D.J. Netto (Joe Shivak photo)

Netto Conquers Ocean Speedway

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — It was D.J. Netto winning the Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Car Series 30-lap feature on the opening night of the 10th annual Howard Kaeding Classic Friday night at Ocean Speedway.

The Hanford, Calif., youth, driving the Netto AG No. 88n, bested Shane Golobic and Mitchell Faccinto. Netto started in the sixth spot and slowly picked off cars until wagging a war with Faccinto and Blake Carrick. The three cars battled through heavy traffic until Netto finally showed his muscle and took command.

After nearly going the complete race caution free, the race’s first slow down occurred on lap 24 with Kurt Nelson and Tucker Worth spun to the inside of the track in turn one. Just three laps later, Chase Johnson would bring out a yellow when he did a 360-degree spin in the first turn. His slowed car was then clipped by Kalib Montgomery who suffered damage to the left rear of his car and had to be towed back to the pits.

This final caution set up a three-lap dash to the end between Netto and Golobic, who started side by side in the third row on the initial green. Netto was able to work through traffic in his march to the front as Golobic struggled at times.

Sean Becker and Carrick rounded out the top five finishers.

In companion divisions, David Prickett won the Western Midget Racing feature while Andrew Peckham took the IMCA Sport Mod main and the Hobby Stock feature winner was Joe Gallaher.

The finish:

  1. 88N-D.J. Netto[6]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]; 3. 37-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 4. 5V-Sean Becker[9]; 5. 38B-Blake Carrick[4]; 6. 17-Justin Sanders[20]; 7. 92-Andy Forsberg[1]; 8. 69-Bud Kaeding[13]; 9. 22-Ryan Bernal[7]; 10. 72W-Kurt Nelson[15]; 11. 17M-Kalib Henry[11]; 12. 2-James Ringo[23]; 13. 67G-Grant Duinkerken[17]; 14. 7Z-Zane Blanchard[24]; 15. 5T-Trent Canales[21]; 16. 2XM-Max Mittry[19]; 17. 38-Colby Johnson[25]; 18. 73T-Chase Johnson[16]; 19. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[12]; 20. 33-Tucker Worth[14]; 21. 68-Jayson Bright[22]; 22. 63-JJ Hickle[8]; 23. 88A-Joey Ancona[10]; 24. 2X-Chase Majdic[3]