Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

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.

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