From Steven Blakesley
Watsonville, CA — (June 29, 2013) — 1996 Johnny Key Classic winner Bud Kaeding scored the first 2013 Johnny Key Classic qualifying race, leading 28 laps on Friday for the win at John Prentice’s Ocean Speedway Watsonville. Three more qualifying nights remain for the $10,000 to win contest that will be held on Saturday night August 24th.
Kaeding led comfortably for much of the race but that did not damper the hard-charging racing going on throughout the field.
At the start of the feature, second in points Kurt Nelson of Gilroy went up the backstretch wall and damaged the front axle on his #72w car. Coming to the yellow, 2012 Ocean Sprints champion and fast-time qualifier Shane Golobic spun and then went to the work area. San Jose’s Ryan Rusconi and Hanford’s DJ Netto also made trips to the pits under the caution.
All four drivers were able to return to action. On the second attempt at a start, Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema slowed from the pole to hand the lead to Lodi’s Shawn Wright. The caution was flown on lap two for Bonnema stalling. Golobic had already moved to ninth position by the time the caution fell.
Kaeding used the restart to shoot past Wright for the lead position and on the following lap Pleasanton’s Nathan Washam flipped to bring out a red flag. A brief caution came out on lap five for Nicholas Ringo spinning.
Points leader Brad Furr started seventh, and used the next six laps to make some incredible high and low manuevers to charge past Kyler Shaw for third on lap 11. The best battle of the race was a slidejob city between Steven Tiner and Furr for second, with Tiner eventually getting the best of Furr.
A caution at the halfway mark of the race saw Golobic already up into fifth position. A grinding crash on lap 20 saw Bonnema and Wright make hard contact on the front stretch to end both of their nights.
Kyler Shaw, making his series debut, had run side-by-side with Golobic for many laps leading up to the caution but fell to ninth on the restart when he moved to the outside. Golobic used to the restart to move past both Furr and Tiner to take second, but he couldn’t make up much ground on Kaeding.
Bud Kaeding stormed to a 3.117 second win ahead of Golobic, Tiner, Furr, and Rusconi who overcame his own trip to the work area for a fifth place run.
“Yeah it’s a lot easier starting in the front!” Kaeding said. “Shane’s proof you can only get second from the back here, whether there’s 14, 18, or 20 cars here. We’ve been through a lot of stuff this year. This is what I love doing – to come out here and race and it’s what I’ve done my entire life.”
Golobic declined to take the Nobel Construction Back Row Challenge earlier in the night, but essentially raced from the back after early issues.
“Our car was really good. Coming from the back and getting second says a lot about our team. I gotta thank these guys a ton and we’ve been working pretty hard on these Fox Shocks. I had to do the back row challenge regardless of what I said earlier. I was hoping for one more yellow towards the end but it was starting to lay rubber there near the end.”
Heat race wins went to Netto, Salinas’ Jeremy Chisum, and Nelson. The DDNi Hard Charger was Koen Shaw, who drove from 17th to 7th. The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo go dark until July 19th for the second Johnny Key Qualifier. Up next at Ocean Speedway is the two-day Kaeding Classic with USAC Sprints and Midgets on Friday night July 12th and Golden State King of the West on July 13th.
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.
June 28, 2013 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo – Watsonville, California
RAY SCHEIDT’S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: 22 Shane Golobic 11.772
HEAT 1: 88n DJ Netto
HEAT 2: 8 Jeremy Chisum
HEAT 3: 72w Kurt Nelson
30 LAP FEATURE: 1) 29 Bud Kaeding, 2) 22 Shane Golobic, 3) 94 Steven Tiner, 4) 2 Brad Furr, 5) 20x Ryan Rusconi, 6) 88n DJ Netto, 7) 88k Koen Shaw, 8) 25z Jason Chisum, 9) 10 Anthony Simone, 10) 92 Kyler Shaw, 11) 4f Burt Foland, Jr., 12) 92 Nick Ringo, Jr., 13) 72w Kurt Nelson, 14) 99x Shawn Wright, 15) 8 Jeremy Chisum, 16) 58 Jerry Bonnema, 17) 3t Nicholas Ringo, 18) 39n Nathan Washam NT
LAP LEADERS: 99x Shawn Wright 1-2, 29 Bud Kaeding 3-30