PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Justin Sanders started from the pole and led flag-to-flag for his 26th career winged 360 sprint car triumph at Placerville Speedway during the Nor*Cal Posse Shootout opener Friday night.
Sharing victory lane on Friday at the Nor*Cal Posse Shootout/ Legends Weekend presented by Berco Redwood was Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, who earned a thrilling late race win with the Ultimate Sprint Car Series.
With the victory on Friday evening, Sanders matched Sean Becker for fourth place on the all-time Winged 360 Sprint Car win list at the track. The driver of the Dale Miller Septic/ Thompson’s Dealerships No. 4sa was poised as always in lapped traffic, while keeping a very fast Shane Golobic at bay throughout the feature.
Sanders earned the pole of the Dash by way of winning his heat race out of fourth starting with a bold move on the initial start. He went on to win the six-lap contest, putting him on the pole in the feature. When the green flag waved in the 30-lap main event, he immediately jumped out front ahead of Golobic.
The duo showed that they were the drivers to beat on this night and never got too far away from each other. Golobic kept Sanders within sight, but a couple of timely slow downs just as he was getting ready to pounce hampered his efforts.
A trio of red flags along with several cautions plagued the flow of the race, but in between it, several movers and shakers were seen. As the race wound down in lapped traffic, Golobic caught Sanders, and it looked like we would be in for a classic battle towards the checkered.
Just as that happened, however, a red flag period occurred with only four circuits remaining. The incident involved Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox, who had put on an exceptional charge from 14th to fifth up until that point.
Sanders then hit a perfect restart and led the final four laps to pick up the win over Golobic, Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, Sacramento’s Austin Wood and Auburn’s Andy Forsberg.
The Ultimate Sprint Car Series made an epic Placerville Speedway debut on Friday night. Outstanding racing was seen right from the drop of the green flag and lasted all the way to an overtime- green, white, checkered conclusion.
Tanner Carrick hopped out to the early lead and set a torrid pace up front. The Lincoln driver was very impressive as he looked for his second career USCS victory.
The action behind him was hot and heavy all throughout the field. Braden Chiaramonte took over second early on and methodically closed the gap between himself and the leader.
With traffic coming into play, Chiaramonte closed quickly off turn two and snagged the top spot with 20 laps complete. After that he pulled away, eventually accepting the white flag. He looked to be headed for victory, only to have a stalled car bring out a yellow instead of the checkered.
Always the non-winged ace, Ryan Bernal started from ninth and had battled back and forth with several drivers. He moved into third just past the halfway point, before utilizing the late caution to make his move.
The overtime restart saw Bernal rocket by Carrick for second coming to the white flag and then shoot under Chiaramonte down the backstretch. The exhilarating finish saw Bernal come out on top over Chiaramonte, Carrick, Josh Young and Illinois traveler Carson Short.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[2]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[5]; 4. 2A-Austin Wood[10]; 5. 92-Andy Forsberg[3]; 6. 5V-Colby Copeland[11]; 7. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[13]; 8. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[7]; 9. X1-Chance Grasty[15]; 10. 21-Shane Hopkins[19]; 11. 41-Dominic Scelzi[20]; 12. 14W-Jodie Robinson[9]; 13. 7P-Jake Andreotti[16]; 14. 83T-Tanner Carrick[21]; 15. 25-Seth Standley[8]; 16. 2XM-Max Mittry[6]; 17. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[12]; 18. 7-Carson Short[22]; 19. 42X-Justyn Cox[14]; 20. 88B-Brad Bumgarner[23]; 21. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[18]; 22. 7C-Tony Gomes[4]; 23. 10-Dominic Gorden[17]; 24. 93-Stephen Ingraham[24]
