Modesto’s Tony Gomes took the lead on lap two and held off a hard-charging Andy Forsberg to claim his fifth career Placerville Speedway Winged Sprint Car victory on Saturday, July 13. Fellow winners on Kings Meats Burger Night included Jacob Tuttle with the Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Tour, Nick Baldwin with the Red Hawk Casino Pure Stocks and Mike Miller with the Mountain Democrat Mini Trucks. All four winners went home with a lucrative and loaded meat box thanks to presenting sponsor Kings Meats.
At the waving of the green flag in the Thompsons Family of Dealerships Winged 360 Sprint Car finale it was a battle between Shane Hopkins and Gomes up front. Hopkins led the initial lap, before Gomes took over as they completed lap two. The first 13 circuits clicked off caution free in fast and furious fashion, prior to a yellow for Chris Masters.
On the restart nine-time track champion Forsberg carved his way into the runner up spot and gave chase after the leader. On the initial green flag run Gomes worked lapped traffic to perfection and did so once again during the final half. A couple of close moments in traffic caused Gomes to have catlike reflexes, however.
As the race wound down Forsberg cut into the lead and when the white flag waved, he was right there on the tail tank of the C&M Motorsports No. 7c. A hair-raising moment then occurred for the leaders heading down the backstretch, as a lapped car shot across the groove directly in front of the top duo.
Both Gomes and Fors.
