By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA…Making a rare weekly start at Watsonville Speedway on Friday, 2015 track champion Justin Sanders started from the front row and led all 25-laps, en route to a $3,500 score on Gold Star GMC Night at the Races.
Sharing Quick Change Liquid Energy victory lane were Kaleb Montgomery with the Ultimate Sprint Car Series, Tate Loftis with the Santa Cruz Apparel IMCA Sport Mods and Adriane Frost with the Guiliani Construction IMCA Stock Cars.
Lincoln’s Tanner Carrick and Sanders led the Gold Star GMC 360 Sprint Car feature to the Ed Entz green flag. Sanders jumped out front and ultimately had his way with things throughout the contest.
Carrick closed at one point in lapped traffic, only to have a caution give leaders a clear track ahead. With just a few circuits left, Sanders got crossed up on the cushion in turn four, which again allowed Carrick to cut the gap.
After that, however, the current NARC point leader was flawless and crossed under the checkered to earn his third Watsonville triumph of the year. Carrick crossed the stripe in second, holding off a hard charging Cole Croft, who rounded out the podium.
Cotati’s Jake Haulot carved his way from 10th to fourth, bringing home the $200 Taco Bravo Hard Charger Award. Bakersfield’s Jett Yantis made his Winged 360 debut on Friday night and was very impressive, netting a fifth-place finish in the main event.
Watsonville Speedway point leader Landon Henry claimed the $200 Keith Day Trucking Fast Time Award and finished sixth in the feature, ahead of Austin Wood, Travis Labat, Ryan Bernal and Caleb Debem.
With the Ultimate Sprint Car Series, it was Tanner Carrick and Austin Wood who led the field to green. Carrick climbed out front early, while the race behind him was entertaining as always with the Non-Winged USCS Sprinters.
Wood maintained second until Hollister native Ryan Bernal sliced his way by to secure the runner up spot. Bernal, who set fast time to begin the program, was primed to track down the leader but had an issue on the rear end, bringing an end to his race on lap 14.
The final 10 laps saw Carrick deal with intense pressure from Kaleb Montgomery, as the pair put on an excellent show for the fans in the stands. With four laps remaining Montgomery got the drive he wanted and rocketed into the lead.
After that he worked lapped traffic to perfection and raced off to record his second USCS victory of the campaign. Carrick brought home a runner-up finish, giving him a solid night with second place efforts in both Sprint Car classes.
Caden Sarale, Wood and Nate Schank filled out the top five. Nick Robfogel, Ryan Timmons, Tyler Cato, Mark Henry and Heath Holdsclaw completed the top 10 in the USCS finale.
The Santa Cruz Apparel IMCA Sport Mods had a strong 21 car turnout for their $1,000-to-win event on Friday night.
Bakersfield driver Tate Loftis led all 20 laps in the feature but had to earn it with current point leader Danny Wagner giving him everything he could handle. Loftis and Wagner ran close together for much of the race, as drivers behind them fought it out as well.
Loftis hit his marks lap after lap and went on to edge out Wagner for the big win. Ethan Johnson, Landon King, Matthew Frazier, Tyler Irwin, Steven Allee, Jeff Bentancourt, Joel Hannagan and Todd Carlock comprised the top 10.
Watsonville’s own Adriane Frost led every step of the way with the Giuliani Construction IMCA Stock Cars and tallied her first win of the season in the division. The action behind her was extremely intense though with Justin Villaneuva, Paul Stone, Anthony Giuliani and Jake Archibald rounding out the top five in a hard-fought race.
Watsonville Speedway is back at it this coming weekend with the much-anticipated Howard Kaeding Classic, showcasing two nights of NARC King of the West 410 Sprint Car competition on Friday and Saturday July 17th and 18th.
Results
Watsonville Speedway
Gold Star GMC Night at the Races
July 10, 2026
Gold Star GMC Sprint Cars:
1. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[1]; 3. 29X-Cole Croft[3]; 4. 7H-Jake Haulot[10]; 5. 4X-Jett Yantis[8]; 6. 93-Landon Henry[4]; 7. 2A-Austin Wood[6]; 8. 61-Travis Labat[7]; 9. 73-Ryan Bernal[5]; 10. 3D-Caleb Debem[11]; 11. 4-Burt Foland Jr[15]; 12. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[14]; 13. 5-Aiden Larimer[13]; 14. 34B-Glenn Bryan[16]; 15. 88A-Joey Ancona[9]; 16. 25Z-Jason Chisum[12]
USCS:
1. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[3]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[1]; 3. 32-Caden Sarale[5]; 4. 21-Austin Wood[2]; 5. 1-Nate Schank[7]; 6. 17X-Nick Robfogel[11]; 7. 29T-Ryan Timmons[4]; 8. 38-Tyler Cato[10]; 9. 39R-Mark Henry[13]; 10. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[9]; 11. 63D-Jon DeWees[14]; 12. 12-Adam Christian[19]; 13. 36-Bob Newberry[8]; 14. 2STX-Brent Steck[16]; 15. 44-Brent Sexton[18]; 16. 38C-Austin Cato[15]; 17. 9C-Connor Wakim[17]; 18. 73-Ryan Bernal[6]; 19. 46J-Anthony Bruno[12]; 20. (DNS) 87P-Jacob Tuttle
Santa Cruz Apparel IMCA Sport Mods:
1. 462-Tate Loftis[2]; 2. 11D-Danny Wagner[4]; 3. 11-Ethan Johnson[9]; 4. 43K-Landon King[1]; 5. 15F-Matthew Frazier[3]; 6. 172-Tyler Irwin[5]; 7. 39-Steven Allee[12]; 8. 32-Jeff Bentancourt[17]; 9. 96M-Joel Hannagan[18]; 10. NO7-Todd Carlock[14]; 11. 15-David Crocker[21]; 12. 22W-Charlie Hunter[20]; 13. 22S-Connor Solis[19]; 14. 34-Cody Bryan[11]; 15. 96-Kaden Perez[16]; 16. 168-Bo Crebs[7]; 17. 55F-Shane Freeman[15]; 18. 99B-Paul Brown[8]; 19. 7T-Trent Golden[6]; 20. 14-Rich Denman[10]; 21. 42B-Max Baggett[13]
Giuliani Construction IMCA Stock Cars
1. 22-Adriane Frost[1]; 2. 97-Justin Villaneuva[4]; 3. 66P-Paul Stone[6]; 4. 15G-Anthony Giuliani[3]; 5. 43-Jake Archibald[2]; 6. X-Rob Gallaher[7]; 7. 67-Mike Shearer[8]; 8. 69M-Mike Villanueva[5]
Watsonville Speedway is located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville, California with the physical address being 2601 East Lake Ave, Watsonville, CA 95076.
Info can be found at www.watsonvillespeedway.com or by liking the track on Facebook by searching Watsonville Speedway.