Dotson goes from 17th to 1st in Placerville

Ethan Dotson charges from 17th to win California IMCA Speedweek feature at Placerville Speedway By Gary Thomas

Images courtesy of Elliot Digital Design

Placerville, CA – May 7, 2021…Bakersfield’s Ethan Dotson has put together a fantastic run during California IMCA Speedweek and completed a thrilling charge from the 17th starting spot on Friday to capture the 25-lap Dirt Modified event at Placerville Speedway.

Oakley, California’s Andrew Pearce also scooped up victory in an exciting IMCA Sport Mod feature, during what was the penultimate round of California Speedweek.

Veteran racer Jim Pettit II out of Prunedale took the early lead in the Dirt Modified finale. The decorated driver has made less than five career starts at Placerville Speedway and looked good early as he fended off a hungry pack of racers. Following a couple yellows Santa Maria’s Clint Reichenbach came alive and hounded Pettit, before taking the lead on lap nine, only to have a caution come out to save Pettit.

At this point Ethan Dotson, who transferred out of the B-main, had been on the prowl running the low side to perfection and climbed all the way to third within 10-laps. He continued moving forward by claiming second on lap 13 and then made it a side-by-side battle with Pettit one lap later.

Dotson then inched ahead on lap 15 and led the remainder to score the entertaining victory over Reichenbach, Pettit, Kellen Chadwick and 19th starter Cody Burke. Ryan Daves carved his way from 18th to sixth, while Tim Balding, Jerry Flippo and Nick Decarlo rounded out the top-10.

IMCA Dirt Modified A-main finish 25-laps 1. 174-Ethan Dotson[17]; 2. 7C-Clint Reichenbach[3]; 3. 6-Jim Pettit II[1]; 4. 83-Kellen Chadwick[11]; 5. 20-Cody Burke[19]; 6. 22D-Ryan Daves[18]; 7. 1B-Tim Balding[7]; 8. 13-Jerry Flippo[8]; 9. 17-Nick DeCarlo[6]; 10. 49-Troy Foulger[9]; 11. U81-Bobby Motts[20]; 12. 25-Craig Cassell[10]; 13. 34J-Jeffrey Faulkner[12]; 14. 2Y-Justin Yaeger[5]; 15. 14H-Matthew Hagio[15]; 16. 22M-Mitch Machado[16]; 17. 4X-Anthony Slaney[13]; 18. 5M-Jake Mayden[14]; 19. 19K-Buddy Kniss[2]; 20. 07X-Troy Morris III[4]

The 25-lap IMCA Sport Mod main event was also an enjoyable contest with youngster Andrew Pearce jumping into the lead at the waving of the green flag. Bakersfield’s Jason Nation gave him everything he could handle all race long as the pair put on an excellent show. More than a few times it looked like Nation would charge around the outside, but Pearce was smooth as glass down low and hit his marks each lap.

The duo raced close together right down to the finish, which saw Pearce come out on top of Nation, Bakersfield’s Tyler Bannister, Pacheco’s Kenny Shrader and 14th starter Josh Most of Red Oak, Iowa. Completing the top-10 were Chris Falkenberg, Guy Ahlwardt, Andrew Peckham, Jason Bannister and Tanner Thomas.

IMCA Sport Mod A-main finish 25-laps 1. 15P-Andrew Pearce[2]; 2. 83-Jason Nation[3]; 3. 151-Tyler Bannister[8]; 4. 188-Kenny Shrader[1]; 5. 28-Josh Most[14]; 6. 3C-Chris Falkenberg[7]; 7. 10-Guy Ahlwardt[13]; 8. 175-Andrew Peckham[6]; 9. 51-Jason Bannister[17]; 10. 22T-Tanner Thomas[16]; 11. 2-Kelly Campanile[12]; 12. 22S-Scott Foster[10]; 13. 38-KC Keller[9]; 14. 42F-Les Friend[4]; 15. 127-Jacob Mallet Jr[15]; 16. 22-Adriane Frost[18]; 17. 4M-Emali VanHoff[19]; 18. 21T-Chase Thomas[11]; 19. 7J-Fred Ryland[20]; 20. 27-Timothy Allerdings[5]

The Placerville Speedway returns to action this evening with four divisions on the card including Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Pure Stocks, Mini Trucks and BCRA Lightning Sprints. Grandstand tickets are sold out, but Pit Passes are available via Pit Pay or at the Pit Booth.