WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Kaleb Montgomery won the opening night of the Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway on Friday night. In a wild 30- lap feature event for the Taco Bravo Sprint Car Series, he beat out Tim Kaeding and Joe Ancona.
Front-running points contenders Bud Kaeding and Justin Sanders rounded out the top five on the quarter-mile Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds oval.
The feature got off to a rocky start, as race officials determined the front row of Keith Day Jr and Joey Ancona jumped the start.  An immediate yellow as thrown however before the field could slow down Bradley Dillard and Kalib Henry tangled sending Henry flipping and causing the race’s first red flag before a single lap could be completed.Â
By race rules, Day and Ancona were set back a row, putting Corey and Montgomery on the new front row. The second attempt to start the race didn’t fare much better than the first as before the second lap could be completed Jerry Bonnema flipped in heavy traffic entering the third turn causing another red-flag stoppage.Â
On the restart, Corey Day wasted little time jumping to a big advantage in his first time aboard his new ride in the Tarlton Motorsports No. 21x.  By lap four, the new young California sensation had caught the tail of the field.  His huge lead however was lost when Kurt Nelson spun off the track in the second turn.
With a double-file restart, Montgomery saw his opportunity at the lead and attempted a turn-two slide job however Day was not to be denied the lead and the two cars came together.  As Day’s damaged car shot across the track in front of nearly the whole field, it caused caos and carnage behind him.   Several fast cars including J.J. Ringo and Sean Becker were wrecked.Â
Day was able to pit for repairs to a left-front flat and damaged nose wing. He briefly returned to the race but discovered his car had unrepairable issues and decided to retire from the race.
With Day gone, Montgomery had Tim Kaeding and Sanders to contend with. Those two battled among themselves attempting to catch the leader.  Sanders pulled his own version of a turn-two slide job resulting in Kaeding running into the back of the multi time feature winner and point standing leader.  Sanders would end up sideways in the fourth turn resulting in him giving up second spot to Kaeding.  Their battle allowed Montgomery to pull off his first Ocean Speedway feature win of the year.Â
The finish:
Kaleb Montgomery, Tim Kaeding, Joe Ancona, Bud Kaeding, Justin Sanders, Koen Shaw, Tanner Carrick, D.J. Netto, Keith Day Jr, Sean Becker, Blake Carrick, Jason Chisum, Tristan Guardino, Ryan Rocha, Jeremy Chisum, Burt Foland Jr., Jake Haulot, Bradley Dillard, Corey Day, J.J. Ringo, Kurt Nelson, Ryon Nelson, Jerry Bonnema, Kalib Henry