By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – May 16, 2016…Returning to the Ocean Speedway on Friday night Watsonville’s Justin Sanders proceeded to put on a masterful drive through lapped traffic and scored his first victory of the season with the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo.
Sanders had missed the previous round, but came back this past Friday evening and didn’t skip a beat aboard the North County Plastering/ Fire Protection Management No. 17 Sprinter. The 23-year-old is coming off a season that saw him win nine times en route to the Ocean Sprints title.
“I’m definitely happy to get a victory tonight for all my guys,” Sanders said on the front stretch. “We’ve been working really hard on these cars to find more speed and I can feel us making gains. It’s been a bit different bouncing back and forth between the 360 & 410, but I think we’re starting to build some momentum. I want to thank all my sponsors and each & every person that supports this race team.”
Sanders started from the outside of the front row, but it was pole sitter & dash winner Kurt Nelson that took command from the waving of the green flag. Sanders soon made his move however, and sliced his way to the lead on lap-five. Fremont’s Shane Golobic was able to get around Nelson on lap 12 and then gave chase after the leader, who was working traffic to perfection.
Nelson’s strong run would come to a tough end when he got into a spin on lap 21 while running third. Following that Sanders held command while Easton’s Tommy Tarlton challenged Golobic for the runner up spot. The pair exchanged the position in exciting fashion with five-laps left, until Golobic won out and solidified the second spot. He closed in on the lead, but would run out of time as Sanders took the Ed Entz checkered flag by just 0.788 seconds.
Golobic has finished no worse than second in the three Ocean Sprints events held thus far, which includes a win on opening night. Tarlton once again showed speed all night long and crossed the stripe in third, with Penngrove’s Buddy Kofoid and Stockton’s Brad Furr completing the top-five. The remainder of the top-10 was rounded out by Salinas brothers Jason & Jeremy Chisum, Hollister’s Tony Gualda, Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema and Sacramento’s DJ Freitas.
The three heat races held were picked off by Justin Sanders, Buddy Kofoid and Jerry Bonnema. Tommy Tarlton opened the night by setting the Ray Scheidts Electric Fast Time with a lap of 12.131. Full results will be available at www.racepmg.com
The Ocean Sprints & Ocean Speedway is held under the management of Prentice Motorsports Group, which also operates the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series, the Civil War 360 Sprint Car Series presented by Flowmaster, the Wingless Sprint Car Series presented by Hunt Magnetos & the All Star Modified Tour.
The Ocean Sprints would like to thank Taco Bravo, High Five Pizza, Ray Scheidts Electric, Beer Optics, Hoosier Tires West, Flowmaster, Budweiser and Kaeding Performance for their support. For more information on the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo log onto www.racepmg.com
Photos courtesy TDS Shots