From Steven Blakesley
Watsonville, CA — (June 1, 2013) — Two-time Ocean Sprints champion Tommy Tarlton returned to victory lane on Friday night, claiming the seventh round of the Taco Bravo sponsored series at John Prentice’s Ocean Speedway Watsonville. Tarlton took the victory after locking horns with 2012 Ocean Sprints champion Shane Golobic of Fremont with just four laps to go in the feature.
The victory makes Tarlton the sixth different winner already in the hotly contested 2013 campaign on the quarter-mile dirt track at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
Golobic and Tarlton came together on lap 26 in turn three, when Tarlton stormed to the inside to take the lead. Contact between the two sent Golobic nearly spinning, with third place Andy Forsberg having nowhere to go and making slight contact with Golobic to finish the spin. Golobic retired for the night and Tarlton went on for the feature win.
“There was an incident? He lifted and I didn’t,” Tarlton said. “Poof, right by him. If you ain’t first, you’re last right?”
Burt Foland, Jr. led the 22 car field to green but it was Forsberg taking the lead from the outside pole. Bud Kaeding leapt from fourth up into second on the opening lap and Golobic went from sixth to third in the first three laps of competition.
Lapped traffic played a factor with the leaders early on and Golobic used that to pass Kaeding for second on lap 7 and take several looks inside Forsberg for the lead. Foland’s night ended early with a flip in turn two to red flag the event on lap eight.
When racing resumed, Tarlton joined the lead pack and the tightly wound pack navigated lapped traffic for several laps. Golobic took the lead from Forsberg on lap 25 and Tarlton followed through into second position. The battle for the lead culminated on lap 26.
A restart with four to go saw Tarlton pull away while Forsberg had a big wheel stand due to damage on his front wing. That damage allowed Kaeding to scoot past into second place.
Tarlton cruised to a 1.2 second victory ahead of Kaeding, Forsberg, Ray Scheidt’s Fast Time qualifier Steven Tiner and 2012 Rebel Cup champion DJ Netto rounding out the top-five.
“Yeah we had a good car. We got into the back of a lapped car and it pushed the wing back,” Kaeding said. “We were fortunate enough to get a yellow there. I think someone spun out down here in four and I was hoping for another yellow because all this second and third place stuff is killing me.”
Carson Macedo yet again charged to the DDNi Hard Charger Award, driving from 21st to seventh in an impressive drive. The young driver had a big crash in qualifying that forced him to miss heat race action while the team made repairs. Points leader Brad Furr of Stockton also had a busy night with mechanical problems placing him 16th on the grid, but he was able to get back to eighth at the finish.
Heat race wins went to Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema, Forsberg, and San Francisco’s Nick Rescino, Jr.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo continue on Friday night June 7 for their eighth points race this season.
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 31, 2013 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo – Watsonville, California
RAY SCHEIDT’S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: 37t Steven Tiner 11.671
HEAT 1: 58 Jerry Bonnema
HEAT 2: 7c Andy Forsberg
HEAT 3: 11 Nick Rescino, Jr.
30 LAP FEATURE: 1) 21 Tommy Tarlton, 2) 29 Bud Kaeding, 3) 7c Andy Forsberg, 4) 37t Steven Tiner, 5) 88n DJ Netto, 6) 72w Kurt Nelson, 7) 21x Carson Macedo, 8) 2 Brad Furr, 9) Craig Smith, 10) 58 Jerry Bonnema, 11) 98 Ryan Rusconi, 12) 88k Koen Shaw, 13) 25z Jason Chisum, 14) 10 Anthony Simone, 15) 4 Nathan Washam, 16) 22 Shane Golobic, 17) 8 Jeremy Chisum, 18) 11 Nick Rescino, 19) 7 Justin Sanders, 20) 4f Burt Foland, Jr., 21) 4x Tim Decarlo, Jr., 22) 199 Nick Foster, Jr.
LAP LEADERS: 7c Andy Forsberg 1-24, 22 Shane Golobic 25-26, 21 Tommy Tarlton 27-30