By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA…Lincoln, California’s Tanner Carrick made the trip from up north pay off as he raced to his initial Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo victory of the season on Friday night.
Carrick, who captured a pair of Ocean Speedway wins last season, fended off challenges early from Caeden Steele and then cruised to the checkered flag over the final half of the race. He was joined in victory lane by Nicholas Johnson with the West Coast Hobby Stock Tour, Jason Ryan Jr. with the IMCA Sport Mods and Jason Lazzerini with the 4-Bangers.
The 30-lap Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo feature began in thrilling fashion with Fresno’s Caeden Steele and Carrick battling it out tooth and nail. The duo raced extremely close together on the well-prepared quarter mile before a caution waved on lap nine. Steele was looking for a clean sweep of the night after setting fast time, winning his heat race and the Gizdich Ranch Dash.
On the restart Steele took a shot at the lead but got out of shape and contacted the wall, ultimately spinning out in the third corner. San Jose’s Adam Kaeding had nowhere to go and contacted him, resulting in a tommy tip over. Kaeding emerged from the car okay, however, both drivers were done for the night.
After that Carrick pulled away to a sizable advantage, but the action behind him remained intriguing with Kaleb Montgomery, Gauge Garcia, Rickey Sanders and others dicing it up. Following immense work on the track surface during the week it certainly gave drivers one of the best of the season.
Montgomery crossed the stripe in second, followed by Garcia, Sanders and Michael Pombo in the top-five. The top-10 was filled out by Dominic Gorden, Travis Labat, Jason Chisum, Caleb Debem and Colby Johnson.
Ocean Speedway
Watsonville, California
Friday, June 23, 2023
Winged 360 Sprint Cars
Qualifying
1. 121X-Caeden Steele, 11.226[17]
2. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery, 11.278[7]
3. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 11.316[10]
4. 37-Michael Pombo, 11.351[2]
5. 10-Dominic Gorden, 11.382[4]
6. 121-Rickey Sanders, 11.406[15]
7. 61-Travis Labat, 11.480[8]
8. 21X-Gauge Garcia, 11.554[11]
9. 38-Colby Johnson, 11.629[3]
10. 72W-Kurt Nelson, 11.644[16]
11. 3D-Caleb Debem, 11.656[13]
12. 25Z-Jason Chisum, 11.720[5]
13. 6D-Josh Chisum, 11.889[12]
14. 72S-Bradley Dillard, 11.907[6]
15. 07-Richard Fajardo, 12.081[14]
16. 56Z-Don Hart, 12.155[9]
17. 3M-Adam Kaeding, 12.199[1]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 121X-Caeden Steele[4]
2. 72W-Kurt Nelson[1]
3. 61-Travis Labat[2]
4. 37-Michael Pombo[3]
5. 6D-Josh Chisum[5]
6. 56Z-Don Hart[6]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 21X-Gauge Garcia[2]
2. 3D-Caleb Debem[1]
3. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[4]
4. 10-Dominic Gorden[3]
5. 72S-Bradley Dillard[5]
6. 3M-Adam Kaeding[6]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 25Z-Jason Chisum[1]
2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[4]
3. 121-Rickey Sanders[3]
4. 07-Richard Fajardo[5]
5. 38-Colby Johnson[2]
Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 121X-Caeden Steele[1]
2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[3]
3. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[2]
4. 21X-Gauge Garcia[5]
5. 37-Michael Pombo[4]
6. 25Z-Jason Chisum[6]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]
2. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[3]
3. 21X-Gauge Garcia[4]
4. 121-Rickey Sanders[8]
5. 37-Michael Pombo[5]
6. 10-Dominic Gorden[7]
7. 61-Travis Labat[9]
8. 25Z-Jason Chisum[6]
9. 3D-Caleb Debem[12]
10. 38-Colby Johnson[10]
11. 72W-Kurt Nelson[11]
12. 72S-Bradley Dillard[14]
13. 56Z-Don Hart[16]
14. 07-Richard Fajardo[15]
15. 121X-Caeden Steele[1]
16. 6D-Josh Chisum[13]
17. 3M-Adam Kaeding[17]