PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Michael Faccinto has proven to be one of the more versatile drivers in the Golden State and on Saturday night he checked another box off his resume, by putting together a dominating run for his initial winged sprint car victory.
Faccinto had captured a USAC Western States Midget triumph on the red clay in early May, prior to jumping aboard the Friends & Family Racing X1 Sprint Car later that month. The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged Sprint Car feature had a particularly tough time getting underway, taking four attempts to get one lap scored. Once that happened however, things went green to checkered in no time.
Once out front Faccinto easily pulled away from the rest of the pack and worked traffic to perfection. The 32-year-old was never seriously threatened and controlled the main event with ease on way to his first career Winged Sprint Car victory. It was a terrific rebound for Faccinto and the Bushey Financial/ Geico sponsored X1 team, who failed to qualify for the feature just two races back.
The final laps saw an excellent race between Michael Pombo, Andy Forsberg and Willie Croft. The trio fought it out tooth and nail, with Pombo claiming the runner up spot, which marked a best ever Placerville result for the Easton driver. Pombo has been impressive in limited starts at the track, also earning a podium this past Monday.
Forsberg, Croft and Landon Brooks completed the top-five. The remainder of the top-10 was filled out by Colby Johnson, Chase Johnson, Jodie Robinson, 17th starter Kalib Henry and Justin Henry. Faccinto also began the evening by bringing home the ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award, touring the quarter-mile in 10.909 seconds. A total of 34 Thompson’s Winged Sprint Cars competed on Saturday.
Other winners on the night included Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Pure Stocks, Thomas Jensen with the Mountain Democrat Mini Trucks and Josef Ferolito with the BCRA Lightning Sprints.
The Finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. X1-Michael Faccinto[1]; 2. 98M-Michael Pombo[3]; 3. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 4. 5H-Willie Croft[2]; 5. 5V-Landon Brooks[8]; 6. 38-Colby Johnson[6]; 7. 28-Chase Johnson[12]; 8. 4-Jodie Robinson[7]; 9. 17-Kalib Henry[17]; 10. 24-Justin Henry[14]; 11. 21-Shane Hopkins[15]; 12. 94-Greg Decaires V[18]; 13. 21M-Michael Ing[19]; 14. 25-Justin Johnson[16]; 15. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[13]; 16. 12J-John Clark[9]; 17. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[5]; 18. 21X-Gauge Garcia[10]; 19. 18P-Jack Phillips[20]; 20. 7C-Tony Gomes[11]