Kyle Larson scores second win of Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo season and becomes first qualifier for 50^th Johnny Key Classic

By Gary Thomas

Watsonville, CA – June 27, 2010…Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson and the Ocean Speedway have seemed to go hand-in-hand over the last couple seasons and on Friday night the youngster continued his impressive success at the track by tallying his fourth main event victory at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds bullring since May 29 of last year.

The triumph also marked Larson’s second Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo win of the season and made him the first driver to lock in a starting spot for the 50^th running of the Johnny Key Classic in August.

“It’s nice to come back here and get a win because we had a tough night earlier in the month and lost some ground in the points so this will definitely help us,” said Larson, who has now closed back to within 12-markers of point leader Tommy Tarlton. “We’ve been really successful here and this track just suits my driving style for whatever reason and it’s also good to get another win tonight with Rich Stadelhofer here again in attendance watching us.”

With the six-pill being drawn for the inversion in the 30-lap feature it put Easton’s Tommy Tarlton and San Martin’s Craig Smith on the front row, but as soon as the field took the green flag it became a three-way fight for the lead, as third starting Larson sliced to the bottom of the raceway off turn two. Smith was able to hang on and lead lap one, before Larson charged by on the second circuit to take command of the 22-car field aboard his Stadelhofer Construction, Peppermill-Resort-Spa-Casino-Reno No. 99x machine.

With Larson now out front Tarlton also made the move by Smith on the second lap to grab the runner up spot and try to close in for the lead as traffic soon came into play on the quarter-mile clay oval. Side-by-side racing was seen all throughout the field on the well prepared surface early on as various drivers tried to fight their way forward from mid-pack and beyond. The first caution of the race would fly on lap 12 and create a restart that saw Larson, Tarlton, Smith, Salinas, CA’s Ronnie Day and Morgan Hill’s Ricky Wright Jr. making up the top-five.

When the green lights flashed back on Larson and Tarlton pulled away from the rest of the pack with the action behind them starting to heat up, as Campbell’s Bud Kaeding had been working the high-line to perfection and steadily making his way to the front. After going back green the three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champ dispatched of Wright Jr. for fifth and then after a few laps carved his way by Day to claim fourth, but immediately after that however, his hopes at a strong finish were dashed when he sat stopped in turn two with 17-laps completed. Just prior to Kaeding’s caution another driver charging through the field was Fremont’s Shane Golobic, who had started 15^th on the grid and was up to sixth for the restart with 13-circuits remaining.

On the restart Larson continued to lead the field, but Tarlton stayed stuck to his bumper and the pair proceeded to run closely together with lapped traffic approaching as the track surface had started to change, with it getting much slicker and hard packed in turns one and two. With Larson being committed to the high-side Tarlton stayed to the bottom in an attempt to try and find a way by the 17-year-old phenom, but when the white flag waved the Elk Grove competitor looked to be on way to victory momentarily with enough breathing room out front.

Things got extremely dramatic on the white flag lap however, as a couple cars sat stopped in turn two and with nowhere to go Tarlton and third place Day contacted the cars and also came to a stop. Officials deemed that a green-white-checkered restart would be held and it saw Larson out front, but now Golobic all the way up to second, as he had gotten by Brent Kaeding just prior to the melee in the second corner. The final restart of the night featured Larson easily charging away from the field, but the battle was for second as Golobic and “BK” traded the runner up spot a couple of times, until the 18-year-old youngster grabbed the position just before Kaeding slowed with ignition issues, which resulted in the Campbell racer dropping to 13^th by the finish.

Larson had no worries out front and crossed under the checkered to record the victory by nearly two seconds with Golobic following along in second to record his best Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo finish of the season at the helm of the Joe VonSchriltz Racing, Country Builders Construction No. 121 sprinter.

The strong run from 15^th to second was also good enough to make the Fremont driver the “Fully Charged” hard-charger presented by Sun Electric. “It was a really good run for us again and I think if we could just get qualified a little better we can win one of these coming up,” said Golobic, who also went on to tally his first career Placerville Speedway sprint car win on Saturday. “I really want to thank Joe, Country Builders Construction and everyone that helps us out.”

Also scoring his best Ocean 360 Sprints finish of the season was Pleasanton’s Brad Furr, who began the evening by setting fast time and then claimed third in the feature aboard the Ray Scheidts Electric, Brad Furr Racing No. 2 mount. “We’ve been gaining ground here lately and it’s nice to get up here on the podium tonight,” said Furr, who picked up his second straight top-five effort after running fifth earlier in the month at Ocean Speedway. “The track was good and racy tonight so it was a lot of fun.”

Making his way through the field in the later stages to finish fourth was Visalia’s Cory Eliason in the Advance Auto and Smog, MC Customs No. 00x. The 18-year-old lined up sixth at the start, but dropped back a handful of spots at one point, before carving his way back forward to score his third straight top-five finish at Ocean Speedway. Rounding out the top-five and having a solid run in the main event to tally his best Ocean Sprints finish of the season was the “Cowboy” Craig Smith aboard the Taco Bravo Racing, Village Glass No. 39 machine. Completing the top-10 in the feature were Ricky Wright Jr., Prunedale’s Justin Sanders, Clovis’ Peter Murphy, Grass Valley’s Jason Statler and Corralitos’ Jerry Bonnema.

Furr captured the 12-lap b-main with Bonnema, Brent Kaeding, Golobic and Tarlton claiming the four heat races during the night. Furr also began the evening by blistering the quarter-mile bullring in 11.749 seconds to set fast time in the 28-car field. Full results and the updated point standings are available at http://www.oceansprints.com and http://www.oceanspeedway.com

Next up for the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo will be the first of two Ocean Sprints vs. California Sprint Car Civil War Series events this season on Friday July 16, which will also be the second qualifying night for the Johnny Key Classic.