CHICO, Calif. – Andy Forsberg bested Kalib Henry in a photo finish to win night one of the Platinum Cup for 360 sprint cars Wednesday night at Silver Dollar Speedway.
Forsberg marched through the field, leading for the first time by inches on the sixth lap as he battled Rico Abreu for the lead. Riding the bottom, Forsberg was able to pull clear of Abreu on the next lap to take the lead.
The battle for the lead continued for the next few laps, with Abreu taking the lead back with 22 laps left in the 30-lap feature. Forsberg returned the favor on the next lap, regaining the lead from Abreu.
A caution period with 18 laps left for the slow car of Andy Gregg brought the field back to Forsberg’s bumper. By that point Henry was up to second and during the restart he took a big run at Forsberg, taking the lead at the start/finish line.
With 15 laps left Forsberg continued to work the bottom and regained the lead from Henry. With nine laps left Henry took another shot at Forsberg, rocketing around the outside to regain the lead off of turn two.
Henry continued to lead Forsberg, but the race wasn’t over as Forsberg got a run on the leader with three laps left through turns three and four. They raced side-by-side through turns one and two, with Forsberg emerging with the lead down the backstretch with two laps left.
On the white flag laps Henry got a good run around the top of turns one and two, allowing him to edge ahead of Forsberg down the backstretch. Forsberg stayed committed to the bottom and it paid off as he was able to get enough of a run out of turn four to edge Henry at the line by less than a car length to take the win.
Shane Golobic finished third, followed by Dominic Scelzi and Sean Becker.
The finish:
Andy Forsberg, Kalib Henry, Shane Golobic, Dominic Scelzi, Sean Becker, Rico Abreu, Bud Kaeding, Willie Croft, Michael Ing, Jonathan Allard, Colby Copeland, Kyle Hirst, Cole Macedo, Chase Johnson, J.J. Hickle, Jodie Robinson, Justyn Cox, Blake Carrick, Tim Kaeding, Shane Hopkins, Andy Gregg, Mitchell Faccinto, Justin Sanders, Chelsea Blevins.