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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Mike Henry wins emotional 1st GSC main event
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – March 23, 2008…Former track champion Mike Henry withheld a late race challenge from Los Angeles’ Tyler Walker to pick up his first career Golden State Challenge Series win on Saturday night at the Placerville Speedway. The Sacramento driver put on an inspired drive to claim the biggest victory of his career and first for his new HMH Motorsports team.
Henry started from the pole by way of his win in the night’s six lap dash. The driver of World Environmental, Royal Lagoon Pools sponsored No. 93 jumped out to a commanding lead over the rest of the 22 car field at the waving of the green flag. The first 20 laps saw Henry handle the field with ease as the two-time Civil War champ showed why he has long been one of the top drivers at the Placerville Speedway bullring.
Once the 20th circuit clicked off however, the evening’s full moon reared its ugly head as a number of cautions and a couple red flags rapidly slowed down the pace of the race. The multiple cautions kept Walker, Chico’s Jonathan Allard and San Jose’s Tim Kaeding within striking distance. As the end of the race got near the speedway came in and allowed for some fantastic racing up front. Henry continued to run a smart race as Walker, Allard and Kaeding fought it out for the runner-up spot.
Allard and Kaeding exchanged the third position multiple times as the pair battled it out on the high banked, red clay ¼ mile. After clearing Kaeding for third, Allard then closed in on Walker and made a number of attempts to get by with one instance seeing the duo nearly make it three wide, but the real-estate ran out and they made slight contact, which allowed Walker to escape. The final five laps saw Henry still leading, but Walker had found new life as the driver of the NMI Construction, SC Motorsports No. 24 found the high side to his liking and tried his hardest to make something happen for the lead. Henry wasn’t going to let this one get away from him though and he drove away on the final lap to take the checkered flag and score his first career win with the traveling Golden State Challenge Series.
It was an emotional win for Henry, whose car owner is battling cancer. The Sacramento driver jumped from the car and began hugging a number of family and team members in front of the huge crowd as pandemonium ensued. “I just have to thank this team for believing in me and putting myself in this car,” Henry said. As tears ran down his face he continued, “We have a lot of people who help out on this car and I’ve got to thank each and every one of them and this is just awesome to be able to come out and win my first GSC race at my home track.” It was a very good moment to see Henry celebrate in victory lane after achieving a long time goal of winning a traveling 410 sprint car main event.
Walker held on to record a second place finish, his best this season with the Golden State Challenge Series. The always hard charging driver spoke highly of his new team and being back in the Golden State. “This is a great finish for the team and it’s been a long time since I’ve run at Placerville. I really have to congratulate Mike Henry because he ran one heck of a race. I’m just so happy to be involved with this great group of people and couldn’t be happier than to be back running in California,” Walker concluded.
Rounding out the podium was Kaeding who made a wild move on the inside to steal the spot from Allard on the final corner. “He just left a little opening and I was able to take advantage of it,” the driver of the JF McCray Plastering, Tom Rolfe Trucking No. 10 said while speaking about the final corner pass of Allard. “I also want to congratulate Mike for winning tonight and Tyler for doing a great job to finish second. We’ve really been digging away and hopefully we can start putting some wins together because these thirds are starting to get old,” Kaeding concluded. TK is the only driver to have finished in the top five during all four of the GSC events this season, three of which have been third place results.
Allard’s strong run ended with a fourth place result aboard the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters No. 0. It marked his third top five finish of the season in four events. Completing the top five was Campbell’s Brent Kaeding in the Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69. It was BK’s first top five finish of the season and was a solid night overall for the defending GSC champ.
The 12 lap B-main saw an exciting race between Auburn’s Andy Forsberg and Placerville’s Andy Gregg. The pair ran nose to tail for much of the race and in the end Forsberg won out and claimed the victory. Three 10 lap heat races were held and they were captured by Fremont’s Brent Bjork, Elk Grove’s Greg Decaires and Bixby, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart. Forsberg turned the evening’s fastest lap in qualifying with a blistering time of 10.115 around the ¼ mile.
Full results will be up tomorrow at http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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Full results from Placerville and the updated point standings are available at www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
Finishing sixth through 10th at P'ville were Jason Statler in the DF Rios Construction 00, Bud Kaeding in the BK Motorsports 29, Andy Gregg in the Guts Racing 16x, Jim Skinner in the Skinner Motorsports 73 and Greg Decaires in the Mark Remund 39.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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