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Ocean Speedway 5-14-10,
I always wonder if I am going
to have anything worth writing about, or just what I
am going to write about, but every week things just
seem to fall into place. This week was no different.
All I have to figure out is where I am going to
start.
Lets see, we had 31 cars and
out of those I think we had three new cars that were
there for the first time this year. Nick Rescino Jr
made his first appearance of the season. We also had
two cars from out of state. We had John Gaston and
Steve Stone, both from Arizona. They normally
race at Canyon Raceway but with no local racing for
them this week, and racing in
Texas being rained out, California was the next choice. Gaston ended
up 20th in the main and Stone got 6th
in the second B main. It was nice to see those cars
out here.
Jason Statler showed up and I
didn’t expect that as the Pombo-Sargent GSC race was
the next day in Tulare and I figured Jason
wouldn’t take a chance on tearing stuff up. He had a
spare car with him so he said WTF, might as well
race! We got Shane Golobic back again this week too
as well as Stu Cornick and Shawn Wright who had both
missed the week before. We were still lacking Evan
Suggs. I am thinking it was because of the 410 race
in Tulare
the next night and not wanting to take a chance on
hurting their only car. We also had Justyn Cox back
for a night before he takes off to run the ASCS
national tour.
I got to spend some time
talking with Nick Ringo Jr (Nicky) and his nephews
James and Nick (at least I think it is Nick) There
sure seems to be a lot of Nicks in that family! Lol.
Nice to see Nicky out racing again. Nicky’s sister
Cathy was there and I hadn’t seen her for a while.
She is Nick and James’ mom. Well, I know she is one
of those guys’ mom and I think it is both! I never
can remember! She says that she and Terry Hannagan
may be getting married. I have been friends with the
Hannagans forever, and with the Ringos even longer,
and have always gotten along with them both so I’m
glad to hear that Terry and Cathy have put aside
anything that may have come between them in the past
and are getting along.
I also got a chance to see Nick
Rescino and talk to him a bit. His son had been
racing pavement the past few years and since that
has slowed down around here, and Watsonville is closer to home, they decided to
come dirt racing.
I can’t forget my buddy, engine
builder Dave Haver, who builds the motors in the
cars of Kurt Nelson, Craig Smith, and Eric Rossi.
Nice to see Dave and have a chance to talk with him
as well as another motor guy, Arnold Chaves. They
are both big drag racing guys and had drag racing
stories and stuff to talk about.
The track had more water in it
for hot laps and qualifying this week than in past
weeks and looked like it would hold moisture a
little more through the night. The track was pretty
good for the heats and that lead to some fast cars
not being able to make the show from their heats.
Those would include last weeks winner, Justin
Sanders as well as Justyn Cox who has been fast both
nights he has been here. Cox was 3rd fast
and Sanders was 5th. Another car that
didn’t make it out of their heat was Ricky Wright
who was 6th fast.
I don’t usually go into much
race detail as I leave that for Gary Thomas to cover
in his race reports. Still, I can say the heats were
good and the track was good and everything was good!
What can I say, it was just normal sprint car
racing, with the exception of Nick Rescino Jr, which
I will get into later.
Well maybe I will get into it
now. Rescino Jr flipped in his heat. I just caught
it after it started, but it seems he might have hit
a bump or something and flipped. Oh, that is what I
can add in about the track. It had some bumps or
waves going into turn three that you had to watch
for and it got the same bump right on the bottom
coming out of turn two that it has been getting. You
just had to figure out how to get through them, or
around them. If you could do that better than the
rest of the guys, then you might have an advantage.
So anyway Rescino Jr got on his head and that pretty
much ended his night. Nick Sr said the car wasn’t
hurt too bad and it didn’t look too bad. I am not
sure if they had another wing to put on or not or if
they had other parts with them they may have needed
to put the car back on the track or if they just
called it a night. Any way Nick Jr ended up going
over the crash wall and into the fence off of turns
3 and four. I guess it might have looked worse than
it was. Still I am going to give Nick Jr my hard
luck award of the night just because he tore up his
stuff on the first night out and didn’t even make it
past the heat race. It sure was a pretty car though!
Now I never know with these
awards just who is going to get what or just what I
am going to award things to. Like I said, things
just fall into place! Lol, and I even get amazed on
just what happens and how things work out.
The “Fully Charged with Sun
Electric” hard charger award was given to Matt
Sargent this week. Matt is pretty much family, and I
know he can use the money.
Now what the heck else can I do
here and at least hope I stay out of trouble?! Oh I
know! I can give a “WTF are you doing here” award to
the guys who came from Arizona! Hey I am glad to see them show up,
but that is a heck of a tow! They said they will be
racing at Canyon this next week so good luck to them
back home.
I think I will give a “baby
that was close” award to John and Darlene prentice
who welcomed a new baby girl to their family on
Wednesday morning. The only reason I put the “close”
in there is because Darlene seems to be a great
racing wife and had the baby in time for John to be
at the track. Lol.
I am going to give a “where the
heck did he come from” award to Tommy Tarlton this
week just because he had a flat RR around lap 11 and
changed it and went to the back. He then came on
strong and at the end of the race had fought his way
back up to 5th.
What next? You know, I’m gonna
give my “underdog” award this week to Ricky Wright
Jr. Not only did Jr miss the show in his heat and
have to come through a B main, he had to battle two
veterans for position. He had a heck of a battle
with Pete Murphy and BK for most of the race. Murphy
got him but Jr was able to hold off BK and get a 7th
place finish. Good job Jr! you didn’t quite make
hero of the week, but you were my personal hero!
Speaking of hero of the week,
I’m giving that to Kyle Larson, who lead every lap
to score his first Taco Bravo win of the season.
Kyle held off both Bud Kaeding
and Shane Golobic. Larson has been fast every
360 race this season and it was just a matter of
time before he got a win. Last week he had to come
out of the B main and this week he got the luck of
the invert draw to put him on the pole. Sometimes
you’d rather be lucky than good, but this week Kyle
managed to be both.
Now this next award is the one
I really feel bad about giving every week (even
though I don’t let that stop me) but damn if
somebody doesn’t trip themselves up and bring it
into play. The past couple of weeks I have thought
we might get through the night with out giving it
out, but like I said, fate just seems to smack
somebody right in the face and change everything.
I’m talking about the “zero” award. Or more
precisely, the “hero to zero” award. I have to give
it to Justin Sanders this week. Justin was on a
charge after having to come from a B main. He had
been racing with Golobic and I believe Cory Eliason.
He had just gotten past Golobic for maybe third I
think, when he got loose in turn three and tried to
save it and did a backwards blow over. Tough break.
This racing thing can be hard on you. Sometimes you
are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug!
Hang in there Justin, everyone has their ups and
downs.
So now the Ocean Sprints
presented by Taco Bravo Series heads off to the
Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in
Tulare,
CA this next Saturday May 22nd
and I guess I will find out if everybody is still
talking to me. I never know from week to week!
Tulare
is always a fun place to go and always has great
racing. I have friends in the area so I am looking
forward to seeing them as well as hoping the rest of
you will make it over too. The weather is nice in
the Central Valley
this time of year.
See you at the races, Buzz Rightrear.
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