PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Continuing the long-standing tradition of Independence Day racing at Placerville Speedway, the track’s annual Fourth of July Spectacular rendered its fair share of thrills Saturday night.
At the end, the event was capped off with a first-time winner in the form of Roseville, California’s Colby Copeland.
The 28-year-old driver had begun the season by earning three consecutive runner up finishes and charged to a scintillating victory late in the race on Saturday, marking his first career triumph with the Thompson’s Family of Dealerships winged 360 sprint cars.
The winged 360 sprint car feature came to the line with Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto and Fair Oaks’ Justin Bradway sharing the front row.
At the green flag, Faccinto pulled out to the lead with Fremont’s Shane Golobic battling with Bradway for the runner-up position. Early on it was apparent that the track surface was tuned up to perfection, following a bit of prep prior to the A-main.
A caution on lap six slowed things down, but when things got going back green, the action clicked off non-stop until the checkered flag.
Faccinto held command out front over Golobic, Copeland and eventually brother Michael Faccinto, who had carved his way forward from the fifth row. The slicked off surface lent itself to slide jobs and tremendous racing all throughout the field.
As the laps wound down Copeland solidified the second spot, and then executed a picture-perfect slider to grab the lead from Faccinto with just a few circuits remaining. Right after that Golobic followed suit and sliced his way to second before stalking the leader’s tail tank.
In a role of reversals from the previous week, it was Golobic this time who gave it one final shot on the last lap. Copeland hit his marks though and crossed under the checkered flag to record the victory.
He earned an extra $500 for the win courtesy of Absolute Auto Glass and took home the Slide Job City “Slide Job of the Night” worth an additional $50.
Golobic, Michael Faccinto, Redding’s Chase Majdic and Mitchell Faccinto completed the top-five. Majdic had an impressive night that also saw him set fast time in his heat race group.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 30-lap finale were Modesto’s Tony Gualda, Roseville’s Sean Becker, Templeton’s Kaleb Montgomery, Lincoln’s Blake Carrick and Auburn’s Andy Forsberg.
The $200 Hard Charger Award courtesy of Bullet Impressions and OneFastTee.com went to Placerville’s Shane Hopkins, who drove from 24th to 15th in the feature.
A field of 38 cars signed into the pit area on Saturday night. The winged 360 sprint cars will return to Placerville for the annual Mark Forni Classic on July 18th.
Sharing victory lane with Copeland at the Fourth of July event were Dan Brown Jr. (Limited Late Models), John Ewing (Pure Stocks) and Mike Miller (Mini Truck).
The finish:
1. Colby Copeland, 2. Shane Golobic, 3. Michael Faccinto, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Mitchell Faccinto, 6. Tony Gualda, 7. Sean Becker, 8. Kaleb Montgomery, 9. Blake Carrick, 10. Andy Forsberg, 11. Michael Sellers, 12. Tanner Carrick, 13. Jodie Robinson, 14. Zane Blanchard, 15. Shane Hopkins, 16. Jake Morgan, 17. Michael Ing, 18. Trent Canales, 19. Jimmy Trulli, 20. Greg Decaires, 21. Justin Bradway, 22. Brent Bjork, 23. Ryan Robinson, 24. Eric Humphries.