Mather's Henry scores opening night sprint car win

Mather's Kalib Henry withstood a late race challenge from second-year driver Landon Brooks to bring home his fifth career Winged 360 Sprint Car victory at Placerville Speedway on Saturday. The triumph for Henry came at the helm of the Brown Eagle Racing No. 01 and moved him into a tie with Tanner Carrick and Jimmy Trulli respectively on the all-time win list at the track. Sharing victory lane at the opening Hoosier Tires championship point race were Jake Morgan in the visiting Wingless Sprints, Nick Baldwin with the Pure Stocks and Mike Miller in the Mini Trucks. The 25-lap Winged 360 finale began with Jake Haulot and Bubba Decaires battling it out for the top spot, as Haulot led the opening circuit. Superb racing was seen early on with Redding's Chase Majdic finding the high side to his liking. The "Magic Man" charged around Decaires and slipped under Haulot to grab the point shortly after. His bid at victory came to end however, when he slowed with issues on lap eight. Kalib Henry inherited the lead and pulled away to a sizable advantage, until Landon Brooks began to cut away at that as lapped traffic came into play. With the crowd coming to their feet Brooks inched to the inside for the lead with a few circuits remaining, but Henry remained poised and kept his momentum upstairs to drive back around and remain out front. After that Henry kicked it into overdrive and crossed the stripe for the win over Brooks, Placerville's Shane Hopkins, Decaires and Haulot. Rounding out the top-10 were Trent Canales, Andy Forsberg, John Clark, Colby Johnson and Justyn Cox. A total of 31 cars competed on opening night with the Thompson's Winged 360 Sprint Cars. Bubba Decaires began the evening by earning the ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust Fast Time Award with a lap of 10.647. It was a career best night for Decaires at the quarter-mile, with a fast time effort and fourth place finish in the feature. Fair Oak's racer Jake Morgan has been the man to beat with the Wingless Tour in recent years at Placerville Speedway. That story remained the same on Saturday, as he tallied his eighth career Wingless Spec Sprint victory at the track, moving into sole possession of first place all-time. Morgan had to withstand the relentless challenges from Shane Hopkins over much of the contest, but was able to remain calm, cool and collected to cross the Ron Stahl checkered flag after 25 laps of hard-hitting competition. Hopkins finished in the runner up spot and put together a phenomenal night of racing, paired with a third-place effort in the Winged 360 feature. Marcus Hardina, Jimmy Christian and Nick Robfogel completed the top-five. A total of 24 cars signed into the pit area with the Wingless Tour. Christian began the night by setting fast time with a lap of 12.385 around the quarter-mile. Three-time and defending Pure Stock track champion Nick Baldwin started out the 2022 season on the right foot by driving to victory in the 20-lap contest. At the start it was a battle of the behemoths with Baldwin and Dan Jinkerson locked in a torrid fight for the top-spot. Jinkerson eventually took the lead but ran into issues when a lapped car spun out in front of him. With nowhere to go he contacted the stalled car and was forced to the Coors Light work area. Baldwin found himself back in front and drove off to record his 15th career Pure Stock win at Placerville Speedway. Chris McGinnis had a stellar run in the main event and crossed the stripe in second followed by Scott Grunert, Jinkerson and Tommy Sturgeon. Another champion from last season saw victory at the Hoosier Tires point opener, as Rancho Cordova's Mike Miller scooped up the win with the Mini Trucks. "Security Tom" Thomas Jensen challenged Miller over much of the contest but had to settle for a runner up finish at the conclusion. Page Miller, Brycen Bragg and Wyatt Lakin rounded out the top-five. Winged 360 finish: 1. 01-Kalib Henry[4]; 2. 34-Landon Brooks[3]; 3. 21-Shane Hopkins[6]; 4. 94-Greg Decaires V[1]; 5. 7H-Jake Haulot[2]; 6. 5C-Trent Canales[7]; 7. 92-Andy Forsberg[10]; 8. 12J-John Clark[13]; 9. 5H-Colby Johnson[11]; 10. 31C-Justyn Cox[16]; 11. 4-Jodie Robinson[8]; 12. X1-Kaleb Montgomery[9]; 13. 7C-Steven Tiner[15]; 14. 24-Justin Henry[17]; 15. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[12]; 16. 20-Michael Ing[20]; 17. 5V-Daniel Whitley[14]; 18. 35M-Chase Majdic[5]; 19. 93-Stephen Ingraham[18]; 20. 2-Cody Spencer[19] Wingless Tour finish: 1. 7M-Jake Morgan[1]; 2. 51-Shane Hopkins[5]; 3. 21X-Marcus Hardina[2]; 4. 32C-Jimmy Christian[3]; 5. 3-Nick Robfogel[9]; 6. 7EJ-Josh Young[8]; 7. 3F-Jacob Tuttle[4]; 8. 151-Eric Hopkins[18]; 9. 17-Anthony Snow[21]; 10. 92Z-Troy DeGaton[13]; 11. 31P-Eathon Lanfri[11]; 12. 5-Kaimi Moniz Costa[16]; 13. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[10]; 14. 98Z-Jordan Garretson[15]; 15. 60-Scott Clough[22]; 16. 50-Tony Bernard[14]; 17. 12-Jarrett Soares[17]; 18. 2STX-Brent Steck[7]; 19. 79-Mark Hanson[6]; 20. 17M-Evan Gularte[19]; 21. 7-Trey Walters[12]; 22. X-Antonio Aragon[20]; 23. (DNS) 17T-Grasen Ternora Three-time and defending Red Hawk Casino Pure Stock track champion Nick Baldwin started out the 2022 season on the right foot by driving to victory in the 20-lap contest. At the start it was a battle of the behemoths with Baldwin and Dan Jinkerson locked in a torrid fight for the top-spot. Jinkerson eventually took the lead but ran into issues when a lapped car spun out in front of him. With nowhere to go he contacted the stalled car and was forced to the Coors Light work area. Baldwin found himself back in front and drove off to record his 15th career Pure Stock win at Placerville Speedway. Chris McGinnis had a stellar run in the main event and crossed the stripe in second followed by Scott Grunert, Jinkerson and Tommy Sturgeon. Pure Stock finish: 1. 17-Nick Baldwin[1]; 2. 22-Chris McGinnis[6]; 3. 14-Scott Grunert[10]; 4. 30-Dan Jinkerson[2]; 5. 16-Tommy Sturgeon[9]; 6. 316-Ryan Murphy[7]; 7. 68E-Wayne Trimble[8]; 8. 47-Michael Murphy[3]; 9. 4-Jonny Walsh[12]; 10. 1-Chris D'angelo[11]; 11. 93-Mel Byers[15]; 12. 23-Bill O'Neal[13]; 13. 08-Oroville Owens[4]; 14. 74-Russell Murphy[5]; 15. 24-Earl Lee[14] Mini Truck finish: 1. 16-Mike Miller[1]; 2. 08JR-Thomas Jensen[2]; 3. 28-Page Miller[6]; 4. 75-Brycen Bragg[7]; 5. 04-Wyatt Lakin[3]; 6. 12-Kaele Ahart[8]; 7. 70-Austin Struthers[4]; 8. (DQ) 61-Paizlee Miller[5] The Placerville Speedway is right back at it next Saturday April 9th with the 19th annual "Tribute to Al Hinds." Images courtesy of Tim Holland Photography