Crockett wins second $3000 tribute to Al Hinds event at Placerville Speedway by Bill Sullivan. PLACERVILLE, CA - 5--7-05 - Roger Crockett of Eugene, Oregon led nearly every lap of the 30-lap feature event at Placerville Speedway Saturday night to take home the big $3000 victory check in the second annual “Family Chevrolet Tribute to Al Hinds” event featuring the Hoosier Tires Civil War Sprint Car Series.

Al Hinds was the promoter of Placerville Speedway from 1968 to 1973 and was known for his involvement with the speedway and the community for much of his life. After passing away last year, Family Chevrolet of Shingle Springs sponsored a $1000 bonus to the winner to make it one of the richest Civil War events of the season in Hinds honor. After his victory, Crockett is now a two-time winner of this very special race at the El Dorado County Fairground.

“It feels really good to win this special race two years in a row,” said Crockett. “My biggest thanks goes out to all the fans out here tonight. Its still really cold up here at night and we have a packed house cheering the whole time. “

After qualifying sixth and finishing third in his heat race earlier in the evening, Crockett originally started in the ninth position. On the opening lap of the race a melee broke out in the second turn that involved several cars drew the yellow flag and sent Brad Furr of Pleasanton and Camino’s Shawn Whitney to the pit area for the night with damage.

The dismissal of both front runners caused an adjustment in the starting line up, moving Crockett to the second position for the green flag outside of San Jose driver Jason Statler. At the waving of the green it was the defending Golden State Challenge Series Champion Statler powering into the lead with Crockett in pursuit for only a lap before taking the lead from Statler with a high side pass in the fourth turn.

Following the lead taking pass, Crockett continued to drive the high line on the track aboard the always fast Sacramento based #57 owned by Paul Silva. The former Civil War Champion and multi-time Northern Sprint Tour Champion weaved his way in and out of traffic to work his way into lapped traffic as early as the sixth lap.

Saturday’s event went nearly non-stop with the second caution coming out just prior to the checkered flag when Rocklin’s Robert Ballou became the fifth driver of the night to go upside down. The restart staged a two lap sprint to the finish which was no threat to Crockett as he had lapped the field as high as the seventh position and was separated from Statler and third place runner Mike Henry of Sacramento by as many cars for the final green flag.

“Paul Silva prepared one heck of a car for me tonight, it was absolutely perfect, “ said Crockett “Going without a yellow flag for so long actually helped me out because I got in a rhythm out there and was just able to switch high and low to get around the lapped cars. It got interesting a couple times our there in lapped traffic.”

At the checkered flag, Crockett went into undefeated status in the annual Hinds Tribute event. For Crockett, the win was one of many at the track his father Brian won nearly a dozen track championships at in the late 80’s.

“I credit alot of my success at this place to my dad who ran so well here,” said Crockett. “I use to sit in the stands when I was five years old and watch him race around this place. I learned a lot from watching him and since then I have been blessed with good race cars to drive.”

Statler finished in the second position. On the final lap Henry kept the crowd at the edge of their seats when he battled Civil War point leader Chad Riolo of Roseville.

After being passed by Riolo and racing side by side for half of the final lap, Henry earned the third position at the line ahead of Riolo, Colby Weisz of Colfax, Sean Becker of Oroville, Billy Wallace of Grass Valley.Garden Valley’s Ray Rust, Stan Yockey of Fresno and Placerville’s Scott Russell completed the top ten in the finishing order.

In preliminary events Saturday, the B-main event was won by Robert Ballou of Rocklin who finished ahead of Sean Becker at the line. Billy Wallace, Scott Russell and Jonathan Allard completed the top five. The C-main event was won by early roll over victim Chuck Gurney Jr. ]

The first heat race was won by Vacaville’s Joey Magaruh who was driving Mark Flachman’s #55 car for the night. Jimmy Trulli of Placerville took the checkered flag in the second heat race. Riolo won heat three and Elk Grove’s Doug Machado won the fourth heat of the night.

In qualifying, Robert Ballou posted a new track record of 10:291. Ballou’s fast lap overtakes the previous record of 10:413 held by Chuck Gurney Jr. since October of 2004. For his efforts Ballou picked up an extra $200 bonus from DSR Graphics of Shingle Springs.

Saturday’s event drew a total of 55 cars Saturday night and preliminary events saw their share of incidents. Chuck Gurney Jr., Jimmy Siebert and Herman Klein were all roll over victims early in the night. Jade Parker of Placerville rolled over during his second lap in qualifying but was able to keep driving and return later in the night. Former Civil War champion Andy Forsberg had a brush with the turn two wall which ended his night.

Racing continues at Placerville Speedway this Wednesday night, May 11 with the fire breathing sprint cars of the Golden State Challenge Series in a special weeknight event. The grandstand opens at 5 p.m. with qualifying at 6:30. For further information log on to www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com. or call (916) 969-7484