By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – June 9, 2014…After a week off the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo are geared up for round number six in the battle for the title this Friday evening June 13 at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California. This Friday’s outing will be the lone appearance for the Ocean Sprints in the month of June, prior to the next event, which will be the July 11 “Howard Kaeding Classic” weekend opener.
Fremont’s Shane Golobic continues to sit atop the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo standings and goes into Friday holding a 24-point advantage over Lemoore’s Carson Macedo. The driver of the Keith Day Trucking No. 22 mount has earned top-five finishes in four of the five events and is coming off a runner up effort at most recent show on May 30. Golobic also leads the Civil War Sprint Car Series presented by Flowmaster standings, which invades the Ocean Speedway in just over a month on July 11.
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 19-year-old has finished no worse than fourth in the first five events this season and is coming off back-to-back third place finishes with the Ocean Sprints. Macedo has been very impressive this season and is within an arm’s reach of his first victory at the track, which he’ll look to accomplish on Friday.
Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto goes into Friday sitting just 11-points back of Macedo for second in the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo standings. The 22-year-old is in his first full-time season of Winged Sprint Car racing and has been very solid this year. Faccinto is also fresh off his best ever King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series finish of fourth last weekend at the Marysville Raceway Park. With that momentum he’ll be gunning for his first Taco Bravo win on Friday.
Defending Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo champion Brad Furr goes into Friday ranking fourth in the standings. The Stockton, CA wheel-man finished seventh in the most recent event on May 30. Furr will be searching to put the Price Rite Restaurant Equipment No. 2 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 charged from 13th to sixth at the May 30 event and will also be gunning for his first Taco Bravo win of the year this weekend.
Completing the top-10 in the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo standings going into Friday night are Laton’s Heath Duinkerken, Salinas’ Jeremy & Jason Chisum, Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson and Fresno’s Koen Shaw. More drivers expected for Friday include Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Easton’s Tommy Tarlton, Visalia’s Steven Tiner, Fresno’s Koen Shaw, Anthony Simone & Mike Stallings, 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 sixth 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
Friday June 13
Friday July 11 Howard Kaeding Classic Opener (Ocean Sprints vs Civil War Series)
Friday July 18
Friday July 25 (Johnny Key Qualifying Race Number two)