PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Race fans were treated to a tremendous night of competition at Placerville Speedway on Saturday during the annual Carnett Clash presented by Country Lube Automotive.
In the end it was Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox standing in victory lane after claiming an entertaining Thompson’s Winged Sprint Car feature.Â
Joining Cox as Carnett Clash victors on Saturday evening were Paul Gugliomoni with the Anrak Late Models, Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Mike Grenert with the Nor-Cal Dwarf Car Association.Â
The 25-lap Thompson’s Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car feature started off with Placerville’s Shane Hopkins setting the pace up front. Justyn Cox assumed the runner up spot on the opening lap and hounded the rear tail tank of Hopkins’ machine, as last week’s winner Landon Brooks also joined the party.Â
Cox would then charge into the top-spot with 10 circuits complete, prior to a caution waving shortly after, which let everyone catch their breath. During the slowdown Brooks also had a right rear tire go flat that forced him into the work area. On the ensuing restart nine-time track champ Andy Forsberg blasted into second and came hard after the leader.Â
The duo of Cox and Forsberg proceeded to put on the best show we’ve seen all season long at Placerville Speedway, with both drivers battling back and forth for the top spot. With six laps remaining however, Forsberg got crossed up on the cushion off turn four it appeared, which sent him around for a spin. Tony Gomes had raced from 12th to third, but was also caught up in the incident, along with Shane Hopkins, who was running in sixth.Â
On the restart Cox held strong with 10th starting Dylan Bloomfield trying to keep him within sight. Coming to the white flag Bloomfield looked to close the gap, but the yellow lights flashed on for a stalled car in turns one and two.Â
The green, white, checkered restart saw Cox hit his marks to bring home the victory aboard the Bates-Hamilton Racing No. 42x entry. Bloomfield put together a stellar run for the second straight week and came home in second at the helm of the Vertullo Racing No. 83v.Â
Clovis youngster Dominic Gorden earned his first Placerville Speedway podium in third, with point leader Michael Faccinto in fourth and Wilton’s Ashlyn Rodriguez rounding out the top five.
The finish:
- 42X-Justyn Cox[3]; 2. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[10]; 3. 10-Dominic Gorden[9]; 4. X1-Michael Faccinto[7]; 5. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[4]; 6. 88-Ashton Torgerson[17]; 7. 21X-Gauge Garcia[20]; 8. 37-Michael Pombo[8]; 9. 94-Greg Decaires V[5]; 10. 93-Stephen Ingraham[18]; 11. 45-Jake Morgan[19]; 12. 9L-Luke Hayes[16]; 13. 98-Chris Masters[14]; 14. 12J-John Clark[13]; 15. 3C-Casey Schmitz[11]; 16. 94X-Landon Brooks[2]; 17. 92-Andy Forsberg[6]; 18. 7C-Tony Gomes[12]; 19. 21-Shane Hopkins[1]; 20. 5H-Josh Wiesz[15]
Â
Â