PLACERVILLE, Calif. – After being within reach several times before, Jodie Robinson finally had it all come together on Saturday to record her first career Placerville Speedway winged sprint car victory.
By way of her triumph the 19-year-old reigning Knoxville Nationals Queen joins her father David and brother Ryan on the all-time Placerville Speedway winged 360 sprint car win list. David, a three-time track champion on the red clay, earned 23 career wins at the track, while Ryan claimed his initial victory last season.
The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged Sprint Car feature began with eight-time track champ Andy Forsberg charging into the lead ahead of Dylan Bloomfield and Robinson. Robinson immediately found the high side to her liking and would move past both Bloomfield and Forsberg to snatch the lead on lap three.
Once traffic came into play Forsberg closed to her rear tail tank but banged the cushion extremely hard at one point, allowing Bloomfield the chance to sneak by. With heavy duty lapped traffic it kept things entertaining as Robinson had to pick her spots wisely to fend off the 16-year-old racer. Bloomfield was all over her during the waning laps, but Robinson hung tough and crossed the Darin Stahl checkered flag for the big win.
After recording a runner up finish with the USAC Western States Midgets in May, Bloomfield came back Saturday to pick up a career best Placerville Winged Sprint Car result of second. The youngster was impressive all night and came close to victory at the end. Michael Faccinto was also strong for the second straight week, earning the ADCO Driveline Fast Time Award, followed by a third-place effort in the feature. Forsberg and 2017 track titlist Steven Tiner completed the top-five.
Sharing victory lane with Robinson on Saturday were Jake Morgan with the Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Tour, Kevin Jinkerson with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Mike Miller with the Mountain Democrat Mini Trucks.
The Finish:
Feature: 1. 4-Jodie Robinson[3]; 2. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[1]; 3. X1-Michael Faccinto[4]; 4. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]; 5. 7C-Steven Tiner[7]; 6. 31C-Justyn Cox[8]; 7. 21-Shane Hopkins[11]; 8. 21X-Gauge Garcia[5]; 9. 34-Andy Gregg[6]; 10. 20-Justin Bradway[14]; 11. 94-Greg Decaires V[9]; 12. 93-Stephen Ingraham[17]; 13. 33T-Jimmy Trulli[13]; 14. 9L-Luke Hayes[15]; 15. 2-Cody Spencer[18]; 16. 85-CJ Humphreys[16]; 17. 98-Chris Masters[19]; 18. 12J-John Clark[10]; 19. 2S-Jayce Steinberg[20]; 20. 21M-Michael Ing[12]