By Steven Blakesley
WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (August 9, 2024) – Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick dominated Friday’s Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo feature, leading all 30-laps in the prelude to Saturday’s 64th Johnny Key Classic at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. The win paid $2000 and gives Carrick momentum heading into the $3000 to win event on Saturday.
Caeden Steele of Fresno topped the 26 entries in time trials before Carrick scored the pole for the feature by winning the dash.
The opening lap saw excitement when Yuba City’s Seth Standley and Livermore’s Travis Labat banged wheels on the front stretch. Surprisingly the field was able to avoid a melee and racing resumed.
Penngrove’s Colby Johnson knifed through the fracas to drive from sixth starting position into third. Carrick approached traffic by the fifth lap and briefly had company from Steele in the second position. Carrick then accumulated a strong lead as he darted in and out of traffic. At halfway, Johnson found his way past Steele for second. Steele was then passed by Guage Garcia of Lemoore for third as well.
Grant Duinkerken of Riverdale and Cody Key of Fresno collided on the backstretch on lap 20, sending Key into a side-over-side flip. Johnson, Steele, and Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson were also gobbled up as they tried to avoid with Steele flipping as well. Duinkerken was the only car able to continue.
The incident erased a 5.4 second lead for Carrick and gave him a new customer to deal with in Garcia. Garcia tried to slide Carrick on the restart into turn one but was unable to complete a pass. Bud Kaeding then made a slider attempt on Garcia for second. On the second attempt on lap 22, the move stuck and Kaeding took over the position.
Kaeding closed in on Carrick as they approached lapped traffic with four to go but a caution fell for Burt Foland, Jr. of Campbell spinning in turn one. Carrick drove away on the restart with free real estate ahead of him for the win, followed by Kaeding, Garcia, points leader Caleb Debem, and Standley. Ashton Torgerson advanced ten positions to earn the JP Morgan and Mr. Pickles Hard Charger worth $200.
San Jose’s Anthony Bruno won his second career Western Midget Racing feature and his first at his home Ocean Speedway in a thriller against Santa Cruz Logan Mitchell.
Adrianna DeMartini of Brentwood and 2023 champion Bryant Bell of Oakley won the eight-lap heat races.
Bruno lined up alongside Adam Weisberg of Santa Clarita for the 20-lap feature. Weisberg had a slow start which also bottled up Delano’s Terry Nichols. Bruno and Mitchell broke free and ran in lockstep throughout the contest worth $500 to win, kicking off the second weekend of the WMR Triple Crown.
Current points leader Bell ran in third for the first four laps before flipping wildly in turn three to end his evening.
Mitchell hounded the back bumper of Bruno as they built up a comfortable advantage over DeMartini in third. Mitchell made his move on the outside coming to the checkered flag but fell short by a nose. Bruno earned the win over Mitchell, DeMartini, Terry Nichols of Delano, and Todd Hawse of Moorpark. Bruno then spun a two car inversion for Saturday’s fast heat which will set the starting line up for the first three rows of the feature. The balance of the field will battle for positions seventh on back in the second heat race.
2023 Hobby Stocks champion Joe Gallaher drove worst to first to grab his seventh win of the season in a 20-lap main event. His grandson Bobby Gallaher worked to the outside of Watsonville’s Adriane Frost to seize the lead at the start.
Joe Gallaher passed his son Rob Gallaher for second on lap 12 then closed in on Bobby. Grandpa took over the lead on lap 15 on the inside in turn three and never relinquished it. The three generations of Gallaher finished one-two-three with Joe, Bobby, and Rob followed by Frost and Reeder.
Gilroy’s TJ Santos made the most of his first Four Bangers start of the season by leading the 15-lap feature wire-to-wire. Santos won his heat race as well.
Original pole sitter Kenny Stragalinos of Boulder Creek had to start at the rear after his car stalled on the first attempt at a start. Stragalinos drove into third around the outside of Travis Vangilder of Felton on lap six. Stragalinos quickly moved past Nicole Beardsley into second on lap seven but the move would be nullified by a crash in turn four.
Peter Vannerus and Ken Keagan tangled in the fourth turn, resulting in Keagan flipping over onto his roof to draw a red flag. He was uninjured.
The incident took away a six second lead that Santos had built up over the pack. Stragalinos challenged Beardsley before completing the pass on lap 16 for second. He was unable to make up ground on Santos’ 3.4 second advantage at that point.
Santos grabbed victory over Stragalinos, Beardsley, Van Gilder, and Vannerus.
The 64th Johnny Key Classic hits the track on Saturday night with Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo, Western Midget Racing, and Hobby Stocks. Adult tickets are $25. Spectator gates open at 3:30pm with mud packing and hot laps at 4:15pm
Saturday’s Johnny Key Classic finale is $3,000 to win, $1,000 for second, and $800 for third. Each night will have a guaranteed $300 to start the main event. Extra money will also be on the line for fast time and hard charger both nights in memory of JP Morgan, who considered the Key Classic to be his favorite event.
For more information, visit www.OceanSpeedway.com
Ocean Speedway August 9, 2024 – Race Results
Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[1]; 2. 29-Bud Kaeding[11]; 3. 28-Gauge Garcia[8]; 4. 3D-Caleb Debem[7]; 5. 25S-Seth Standley[3]; 6. 61-Travis Labat[5]; 7. 88-Ashton Torgerson[17]; 8. 5R-Ryan Rocha[9]; 9. 8-Jeremy Chisum[2]; 10. 67G-Grant Duinkerken[15]; 11. 3-Cole Schroeder[16]; 12. 88SR-Koen Shaw[21]; 13. 23T-George Tristao Jr[13]; 14. 76-Jennifer Osborne[12]; 15. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[20]; 16. 99-Tristan Guardino[22]; 17. 4-Burt Foland Jr[14]; 18. 38-Colby Johnson[6]; 19. 121-Caeden Steele[4]; 20. 15-Cody Key[10]; 21. 72W-Kurt Nelson[18]; 22. 88A-Joey Ancona[19]
WMR Midgets A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 9-Anthony Bruno[1]; 2. 96X-Logan Mitchell[3]; 3. ONE9-Adrianna DeMartini[6]; 4. 2ND-Terry Nichols[4]; 5. 18-Todd Hawse[10]; 6. 25JR-Nathan Moore[12]; 7. 68-Marvin Mitchell[9]; 8. 09-Bryant Bell[5]; 9. 57-Kinser Claridge[8]; 10. 31-Adam Weisberg[2]; 11. 11-Teddy Bivert[7]; 12. 1T-Koen Shaw[13]; 13. (DNS) 35K-Drake Edwards
Hobby Stocks A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 1-Joe Gallaher[8]; 2. X1-Bobby Gallaher[4]; 3. X2-Rob Gallaher[3]; 4. 51-Adriane Frost[2]; 5. 8-Wayne Reeder[1]; 6. 15-Jill Knoebel[5]; 7. 01-Lilly Mead[6]; 8. (DNS) 55F-Shane Freeman
Four Bangers A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 14-TJ Santos[2]; 2. 720-Kenny Stragalinos[1]; 3. 2-Nicole Beardsley[4]; 4. 112-Travis VanGilder[3]; 5. 37-Peter Vannerus[5]; 6. 8-Thomas Cumming[11]; 7. 43-Kate Beardsley[6]; 8. 50F-Shelbie Freeman[9]; 9. 5-Bill Beardsley[8]; 10. 51-Ken Keegan[10]; 11. 28J-Joshua Silva[7]