From Petersen Media
WATSONVILLE, Ca. (July 25, 2017) — Friday night at Ocean Speedway, Justin Sanders used a last lap pass to return to victory lane with the Ocean Sprints pres. by Taco Bravo at Ocean Speedway.
DJ Netto and Brad Furr would lead the field to green, as Netto would jump out to the early lead as Furr would have his hands full with point leader, Geoff Ensign.
With Netto out in front, the race for second was extremely tight as Ensign, Furr, Dustin Golobic and Sanders all raced wheel-to-wheel vying for the second spot.
Using the low side, Golobic would make a nice move to get by Furr to overtake third as he then chased after Ensign who ran just ahead of him.
The first stoppage of the 30-lap affair would come on the fourth lap for Jerry Bonnema, and that would put the pack back on Netto’s rear bumper after he had opened up a sizeable lead.
Back underway, Netto would again pull away from the field as Dustin Golobic would go to work on Ensign and eventually take over the second position as Ensign would then have to battle with Justin Sanders who was making his case for the third spot.
The top four would break away from the field, but on this night it looked as if it would be all about DJ Netto who was extremely strong out front.
As the top-four continued to gap the field, Shane Golobic would begin to make his way to the front, as he would hook up in a torrid battle with Brad Furr for the fifth spot.
Able to get by Furr, S. Golobic would chase after fourth running Sanders until another stoppage would bunch the field back up and negate Golobic’s pass.
Seeing the green flag again, Netto would see Dustin Golobic take a peak under him, but he was able to keep him at bay and continue to lead the race as Sanders was able to overtake Ensign for the third position as the field raced down the back stretch.
Just past the race’s halfway point, Sanders really came to life as he was able to drive around Dustin Golobic to take over the second spot and close in on Netto who found himself in thick traffic.
The duo would thrill the crowd as they raced wheel-to-wheel as the energy picked up in a big way. What looked like would turn into a barn-burner finish would be halted by a final caution on the 23rd lap.
With the crowd a buzz, the action would pick back up as the field was again shown the green flag.
Netto continued to lead the way though Sanders was relentless in his pursuit. Netto would take the white flag as the race leader but would have two slower cars in front of his as he entered turns three and four.
Choosing the low groove, Netto would close in on the slower car and make contact as he got out of shape in front of him as Sanders went high and was able to rail around the top and race by to take the win.
Behind Sanders things would get wild as a melee would breakout and Shane Golobic would sneak through to finish second, as Netto slipped to third. Brad Furr would slide across the finish line with a bent up car to finish fourth, as Geoff Ensign held on to finish fifth.
“I saw DJ Netto close in on a lapped car who might have got sideway in front of him, and I just railed the top and somehow made it through three cars…it was really tight,” Justin Sanders said in victory lane. “We were okay tonight, we weren’t great, but we are still figuring out a new engine, but we will take them how we can get them. DJ was really fast and it was fun racing him side by side, and we will try to build off this and keep making ourselves better.”
Dustin Golobic would finish sixth, Cole Macedo seventh, Marcus Dumesny eighth, Matthew Moles ninth, and Kyle Offill would round out the Top-10.
Friday night a total of 20 cars would check into Ocean Speedway and it was Shane Golobic leading the way in time trials.
Dustin Golobic, Jason Chisum, and Kyle Offill would win heat races, and Netto would win the Dash and earn the right to start on the pole.