WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Sean Becker held off Shane Golobic to win the Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Car Series event at Ocean Speedway on Friday night.
Becker drove the white No. 5v Biachi Farms/ProAggregate/All About Fire Protection Triple X chassis owned by Vanlare Motorsports.
Golobic, who hounded Becker in the closing stages of the race, was aboard his familiar Elk Grove Ford/NOS Energy Drink No. 17w for Matt Wood Racing.
Kalib Henry brought his No. 93 home in the third position. The Sacramento, Calif., driver led a few laps early in the event before being passed by Mitchell Faccinto.
A pair of youngsters, Colby Johnson and Chase Majdic, brought the 24-car starting field to the green flag with Johnson taking command of the early laps.
The Penngrove, Calif., native kept his white No. 38 out front early, while Henry, Faccinto and Majdic were waging war for the second spot. Henry would take the lead on lap five as Johnson was soon also passed by Faccinto.
Both Henry and Faccinto were trading the top spot while both cars were working slower lapped traffic. By lap 10, it was Becker who took over the second spot after starting sixth. One lap later, it was Becker who passed Henry for the lead.
In two laps, Golobic passed Henry and at the halfway point it was Becker leading Golobic, followed by Henry, Faccinto and Tanner Carrick.
Soon it was shaping up to be a Becker-Golobic duel to see who had the best skills and luck on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds dirt quarter-mile. As often happens at Ocean Speedway, a driver’s luck plays a huge part in their success.
For Becker, he seemed to have lady luck shinning on him, as he found slower traffic at the right spots on tight bullring track while Golobic wasn’t as lucky.
When Becker caught up to the soon-to-be lapped cars of J.J. Ringo and John Clark who were racing side by side, he managed to pass without any issues.
Golobic wasn’t as fortunate, as he took two laps to get past both cars, letting Becker escape to build a decent margin.
With only six laps remaining, Golobic pushed too hard to catch back up to Becker and bobbled in the third turn, almost going over the cushion and spinning out. He was, however, fortunate enough to keep second, but his effort to catch Becker was done.
Becker took the checkered flag with an eight-car length advantage.
The finish:
Sean Becker, Shane Golobic, Tanner Carrick, Kalib Henry, J.J. Hickle, D.J. Netto, Mitchell Faccinto, Chase Majdic, Bud Kaeding, Colby Johnson, Blake Carrick, Joel Myers, Koen Shaw, Zane Blanchard, Joey Ancona, Craig Stidham, Tucker Worth, John Clark, Jeremy Chisum, J.J. Ringo, Max Mittry, Jake Hagopian, Kaleb Montgomery, Kurt Nelson