By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – April 16, 2010…Starting from the outside of the front row in the main event Campbell, California’s Bud Kaeding was able to hit his marks and hold off a race-long challenge from young Kyle Larson to drive off and score the opening night victory with the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo on Friday evening.
The win for Kaeding was his first with the Ocean Sprints since 2008 and was also his initial triumph since joining the Brian Matherly/Mike Sala co-owned team last year. “Man it feels good to finally get a win here for Brian and Mike because we were so close last year, but just didn’t get one,” said the three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champion. “Last year we were always finishing in the top-three it seemed and we joked around the shop about how we won here with GSC in the 29 car, but we never won in the 19 so I’m really happy to get a win the first night out of the season in this car.”
The night’s fastest qualifier Brad Furr of Pleasanton lined-up on the pole of the 30-lap main event by way of the zero pill being drawn for the inversion. The driver of the Ray Scheidts Electric No. 2 was forced to run one of two b-mains, but with no inversion for the A-main he was still able to earn a front row starting spot, with him getting his time back following a second place finish in the opening semi. When the green lights flashed on Furr got extremely loose in the opening corners however and nearly spun to a stop falling deep in the field.
Bud Kaeding would charge out into the lead with Larson following along in second and Sacramento’s Mike Henry in third. Things would come to a stop early on as Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs got upside down in turn four after he and Clovis’ Peter Murphy had reportedly made contact exiting the corner, while racing in a gaggle of cars. Both Murphy and Suggs were ok but done for the night following the accident. When racing got back underway Larson tried desperately to make something happen with the leader as he looked to high-side of the quarter-mile bullring.
A few different times throughout the race Larson would charge to the outside in turn three, but with the high-side being slightly loose in turn four he couldn’t get the bite needed as Kaeding rocketed off the bottom of the speedway exiting the corner. With traffic coming into play on lap eight it appeared to give the 17-year-old from Elk Grove an opportunity, but the yellow lights flashed on for Furr, who suffered a collapsed front end in turn two. When the green flag came back out Larson continued his pursuit of Bud Kaeding while at the same time trying to fend off the challenges of Brent Kaeding, who had moved into third aboard the Al’s Roofing Supply, High Five Pizza No. 69.
With traffic coming into play again right around the midway point Larson closed up to the bumper of the Sala/Matherly Racing, M&M Powder Coaters No. 19 and it became a fight for the lead. With Bud Kaeding changing his line getting into lapped traffic in turn one it gave Larson an opening to the bottom and the youngster seized the opportunity, but just as soon as the pair went side-by-side and Larson looked for the lead, the caution would fly for Ronnie Day, who came to a stop in turn two on lap 15. The yellow flag slowed the hot and heavy action on the track just when it was getting extremely good and gave the leaders a clear track ahead yet again.
With Kaeding remaining out front Larson gave it one more shot at getting the lead as the laps wound down, but couldn’t make it stick in turn four as traction continued to be hard to come by getting off the corner. After that the Campbell driver ran mistake free the rest of the way to cross under the checkered and earn his sixth career Ocean Speedway victory. “I could hear the kid behind me and I knew he’d be tough to beat so we were lucky to get the breaks out of traffic with the yellows,” said Kaeding on the front stretch. “Each time we got to traffic I started making a mistake or two and it gave Kyle some chances, but the luck was on our side tonight and that’s how it goes in this sport sometimes.”
Larson crossed the stripe in second aboard the Stadelhofer Construction, Peppermill Casino-Reno No. 99 machine and continued his strong success at the Ocean Speedway in his young career. “We were really good and I wish we could have stayed in traffic because I felt like we had something for Bud, but it’s cool to finish in-between he and ‘BK’ so we’ll take it,” said Larson. “I want to thank Rich Stadelhofer and all our sponsors for helping out with this team. We are looking for some additional sponsorship to try and run the whole Taco Bravo 360 Series, because there’s a great group of cars here and we’d definitely like to run all the shows if possible.”
Rounding out the podium was Brent Kaeding, who last season finished second in the Ocean Sprint Cars Series presented by Taco Bravo standings. “We had a good run in the feature and I want congratulate Bud and Kyle because they were really fast in the main event and did a great job,” said the former two-time Ocean Speedway track champion. “I drove for Brian Matherly and Mike Sala a couple times last year and couldn’t get them a win either so it’s nice for them to get one tonight, because they put a lot of hard work into that team. We didn’t really want to win tonight, because last season we won the opener and didn’t win another race so hopefully we can start picking some off now,” Kaeding concluded with a smile.
As the laps ticked off in the main event the best battle was the fight for fourth as a handful of cars ran side-by-side and wheel-to-wheel all the way around the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds bullring. Coming out on the top of that dog-fight was young 17-year-old Justin Sanders, who looked strong all night long aboard the North County Plastering, STS Trucking No. 17. Sanders’ last year won a main event in May at Ocean Speedway and finished sixth in the final Ocean Sprints standings at season’s end.
Coming home fifth was Grass Valley’s Jason Statler in the DF Rios Construction No. 00 with Gilroy’s Eric Rossi in sixth aboard the Chase Wood Racing No. 4r. Both Statler and Rossi had solid runs charging through the field as Statler started 14th on the grid with Rossi lining-up 15th. Crossing the line in seventh was defending Ocean Sprints champ Tommy Tarlton of Easton in the Tachi Palace No. 21 and finishing in the eighth spot and also having an impressive night was Fresno’s Anthony Simone in the Cool Hand Lukes No. 10. Simone qualified 12th in the 31-car field and also scored a second place result in his heat race. Rounding out the top-10 in the main event were Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson in the Taco Bravo Racing No. 72 and Visalia’s Cory Eliason aboard the Advance Auto & Smog No. 00x.
Full results from the night’s action are available at http://www.oceanspeedway.com
Next up for the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo will be an event at the Santa Maria Speedway on Friday night April 30. The series will then be back in action at the Ocean Speedway on Friday May 7. For all your news and info on the Ocean Sprints log onto http://www.oceansprints.com