the $2000 payday with extra money courtesy of Thompson’s New GMC Auto Center. “It feels great to give Dan and the whole 88n team a win tonight,” Becker said. “I really enjoy getting the chance to drive this car whenever possible.” Early on in the feature it was Rio Linda’s Cody Lamar who showed the way while making his first weekly start of the season. In the opening stages second and third place runners Jimmy Trulli and Steven Tiner battled, as Tiner got by for the runner up spot before a caution occurred when fifth place starter Justin Sanders came to a stop in turn four. On the restart Tiner tried to drive around Trulli for second. Tiner and Greg Decaires then made contact, ultimately spinning the 94 of Tiner sideways. Both Decaires and Tiner somehow continued on, but Decaires fell to 14th, while Tiner fell to 19th. Lamar continued to set a high temp pace as Colby Wiesz and Sean Becker turned on the burners to reel Lamar in as traffic came into play. The trio went three wide on multiple occasions, until Lamar hit the burn on the exit of turn two sending him up the track blocking Weisz's momentum and allowing Becker to drive by both on lap 19. Becker went on to claim his 101st career sprint car victory. Watsonville’s Justin Sanders rebounded from the early stoppage to charge for a second place finish at the checkered. It was also Sanders’ initial start of the Red Hawk Casino championship season. Colfax racer Wiesz claimed third, with Lamar and Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli rounding out the top-five. A strong field of 30 Thompson’s Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Cars signed into the pit area. Justyn Cox set the ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust fast time to begin the night with a lap of 11.410. The four heat races were picked off by Steven Tiner, Justin Sanders, Sean Becker and Jimmy Trulli. The B-main was captured by Kirt Organ. Seven Limited Late models showed their efforts on Saturday night as series point leader Matt Michelli and Mike Lightfoot led the field to green. At the drop of the green Michelli pulled away by four to five car lengths over Randy McDaniel and Ray Trimble. As Michelli pulled away McDaniel and Trimble would trade shots for second in an entertaining seesaw battle. As traffic became a factor for race leader Michelli, McDaniel and Trimble both closed in for the race lead. The leaders battled hard until Ray Trimble made a bid underneath a lap car in turn one making contact and spinning. On the restart Michelli would feel pressure again from Mcdaniel, but Michelli would show no fear to win his third race of the 2017 season. Randy McDaniel was second, Tyler Lightfoot finished third, Mike Lightfoot was fourth and Ray Trimble ran fifth. The lone heat race went to Ray Trimble. Thirteen Pure Stocks entered the speedway on Saturday night for their 7th overall race of the season. Bill O’Neil and Russ Murphy set the front row for the 20 lap main event. O’Neil took the early lead, as Russ Murphy and Scott Grunert battled for the top spot going three wide in the opening circuits. On lap six leader O’Neil spun off turn two surrendering the lead to Murphy. On lap seven Grunert took the lead however, Murphy reclaimed the top spot the following lap. A lap 14 caution then mixed the field up as third place runner Jason Palmer grabbed the lead from Grunert, who had gotten back by Murphy just prior. Palmer went on to win his second race in a row over Dan Jinkerson, Scott Grunert, Nick Baldwin and Jesse Van Ronkel. Heat race winners were Jason Palmer and Scott Grunert. A solid field of 21 Nor-Cal Dwarf Cars invaded the speedway Saturday night. Ryan Winter and Aaron Rupley set the field for green as Winter grabbed the early lead. Mike Grenert then took over the point on a lap three restart. Winter unfortunately then spun off turn two on lap seven, bringing out the yellow and collecting a number of cars. Lap 11 saw Danny Wagner pass Grenert for the lead and he would go on to win the main event. Grenert was second with Winter, Scott Dahlgren and Mike Reeder comprising the top-five. Heat winners included Mike Grenert, Justin Winter and Shawn Jones. Seven Mini Trucks signed into the Placerville Speedway pit area on Saturday night. Derek Boarman and Ted Ahart set the front row of the 20 lap main event. Boarman and Ahart would battle side by side for the first 15 laps of the main until lapped traffic held Ahart up, allowing Boarman to take the lead. He went on to win over Ted Ahart and Corey Eaton. The heat race winner during the night was Ted Ahart. The Placerville Speedway will now have two weekends off, before resuming action on Saturday July 1 with Red Hawk Casino point race number seven. A few nights later the annual Freedom Fireworks event takes place on Independence Day. Join over 9000 followers of Placerville Speedway on Facebook, where you can keep abreast of updates for the 2017 season. You can also find Placerville Speedway on Twitter by following us https://twitter.com/pvillespeedway - In addition, Placerville Speedway is also on Instagram. Please follow us @PvilleSpeedway. The Placerville Speedway is operated by Russell Motorsports Incorporated, which can be reached at the track business office at 530-344-7592. Contact Kami Arnold or Scott Russell directly for 2017 sponsorship opportunities at the office. Results can be found at our website www.placervillespeedway.com Photos courtesy of Cleveland Digital Imaging