September 19th Gene Romero brought his West Coast Flattrack series to Placerville Speedway. The speedway surface was specially prepared for the flat track motorcycles.
The bottom was cut flat and the burm at the top was removed. These changes made the track super smooth, and rim riding the fastest way to get around the speedway on this evening.
#1 Doug Nunes went into the evening with a commanding 45 pt lead over #11x, of Jason Sneep. Sneep looked back on the successful season, and noted 2 DNF’s were an element of him not winning the championship. Sneep and Nunes both drive cars owned by Lonnie Lopez, but Sneep has his own team to prepare and set up the 11x.
The win was Sneeps 6th win of the season and he finished 2nd in the point’s championship.
Doug Nunes was Mr. Consistency all year, including 3 main event wins, to take his third championship in a row. He is now ready to move up to a midget, per our conversation.
Points were interesting at the start of the event, for the 5th, 6th, and 7th places in points. Joey Hoover was 5th, with 632 pts, Dakota Albright was 6th, with 629 pts, and Rick Holbrook was 7th, with 627 pts. The thought comes to mind, “What would it have been like if the Lites had qualified a couple of tracks”? The championship could have been decided at Placerville with qualification. It’s a thought for next year.
Heat one saw #10 Brian Corso in his Specialty Construction, ART/Kawasaki, jump into the lead and never look back. #9 Chris Glass, in the Red Hawk Casino ART/Suzuki, battled with #6 Rick Holbrook in his G Flow Wings, ART/Kawasaki, as well as #1 Doug Nunes in his Superior Mfg, Lonnie Lopez, Bailey/Suzuki.
Heat two saw a rejuvenated #53c Cory Green, in his Ultra-Shield, Green Motorsports, ART/Honda. Starting on the front row Green charged into turn one and took control of the race with confidence, and held the lead for 4 of the eight laps. #11x Jason Sneep in the LaCasita Restaurant, Lonnie Lopez, Bailey/Suzuki, took the lead on lap 5 with a rim riding pass.
The main event saw a different track surface than the heat races. Twenty eight sprint cars had run four heats and a B main, drying the track out and creating a burm in turns one and two.
#53c Cory Green started on the pole, with #6 Rick Holbrook along side. Green did not pick up the throttle as fast as Holbrook out of turn four, and Holbrook was called for jumping the start. Holbrook was sent to the back by the official.
At the green # 9 Chris Glass jumped into the lead followed by #10 Corso, #11x Sneep, and #1 Nunes. The leaders put on quite a show behind Glass, swapping places in lapped traffic.
Green and 35jr Dakota Albright, in the Wayne Albright Special, ART/Kawasaki, battled it out for 5th and 6th. The red came out on lap 9, for a soft roll over by #11 John Taylor in the Lonnie Lopez, Bailey/Suzuki, in turn two.
On the restart Sneep jumped into second behind Glass, and two laps later took over the lead with a pass on the back stretch. Five laps later the yellow came out for #73 Craig Holstad in the Callen Pool Supply, EMC/Suzuki, with an engine failure.
On the restart Nunes tried his classic “Bonsai” move into turn one to take over second place, but Glass took it back on the back straight. Holbrook worked his way back to seventh.
Heat 1: Corso, Glass, Holbrook, Nunes, Holsted, Burton, Buffa, J. Hoover
Heat 2: Sneep, Green, Albright, R. Hoover, Taylor, Shurley, Goehring
Main: Sneep, Glass, Nunes, Corso, Albright, Green, Holbrook, J. Hoover, Shurley, Taylor, Buffa, Goehring, Burton, Holsted
Notes of interest:
Justin Burton returned to racing with a new engine.
Stuart Goehring also returned after a crash previously at Placerville.
According to MyLaps.com, Goehring turned the best lap of the main event on lap 14 with a speed of 82.419 and a time of 9.391. So much for all transponders.
Justin Burton, according to MyLaps.com, had the fasted lap in heat 1, with a speed of 63.179 and a time of 12.251. Jason Sneep had the fastest lap in heat 2 at 61.9 mph and a time of 12.504
All time track record at Placerville is 9.913 set by Tim Kaeding in 04, according to the web site. Midget Lite record is 12.691.
