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Ocean Sprint Car
Series presented by Taco Bravo heads out of town for
first time with Santa Maria Speedway on tap this
Friday night April 30
By Gary Thomas
Santa Maria, CA – April 27, 2010…The
Ocean 360 Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo
will make its first visit outside of Watsonville
this Friday night, with teams making the trip down
U.S. 101 to the Santa Maria Speedway for what will
be the second round of competition in the 2010
season.
The weekend as a whole, which also includes the
Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series on
Saturday, will pay honor to Doug Fort, who built the
Santa Maria Speedway in 1964 and helped mold it into
one of the top dirt tracks' in the country as the
owner/promoter until his passing in 1999. The 1/3
mile clay oval has been named "Best Short Track
Operation West of the Mississippi" on two
separate occasions and is nestled in a semi
amphitheater of natural terrain, sheltered by dense
eucalyptus trees at the top and to the back of the
bleacher area.
Sitting on top of the Ocean Sprint Car Series
presented by Taco Bravo standings after winning the
opening round on April 16 is Campbell's Bud Kaeding, who will look to make
it two in row this Friday aboard the Sala/Matherly
Racing, Angello's ATV Rental No. 19 machine. Kaeding
is also coming off a big win last Saturday night
with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car
Series at Ocean Speedway.
The three-time and defending USAC Silver Crown
Series champion last season finished fifth during
the inaugural Doug Fort Memorial with the Golden
State Challenge Series at Santa Maria Speedway.
"Last year when we came down to Santa Maria Speedway
we had won the previous week as well, so hopefully
we can keep up the momentum this weekend and run up
front both night's," said Kaeding. "We hope everyone
can come down for the weekend because Santa Maria is a real fun
place and an awesome track to watch a race in at."
Currently second in the standings after a strong
event two weeks ago is Prunedale's Justin Sanders,
who won his heat race and scored a fourth place
finish in the feature on April 16 at Ocean Speedway.
The talented 17-year-old captured a victory with the
Ocean Sprints on May 8 of last year and ended the
season with a sixth place finish in the final points
at the helm of his North County Plastering, B&K
Trump Farms No. 17 sprinter. Sander's this season is
also driving for Dave and Debbie Vertullo with the
Civil War 360 Series and will make his third start
of the year in the No. 83v machine on Saturday in
Placerville, after competing on Friday in his family
car at Santa Maria.
Fellow 17-year-old charger Kyle Larson currently
ranks third in the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented
by Taco Bravo standings, following a close runner-up
finish in the opener. The Elk Grove driver looked to
take the lead on a few different occasions during
the main event on April 16, only to have cautions
thwart his chances each time traffic would come into
play. The driver of the Stadelhofer Construction,
Peppermill Resort Spa & Casino-Reno No. 99 made his
Santa Maria Speedway debut last season and was
running third in the feature, until contact on a
restart knocked him out of the running for a strong
finish.
1978 Santa Maria Speedway Rookie of the Year Brent
Kaeding sits fourth in the Ocean Sprint Car Series
presented by Taco Bravo standings going into Friday
night's event. The Campbell driver tallied a third
place finish in the opener aboard his Al's Roofing
Supply, Angello's ATV Rental No. 69 mount and this
weekend will be searching for his first Ocean
Sprints victory since the season-opener last year.
The 13-time King of California picked-up a World of
Outlaws Sprint Car Series win at the Santa Maria
Speedway in 1997, while at the time driving for car
owner Al Peterson in the M&M Racing No. 2m sprinter.
Former Santa Maria Speedway winner Eric Rossi
currently rounds out the top-five in the standings
after a strong outing during the Ocean Sprint Car
Series presented by Taco Bravo opener. The
Gilroy
veteran impressively charged through the field to
finish sixth in the main event, after starting 15th
on the grid behind the wheel of the Team RCR, Chase
Wood Racing No. 4r machine. Rossi is a solid
addition to the Ocean Sprints roster this season and
in his career has claimed big victories at the Mini
Gold Cup, the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial and the
Johnny Key Classic among others.
Defending Ocean 360 Sprint Car Series champion Tommy
Tarlton of Easton comes into the
weekend sixth in the standings. The driver of the
Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino No. 21 has experienced
success in his career at the Santa Maria Speedway
having won at the track with the California Rebel
Cup 360 Series. Grass
Valley's Jason Statler
ranks seventh in the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco
Bravo standings following a charge from 14th
to fifth in the season-opener aboard his DF Rios
Construction No. 00. "The Big Guy" has also tasted
success at Santa Maria Speedway as he won possibly
the biggest race of his career at the track in 1999,
when he scored a World of Outlaws main event victory
at the 1/3 mile clay oval.
Completing the top-10 in the Ocean Sprints standings
going into Santa Maria are the Taco Bravo Racing No. 72w of Gilroy's Kurt Nelson, the Agri-Valley Irrigation No. 10 of
Fresno's Anthony
Simone and the Taco Bravo Racing No. 39 of "Cowboy"
Craig Smith from San Martin. Other possibilities to
take part in Friday's opener of the Doug Fort
Memorial weekend will include Chico's Jonathan
Allard, Visalia's Cory Eliason, Scotts Valley's Evan
Suggs, Clovis' Peter Murphy, Pleasanton's Brad Furr,
San Jose's Matt Sargent, Morgan Hill's Ricky Wright
Jr. and Devon Ostheimer, Salinas' Ronnie Day,
Fresno's Craig Stidham, Corralitos' Jerry Bonnema
and more.
The front gate will open at 3pm on Friday night
April 30 with the drivers meeting scheduled for
3:45, qualifying around 5 and racing at 6. Adult
tickets will cost $16, with seniors, student and
military $14, kids 6-12 $5 and children 5 and under
free. Parking and camping at the Santa Maria
Speedway is free of charge. Friday night's event
will feature a freestyle motocross exhibition and
the weekend will also see two kids bikes being given
away each night. For discounted lodging rates in
Santa Maria contact the Fairfield Inn & Suites
805-925-8500.
The Santa Maria Speedway is a 1/3 mile clay oval,
located 12 miles inland from the Pacific coast,
three miles north of the city of Santa Maria and is
located a 1/4-mile north of the US 101/166
interchange on Hutton Road. The facility is one
hundred seventy miles north of
Los Angeles
and 260 miles south of
San Francisco.
More information on the 2nd annual Doug Fort
Memorial and the Ocean 360 Sprint Car Series
presented by Taco Bravo can be found at
http://www.racesantamariaspeedway.com
and
http://www.oceansprints.com
Coming up- Following the Santa Maria event this
weekend the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by
Taco Bravo will return to the home track of Ocean
Speedway for back-to-back weeks of racing at the
quarter-mile, starting with next Friday night May 7
and then Friday evening May 14. The Ocean 360
Sprints will then get set for its first ever
appearance at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl
Raceway in
Tulare
on Saturday May 22.
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Campbell's Bud
Kaeding will go into Friday's event at the Santa
Maria Speedway as the current Ocean Sprint Car
Series presented by Taco Bravo point leader, by way
of his victory on opening night aboard the
Sala/Matherly Racing, M&M Powder Coaters, Angello's
ATV Rental No. 19. Kaeding is shown here battling
with defending Ocean Sprints champion Tommy Tarlton
of Easton. Photo by L&J Photography
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmart16164?pli=1
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