PLACERVILLE, Calif. – A wild main event on Saturday night at Placerville Speedway saw three different leaders and numerous charges through the field, but in the end it was veteran Sean Becker who stood in victory lane.
Saturday night marked Becker’s first Thompson’s Family of Dealerships winged 360 sprint car triumph in weekly action at Placerville since July 22, 2017 and the 24th of his career.
His win aboard the Monhoff Racing/M&M Structures No. 88n also allowed him to tie speedway legend Brian Crockett for fifth on the all-time win list at the quarter-mile.
Becker is now just one win shy of matching C.J. Humphreys and Roger Crockett.
The 25-lap feature began with Mather’s Kalib Henry jumping into the lead at the helm of the McColloch RV Repair No. 17 machine.
A couple of early slowdowns for separate incidents involving round one winner and pole sitter Justyn Cox and Justin Sanders occurred, but that wouldn’t be the last noise made by either driver.
Once things got into a groove, racing heated up, with multiple lines for drivers to utilize on the tight bullring.
Henry was in search of his first career Placerville winged 360 win, but Hollister’s Tony Gualda, also in search of his initial triumph, made his way under for the lead on lap 12. Right after that, Becker also sliced his way around Henry to grab second, before a caution occurred with 17 laps complete.
Gualda had made numerous passes while rolling the bottom side to perfection, but after going back green went upstairs, while Becker patiently ran the bottom and slid up in front of him for the lead off turn four on lap 19.
Heading into turn one, Gualda tried to sneak back to the inside but ran out of room and spun sideways, dropping multiple spots. Becker was able to hang on before the caution flag waved.
When going back green, it was all Becker who drove off to take the Ron Stahl checkered flag for victory over Henry and Andy Forsberg.
All eyes over the second half of the race, however, were placed on Sanders, who made a thrilling charge back through the field to grab fourth at the finish. The always exciting driver ran every square inch of the speedway as he carved through the pack.
Cox also made an impressive run through the field, getting all the way back up to fifth by the conclusion.
Also sharing victory lane at championship point race number two were Ray Trimble with the limited late models, Nick Baldwin with the Jay’s Mobile Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks, Chance Crum with the BCRA Midget Lites and Ken Retzloff with the Vintage Hard Tops.
The finish:
Sean Becker, Kalib Henry, Andy Forsberg, Justin Sanders, Justyn Cox, Kyle Offill, Bobby McMahan, Geoff Ensign, Tony Gualda, Jodie Robinson, Jesse Love, Mike Benson, Greg DeCaires, Shane Hopkins, Cody Lamar, Justin Johnson, Chris Masters, Kenny Wanderstadt, Blake Carrick, Steven Tiner.