It was a night of repeats at ASA Sanctioned Placerville Speedway Saturday night. A streamlined program that allowed for the annual Kids Night festivities presented in part by Strauss Food Service and Golden Spoke Bike Shop brought three very familiar faces to victory lane.
In the Sprint Car feature event, Andy Forsberg of Auburn drove to his fifth Red Hawk Casino Championship win of the season. Division point leaders Tom Tilford of Citrus Heights and Jerry Bartlett of Yuba City continued their winning ways in the stock car classes. Tilford posted his seventh win of the year in the Pure Stock class while Bartlett did the same in the Limited Late model feature.
In the sprint car feature event, Forsberg started fifth in the line up while pole sitter CJ Humphreys of Placerville charged into the early lead. With four laps complete, Kyle Hirst of Loomis powered from his fourth place starting position past second place starter Jimmy Trulli of Placerville and then Humphreys for the lead exiting the fourth turn.
Once in front, Hirst drove his way to a healthy lead aboard the Rich Rosser #23 car for the night. Forsberg moved into second place on the 11th lap and rapidly closed in on Hirst in lapped traffic. The two arch rivals began a dogfight for the lead entering the final laps of the race. However, during a yellow flag with a mere three laps to go, Hirst lost air pressure in his right rear tire and was forced to pit for repairs. Forsberg assumed the lead where he was challenged in the final laps by Trulli, McDonald’s Hard Charger Greg DeCaires of Elk Grove, Humphreys and Mike Henry of Sacramento.
“We were just about to have a really good race there to the finish, Kyle and I always do that,” said Hirst. “That was a tough deal, that team just can’t seem to catch a break here. We’ve had an up and down season and lately I’ve learned sometimes its better to be a little more lucky than good. Calistoga last week, here tonight.”
Standing in victory lane Forsberg was greeted by long time wrench Brian Cannon. Cannon was on the phone with the team’s owner, Keith Arellano, who informed Forsberg that a new 410 motor would be aquired this week so he can compete in next Saturday’s much anticipated Golden State Challenge Series race here.
“We had no 410 motors, we blew them all up so I figured I wasn’t going to have another shot at winning a GSC race at this place,” said Forsberg. “Well, it looks like we will be here next Saturday to close the series and try to finally win one of those darn races here at home. We can’t wait.”
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