Ocean Sprints gear up for round five this Friday

By Gary Thomas

Watsonville, CA – May 26, 2014…After a weekend off the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo are locked & loaded for round number five in the battle for the championship this Friday May 30 at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California.

The first four events of the season have seen Campbell’s Brent Kaeding pick up three wins and Visalia’s Steven Tiner claim the other. The victories for Kaeding have come in all three of his starts, including the most recent event on May 16, where he had an intense battle with Brad Furr for the lead, before holding off Mitchell Faccinto & Carson Macedo in an entertaining 30-lap feature. Following this Friday there will be another weekend off, prior to getting back at it on Friday June 13 for round six.

Fremont’s Shane Golobic continues to sit atop the Ocean Sprints standings and goes into Friday holding a 19-point advantage over Lemoore’s Carson Macedo. The driver of the Keith Day Trucking No. 22 mount has earned top-five finishes in three of the four events and is coming off a sixth place effort at the most recent event. Golobic’s lead in the standings was helped out in large part by his thrilling run on May 2, after taking the Nobel Construction Back Row Challenge and coming from 22nd to third in the feature. He gained an additional 19 points that night, which as noted is what the difference is going into Friday.

Macedo will be gunning to cut into Golobic’s lead come Friday and continue his impressive string of consistency aboard the Elite Landscape Construction No. 21x mount. The now 19-year-old has finished no worse than fourth in the first four events this season and is coming off a third place effort on May 16, in which he came close to picking up his first career Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo victory. Macedo’s growth behind the wheel of a Sprint Car has become more & more apparent and on Friday night he will be looking to park the Paul Baines prepared machine in victory lane.

Fellow Central Valley gasser Mitchell Faccinto is fresh off his best ever Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo finish on May 16 and comes into Friday sitting third in the standings. The second-generation driver is only 24-markers out of the lead and just five-digits behind Macedo for the runner up spot. At the most recent event he rode the rim of the quarter-mile and very nearly got by Brent Kaeding for the win on the final lap, but had to settle for a very close second place finish at the stripe. Faccinto will look to move one spot further up on Friday night in the Western Metal No. 37.

Defending Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo champion Brad Furr goes into Friday ranking fourth in the standings. The Stockton, CA wheel-man looked strong in the early going during the feature on May 16 and led a number of laps, before finishing fifth at the checkered flag. Furr will be searching to put the Price Rite Restaurant Equipment into victory lane on Friday night. Rounding out the top-five going into the weekend is the North County Plastering No. 17 of Justin Sanders. The Watsonville, CA driver had a very rough night on May 16, getting upside down twice in the feature. He will look to put that behind him on Friday, as he shoots for his first Ocean win of the year.

Completing the top-10 in the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo standings going into Friday night are Laton’s Heath Duinkerken, Salinas’ Jason & Jeremy Chisum, Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson and San Jose’s Nick Green. More drivers expected for Friday include Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Visalia’s Steven Tiner, Fresno’s Koen Shaw, Anthony Simone & Mike Stallings, High Five Pizza Hard Charger Award winner from May 16 Nick Rescino Jr. of San Francisco, Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema, Hanford’s Colin Markle, Fremont’s Dustin Golobic, Pleasanton’s Nathan Washam, Los Banos’ Jeff Bothelo, Hollister’s Tomas Bray Scully and others.

Friday will also be fifth opportunity for drivers to take advantage of the “Nobel Construction Back Row Challenge.” The challenge features an extra $1500 on the line each night if the driver eligible accepts the challenge & can win the main event from the tail. The extra cash is courtesy of former San Jose Speedway racer & owner of Nobel Construction Earle Stanton, who is putting up $1000, as well as Ocean Speedway promoter John Prentice, who is putting up $500. If the driver eligible chooses to take the challenge and can win the feature from the last starting spot they’ll go home with $3,000.

If a driver accepts the Back Row Challenge & chooses to start in the last position of the main event, they will be awarded with one championship point per position gained during the feature from their official starting spot (which would be last place). As an example, if at the end of the main event they advance 10 spots from their official starting position, they will receive 10 bonus points, in addition to their regular finishing position points.

The front gate at the Ocean Speedway will open at 4:30pm this Friday night with hot laps at 5:15pm, qualifying around 6pm and racing to follow. All seating will be general admission with adult tickets costing $17, seniors 65 & older $16, children 6-12 $15 and kids five and under free. A family pack featuring two adults and two kids is available for $55. The Ocean Speedway is located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville, California with the physical address being 2601 East Lake Ave, Watsonville, CA 95076.

Ocean Speedway & the Ocean Sprints would like to thank Taco Bravo, High Five Pizza, Nobel Construction, Ray Scheidt’s Electric, Beer Optics, B Scadden Designs, Hoosier Tires West and Kaeding Performance for their support.

For more information on the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo log onto http://www.oceansprints.com and for more on the Ocean Speedway check out http://www.oceanspeedway.com/

Upcoming Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo events at Ocean Speedway after May 30