PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Justin Sanders continued his recent dominance at Placerville Speedway by fending off a late challenge from Corey Day to bring home his seventh career Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory.
With the win Sanders now has sole possession of second on the SCCT list. It also marked his 24th career Winged 360 Sprint Car triumph at Placerville Speedway, placing him into a tie with Brian Crockett for seventh all-time.
The race was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT affiliate CaliDirt.tv.
“It feels great to be back up here in victory lane for the second straight week at Placerville Speedway,” said the driver of the Dale Miller Septic/ Thompson’s Auto No. 4sa. “I knew Corey Day was going to be coming so I had to hit my marks and pick my spots wisely through lapped traffic. We changed some things around on this car in the off-season and I feel we are the best we’ve ever been at the moment.”
Kaleb Montgomery set the early pace in the 35-lap feature and did so in impression fashion at the helm of his David Crye Inc. No. 3 mount. Last August saw him claim his initial Placerville win and for a while it looked as if he’d add number two on Saturday. For the second consecutive week the action heated up as the race wore on with several racers poking their nose in the mix.
Sanders and Day battled tooth and nail along with Tony Gomes, Tim Kaeding, Shane Golobic and others towards the front. Sanders eventually carved his way to the inside of Montgomery to snag the lead, with Day following suit not long after. Sanders and Day proceeded to exchange the lead in exciting fashion, until Montgomery’s strong run came to an end when he got around in turns three and four, which collected Gomes and a hard charging Andy Forsberg. The closing stages saw Sanders work lapped traffic with Day giving it everything he had.
As the white flag waved Day took a peak to the inside, but Sanders held strong and crossed under the checkered flag for the $3,000 victory. Day, Cole Macedo, Kaeding and Max Mittry completed the top-five.
The Finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[6]; 2. 14-Corey Day[3]; 3. 21T-Cole Macedo[9]; 4. 5V-Tim Kaeding[1]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry[8]; 6. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[10]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick[11]; 8. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]; 9. 42X-Justyn Cox[18]; 10. 88N-DJ Netto[14]; 11. 7-Jake Morgan[7]; 12. 22-Ryan Bernal[22]; 13. 21-Shane Hopkins[20]; 14. 21M-Michael Ing[17]; 15. 7C-Tony Gomes[4]; 16. 1-Chance Grasty[19]; 17. 92-Andy Forsberg[23]; 18. 88A-Joey Ancona[12]; 19. X1-Michael Faccinto[21]; 20. 12J-John Clark[24]; 21. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[2]; 22. 01-Nick Larson[15]; 23. 94TH-Ben Worth[13]; 24. 35-Sean Becker[16]