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From The Grandstand
by Ron Rodda
Lincoln, CA…Auburn driver, Andy Forsberg, had
quite a weekend as more excellent weather filled May’s 2nd weekend.
Point shows at Chico and Placerville continued to provide the
entertainment without putting an overly huge dent in the gas budget.
Forsberg won both nights with $2000 being the winner’s share each night
due to sponsorship cash added. How he accomplished each night’s victory
was dramatically different.
Friday at Chico a season low 21 winged 410s appeared, supported by 28
nonwing spec sprints, 7 modifieds, and 24 dwarf cars before another
large crowd. Various issues kept a handful of sprints away with most
missing their first Chico race of the year. The spec sprints have been
in the 18-20 range each week which is enough for them to more than
support their phase of the program.

Willie Croft qualifying at
Placerville
After Jonathan Allard set quick time, a trio of heats inverted six and
moved the top five into the inversion plan. Three of the fastest ten
found themselves behind the 15 transfers once the 25 lap main was set.
With a six inversion, Forsberg found his number assigned to the pole
with Kyle Hirst alongside.
Six yellows and a red slowed the race, but nothing slowed Forsberg on
his way to his first Silver Dollar win of the year. Only Tim Kaeding has
posted two wins as parity on the podium has added to the season’s drama.
Hirst provided the pressure until Jonathan Allard drove under Hirst into
turn 1 to claim the 2nd spot on lap 15. Hirst had a slower car
momentarily in front of him and Allard saw the opening and drove in.
The Forsberg, Allard, and Hirst finish resulted from the last 10 laps
having no changes as it was obvious that catching Forsberg would require
a mistake on his part. There was no mistake and there was no position
change. Forsberg leads the points over Sean Becker and Jonathan Allard.
Becker became a father the Wednesday prior to join Jason Statler in the
new father race.
The nonwing spec sprints had a very good main with 4 yellows and a red
in their 20 lap race. After their pair of finishing/passing point heats,
a four inversion by points put Jimmy Pettit and Mitch Miller on the
front row. Pettit led all 20 tours but intense pressure from Miller made
it very interesting. Miller chased Pettit the distance with 6th starting
point leader, Keith Bloom, 3rd from lap 10 until the end. Bloom’s steady
performance this year has him leading the points over Taylor Simas and
Mason Meyers.

Keith Bloom is having a
superb rookie season
Fifteen year old Keith Bloom is a 9th grader from Anderson, attending
Shasta Independent High School. He raced a nonwing spec sprint six times
last year which maintains his rookie status for 20008. He has shown
steady performance stats, finishing in the top 5 on 7 of 8 occasions and
collecting a pair of heat wins along the way. An 11th is his only finish
out of the top five echelon.
Like so many other Northern California sprint car drivers, Bloom
prepared in the winged outlaw go kart class, starting at age 6 and
accumulating over 100 wins as he progressed upwards through the classes.
He collected 7 titles along the way, speeding around ovals at Red Bluff,
Cycleland, Medford, OR, Lakeport, Delta Speedway, and English Creek
south of Knoxville, IA.
When he finished 4th in the talent laden field at last year’s Wingless
Sprint Nationals, he was close behind some stars of the class, Darrell
Hanestad, Terry Schank, Jr., and Jimmy Sills. When considering an open
wheel move up from karts, a nonwing spec sprint was the choice due to
budget considerations. Bloom hopes to secure a 410 ride in the future.
His current nonwing sprint was purchased from Mariposa driver, Brad
LePage and the Maxim is powered by a Mike Braund engine. Bloom’s
grandfather is Jack Epperson, and his great uncle is Donnie Epperson,
both well known drivers in their own era.
Sponsors on the 27 car include Lock and Loaded Graphics, QRC, Red Bluff
Yamaha, Automotive Associates, Epperson Brothers, and Bloom’s Mobile and
Truck Repair. Bloom is yet another emerging star that gained the
valuable experience on the winged kart tracks.
At Placerville on Saturday their sprint count remained good at 29 and
some of the best and worst action I have seen at the foothill quarter
mile was presented. The pro and pure stock mains were dreadful and some
sort of reasonable time limit must be placed on their track time. The
pure stock main was particularly tedious and it is time to run the
sprints something other than last on the program. While the sprints
often create their own share of delays, the fact that it is the division
that draws the largest percentage of the crowd. That needs to be taken
into account.

Scott Kinney runs the high
line and David Robinson Jr. is on Placerville’s bottom
Making the always strong Placerville crowd sit through a dreary pure
stock main such as occurred May 10th in order to see the sprints run is
not logical. While the winged 360s had 5 yellows and 2 reds themselves,
it was a great race and finished just 2 minutes before curfew. What is
the point of giving support divisions with far fewer cars so much time
for their mains and only avoid cutting the sprint main short by a mere
120 seconds?
On a four division night, run the sprints 3rd and put the smallest
division last. The Placerville pit board usually has a “laps or time
limit” warning for mains, but whatever the time limit is for pro and
pure stocks, it must be very generous.
Of all his victories, none that I have seen was more work than this
Placerville win for Forsberg. Nearly missing his heat because the
affable Auburn ace was chatting in the pit grandstands, it turned out he
may as well have missed the call after running out of a transfer spot.
Running the B main got him into the 25 lap headliner, but his 8th
starting spot behind the 6 inversion would be a tough location,
considering the talent ahead of him.
In fact, even the 2nd place finish in the B main only came after a race
long duel with Colby Wiesz for the last transfer spot that gets a time
back. Their duel alone was an example of Forsberg trying everything he
could to nab the precious 2nd place finish, a goal accomplished as the
12 laps reached their end.
James Sweeney and Jimmy Trulli created the front row with Sweeney
leading a lap before Greg DeCaires passed him on the backside on lap 2.
Willie Croft was 3rd by lap 3 and Forsberg took that spot two laps
later. Forsberg got past Sweeney for 2nd on lap 8, using turn 3 clay for
the topside drive, and David Robinson, Jr. used the same ground to earn
3rd a lap later.
Forsberg pressured DeCaires for ten laps before DeCaires slid every so
slightly up the track coming out of turn 2 and Forsberg drove under for
the lead and eventual win. DeCaires and Robinson filled the top 3 to
accompany one of the best drives I have seen Forsberg make at the
high-banked quarter.
Robinson, Jr. seems to be enjoying racing more than ever after his two
year hiatus to act as crew chief for his son. Their outlaw winged go
kart racing will continue as Robinson stated they will run some of the
Sunday afternoon shows as the newest Northern California track. Located
in Lakeport, info on the track is available at
delbertsmemorialraceway.com. Also on the track web site front, Orland’s
web address is as previously stated, raceorland.com and it should be
operating soon.
Despite winning 3 of the 5 track point nights at Placerville, Forsberg
is 3rd in points now, trailing Wiesz and Robinson. Forsberg will not run
Placerville on May 17th as the David Bradway Memorial in Chico that
night will see him forego the point night. After some great weather, the
forecast for next weekend is extremely hot, as in 100 or higher. This
will make track prep even more interesting than usual.
A
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