PLACERVILLE, California — Throughout the season Yuba City’s Jerry Bartlett has been closing in on the Late Model-Pro Stock point lead at Placerville Speedway. Entering Saturday’s ninth Red Hawk Casino Championship point race, Bartlett was tied for the position with his arch rival Dan Brown Jr. of Nevada City, the defending track champion. After driving to his fifth win of the season, Bartlett has now taken over the lead of the division that has been getting much attention from fans and media throughout the year.
Bartlett started Saturday’s feature event in the third position of Saturday’s 20-lap event, behind the front row of Placerville’s John Krehbiel and his daughter, Heather Bartlett of Yuba City who joined the late model field Saturday night aboard her Pure Stock on a night the division was absent.
For the first 14 laps, it was daughter holding off father as Heather Bartlett drove past Krehbiel to assume the lead and Jerry Bartlett moved into second place early in the race. Brown started the event in the sixth position and was in the hunt for the top three until lap four when he suffered a motor loss and parked on the infield for the remainder of the race.
After several looks, Bartlett slid below his daughter for the lead in turn four of the 15th lap. Krehbiel passed Heather Bartlett for second in the late laps of the race, the 22 year old lady racer rallied back into the bridesmaid position prior to the checkered flag where she finished second ahead of Jay Norton of Shingle Springs who started ninth and was the McDonald’s Hardcharger of the night. Dennis Armstrong of El Dorado finished fourth followed by Krehbiel.
“I didn’t even realize Dan Brown was out of the race,” said Bartlett. “Early on I had someone beating on me from behind and I just figured that was him. He had a tough break tonight and we had a good night that put us ahead in the points. For a long time I thought it was going to be a daughter-father finish rather then a daughter father. I had to be careful getting past her, had I pushed her or anything I’d be sleeping on the couch tonight.”
The Pro Stock-Late Models were Placerville’s only division competing in the Red Hawk Casino Championship Saturday night. In the Midget division, both the competitors from the Bay Cities Racing Association and the Capitol City Midget group competed together.
In the BCRA class, Evan Margeson of Tacoma, Washington started fifth and took the lead on lap five of the event aboard Esslinger powered Beast chassis.. Margeson would lead the remaining 25-laps of the race. He was chased to the line by Scott Pierovich of Alamo and veteran driver Jimmy Sills of Placerville who returned to the seat about Dave Thurston’s owned Midget.
Matt Land of Elk Grove was the winner in the CCM ranks. Land started the event in the 14th position overall and drove his Motorwear –Spike chassis past class leader Rick Young of Shingle Springs on the 12th lap. Land claimed the victory of his class, finishing 11th overall. Young drove to second place over Bill Lyons.
In the Midget Lites class, Jason Sneep of Fremont drove from 7th to the lead on the fourth lap to maintain the lead for the remainder of the race. Brian Corso of Ripon finished in second followed by Scott Kinney of Citrus Heights.
The wingless feature was won on Saturday night by Taylor Simas of Chico. Simas started in the sixth position and took the lead on the opening lap to maintain it for its entirety. He was chased across the line by McDonalds Hardcharger Marc Mackay of Shingle Springs, Zack Lynskey and Matt Streeter.
Racing returns to Placerville Speedway in a big fashion this Saturday night with the annual July Fourth Spectacular. Winged Sprint Cars will return along with the competition Late Model Pro Stocks and Pure Stocks. The evening will conclude with a giant fireworks display presented by Handy Racing Promotions and the El Dorado County Fair Board. For further information visit www.placervillespeedway.com
