By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA…Yuba City’s Seth Standley executed an early pass of Kurt Nelson and cruised away to score his first career Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo triumph on opening night.
He was joined in victory lane Friday by Robert Marsh with the IMCA Modifieds, Bo Crebs with the IMCA Sport Mods and Joshua Silva with the Four Bangers. Race fans were treated to excellent racing all night long during a smoothly run event on the pristinely prepared Watsonville bullring.
Standley was aboard his familiar Salco Better Energy/ Swimming Pool Perfections No. 25 mount and made a great rebound after getting upside down the previous week during a heat race in Placerville.
“It feels great to get my first ever Sprint Car win tonight here at Ocean Speedway,” he commented on the front stretch. “We’ve been close in the past and had one thing or another take it away. I really want to thank my family and my entire team for all their hard work in getting me up here. To go from that heat race flip in Pville last week to a win in Watsonville is pretty surreal.”
Former Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo champion Kurt Nelson snagged the early lead after winning the Gizdich Ranch Dash. Standley wasted little time however and showed his muscle by carving his way down low to take over the point after a few laps.
Once out front Standley had his way with things and went on to cross under the Ed Entz checkered flag for the win over Nelson, last year’s Ocean champ Caleb Debem, Jeremy Chisum and Jason Chisum. Jake Haulot began the evening by blistering the quarter mile for fast time, clocking an 11.083 during time trials.
The 25-lap IMCA Modified finale featured a fantastic race that saw Robert Marsh of Salinas end up in victory lane. Jonathan Hagio of Prunedale took the lead at the waving of the green flag and set a fast pace over the early stages.
Side by side racing and battles were seen all over the track for the Modifieds during their main event. Marsh reeled in Hagio and hounded his rear before taking command on lap number eight.
Marsh proceeded to pull away but had to run some perfect laps towards the end as Bobby Hogge closed. The Salinas legend moved into second with six laps left and cut down a wide margin between the pair.
Hogge would run out of time though as Marsh claimed the win by just over half a second. Hogge, Jim Pettit II, Jacob Mallet Jr. and Cody Burke rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Sport Mods also provided an ultra-entertaining 20-lap main event on Friday. The intense feature saw Jim DiGiovanni lead the opening lap, until Trent Golden of Pittsburgh got by one circuit later.
The well-prepared surface allowed the Sport Mods to utilize every inch of the Ocean Speedway bullring. With cars running high and low, Yreka driver Bo Crebs went to work on the leader and the duo proceeded to put on an excellent battle for the top spot.
Golden and Crebs fought hard back and forth but showcased some clean racing in a fabulous tussle for the lead. Crebs took over for good on lap 13 and went on to take his initial Ocean Speedway win. “Captain Chaos” and opening night winner Danny Wagner came home second followed by Trevor Clymens, Rob Gallaher and Golden in the top five.
The Four Bangers certainly gave fans their monies worth as well with a final lap photo finish at the line. Amaya Flower jumped out front right off the bat but felt pressure from Tony Gullo and a host of others. The 15-lap race had its share of excitement with the top four drivers racing closely together at times.
TJ Santos and Joshua Silva hounded Flower over the waning circuits as the crowd came to its feet. Silva blasted by Santos and then moved alongside Flower coming down to the checkered.
In a darn near dead heat, Silva was able to nip Flower at the scoring loop for the dramatic triumph. Santos, Gullo and Kate Beardsley completed the top five.
Ocean Speedway will be dark this coming week for Easter, before resuming action with Little League Night at the Races on Friday April 25th. The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo headline the loaded card.
Results
Ocean Speedway
April 11, 2025
Ocean Sprints:
A Feature 25 laps
1. 25s Seth Standley, 2. 72w Kurt Nelson, 3. 3d Caleb Debem, 4. 8 Jeremy Chisum, 5. 24z Jason Chisum, 6. 56z Don Hart, 7. 7c Corbin Seay, 8. 7h Jake Haulot, 9. 72jr Chis Nelson, 10. 67g Grant Duinkerken
IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature 25 Laps
1. 22-Robert Marsh[5]; 2. 2-Bobby Hogge[6]; 3. 6-Jim Pettit II[4]; 4. 127-Jacob Mallet Jr[10]; 5. 20-Cody Burke[7]; 6. 88P-Carl Berendsen[8]; 7. 28T-Matt Kampfraat[11]; 8. 7-Katelyn Robertson[1]; 9. 10-Justin Tudor[9]; 10. 46-Kyle Bryan[12]; 11. 55H-Mickey Hill[3]; 12. 46N-Jonathan Hagio[2]
IMCA Sport Mods:
A Feature 20 Laps
1. 168-Bo Crebs[6]; 2. 11D-Danny Wagner[8]; 3. 2C-Trevor Clymens[5]; 4. X-Rob Gallaher[7]; 5. 7T-Trent Golden[1]; 6. 39-Steven Allee[3]; 7. 42B-Max Baggett[10]; 8. 01-DJ Keldsen[9]; 9. 89-Duane Bieser[13]; 10. 15-David Crocker[12]; 11. 34-Cody Bryan[11]; 12. 22W-Charlie Hunter[15]; 13. 75X-Jim DiGiovanni[4]; 14. 8-Thomas Cumming[14]; 15. 47-Chris Mayer[2]
Four Bangers:
A Feature 15 laps
1. 28j Joshua Silva, 2. 10 Amaya Flower, 3. 14 TJ Santos, 4. 52 Tony Gullo, 5. 2 Kate Beardsley
Photos courtesy of Top Dawg Images