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Andy Forsberg from Auburn, CA driving the No. x1 car for F & F Racing wins his 4th points race out of 9 so far at Placerville Speedway.

PLACERVILLE, CA (8-20-11) – “So are they getting tired of me yet,” were the words uttered by Auburn’s Andy Forsberg as he climbed from his sprint car in victory lane before a crowd that bellowed a mix of cheers and jeers. For Forsberg, the wins just keep on coming at both Placerville Speedway and various venues this season bringing his overall total up to an even dozen. Saturday’s win was the fourth of the season at Placerville as Forsberg is just two weeks away from taking home his third track title here.

“I know a lot of people have their opinions and tonight I’m sure there are plenty since I started on the front row,” said Forsberg. “The bottom line is, I don’t make the rules we just go by them and if the luck of the draw puts on the front row we’re not complaining. We’re having a great year. Last year I could barely win a race at this time so this feels really good to have this team come together like it has.”

Saturday night was Riebes Auto Parts Night at Placerville Speedway and Forsberg started on the outside of the front row following a straight up inversion. Fast qualifier Billy Strange of Rancho Cordova started on the pole of the 25-lap feature event on a night that would become a career best for Strange.

At the waving of the green flag, Forsberg powered his way ahead of Strange off of the high line of the track as they raced their way through the first set of turns and down the backstretch. Reaching lapped traffic just after the five lap mark, Forsberg sliced and diced his way through the field with Strange in hot pursuit with third place starter Jimmy Trulli of Placerville right in the mix as well trying to overtake Strange for the bridesmaid position and veteran Greg DeCaires racing for the fourth position in the early half of the race.

While Forsberg, Strange and Trulli raced amongst one another out in front, DeCaires went to battle with Chico’s Brett Miller who eventually overtook the former track champion for the fourth position. At the finish line Forsberg brought the field across the line while Strange finished a career best second place over Trulli, Miller and DeCaires. Placerville’s CJ Humphreys finished one spot out of the top five.

“Billy was really fast tonight,” said Forsberg. “I got around him there on the start but I knew he wasn’t far behind me if I made a mistake. Tonight I get to celebrate this win with my good friend Tom Arbogast in the late models. This is a good night for the Auburn guys.”

In the Limited Late Model class, Tom Arbogast posted his second win of the season to pad his recent point lead as the season heads into its final two weeks. Arbogast powered his way around Matt Micheli and Les Friend earlier in the race to launch a battle with Friend that lasted up until the 8 lap mark after contact damaged Friend’s front suspension and he was forced to park for the night.

Once in front, Arbogast fended off the challenges of Micheli to the line who was followed by Charlie Marrs of Yuba City, Matt Davis of Auburn and Dan Brown Jr. of Grass Valley.

“This was a great night,” said Arbogast. “My family is here in the stands and I have a special friend up in the pits that came to watch me tonight, Sleepy Stevens. Sleepy is an old time racers that use to prep this track up until the early 90’s. He told me once I got fast he would come watch me. It was really special to bring him with us tonight and get the win.”

In the Pure Stock Division, Dominic Stone of Folsom drove his way to his first career win. For Stone, he started in the second row and drove to second place on the opening lap behind early leader Mike McClure of Nevada City. With three laps complete, Stone muscled his way around McClure for the lead he would never relinquish, yet, still had to work extremely hard to maintain as one of the divisions most competition drivers was hot on his tail until the end.

Starting fourth, Tom Tilford of Citrus Heights powered his way into second place behind Stone and the two drivers raced bumper to bumper for the lead in an excellent display of aggression, patience and sportsmanship that included some occasional paint trading which kept the fans on the edge of their seats.

On the final lap, Tilford had a right front tire go down which allowed Clarence Holbrook III of Galt to take the second position to try and reel in Stone. At the line Stone was followed by Holbrook, Tilford, Chris Curtiss of Placerville and Chris Van Roekel of Grass Valley.

“It feels really good to finally get a win like this,” said Stone. “To know I held of Tom Tilford feels even better, he is tough to beat at this place and they have helped me a lot over the past two years. I have to thank Marek Bernert for his help in getting me out there and making me fast too. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without all his help.”

The three track regulars were joined Saturday night by the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars. In this visiting division Ryan Winter of Galt powered his way to the lead after the waving of the green flag. Racing his way through lapped traffic, Winter held off the challenged of Ballico’s Brett Barstow, Kevin Bender of Rocklin, Jeremy Blackshire of Marysville who rolled over during the race and rallied back to fifth. Scott Dahlgren of Ballico rounded out the top five.

 

Next week, racing returns to Placerville Speedway with the first of just two remaining point races of the year. The grandstands will open at 5 p.m. with qualifying starting at 6:30. Watch www.placervillespeedway.com. for additional information on this event in the coming days.

