Austin Wood races to initial Sprint Car victory at Placerville Speedway

Fourteen-year-old Micro graduate Austin Wood has been nothing short of impressive during his rookie campaign at Placerville Speedway. After showing consistency all season, the Sacramento driver was able to park it in victory lane for the first time in his young Sprint Car career on Saturday night.

Sharing victory lane on Anrak Night at the Races were Cade Lewis with the USAC/BCRA Midgets, Jake Morgan with the BCRA Lightning Sprints and Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks.

The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car main event started off a little ragged, but once things got going, it was Austin Wood setting the pace over Ashton Torgerson. A multi-car incident on lap six then saw Torgerson get caught up in it, forcing him to the rear of the field.

Numerous slowdowns were seen in the feature, but Wood hit his marks on each restart. Suisun City youngster Chance Grasty gave chase after the leader and looked very strong all night long. Grasty had to fend off several challenges from Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick as the race wound down as well.

With a couple circuits remaining Grasty closed fast on Wood and made it a battle for the lead. The final lap saw the duo race nose to tail down to the checkered flag, which saw Wood edge out Grasty to claim the big win.

Carrick crossed the stripe in third, followed by point leader Andy Forsberg and 17th starter Tony Gomes, who was the Hard Charger after winning the B-main. Rounding out the top-10 were Bubba Decaires, Dustin Freitas, Camden Robustelli, Izaak Sharp and Jake Haulot.

The USAC Western States/ BCRA Midget 30-lap main event began with TJ Smith jumping out to the early lead. Tanner Carrick was doing double duty in both the Midget and Sprint Car on Saturday, and quickly found the high side to his liking.

Current USAC point leader Cade Lewis slow rolled the bottom to perfection however, as he sliced his way into the top-spot on lap eight. After that it was all Lewis up front who cruised to the Ron Stahl checkered flag ahead of Carrick, Smith, Brandon Wiley and Drake Edwards.

Fair Oaks racer Jake Morgan made a start with the BCRA Lightning Sprints on Saturday and drove to victory during their annual Tracy Taylor Memorial. Hunter Kinney stalked him every step of the way but couldn’t make the pass and settled for a runner up finish. Tyler Gerdes, Matt Land and Bradley Schmidt completed the top-five.

The Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks continued their trend of providing exciting racing in the main event. Jason Poppert has shown speed at times this year and led the opening stages of the feature. Current runner up in the standings Kevin Jinkerson then carved his way by for the top-spot on lap seven.

Poppert stayed close however, as the action was hot and heavy throughout the pack. The complexion of the race changed when contact ensued between Jinkerson and Poppert while battling for the point on lap 17. Jinkerson ultimately came to a stop, while Poppert was put to the rear in a rough driving call.

Five-time track champ and point leader Nick Baldwin now found himself out front and he would lead the remainder for win number six on the season. Tyler Lightfoot, Wayne Trimble, Tommy Sturgeon and David Silva rounded out the top-five.

Placerville Speedway finishes off the Berco Redwood/ Hoosier Tire championship campaign with Coors Light Big Trophy Night this coming Saturday September 14th.

Results

Placerville Speedway 

September 7, 2024

Winged Sprint Cars:

1. 2A-Austin Wood[4]; 2. 1-Chance Grasty[3]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]; 4. 92-Andy Forsberg[10]; 5. 7C-Tony Gomes[17]; 6. 94-Greg Decaires V[8]; 7. 9F-Dustin Freitas[1]; 8. 9T-Camden Robustelli[11]; 9. 24S-Izaak Sharp[14]; 10. 7H-Jake Haulot[6]; 11. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[18]; 12. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[15]; 13. 02-Ashton Torgerson[2]; 14. 25S-Seth Standley[12]; 15. 97-Blaine Craft[20]; 16. 21-Shane Hopkins[13]; 17. 14W-Jodie Robinson[7]; 18. 9L-Luke Hayes[9]; 19. (DNF) 17-Anthony Snow[16]; 20. (DNF) 34-Dakota Albright[19]

USAC/BCRA Midgets:

1. 101-Cade Lewis[5]; 2. 32X-Tanner Carrick[6]; 3. 68-TJ Smith[1]; 4. 00-Brandon Wiley[9]; 5. 3P-Drake Edwards[2]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen[3]; 7. 14-Bryant Bell[12]; 8. 20-CJ Sarna[10]; 9. 65-Ben Covich[11]; 10. 20J-Dale Johnson[13]; 11. 39T-Troy DeGaton[14]; 12. 50-Dane Culver[8]; 13. 18-Floyd Alvis[15]; 14. 32-Caden Sarale[7]; 15. 78-Ron Hazelton[16]; 16. (DNF) 4-Jett Yantis[4]

BCRA Lightning Sprints:

1. 21-Jake Morgan[1]; 2. 3F-Hunter Kinney[5]; 3. 27-Tyler Gerdes[2]; 4. 91-Matt Land[6]; 5. 00-Bradley Schmidt[3]; 6. 47-Greg Dennett[4]; 7. 1-Kennedy Ramirez[7]; 8. 12-Kindal Barstow[8]; 9. (DNF) 22-Jason Schostag[9]

Pure Stocks:

1. 17-Nick Baldwin[8]; 2. 23-Tyler Lightfoot[7]; 3. 86-Wayne Trimble[6]; 4. 16-Tommy Sturgeon[9]; 5. X86-David Silvia[4]; 6. 30-Kevin Jinkerson[2]; 7. 87-Jason Poppert[1]; 8. 12J-Jason Ramos[12]; 9. 22K-Jason Palmer[10]; 10. 36-Jared Gavard[11]; 11. 93-Mel Byers[13]; 12. 83-Ryan Peter[5]; 13. 27B-Arnita Bradshaw[14]; 14. 46-Roy Fulmer[3]

Story by Gary Thomas. Images courtesy of D&P Photos