By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA…Early on in his career Fremont, California’s Shane Golobic cut his teeth in Sprint Car racing at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. He had won a pair of Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo championships, but the prestigious Johnny Key Classic was one event that had eluded his grasp.
That all changed on Saturday night however, when the 30-year-old driver led flag-to-flag en route to his initial triumph in the 61st running of the Key Classic with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards. It also marked his seventh career SCCT victory, which ranks number one on the all-time win list.
Golobic started on the pole by way of his triumph in the High Sierra Industries Dash and took the lead at the waving of the green flag over Friday night winner Ryan Robinson. Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi then went to work on the second-place car, as he and Robinson traded the position on lap 12. Scelzi secured second and took a couple shots at the lead, but the driver of the Matt Wood Racing No. 17W ran mistake free as he often does.
With the track taking rubber it made passing opportunities hard to come by and Golobic drove off to claim the checkered flag over Scelzi, Robinson, Kalib Henry and Corey Day in the top-five. The podium finish for Robinson allowed him to extend his Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards point lead to 46-markers over Colby Copeland with three races remaining.
Rounding out the top-10 in the 35-lapper were Tristin Guardino, DJ Netto, Joey Ancona, Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Chase Majdic and Bud Kaeding.
The night’s 15-lap B-main was captured by Mitchell Faccinto, with the 12-lap C-main going to Justyn Cox. Four 10-lap heat races were held and went to Keith Day Jr., Dominic Scelzi, Corey Day and Kalib Henry. Ryan Robinson began the evening by earning his third Bianchi Farms Fast Time Award of the year by touring the quarter-mile in 10.741 seconds, narrowly missing a new track record. A stout field of 48 Winged 360 Sprint Cars signed into the pit area.
The 20-lap Hobby Stock main event was pocketed by Joe Willoughby over Ryan Hart and Jerry Skelton, while the 20-lap WMR Midget feature was claimed by Bryant Bell over Cory Brown and Evan Bonnema.
The Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards will now be dark until resuming action on Friday October 8th at the Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford for the annual “Cotton Classic.”
The Ocean Speedway in Watsonville is right back at it this coming Friday August 24th with an event headlined by the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu 410 Sprint Car Series. Also on the card will be IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and the South Bay Dwarf Cars.
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Sprint Car Challenge Tour vs Ocean Sprints Results – Saturday August 21st Ocean Speedway Watsonville
A Feature 35 Laps
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 2. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 3. 14W-Ryan Robinson[3]; 4. 17M-Kalib Henry[5]; 5. 14-Corey Day[7]; 6. 15T-Tristan Guardino[8]; 7. 88N-DJ Netto[11]; 8. 88A-Joey Ancona[10]; 9. 2X-Chase Majdic[16]; 10. 69-Bud Kaeding[12]; 11. 5V-Colby Copeland[13]; 12. 83T-Tanner Carrick[15]; 13. X1-Andy Forsberg[18]; 14. 7Z-Zane Blanchard[4]; 15. 22-Keith Day Jr[6]; 16. 7P-Jake Andreotti[19]; 17. 7C-Justyn Cox[24]; 18. 61-Travis Labat[20]; 19. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[22]; 20. 46JR-Joel Myers[17]; 21. 12-Andy Gregg[23]; 22. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[9]; 23. 33-Tucker Worth[14]; 24. 37-Mitchell Faccinto[21]
B Feature 15 Laps
1. 37-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 2. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[1]; 3. 12-Andy Gregg[4]; 4. 7C-Justyn Cox[12]; 5. 35-Sean Becker[14]; 6. 72W-Kurt Nelson[3]; 7. 2-JJ Ringo[13]; 8. 5-Mark Chaves Jr[7]; 9. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[6]; 10. 94-Greg Decaires V[10]; 11. 72JR-Chris Nelson[8]; 12. 24-Justin Henry[9]; 13. 12J-John Clark[11]; 14. 4-Burt Foland Jr[5]
