By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – July 27, 2015…It definitely didn’t come easy for Justin Sanders on Friday night at the Ocean Speedway, but the 22-year-old hung tough and held off a charging Bud Kaeding to score his sixth Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo win of the season.
The victory for Sanders extended his point lead to 93-markers with just four events remaining on the schedule and came aboard his North County Plastering/ Lancaster Locksmith No. 17 machine. By way of his win Sanders also locks himself into the 55th Johnny Key Classic, joining Shane Golobic, Jonathan Allard, Andy Forsberg and Greg Decaires as drivers already in the field.
“I’m pretty excited to be up here because we weren’t quite as good in the feature as we have been all year,” Sanders said. “I definitely had to work for that one and when I saw Bud coming I had to get my elbows up. I want to thank everyone that helps out and supports this team. We’ve just had a magical season and it’s been a lot of fun. Locking into the Johnny Key Classic is a huge deal so I couldn’t be happier.”
Sanders got the jump in the feature and led the early stages over Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi. Another wide & racy track was seen in the main event and the drivers up front put on a good show for the fans once again. Fresno’s Kyler Shaw won the dash, but elected to take the back row challenge for the A-main. He got up to as high as seventh, before a spin relegated him to the rear of the field just before the halfway point. Shaw would eventually finish 10th.
With Scelzi trying to find a way by Sanders, Bud Kaeding and Andy Forsberg also made their presence known. On lap 12 Kaeding would make his way by Scelzi on a restart for second, with Forsberg following along as well. Another restart on lap 13 would see a very fast Forsberg get by Kaeding and then go to work on Sanders. The Auburn driver battled for the lead with Sanders to the delight of the crowd, but the Ocean Sprints point leader was able to keep him at bay.
With nine laps to go Kaeding got back by Forsberg for second and spent the remainder trying to track down Sanders. Racing through traffic coming for the white flag Sanders caught the cushion just enough to slow his momentum, which allowed Kaeding the chance to sneak to his inside. Sanders had the preferred line though and hit his marks to fend off the challenge, taking the checkered by 0.570 seconds over Kaeding.
Scelzi made a lap 25 pass to claim third, with Forsberg finishing fourth and Brad Furr making a final corner move to round out the top-five. Fremont’s Dustin Golobic looked very racy and just missed out on a top-five effort, finishing sixth. Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema was seventh, Fresno’s Koen Shaw earned the High Five Pizza Hard Charger Award by coming from 17th to eighth, with Morgan Hills Nicholas Ringo and Kyler Shaw completing the top-10. Full results are available at www.racepmg.com
Kyler Shaw won his third dash of the year, while the two heat races were picked off by Kurt Nelson & Jerry Bonnema. Andy Forsberg kicked-off the night by setting his first Ray Scheidt’s Electric fast time of the season with a clocking of 11.684 around the quarter-mile. Forsberg during the night was aboard the Joe Von Schriltz 121 Sprinter and looked strong all evening.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will now have this coming Friday off, before resuming action on Friday August 7 for round 13.
The front gate at Ocean Speedway will open at 4:30pm on Friday night August 7 with hot laps at 5:30pm, qualifying around 6pm and racing to follow. The pit gate will open at 2pm. 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, Bullet Proof Energy Drink, Flowmaster and Kaeding Performance for their support.