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SEASON NEWS
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2010
Ocean Speedway Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Car Series |
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Seventeen-year-old Justin Sanders races to
impressive victory in third round of Ocean Sprint
Car Series presented by Taco Bravo season
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – May 7, 2010…Taking
full advantage of his front row starting spot in the
main event at Ocean Speedway on Friday night, young
Justin Sanders of Prunedale, California put it all
together and charged to his second career victory
with the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco
Bravo.
Sanders was coming off a fourth place finish in the
feature during the Ocean Sprints opener in
Watsonville on April 16 and the triumph on Friday
night ironically came a year to the day from his
very first sprint car win at the track. "This feels
great to come out here and get our second 360 win at
this place on the same weekend we won our first last
year," said the 17-year-old Sanders in victory lane.
"I knew all those guys were behind me and I just
tried to focus on hitting my line each lap and not
give them a chance to by."
The Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo
main event started out with a pair of youngsters on
the front row with Sander's going from the pole and
15-year-old Justyn Cox of
Clarksburg
on the outside. When the green lights flashed on
Sander's powered his North County Plastering, B&K
Trump Farms No. 17 machine into the lead of the race
with Cox and
Campbell's Brent Kaeding
following along in suit. The early laps would see
drivers trying to find the best place to put their
cars, as the track had changed with the night going
on, yet remained racy as a handful of drivers
starting towards the back began to move through the
field.
Sanders stayed committed to the bottom of the
speedway with Cox remaining glued to his rear bumper
and when traffic approached the driver of the Harley
Van Dyke Racing, Lucas Oil Products No. 5h looked to
make his move. Just as the action appeared to be
heating up the yellow flag would wave on lap-eight
to bring the party to a stop and give the leaders a
clear track ahead. When the
green flag waved again Sanders and Cox
continued to sit one-two on the speedway, but the
battle for third started to spice up when eighth
starter Bud Kaeding
began to make his way forward and dice it up with
father Brent Kaeding and Easton's Tommy Tarlton.
The trio put on a show for a handful of laps and by
the time the next caution of the feature came out
Kaeding was up to third in the running order. The
fight for the lead continued to be the same story up
front with Sanders hitting his marks on the bottom
and Cox staying patient, waiting for any kind of a
mistake to get an opportunity to pounce. When racing
got back underway and the event reached lap 20 Cox
closed right up on Sanders and Bud Kaeding also did
the same, as it looked to be a three-way battle for
the top-spot with traffic approaching once again.
The ultra-exciting fight for the lead became
extremely intense on lap 24 when Sanders was bottled
up in traffic and it allowed Cox and Kaeding the
chance to try and steal the top-spot away.
With the three-drivers entering turn-two in a thick
mix of lapped cars Kaeding shot to the high-side and
looked to claim second, but at the same time Cox and
the slower car of Steve Osborne made contact, which
sent Cox's No. 5h sprinter spinning around. The end
result saw Osborne stop to bring out a caution, but
Cox was able to keep the motor lit and continue on,
however, it was reported that officials had ruled
rough driving and the youngster was sent to the tail
of the field. It was a tough break for the Lucas Oil
ASCS National Rookie of the
Year contender, who looked very strong all
night long, in what was his first ever Ocean
Speedway start.
On the restart Kaeding tried to find a way by
Sanders, but the young driver never faltered the
rest of the distance and impressively rocketed off
to pick-up his second career Ocean Sprint Car Series
presented by Taco Bravo victory. With the win
Sanders has moved up to fifth in the point standings
and sits just eight-digits out of the top-spot going
into the fourth round of racing next Friday night at
Ocean Speedway.
Kaeding gave it a hard run over the closing laps and
crossed the stripe in second to continue his
consistency behind the wheel of the Sala/Matherly
Racing, M&M Powder Coaters No. 19 mount. "It was a
good run in the main event to get second after
starting eighth, but Justin did a great job out
front and definitely deserved this win," said the
three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown Series
champion. "I have to thank everyone involved in this
team, because we've been really good all year and
have been in position to win every night we have
raced this 19 car so far."
Current Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco
Bravo point leader Tommy Tarlton scored third at the
finish to earn his second consecutive podium and
also continue his strong start to the 2010 campaign
aboard the Corporate America Lending No. 21. "The
track was kind of tough tonight, but Justin did a
solid job out front and so did Bud to come from the
fourth row and get second," commented Tarlton, who
holds a five-point advantage at the top of the Ocean
Sprints standings going into next Friday. "We've
definitely had a great start to the year and it's
really due to this great team I have behind me with
Paul Baines and everyone that helps out. We've been
making the right calls and we'll just try to come
back next week and get another win."
Clovis, CA's
Peter Murphy continued his strong performance over
the past few weeks and claimed fourth at the finish
aboard the Buster & Ziggy Enterprise No. 11 machine,
with
Campbell's Brent Kaeding
rounding out the top-five at the helm of his Al's
Roofing Supply No. 69. Finishing sixth was the
Stadelhofer Construction No. 99x of Elk Grove's
Kyle Larson, seventh
was the Chase Wood Racing No. 4r of Gilroy's Eric
Rossi, eighth went to the Country Builders
Construction No. 121 of Fremont's Shane Golobic,
ninth was the Taco Bravo Racing No. 72w of Gilroy's
Kurt Nelson and completing the top-10 was the German
Auto Body No. 5 of Morgan Hill's Devon Ostheimer.
Unofficially it looks like Larson will receive the
Sun Electric "Fully-Charged" hard-charger award by
passing nine cars to finish sixth after starting 15th.
Golobic also passed nine cars to come from 17th
to eighth, but with Larson finishing further ahead
it appears he will be the recipient. Both drivers
ironically were also teammates with the Bryan
Clauson/Corey Tucker Racing team at this year's
Chili Bowl Nationals
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
and each did a solid job in the feature on Friday
night at Ocean Speedway, carving their way through
the field respectively.
Kyle Larson was the winner of the evening's b-main
with the three 10-lap heat races being picked-off by
Devon Ostheimer, Bud Kaeding and Eric Rossi. Brent
Kaeding began the night by setting fast-time with a
clocking of 12.205 around the Santa Cruz County
Fairgrounds quarter-mile clay oval. Full results
from the night are available at
http://www.oceanspeedway.com
The Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo
will return to competition next Friday night May 14
at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California.
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