C Feature 12 Laps
1. 7C-Justyn Cox[1]; 2. 2-JJ Ringo[2]; 3. 35-Sean Becker[9]; 4. 7H-Jake Haulot[10]; 5. 50-Bryce Eames[5]; 6. 25Z-Jason Chisum[4]; 7. 8-Jeremy Chisum[8]; 8. 29T-Ryan Timmons[3]; 9. 72S-Bradley Dillard[16]; 10. 5D-Connor Danell[7]; 11. 98-Michael Pombo[6]; 12. 88-Koen Shaw[15]; 13. 34B-Glenn Bryan[12]
Dash 6 Laps
1. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 2. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 3. 14W-Ryan Robinson[3]; 4. 7Z-Zane Blanchard[4]; 5. 17M-Kalib Henry[5]; 6. 22-Keith Day Jr[8]; 7. 14-Corey Day[6]; 8. 15T-Tristan Guardino[7]
Heat 1 10 Laps
1. 22-Keith Day Jr[1]; 2. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[2]; 3. 15T-Tristan Guardino[4]; 4. 2X-Chase Majdic[5]; 5. 7P-Jake Andreotti[7]; 6. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[3]; 7. 4-Burt Foland Jr[6]; 8. 12J-John Clark[10]; 9. 29T-Ryan Timmons[12]; 10. 50-Bryce Eames[9]; 11. 2XM-Max Mittry[11]; 12. 10-Jessie Attard[8]
Heat 2 10 Laps
1. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 2. 14W-Ryan Robinson[4]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[6]; 4. 33-Tucker Worth[1]; 5. 61-Travis Labat[9]; 6. 72W-Kurt Nelson[8]; 7. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[12]; 8. 24-Justin Henry[7]; 9. 7C-Justyn Cox[5]; 10. 98-Michael Pombo[10]; 11. 7H-Jake Haulot[11]; 12. 17-Justin Sanders[3]
Heat 3 10 Laps
1. 14-Corey Day[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 69-Bud Kaeding[5]; 4. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 5. X1-Andy Forsberg[3]; 6. 37-Mitchell Faccinto[6]; 7. 12-Andy Gregg[8]; 8. 72JR-Chris Nelson[10]; 9. 2-JJ Ringo[7]; 10. 8-Jeremy Chisum[12]; 11. 35-Sean Becker[9]; 12. 72S-Bradley Dillard[11]
Heat 4 10 Laps
1. 17M-Kalib Henry[1]; 2. 88A-Joey Ancona[2]; 3. 5V-Colby Copeland[5]; 4. 46JR-Joel Myers[6]; 5. 7Z-Zane Blanchard[4]; 6. 2B-Brooklyn Holland[3]; 7. 5-Mark Chaves Jr[8]; 8. 94-Greg Decaires V[10]; 9. 25Z-Jason Chisum[11]; 10. 5D-Connor Danell[9]; 11. 34B-Glenn Bryan[12]; 12. 88-Koen Shaw[7]
Qualifying 1
1. 15T-Tristan Guardino, 00:10.794[5]; 2. 22-Keith Day Jr, 00:10.813[3]; 3. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 00:10.979[6]; 4. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez, 00:11.026[11]; 5. 2X-Chase Majdic, 00:11.036[10]; 6. 4-Burt Foland Jr, 00:11.078[4]; 7. 7P-Jake Andreotti, 00:11.140[7]; 8. 10-Jessie Attard, 00:11.149[9]; 9. 50-Bryce Eames, 00:11.207[12]; 10. 12J-John Clark, 00:11.363[8]; 11. 2XM-Max Mittry, 00:11.491[2]; 12. 29T-Ryan Timmons, 00:11.619[1]
Qualifying 2
1. 14W-Ryan Robinson, 00:10.741[8]; 2. 33-Tucker Worth, 00:10.821[12]; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 00:10.835[5]; 4. 17-Justin Sanders, 00:10.877[4]; 5. 7C-Justyn Cox, 00:10.892[11]; 6. 88N-DJ Netto, 00:10.952[1]; 7. 24-Justin Henry, 00:10.972[7]; 8. 72W-Kurt Nelson, 00:11.116[10]; 9. 61-Travis Labat, 00:11.180[9]; 10. 98-Michael Pombo, 00:11.265[3]; 11. 7H-Jake Haulot, 00:11.322[2]; 12. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez, 00:12.195[6]
Qualifying 3
1. 17W-Shane Golobic, 00:10.828[1]; 2. 14-Corey Day, 00:10.864[8]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 00:10.870[10]; 4. X1-Andy Forsberg, 00:10.933[6]; 5. 69-Bud Kaeding, 00:11.011[9]; 6. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, 00:11.033[4]; 7. 2-JJ Ringo, 00:11.116[2]; 8. 12-Andy Gregg, 00:11.146[11]; 9. 35-Sean Becker, 00:11.159[7]; 10. 72JR-Chris Nelson, 00:11.361[12]; 11. 72S-Bradley Dillard, 00:11.524[5]; 12. 8-Jeremy Chisum, 00:12.252[3]
Qualifying 4
1. 7Z-Zane Blanchard, 00:10.976[3]; 2. 17M-Kalib Henry, 00:11.198[1]; 3. 88A-Joey Ancona, 00:11.199[6]; 4. 2B-Brooklyn Holland, 00:11.340[5]; 5. 5V-Colby Copeland, 00:11.372[12]; 6. 46JR-Joel Myers, 00:11.479[8]; 7. 88-Koen Shaw, 00:11.503[2]; 8. 5-Mark Chaves Jr, 00:11.847[4]; 9. 5D-Connor Danell, 00:11.991[9]; 10. 94-Greg Decaires V, 00:12.381[11]; 11. 25Z-Jason Chisum, 00:12.442[10]; 12. 34B-Glenn Bryan, 00:13.456[7]