From Steven Blakesley
Watsonville, CA — (August 24, 2013) — Rutherford’s Rico Abreu led only the final straightaway to claim a thrilling $10,000 win in the 53rd edition of the Johnny Key Classic, before a nearly sold out Ocean Speedway Watsonville on Saturday night. Abreu was making his first 2013 start at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds oval track after a busy summer racing in the Midwest.
2012 Johnny Key Classic winner Tommy Tarlton led 16 laps after starting tenth and looked poised for his second consecutive victory. Coming into turns three and four for the finish, Tarlton jumped the cushion and made contact with the wall, allowing Abreu and Tim Kaeding to scoot by on the inside.
40 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo entered the event in the largest Johnny Key Classic in its short history at Ocean Speedway. Abreu paced Ray Scheidt’s Electric time trials for the 34 non-qualified cars with a 11.345 second lap around the speedway. The six qualified cars ran a six lap dash for their starting positions with 2012 Rebel Cup champion DJ Netto winning from the pole.
A series of 12 lap B Main events set the 24 car starting field and Netto led them to green for the 50 lap contest. Outside pole sitter Kyle Hirst of West Sacramento moved into the lead on the opening lap. The race was stopped on lap seven when “Cowboy” Craig Smith of San Martin flipped on the frontstretch to end his night.
Tarlton cracked the top-five by lap nine and on lap 11, Netto made a sweeping pass on the outside to take the lead from Hirst. Tarlton and Bud Kaeding traded blows for the third position for several laps while the field encountered lapped traffic by the 16th lap.
Tarlton broke free from Kaeding and then snookered Hirst in lapped traffic for second on lap 20. The race went red on lap 24 for points leader Brad Furr flipping in turn one and that stoppage ended up being used as the halfway break.
Netto led the field back to green on the lap 24 restart with 26 laps remaining with Tarlton in pursuit. Finally on lap 33, Tarlton passed Netto for the lead and pulled away to a comfortable advantage.
Spins by Ken Fredenburg and second in points Kurt Nelson brought out the yellow on lap 34. The restart allowed Abreu and Tim Kaeding to pass Netto and set their sights on Tarlton for the lead. Just a few laps later, Nelson dropped out of the event with engine problems for a disappointing 20th place finish.
Abreu stuck his nose inside Tarlton a few times but Tarlton was able to gap him in lapped traffic by as much as a straightaway. Finally the event boiled over on the white flag lap when Tarlton jumped the cushion in turns three and four and Abreu brought Kaeding with him to the checkered flag.
Tarlton was able to pedal off the wall and finish third ahead of Bud Kaeding and Watsonville’s Justin Sanders. Netto ended up falling back to the 12th position at the finish after leading 21 laps of the event.
The DDNi Hard Charger was split by Dominic Scezli and Jason Statler, who both advanced 14 positions on the night. Scelzi came from 22nd to finish eighth while Statler drove from 24th to tenth. Also notable was Fresno’s Craig Stidham racing from 20th to ninth.
The three 12 lap B Main events included notable accidents for Steven Tiner, 2012 series champion Shane Golobic, and Ryan Rusconi who all failed to make the 50 lap feature as a result.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo take a month off before returning to action on Friday September 27th for three consecutive weeks of competition to end 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.
August 24, 2013 53rd Johnny Key Classic – Watsonville, CA
RAY SCHEIDT’S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: 24 Rico Abreu 11.345
B MAIN 1: 33e Evan Suggs
B MAIN 2: 22m Mason Moore
B MAIN 3: 69 Brent Kaeding
50 LAP FEATURE: 1) 24 Rico Abreu, 2) 83 Tim Kaeding, 3) 21 Tommy Tarlton, 4) 29 Bud Kaeding, 5) 17 Justin Sanders, 6) 83jr Kyle Hirst, 7) 33e Evan Suggs, 8) 41 Dominic Scelzi, 9) 3 Craig Stidham, 10) 00 Jason Statler, 11) 22m Mason Moore, 12) 88n DJ Netto, 13) 21x Carson Macedo, 14) 69 Brent Kaeding, 15) 8 Jeremy Chisum, 16) 199 Nick Foster, Jr., 17) 3c Willie Croft, 18) 2 Brad Furr, 19) 25z Jason Chisum, 20) 72w Kurt Nelson, 21) 23f Ken Fredenburg, 22) 3t Nicholas Ringo, 23) 24mj Chase Johnson, 24) 39 Craig Smith NT
LAP LEADERS: 83 Kyle Hirst 1-10, 88n DJ Netto 11-32, 21 Tommy Tarlton 33-49, 24 Rico Abreu 50