By Bill Sullivan, Handy Racing Promotions, Inc. Media Relations

Our thanks to Donna Peter from www.racephotosbydonna.com for the use of her photos.

By Bill Sullivan /Civil War Series Media Relations

CALISTOGA, CA (8-6-11) – To win a race at Calistoga Speedway is an honor for any driver, in fact it is something that most California sprint car drivers dream of one day accomplishing in their career. Some do, some don’t and then there are others who have the golden opportunity to do it more than once in their lifetime.

Saturday night, Auburn’s Andy Forsberg joined the elite list of repeat winners at Calistoga Speedway as he scored the second Calistoga Cup victory of his racing career. This win was by far more meaningful than the first victory was, as Forsberg took his F&F Racing (Family & Friends) team owned by Steve Tuccelli and Alan Bradway to their first ever Calistoga win. Calistoga Speedway was always a favorite track to the late Dave Bradway Jr. during his short career and bringing the Bradway family back to victory lane at the famed half mile dirt track definitely will be long remembered by many.

“This is really a special place and this is a very special night for everyone,” said Forsberg. “This is a track that I have wanted to win at since I was a little kid watching my Dad race at. The first win was something I had always dreamed of and to be able to come here and win it again and give this team their first win here is really special. This was one of Junior’s favorite tracks and to be involved with the Bradway family and this team and to be standing here right now is really a great thing.”

Forsberg started Saturday’s event on the outside of the second row, positioned next to his arch rival, Sean Becker of Roseville. The two veteran drivers were lined up behind two young guns of the sport, pole sitter Trent Canales of Roseville and Chase Johnson of Penngrove.

At the waving of the green flag Johnson took the initial lead and appeared to be on a mission to make his first career victory take place at the largest and most intimidating track in California. After distancing himself by more than 2 seconds over the field, Johnson fended off the efforts of a hard charging Canales as well as Becker and Forsberg who dueled with one another behind the two sophomore drivers.

As Johnson reached lapped traffic his hopes of an upset victory came to a sudden halt when he collided into the rear nerf bar of Dennis Harvey Jr. in the fourth turn and caused terminal damage to the front suspension of his car to draw a caution period that put Canales on the pole for the restart. For Canales, such hopes of a big win also came crashing down when he lost power several laps later and Becker assumed the lead with Forsberg hot on his tail.

For Forsberg, Saturday’s race marked a strong points night as he knew long before it was over he had some breathing room between he and second place points runner Steven Tiner of Visalia. Tiner rolled over twice in Saturday’s event and fell out of contention before the checkered flag. He had entered the night just five points behind Forsberg in the battle for the championship.

With Canales and Johnson both out of the event, the battle came down to Becker and Forsberg in a classic rivalry that had its share of excitement. Ronnie Day of Salinas wasn’t out of the mix either as he charged up to third place behind the dueling rivals with Kyle Hirst of Sacramento in their wake along with former cup winners Greg DeCaires of Elk Grove and Mike Benson of Calistoga.

For Becker, the streak of recent bad luck continued when the left rear tire of his Scott Miller owned Sprint Car exploded and sent him to the pit area and then back to the rear of the field. This placed Forsberg on the point for one of the final restarts but his final charge to the win was far from over as Day pressured the five time Civil War Series Champion in the waning laps.

Day made several attempts at a pass on the high side of turns three and four until he lost an inside rear tire on the final lap. As Forsberg raced around the half mile for the final time Hirst gave it everything he had to try and catch the leader to no avail. Forsberg crossed the line ahead of Hirst, Benson, DeCaires and Brett Miller of Chico.

“I could see something going on in Becker’s tire during the yellow,” said Forsberg. “It looked low like we used to run them a few years ago to account for the heat and pressure but as I followed him around I just had a feeling something was going wrong so I just drove smart and gave myself enough room to get around if it blew and it did. This place is a track where tires play a big role in how you finish and we we’re pretty lucky that we didn’t have any issues as hard as I was running trying to hold off Day for those last few laps. I really want to thank everyone on this team for a great car, we are really starting to click off some wins together and everything is going so well for us.”

The B feature was claimed Saturday night by Herman Klein of Sacramento who was followed by Jeff Parady of Pope Valley. Miller and Jeremy Burt of Grass Valley. Heat races were claimed by Jeff Griffen of St. Helena, Tiner and Hirst. Day was the fast qualifier of the race with a 17:983 second lap.

Following Saturday’s race, Forsberg now sits with a 20-point advantage over Tiner with three events left on the series tour. Hirst is third in the standings followed by Alissa Geving of Penngrove and Becker who rounds out the top five, 85-points out of the lead. The next Civil War event will be Wednesday, September 7th at Silver Dollar Speedway for the Pacific Sprint Cup which opens the 2011 Gold Cup Race of Champions. For further information on this event visit www.civilwarsprints.com.

Our thanks to Steve LaMothe of Steves Racing Photos for the generous use of his photos.