By Gary Thomas,
Watsonville, CA – May 7, 2010…Taking full advantage of his front row starting spot in the main event at Ocean Speedway on Friday night, young Justin Sanders of Prunedale, California put it all together and charged to his second career victory with the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo.
Sanders was coming off a fourth place finish in the feature during the Ocean Sprints opener in Watsonville on April 16 and the triumph on Friday night ironically came a year to the day from his very first sprint car win at the track. “This feels great to come out here and get our second 360 win at this place on the same weekend we won our first last year,” said the 17-year-old Sanders in victory lane. “I knew all those guys were behind me and I just tried to focus on hitting my line each lap and not give them a chance to by.”
The Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo main event started out with a pair of youngsters on the front row with Sander’s going from the pole and 15-year-old Justin Cox of Clarksburg on the outside. When the green lights flashed on Sander’s powered his North County Plastering, B&K Trump Farms No. 17 machine into the lead of the race with Cox and Campbell’s Brent Kaeding following along in suit. The early laps would see drivers trying to find the best place to put their cars, as the track had changed with the night going on, yet remained racy as a handful of drivers starting towards the back began to move through the field.
Sanders stayed committed to the bottom of the speedway with Cox remaining glued to his rear bumper and when traffic approached the driver of the Harley Van Dyke Racing, Lucas Oil Products No. 5h looked to make his move. Just as the action appeared to be heating up the yellow flag would wave on lap-eight to bring the party to a stop and give the leaders a clear track ahead. When the green flag waved again Sanders and Cox continued to sit one-two on the speedway, but the battle for third started to spice up when eighth starter Bud Kaeding began to make his way forward and dice it up with father Brent Kaeding and Easton’s Tommy Tarlton.
The trio put on a show for a handful of laps and by the time the next caution of the feature came out Kaeding was up to third in the running order. The fight for the lead continued to be the same story up front with Sanders hitting his marks on the bottom and Cox staying patient, waiting for any kind of a mistake to get an opportunity to pounce. When racing got back underway and the event reached lap 20 Cox closed right up on Sanders and Bud Kaeding also did the same, as it looked to be a three-way battle for the top-spot with traffic approaching once again. The ultra-exciting fight for the lead became extremely intense on lap 24 when Sanders was bottled up in traffic and it allowed Cox and Kaeding the chance to try and steal the top-spot away.
With the three-drivers entering turn-two in a thick mix of lapped cars Kaeding shot to the high-side and looked to claim second, but at the same time Cox and the slower car of Steve Osborne made contact, which sent Cox’s No. 5h sprinter spinning around. The end result saw Osborne stop to bring out a caution, but Cox was able to keep the motor lit and continue on, however, it was reported that officials had ruled rough driving and the youngster was sent to the tail of the field. It was a tough break for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Rookie of the Year contender, who looked very strong all night long, in what was his first ever Ocean Speedway start.
On the restart Kaeding tried to find a way by Sanders, but the young driver never faltered the rest of the distance and impressively rocketed off to pick-up his second career Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo victory. With the win Sanders has moved up to fifth in the point standings and sits just eight-digits out of the top-spot going into the fourth round of racing next Friday night at Ocean Speedway.
Kaeding gave it a hard run over the closing laps and crossed the stripe in second to continue his consistency behind the wheel of the Sala/Matherly Racing, M&M Powder Coaters No. 19 mount. “It was a good run in the main event to get second after starting eighth, but Justin did a great job out front and definitely deserved this win,” said the three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown Series champion. “I have to thank everyone involved in this team, because we’ve been really good all year and have been in position to win every night we have raced this 19 car so far.”
Current Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo point leader Tommy Tarlton scored third at the finish to earn his second consecutive podium and also continue his strong start to the 2010 campaign aboard the Corporate America Lending No. 21. “The track was kind of tough tonight, but Justin did a solid job out front and so did Bud to come from the fourth row and get second,” commented Tarlton, who holds a five-point advantage at the top of the Ocean Sprints standings going into next Friday. “We’ve definitely had a great start to the year and it’s really due to this great team I have behind me with Paul Baines and everyone that helps out. We’ve been making the right calls and we’ll just try to come back next week and get another win.”
Clovis, CA’s Peter Murphy continued his strong performance over the past few weeks and claimed fourth at the finish aboard the Buster & Ziggy Enterprise No. 11 machine, with Campbell’s Brent Kaeding rounding out the top-five at the helm of his Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69. Finishing sixth was the Stadelhofer Construction No. 99x of Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson, seventh was the Chase Wood Racing No. 4r of Gilroy’s Eric Rossi, eighth went to the Country Builders Construction No. 121 of Fremont’s Shane Golobic, ninth was the Taco Bravo Racing No. 72w of Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson and completing the top-10 was the German Auto Body No. 5 of Morgan Hill’s Devon Ostheimer.
Unofficially it looks like Larson will receive the Sun Electric “Fully-Charged” hard-charger award by passing nine cars to finish sixth after starting 15th. Golobic also passed nine cars to come from 17th to eighth, but with Larson finishing further ahead it appears he will be the recipient. Both drivers ironically were also teammates with the Bryan Clauson/Corey Tucker Racing team at this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma and each did a solid job in the feature on Friday night at Ocean Speedway, carving their way through the field respectively.
Kyle Larson was the winner of the evening’s b-main with the three 10-lap heat races being picked-off by Devon Ostheimer, Bud Kaeding and Eric Rossi. Brent Kaeding began the night by setting fast-time with a clocking of 12.205 around the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds quarter-mile clay oval. Full results from the night are available at http://www.oceanspeedway.com
The Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo will return to competition next Friday night May 14 at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California.