From Steven Blakesley
Watsonville, CA — (May 11, 2013) — Bud Kaeding stormed past Carson Macedo with a last lap pass to win the fifth round of the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo on Friday night. The thrilling finish to the 30 lap contest topped an excellent night of racing action at John Prentice’s Ocean Speedway Watsonville.
“That kid (Macedo) has grown a lot and he’s getting really good,” Kaeding said. “I was counting laps and I saw them throw the white so I just drilled the top.”
Macedo led 29 of the 30 laps in yet another Ocean Sprints feature, in an unusual season where the dominate car has failed to take the checkered flag first nearly every race.
“Yeah I just kinda feel like I can’t get the job done,” Macedo said. “Every night I feel like our car’s fast. If I was to get beat by anybody it would definitely be Bud. He’s a veteran that I definitely learn from.”
Ray Scheidt’s Electric Fast Time qualifier Justin Sanders of Watsonville scratched for the night when engine problems after drawing an eight invert, and Macedo led the 22 car field to the green flag. Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi did a complete 360 in turn two at the start but kept going, despite falling back to ninth.
Kaeding went to work early on, using the top to move from eighth to fourth in the early laps. Macedo encountered lapped traffic for the first time on lap six while fending off Steven Tiner.
Tommy Tarlton and 2012 Ocean Sprints champion Shane Golobic both started deep in the field, with Tarlton coming from 18th. While Golobic and Tarlton made three-wide maneuvers to make up ground, the battle intensified for second place. Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson moved past Tiner and Tiner became embroiled in a battle with Bud Kaeding, Brent Kaeding, and Scelzi.
The first caution of the event came out on lap 15 when Salinas’ Carter Train spun directly in front of Nelson, but Nelson was able to keep it rolling to maintain his second position.
Bud Kaeding had been shuffled to sixth but used the restart to rocket up into the fourth position. Through a series of minor cautions, Kaeding found a way to get by Tiner for third as well. Macedo took a comfortable lead through each restart, while Kaeding attacked the outside of Nelson for second. Kaeding finally broke through on lap 22 for second position and set his sights on Macedo.
The top two drivers criss-crossed through lapped traffic with Kaeding keeping Macedo in his crosshairs. Coming to the white flag, Kaeding threw the BZE #29 to the topside one final time and it stuck, as he charged past Macedo down the backstretch to take the victory.
Kaeding led Macedo, Nelson, Tiner, and Scelzi across the stripe with Tarlton putting on a passing clinic to finish sixth. Tarlton used the sixth place finish to win the DDNi Hard Charger Award as well. Points leader Brad Furr of Stockton had a relatively quiet night, finishing eighth.
Nelson continued his bid for championship hopes with the third place effort.
“This is like a win for us. To compete with the Kaedings and Tarltons – it was a stellar field and everything kind of fell our way,” Nelson said. “I almost had an incident in turn two but we kept it going. We just try to come out here and have consistent runs. I’ve seen people win championships without winning a main event…I think we’ve proved that we’re pretty stout.”
Heat races were won by Brent Kaeding, San Jose’s Nick Foster, Jr., and Macedo. Glendale, AZ’s Joshua Williams won the semi.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo return this Friday night, May 17th for the sixth race of their 2013 campaign.
For more information on the Ocean Sprints log onto http://www.oceansprints.com and for more on the Ocean Speedway visit http://www.oceanspeedway.com
Ocean Speedway would like to thank Taco Bravo, Digital Delivery Networks, Nobel Construction, Get Som Sports, Ray Scheidt’s Electric, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance for their support.
May 10, 2013 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo – Watsonville, California
RAY SCHEIDT’S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: 7 Justin Sanders 11.737
HEAT 1: 69 Brent Kaeding
HEAT 2: 199 Nick Foster, Jr.
HEAT 3: 21x Carson Macedo
12 LAP SEMI: 41w Joshua Williams
30 LAP FEATURE: 1) 29 Bud Kaeding, 2) 21x Carson Macedo, 3) 72w Kurt Nelson, 4) 37t Steven Tiner, 5) 41 Dominic Scelzi, 6) 21 Tommy Tarlton, 7) 69 Brent Kaeding, 8) 2 Brad Furr, 9) 22 Shane Golobic, 10) 88n DJ Netto, 11) 199 Nick Foster, Jr., 12) 83 Zach Zimmerly, 13) 25z Jason Chisum, 14) 8 Jeremy Chisum, 15) 41w Joshua Williams, 16) 4x Tim Decarlo, Jr., 17) 58 Jerry Bonnema, 18) 11 Nick Rescino, 19) 92 Koen Shaw, 20) 98 Ryan Rusconi, 21) 96 Nick Ringo, Jr., 22) 2x Carter Train
LAP LEADERS: 21x Carson Macedo 1-29, 29 Bud Kaeding 30