From Gary Thomas
WATSONVILLE, Ca. (August 4, 2023) — After being involved during an early wreck Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto battled back to capture a lengthy main event on Friday night with the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo.
Faccinto piloted the familiar Keith Day Trucking/ Gabilan Ag Service No. 22 to his second Watsonville victory of the season. Also snagging wins on Hall of Fame Night were Bobby Hogge IV with the IMCA Modifieds, Trevor Clymens with the IMCA Sport Mods and point leader Joe Gallaher with the Hobby Stocks.
Inducted into the Ocean Speedway Hall of Fame on Friday were three-time Ocean Sprints champion Brad Furr, multi-time Watsonville track titlist Bobby Scott and Videographer Fred Adams.
The 30-lap Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo finale began with last week’s winner Joey Ancona jumping into the lead ahead of Campbell’s Bud Kaeding. Numerous caution periods proceeded to follow, which never allowed the race to get into a constant flow.
Over much of the race Ancona had his way with things out front and hit every restart with perfection, keeping the rest of the field at bay. Following a fuel stop on lap 10 caution flags continued to plague the contest but shuffled up the rundown immensely.
Track conditions also changed throughout the feature and played into the finish as it wore on. Faccinto had gotten involved in a lap two yellow but fought through attrition and began to make some fantastic moves, as he climbed back to fourth by the halfway mark. He then found the sweet spot where rubber had developed and sliced his way into third on lap 22, before taking second the following circuit.
With Ancona up front continuing to run the high line, that’s all Faccinto needed to make the winning move with four laps remaining. The 2020 Ocean Sprints champ hit the rubber off turn four and grabbed the top spot that he would never relinquish.
Ancona tried to fight back but hit the curb a little too hard off the fourth corner and suffered front end damage, putting an unfortunate end to his strong night on lap 27.
Faccinto brought home the win over Kaleb Montgomery, Dominic Gorden, point leader Rickey Sanders and 16th starting Ashton Torgerson in the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 were Jeremy Chisum, Gauge Garcia, Kurt Nelson, Ryan Rocha and Chris Nelson. Montgomery began the night by setting fast time with a blistering 11.272 around bullring.
Ocean Speedway
Watsonville, California
Friday, August 4, 2023
Winged 360 Sprint Cars
Qualifying
1. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[18]
2. 121-Rickey Sanders[8]
3. 69-Bud Kaeding[9]
4. 22-Mitchell Faccinto[6]
5. 7P-Jake Andreotti[4]
6. 25Z-Jason Chisum[11]
7. 72W-Kurt Nelson[10]
8. 88A-Joey Ancona[14]
9. 2K-Gauge Garcia[13]
10. 10-Dominic Gorden[3]
11. 8-Jeremy Chisum[1]
12. 5R-Ryan Rocha[12]
13. 61-Travis Labat[21]
14. 3D-Caleb Debem[22]
15. 72S-Bradley Dillard[17]
16. 88-Ashton Torgerson[19]
17. 72JR-Chris Nelson[15]
18. 3M-Adam Kaeding[16]
19. 31H-Phil Heynen[5]
20. 56Z-Don Hart[20]
21. 98-Vince Giannotta[2]
22. 34B-Glenn Bryan[7]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 10-Dominic Gorden[1]
2. 72W-Kurt Nelson[2]
3. 22-Mitchell Faccinto[3]
4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]
5. 88-Ashton Torgerson[6]
6. 61-Travis Labat[5]
7. 31H-Phil Heynen[7]
8. 34B-Glenn Bryan[8]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 88A-Joey Ancona[2]
2. 8-Jeremy Chisum[1]
3. 121-Rickey Sanders[4]
4. 7P-Jake Andreotti[3]
5. 3D-Caleb Debem[5]
6. 72JR-Chris Nelson[6]
7. 56Z-Don Hart[7]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 2K-Gauge Garcia[2]
2. 69-Bud Kaeding[4]
3. 25Z-Jason Chisum[3]
4. 72S-Bradley Dillard[5]
5. 3M-Adam Kaeding[6]
6. 5R-Ryan Rocha[1]
7. 98-Vince Giannotta[7]
Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 88A-Joey Ancona[1]
2. 69-Bud Kaeding[2]
3. 121-Rickey Sanders[3]
4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]
5. 2K-Gauge Garcia[5]
6. 10-Dominic Gorden[6]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 22-Mitchell Faccinto[7]
2. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]
3. 10-Dominic Gorden[6]
4. 121-Rickey Sanders[3]
5. 88-Ashton Torgerson[16]
6. 8-Jeremy Chisum[11]
7. 2K-Gauge Garcia[5]
8. 72W-Kurt Nelson[10]
9. 5R-Ryan Rocha[12]
10. 72JR-Chris Nelson[17]
11. 56Z-Don Hart[20]
12. 88A-Joey Ancona[1]
13. 3M-Adam Kaeding[18]
14. 7P-Jake Andreotti[8]
15. 72S-Bradley Dillard[15]
16. 31H-Phil Heynen[19]
17. 69-Bud Kaeding[2]
18. 25Z-Jason Chisum[9]
19. 98-Vince Giannotta[21]
20. 61-Travis Labat[13]
21. 3D-Caleb Debem[14]
22. 34B-Glenn Bryan[22]