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Placerville, CA – This weekend the Placerville Speedway is geared up to host another exciting Summertime Saturday night racing program with championship point race number 11 set to take place.
Featured divisions this Saturday July 20th will include the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, the Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks, BCRA Midget Lites and the always fun Vintage Hard Tops. It will also be the final tune-up for Winged 360 teams prior to next week’s $5,000-to-win “Mark Forni Classic” on July 27th.
Live music will be performed in the grandstand midway on Saturday by the Tommy Odetto Band from 4pm-6pm. Coors Light Happy Hour will also occur at that same time and driver autographs featuring CJ Humphreys, Chris Curtiss, Terry Bergstrom and Brandon Leedy will take place from 4pm-5.
“We look forward to hosting another great night of championship auto racing this Saturday at Placerville Speedway,” said Russell Motorsports Inc. President and track promoter Scott Russell. “Our fan support and team support has been really solid all season long, so we can’t thank everyone enough. This weekends event should be a good final shake down for teams heading into the Mark Forni Classic. We invite everyone to come out early and enjoy live music as always in the grandstands.”
This Saturday’s event will be the 10th point race for the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars and marks the start of five races to go in the season. Auburn’s Andy Forsberg fought through adversity last week to maintain a 36-point advantage at the top of the standings over second place Kalib Henry. Forsberg continues his search for a seventh Placerville Speedway track title as the campaign reaches five to go.
“Last week we definitely had the cards stacked against us with some engine gremlins early and then getting involved in an opening lap incident in the A-main,” commented Forsberg, who also doubles as a part-time goat farmer in the hills of Auburn, California. “Everyone on this team hung tough though and we luckily salvaged a top-10 out of the night. The competition has been really good here this season with a lot of young talent but still some of us old guys mixed in that can get the job done as well.”
Henry last week started from the front row and brought home yet another top-five finish in the feature. The son of former track champion Mike Henry has finished among the top-five in all but two events this season and will be gunning to add a victory this Saturday.
Elk Grove veteran Bobby McMahan has also put together a consistent year while being a common sight towards the front of the field each week. The 1982 Placerville Speedway Rookie of the Year sits third in points, with Hollister’s Tony Gualda and Roseville’s Jodie Robinson continuing to round out the top-five in the standings. Both Gualda and Robinson have been knocking on the door at times this season and will look to claim their first ever wins at the track respectively this weekend.
Completing the top-10 in the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car standings heading into Saturday are Calistoga’s Mike Benson, Placerville’s Shane Hopkins, Elk Grove’s Bubba Decaires, Napa’s Chris Masters and Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli.
With the Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks it continues to be “Mr. Consistent” Nick Baldwin at the top of the mountain. The former Placerville Speedway track champion also has a pair of victories to his credit and holds a 36-point lead over Kevin Jinkerson going into the 11th race of the season for the Pure Stocks. Completing the top-five are Jason Palmer, defending track titlist Scott Grunert and veteran Mel Byers.
Rounding out the top-10 in the Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stock standings with five races to go are Jesse “The Savage” Bryant, Stephanie Hanson, John Ewing, Dan Jinkerson and Jason Leonard. The biggest question everyone will be asking is, can anyone stop the juggernaut that is Dan Jinkerson? The ultra-talented wheel-man has picked off five victories in seven starts this year and has been a dominant force in the division. The battle for Rookie of Year now finds Bryant leading Hanson by 21-markers.
This Saturday is also the fifth point race of the season for the Mini Trucks, which have become a growing and popular class at the speedway. Things continue to be tight at the top of the standings with Ryan Murphy leading last year’s champ John LittleJohn by just two-digits. Tom Stanwood is also within striking distance and stands nine-markers behind Murphy.
Adult tickets this Saturday will cost $15, while seniors 62 plus, military and juniors 12-17 will be $13, children 6-11 are $6, kids five and under are free! Tickets can also be purchased online by clicking https://www.universe.com/events/2019-placerville-speedway-championship-pts-race-11-tickets-placerville-DYM164
The pit gate at Placerville Speedway will open at 2pm, with the front grandstand gate opening at 3pm. A happy hour is offered from 4pm-6pm in the grandstands featuring discounted Coors Light and Coors Original at the beer stand. Drivers meeting will be held at 4:30pm, with cars on track for wheel packing at 5. Hot laps, ADCO Driveline & Custom Exhaust qualifying and racing will follow. Live music will be performed from 4-6 in the grandstand midway.
The Placerville Speedway is located on the beautiful El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville, California. Take Hwy US-50 to Forni Road/Placerville Drive exit. Then go north on Placerville Drive to the Fairgrounds. The physical address is 100 Placerville Dr., Placerville, CA 95667. For more information on the Placerville Speedway log onto http://www.placervillespeedway.com
The Placerville Speedway would like to thank all of its partners for their support this season including Red Hawk Casino, Hoosier Racing Tires, Coors Light, Thompson’s Family of Dealerships, Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating, Absolute Auto Glass, ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust, Bear Republic Brewing, Capitol ACE Hardware, Carbon Copy, Carol Russell Bookkeeping Service, Crystal Basin Construction, Doug Veerkamp General Engineering Inc., El Dorado Hills Landscaping, Hangtown Hardwood Floors, High Sierra Industries, Les Schwab Tires, the Paint Spot, The Critter Getter, Mountain Democrat, Windfall Media, Arnolds for Awards, Sierra Child and Family Services, Sierra Landscape Materials, Sierra Arbor Worx, SuperClean Xpress Car Wash and Taylor Hirst, Navigate Realty.
Join over 12,000 followers of Placerville Speedway on Facebook, where you can keep abreast of updates for the 2019 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 quarter-mile clay oval 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 2019 sponsorship opportunities at the office.
Upcoming events at Placerville Speedway:
Saturday July 20: Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks, BCRA Midget Lites and Vintage Hard Tops
Saturday July 27: Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Ltd. Late Models, Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks and BCRA Midget Lites | 14th annual Mark Forni Classic
Saturday August 10: Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks and Hunt Magnetos Sprint Car Tour | Legends Night
Images courtesy of Jason Tucker Photos