By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – May 4, 2015…The busiest stretch of the season for the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo marches on this Friday May 8, in what will be the opener for another PMG “Double Down Bonus” weekend. This Friday’s event is paired with Saturday’s King of the West Sprint Car Series outing at Petaluma Speedway.
If a driver can win Friday’s Ocean Sprints event and then back it up by winning with KWS on Saturday in Petaluma, they’ll go home with an additional $3000 bonus. Last week’s Double Down Bonus was safe, but this Friday could be different, depending on who shows up.
On the strength of his win last Friday night at Ocean Speedway local driver Justin Sanders brings a 30-point lead into this week’s round five. The Watsonville based wheel-man last season earned one win and finished third in points, but he is poised to change that this season. Sanders’ has become one of the top Sprint Car drivers in all of California and will be gunning to make it back-to-back wins on Friday.
“We’re really trying hard to win the Ocean Sprints title this year and it would definitely mean a lot if we could do so,” said Sanders, who has been one of the most consistent drivers in Northern California so far this season. “I’m also going for the Civil War and Marysville championships driving for Rudy Warrington, but to get the Taco Bravo title in my family car would be pretty special. We’ve been making the right choices in the early season and hopefully we can keep it up.”
Round three winner Brad Furr goes into Friday sitting second in points and will attempt to chip away at Sander’s advantage. The Stockton driver last week set the Ray Scheidts Electric Fast Time and won his heat, before finishing 10th in the feature. Gilroy veteran Kurt Nelson ranks third in the standings and is just eight-digits behind Furr for second after running ninth last week. Nelson continues to have a solid start to the campaign in 2015.
Corralitos, CA veteran Jerry Bonnema and Salinas, CA’s Jason Chisum round out the top-five going into this week. Chisum last Friday had a nice run in the feature carving his way from 14th to seventh to earn the High Five Pizza Hard Charger Award. His brother Jeremy ranks sixth in the Ocean Sprints standings, followed by Fremont’s Dustin Golobic, Hayward’s Danny Malfatti, San Jose’s Darrell Taylor and Gilroy’s Ken Fredenburg completing the top-10.
A couple of two-time Ocean Sprints champions, Shane Golobic of Fremont and Tommy Tarlton of Easton, will both be looking to find victory lane on Friday. Golobic last week earned his second podium finish of the season at the quarter-mile and Tarlton claimed fourth in the 30-lapper. Morgan Hill’s Nicholas Ringo was also impressive last week leading laps in the feature. He’ll be back looking to moves his way up the order on Friday.
More possibilities for this week will include Fresno’s Kyler Shaw, who scored a career best fifth place finish last Friday, along with his brother Koen, who ran eighth last week. Hollister’s Tony Gualda, Fremont’s Anthony Espinosa, Tracy’s Austin Liggett and Salinas’ Josh Chisum are also expected to be on hand as well.
The front gate at Ocean Speedway will open at 4:30pm this Friday night with hot laps at 5:15pm, qualifying around 6pm and racing to follow. The pit gate will open at 2pm this season. All seating will be general admission with adult tickets $17, seniors 65 & older $16, children 6-12 $13 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, Ray Scheidts Electric, Beer Optics, 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 www.racepmg.com
Upcoming Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo events
Friday May 8 (Double Down weekend)
Friday May 15
Friday May 29
Friday May 15
Friday May 29