From Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – (April 6, 2015) – After opening the season last weekend the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will be right back in action this Friday night April 10 at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville for round number two.
The opener featured an outstanding main event that saw Easton’s Tommy Tarlton come out on top of a great three-car battle for the lead over the closing laps. Campbell’s Brent Kaeding came home in second with Fremont’s Shane Golobic in third. All three drivers also happen to be the only two-time champions in Ocean Sprints history. Tarlton & Kaeding traded the lead multiple times over the final eight-circuits last week.
“That was one awesome race right there,” Tarlton said on the front stretch. “I hope everyone enjoyed that because I know all the fans got their monies worth tonight. I love racing with a guy like Brent Kaeding. Good hard clean racing, maybe we touched once I don’t know, but it doesn’t get better than that. I can’t thank all my guys and all our partners enough for letting me do this. We enjoy coming to this track and hope to get a lot more wins this year as we go on.”
Golobic’s run was ultra impressive after being forced to start at the rear of the field following issues lining up for the feature. The reigning Ocean Sprints champ carved his way through the field like a magician and poked his nose into the battle for the lead on a few different occasions. Watsonville’s Justin Sanders also had a great rebound last week in the main event after getting upside down while warming up in his heat race. The hard-charging driver crossed the checkered in fourth and will look for victory this weekend.
Laton’s Heath Duinkerken looked solid all night last week and ran fifth in the feature. The Micro veteran has improved steadily aboard the Sprint Car in recent outings and is closing in on his first win. Morgan Hill’s Nicholas Ringo also had one of the finest runs of his career last week finishing in sixth. Ringo is another that has shown more & more speed each time he races. Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson, Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema, Coarsegold’s Scott Parker and Salinas’ Jeremy Chisum rounded out the top-10 last Friday.
More possibilities for this Friday will include past Ocean Sprints champion Brad Furr of Stockton, Foresthill’s Ryan Robinson, Fremont’s Dustin Golobic, Hollister’s Tony Gualda & Ryan Bernal, Salinas’ Jason Chisum, Fresno’s Kyler & Koen Shaw, Gilroy’s Ken Fredenburg and others.
Both Robinson and Gualda made their Winged Sprint Car debuts last week at the track. The 14-year-old Robinson is the son of former Civil War Series champion David Robinson Jr. and will once again be aboard the Rod Tiner Racing No. 83sa. The youngster is also spending time competing for Keith Kunz Motorsports in a Midget this season.
Gualda, at just 15-years-old is one of the Ocean Sprints Rookie of the Year contenders this season after debuting in the Wingless division last year at the quarter-mile. He scored a pair of wins last season without the wing at Ocean Speedway and will be one to watch for as the year goes on with the Taco Bravo Sprints.
The front gate at Ocean Speedway will open at 4:30pm this Friday night with hot laps at 5:15pm, qualifying around 6pm and racing to follow. The pit gate will open at 2pm this season. All seating will be general admission with adult tickets costing $17, seniors 65 & older $16, children 6-12 $13 and kids five and under free. A family pack featuring two adults and two kids is available for $55.
The Ocean Speedway is located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville, California with the physical address being 2601 East Lake Ave, Watsonville, CA 95076.
Ocean Speedway & the Ocean Sprints would like to thank Taco Bravo, High Five Pizza, Ray Scheidts Electric, Beer Optics, Hoosier Tires West and Kaeding Performance for their support.
For more information on the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo log onto http://www.oceansprints.com and for more on the Ocean Speedway check out www.racepmg.com