By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA…Visalia’s Jett Barnes and Redding’s Max Mittry put forth a crowd-pleasing performance on Friday night at Watsonville Speedway.
When all was done and dusted it was Barnes fending off Mittry to grab his first career Gold Star GMC Sprint Car triumph at the quarter mile.
Fellow winners on Friday evening included Cody Burke with the IMCA Modifieds, Austin VanHoff with the Santa Cruz Apparel IMCA Sport Mods, Joe Gallaher with the R&J Landscaping Hobby Stocks and Eric Weisler with the SSSP South Bay Dwarf Cars.
Barnes and Mittry led the field to green in the 25-lap Gold Star GMC Sprint Car finale. After a couple of laps, it was Barnes who settled into the lead. Mittry came to life after a handful of circuits however and closed right up on the tail tank of the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14.
After hounding the leader for a few circuits Mittry made his move on lap 13 to scoop up the top spot as the crowd came to its feet. The reigning SCCT Speedweek champion was in search of career win number one and looked solid, but Barnes wasn’t done just yet.
The youngster found the high side in turns one and two, creating monster runs in his pursuit of the lead. With just five laps remaining Barnes shot back around for the top spot and held off Mittry to the Ed Entz checkered flag.
It capped a strong three week run for Barnes at Watsonville Speedway, where he scored the Keith Day Company Fast Time Award on three straight occasions and podiumed each race.
Completing the top five behind him and Mittry were Kaleb Montgomery, Dominic Gorden and Jake Haulot. Adrianna Demartini brought home the Taco Bravo Hard Charger Award.
Past IMCA Modified champ Cody Burke of Salinas led all 25 laps in the main event during their season debut on Friday. Burke hit his marks down low each time and held off a relentless Andrew Pierce for the win. Pierce, Troy Foulger, Logan Drake and Nick Decarlo followed him across the line.
The Santa Cruz Apparel IMCA Sport Mods put on a fantastic main event for the fans last night. With track conditions in superb shape the 20-lapper saw multiple different leaders and a race that wasn’t decided till the very end.
Kingsburg driver Todd Carlock led the early stages in his No7 mount until having a moment midway through the contest. The always fast Jason Ryan Jr. then held the point over the second half of the race as he, Bo Crebs and Austin VanHoff battled it out.
Lapped traffic created a hectic finish that saw VanHoff take full advantage and pick the right spots to move out front. He led the final couple of circuits to claim the exciting triumph over Ryan, Tanner Thomas, Crebs and Emali VanHoff.
The R&J Landscaping Hobby Stocks acted as the night cap on Friday and saw multi time track champion Joe Gallaher pick up a close win at the finish. Fan Favorite Adriane Frost led early until Gallaher rocketed by for the lead.
As things began to play out it was Gallaher, Frost and Lilly Mead racing close together up front. The veteran Gallaher had to be perfect over the closing stages as Mead found another gear and came after him quickly.
Gallaher never faltered though and narrowly beat out Mead coming to the checkered flag. Frost, Dwayne Short and Dakota Keldsen rounded out the top five.
The Security Shoring and Steel Plates Dwarf Cars made their season debut on Friday. Danny Wagner dominated the contest only to have mechanical issues three laps shy of the finish. Eric Weisler took advantage and motored off to win over Jason Lazzerini and John Durden.
Watsonville Speedway returns to action this coming Friday April 11th with a five-division program featuring by the traveling Ultimate Sprint Car Series Non-Wingers.
Ocean 360 Sprint Cars
Gold Star GMC A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 14-Jett Barnes[1]; 2. 2XM-Max Mittry[2]; 3. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]; 4. 10-Dominic Gorden[6]; 5. 7H-Jake Haulot[7]; 6. 29-Bud Kaeding[5]; 7. 3D-Caleb Debem[9]; 8. 14E-Mariah Ede[8]; 9. 25Z-Jason Chisum[11]; 10. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[14]; 11. 29C-Cole Croft[13]; 12. 34B-Glenn Bryan[15]; 13. 93-Landon Henry[3]; 14. 24S-Izaak Sharp[12]; 15. (DNF) 17-Jesse Schlotfeldt[10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Landon Henry[1]; 2. 14-Jett Barnes[4]; 3. 10-Dominic Gorden[6]; 4. 7H-Jake Haulot[5]; 5. 3D-Caleb Debem[3]; 6. 25Z-Jason Chisum[7]; 7. 29C-Cole Croft[2]; 8. 34B-Glenn Bryan[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 2. 29-Bud Kaeding[6]; 3. 2XM-Max Mittry[4]; 4. 14E-Mariah Ede[2]; 5. 17-Jesse Schlotfeldt[3]; 6. 24S-Izaak Sharp[5]; 7. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[7]
Keith Day Company Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 14-Jett Barnes, 11.554[11]; 2. 2XM-Max Mittry, 11.598[4]; 3. 93-Landon Henry, 11.639[10]; 4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 11.644[9]; 5. 29C-Cole Croft, 11.705[8]; 6. 14E-Mariah Ede, 11.711[7]; 7. 3D-Caleb Debem, 11.724[3]; 8. 17-Jesse Schlotfeldt, 11.756[12]; 9. 7H-Jake Haulot, 11.847[6]; 10. 24S-Izaak Sharp, 11.868[1]; 11. 10-Dominic Gorden, 11.900[14]; 12. 29-Bud Kaeding, 11.915[13]; 13. 25Z-Jason Chisum, 11.989[5]; 14. 9-Adrianna DeMartini, 12.748[2]; 15. 34B-Glenn Bryan, 17.776[15]