Lincoln's Tanner Carrick steals 2nd season win

Lincoln's Tanner Carrick didn't lead the most laps Saturday night in his family-owned sprint car at Placerville Speedway, but he led the most important one. Carrick, 19, brought spectators to their feet with a final lap pass as the checkered flag waved to earn the victory. "Placerville is a rough place to win at on any given week, and that's a tough place for the field of cars that continue to show up and support it," Carrick told Gold Country Media. "To grab another win last week in dramatic fashion was pretty cool." Roseville's Jodie Robinson raced into the lead at the waving of the green flag in the Thompsons Auto Center Winged 360 sprint car feature. The 18 year old navigated the high side of the track to perfection and held a steady advantage for much of the race, but the racing behind her was heating up. Championship point leader Joel Myers Jr., Andy Gregg, Tanner Carrick, Andy Forsberg and others fought high and low on the quarter-mile. As the lap count continued to wind down, the top five runners closed within inches of one another, just as Myers and Carrick looked to make something happen with Robinson out front. A late caution flag created the game-changing restart, however, and during it, Carrick sliced to the inside of Myers to grab second, before coming after the lead. As the white flag waved indicating only one lap remained, Carrick took the bottom lane of the track and closed in on Robinson. As they entered the final two corners, he muscled below her to take the lead. Robinson attempted to dive back underneath heading down the front stretch toward the finish line, but Carrick was able to cross the stripe by an official margin of victory that read just 0.265 seconds. After the win, Carrick credits his many sponsors and the time the team spends each week working to find themselves more wins. "I owe it to Clarke Riolo, Lucas Boland, K1 racing, Arai Helmets, maximum chassis, Rider engines, CVC, Kaeding Performance, ART and everyone else who helps us out," he said. "We're focused on wins, we spend seven days a week in the shop trying to figure out how to make more speed each lap, not just each race. All we want to do is just win and if we can keep winning, we will see how things shake out later this year." Saturday marked Carrick's second win of the season at the El Dorado County Fairground track where he is fourth in the championship point standings. Although she didn't grab the win, Robinson earned her best finish of the season thus far with her second-place. Hanford's Michael Faccinto continued his impressive string of events at the track, driving from 11th to third. Gregg claimed fourth. Lincoln's Blake Carrick, Tanner's brother, rounded out the top-five. The Carrick brothers will look to continue their strong season success this weekend as Placerville Speedway returns to action this coming Sunday for the annual 4th of July Freedom Fireworks Spectacular. It will be one of three events for them "I am very excited to get back up there on the 4th," said Carrick "We will be at Marysville Friday and Stockton Saturday." Tickets for the event and information can be found at www.placervillespeedway.com.