HANFORD, Calif. — Shane Golobic won the 30-lap King of Thunder 360 Series opener at Peter Murphy’s Keller Auto Speedway on Saturday night.
Golobic’s Matt Wood Racing No. 17w dueled nearly the entire race with World of Outlaw star Carson Macedo, who finished second, ahead of Tim Kaeding.
Golobic started outside the front row alongside new sensation Joel Myers Jr., who had a scare in the first turn of the opening lap. Myer’s white No. 46jr got completely sideways in front of the 24-car starting field.
The bobble sent Golobic wide and nearly off the track and leaving an opening for Macedo to take the lead after starting in the second row. Miraculously, the entire field was able to keep it together and there was no contact nor were there any spins.
The track’s yellow lights would come on, however, on lap three when Jared Faria spun in the second turn.
Leader Macedo and Golobic put on a slide-job clinic on the three-eighths-mile King’s County Fairgrounds oval and it would be Golobic who would take the lead on lap five, the same lap of the next caution when the cars of Michael Faccinto, Corey Day and Bud Kaeding tangled in the second turn.
The restart was aborted when Joey Ancona stopped on track in the fourth turn before the field could complete a full lap. Another caution slowed the race two laps later when Colby Thornhill spun in turn two. The restart allowed Macedo to take his turn again at the front as he passed Golobic with a high move coming out of the second turn. Just before the two leaders were about to contend with lapped cars, the race would slow when Keith Day Jr. spun off the turn-four banking.
Just past the halfway point, Myers who was running a very respectable third, dropped like a rock and was losing a position in each turn. He would eventually settle in the 10th spot after starting from the pole and was running in the top three before his issue.
A lap-21 tussle with the turn-two cushion cost Macedo the lead. Shortly after, the race’s final slow-down was charged to Brooklyn Holland who stopped in the middle of the track in the second turn.
With a clear track after the restart, Golobic clicked off the remaining laps and bested a persistent Macedo. Kaeding, Scelzi, Faccinto and Colby Copeland rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Shane Golobic, Carson Macedo, Tim Kaeding, Dominic Scelzi, Mitchell Faccinto, Colby Copeland, Justyn Cox, Blake Carrick, Tucker Worth, Tanner Carrick, Joel Myers Jr., Bud Kaeding, Mitchel Moles, Michael Faccinto, Corey Day, Joey Ancona, Grant Duinkerken, Keith Day Jr., Craig Stidham, Brooklyn Holland, Chelsea Blevins, Colby Thornhill, Willie Croft, Jared Faria