PLACERVILLE, CA (4-2-12) – Following last week’s late dose of winter that washed out the Civil War Series opener, Placerville Speedway is geared up more than ever this week to officially open the 2012 Fast and Furious Dirt Track Championship racing season this Saturday night at the local bullring with three divisions in competition.
The fire breathing winged 360 sprint cars will headline the program at the quarter-mile clay oval located on the El Dorado County Fairgrounds. The winged warriors will be joined by the Limited Late Model Division and the always entertaining grassroots Pure Stock Division for a trio of family entertainment to kick off the Easter Holiday weekend.
A total of 23 events are slated to form the schedule at Placerville Speedway in 2012. The majority of these events will be point racing events the three weekly divisions will compete for weekly winnings and accumulative points towards the 2012 Red Hawk Casino – Hoosier Racing Tires – Coors Light Championship titles. The recently rained out Civil War opener will likely be rescheduled during the year and announced at a later date.
Last season at Placerville Speedway, Auburn’s Andy Forsberg lived up to his long standing name of “Mr. Excitement” as he muscled his way to a dominating track championship driving for the F&F Racing Team owned by veteran competitors Alan Bradway and Steve Tuccelli.
Forsberg entered the final race of the year with an impressive 65-ppint lead and capped the 2011 Placerville Speedway season with 10 top ten finishes, 9 top fives and 4 feature wins, more than any other driver out of the 50 different drivers that competed throughout the year. Forsberg was chased to the championship title by Placerville’s Scott Russell. Antelope’s Sean Becker was third overall followed by Placerville’s own Jimmy Trulli, Brett Miller of Chico and CJ. Humphreys of Placerville.
Forsberg and the Placerville Posse that chased him hard in 2011 will be returning Saturday night. For the first time in his career, however, Russell will be returning as a car owner with former Silver Dollar Speedway champion Stephen Allard behind the wheel.
In the Limited Late Model division, Auburn’s Thomas Arbogast captured the division championship in 2011 and is expected to return. Last year Arobogast entered the final race of the year just five points ahead of defending champion Dan Brown Jr. of Grass Valley. When the final checkered flag waved, Arobogast captured the title with Galt’s Les Friend stealing the bridesmaid position over Brown, Matt Davis of Auburn and Doug Granboise of Jackson.
This year, the regulars of this exciting division are expected to return to the red clay along with some additional new faces in the division. One driver that is advancing into the Late Model ranks will be former Pure Stock Champion Tom Tilford of Citrus Heights. Tilford will miss the opening night race due to travel commitments but will return to make a run at the track championship for the remainder of the year.
In the Pure Stock division, the 2011 championship title went to Clarence Holbrook the III of Galt who held off veteran driver Rick Grunert of Woodland for the title. In the end, Holbrook claimed the crown by 14-points. Veteran local driver Dennis Armstrong of El Dorado finished in third place followed by Grass Valley’s Burney McClure and former Champion Chris Curtiss of Placerville. The majority of the track regulars in this divison are expected to return along with new faces in this ex citing grassroots division that is popular with fans of all ages.
Placerville Speedway will open its gates on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. Adult tickets will be $13, Seniors and Juniors will be $11 and Children will be $6 unless they are five years or younger. The pit gate will open at 2 p.m. on Saturday for competitors.
For further information on the upcoming opener the 2012 racing season at Placerville Speedway please visit www.placervillespeedway.com or call the track business office at (916) 783-3478.
– Media Release from Handy Racing Promotions
Photos courtesy of Donna Peter from Race Photos by Donna.
For more information on F&F Racing please visit: www.fnfracing.com.