Much of the staff of Handy Racing Promotions Incorporated were wearing huge smiles Wednesday night while a capacity crowd in the grandstands were wide eyed with excitement as the second version of Wild Winged Wednesday brought big names and big time thrills to ASA Sanctioned Placerville Speedway Wednesday night.
In the end, it was Shane Stewart of Bixby taking home the win after hard fought battle with Jessie Hockett of Warsaw, Missouri late in the race. Sacramento’s Mike Henry finished third, a notable podium finish for the local driver among two of the nation’s best winged sprint car drivers.
Stewart, driving for successful car owner Paul Silva, started the event in the seventh position and patiently worked his way through the best drivers of the Civil War Series to make his way to the front of the front of the field to position himself for a slingshot style pass on Hockett in the second turn of the 28th lap of the race.
“Starting in seventh I knew I had my work ahead of me here tonight,” said Stewart. “Paul Silva always puts together a great car. Jesse was running really fast up top and I was better on the bottom but I had an opportunity to move up there and got by him. This was a lot of fun coming here tonight.”
Hockett was aboard the Harold Mains owned #35a car for the evening. Although he was disappointed he didn’t add Placerville Speedway to his list of more than 106 career victories, the Midwest hot shoe was happy with the podium finish before he returned to the Pacific Northwest to continue his stint with the ASCS Series.
“We had a really good run going and then a couple mistakes really cost me tonight,” said Hockett. “This is the first time I’ve run here and this is a very competitive track, it’s racy with a great crowd for a weeknight. I enjoyed coming down here tonight, I would have liked to be up a position but things didn’t go our way all the way to the end.”
Hockett started second in Wednesday’s event and took the lead from early race leader and Civil War point leader Sean Becker on the 18th lap in the second turn when Becker slapped the cushion in turn two. Myles Bishop of Escalon led the first 6 laps of Wednesday’s event. Henry started the event in the fifth position aboard the Rudy Warrington owned #18 car. The former Civil War champion drove his way as high as second place during the 30-lap feature and dueled with both Hockett and Stewart in a race that brought the impressive weeknight crowd to the edge of their seats.
“I can’t complain about third here tonight,” said Henry. “Running with these guys here is an honor and we’ve been getting stronger and stronger every week with this team. I have to thank Rudy and my whole team for all their hard work, its really showing.”
A total of 37 cars were on hand for Wednesday’s event. In preliminary action, Henry won the B feature. Heat races were dominated by locals. James Sweeney, Andy Gregg and Camron Mendes took the first three wins of the night. Tony Bruce Jr. of Liberal, Kansas won the fourth heat of the night.
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