WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Justin Sanders continued his winning ways Saturday night, getting his sixth NARC King of the West sprint car victory of the season.
It may have been the most special victory of his career as it came at the 15th annual Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway.
Sanders had to contend with traffic, and a determined Shane Golobic, to pick up his third career win in the event, but this year’s event carried much more emotional weight as it was the first Howard Kaeding Classic without the man the race honors, as Howard had passed away earlier this year.
“Glad to get the first two HK’s while HK was here, so that’s pretty special and that’s something I’ll remember for a long time down the road,” Sanders said about his first HK win without the late patriarch of the Kaeding Family in attendance.
Sanders started the pole for the 30-lap feature and led all but one lap, but it was not easy for last year’s NARC champion. Sanders was challenged early by Washington state visitor Jesse Schlotfeldt, who briefly passed him only for Sanders get back by on the same lap and continue in the top spot when Schlotfeldt got into the loose clay at the top of Turn 4. Schlotfeldt then had to surrender second place and the leave the track during the next caution due his muffler coming off the car.
Sanders continued to lead, but soon traffic became a factor and Shane Golobic, the 2023 Kaeding Classic winner, went after Sanders for the lead. With 20 laps down, Golobic threw a slider in Turns 3 and 4 and made it stick, taking the lead and leading Lap 21, but Sanders returned the favor on other end of the track to regain the lead on the 22nd lap.
As the track began to take rubber, Sanders again had to contend with slower car and Golobic closed back in. Sanders struggled with slower cars, but Golobic couldn’t take advantage as Sanders made late key passes around a couple of slower cars to maintain the lead at the end, taking the checkered flag aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC.
The win was a Howard Kaeding Classic record $10,000 to win with many sponsors pitching in and other money raising efforts adding to it, and that followed Sanders’ $5,000 win in Friday’s NARC race at Ocean Speedway.
His 28th career NARC King of the West win tied him with Steve Kent on the all-time win list.
“Once I saw (Golobic) down there, I knew it was going to be tough,” Sanders said. “Shane got a run on me and I happened to get squared up and I got a run and slid him back for $10,000. I just it ran it as hard as I could. I don’t know if we had the best car tonight, but we had a good car. I wish Max Mittry and (car owner) Demo Mittry could be here (to see the win).”
A night after getting upside down, Golobic would’ve liked to have won but otherwise was happy to settle for a runner-up finish aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC.
Also a night after going over, Ryan Bernal bounced back himself with a podium finish aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Josh Ford Motorsports No. 73 1Way-powered Triple X after battling with Landon Brooks, who finished fourth aboard the Lipper Construction-sponsored Bates-Hamilton Racing No. 21L Kistler-powered Maxim.
Sean Becker, who flipped upside down in his heat race earlier but still transferred out of it, finished fifth in the main event aboard the D&J Construction Rental-sponsored Bjork Construction No. 7b Shaver-powered Maxim.
Tanner Carrick won the midget feature.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[6]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[7]; 4. 21L-Landon Brooks[3]; 5. 7B-Sean Becker[12]; 6. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[13]; 7. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[8]; 8. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]; 9. 15-Nick Parker[2]; 10. 41-Dominic Scelzi[17]; 11. 17-Colby Copeland[9]; 12. 29-Bud Kaeding[15]; 13. 88A-Joey Ancona[22]; 14. 10-Dominic Gorden[18]; 15. 88N-DJ Netto[20]; 16. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[21]; 17. 121-Caeden Steele[11]; 18. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[4]; 19. 72W-Kurt Nelson[14]; 20. 12J-John Clark[19]; 21. 12-Jarrett Soares[16]; 22. 7P-Jake Andreotti[23]; 23. 10X-Jace Park[10]; 24. 0-Tim Kaeding[24]
