WATSONVILLE, Calif. — There’s one word to describe Justin Sanders’ 2025 season so far — Rollercoaster.
Following a series of mishaps that somehow had a win mixed in over the prior two months, that rollercoaster ride for Sanders continued Friday when the reigning NARC 410 sprint car champion scored the win at Ocean Speedway.
Sanders was challenged a couple of times but led the entire 30-lap distance and picked up his second win of the season, and the 24th NARC triumph of his career.
The Aromas driver jetted off to the early lead at the start aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC but soon found himself in heavy traffic on the Watsonville bullring.
Around 10 laps in, Tyler Thompson closed in and threw a slider at Sanders, sliding up in front of him but couldn’t hold it as Sanders turned his car back down and scooted back by Thompson to retain the lead.
Thompson quickly tried another slider, but Sanders held his ground, and Thompson was soon under fire from Shane Golobic for the runner-up spot. Through a number of race stoppages and restarts, and dealing with slower traffic, Sanders maintained the lead the remaining distance, much to his relief.
Friday’s win for Sanders came six days after he had crashed out of last Saturday’s race at Antioch Speedway when his throttle stuck and he struck the wall, all happening before the field even got to the parade lap. That followed a spectacular Mini-Gold Cup win a month earlier, which had followed him spinning out while racing for the lead at the NARC season opener. These have been his four nights out with NARC this season.
After racing hard and trading multiple passes with Thompson, Golobic finally secured second place and finished there aboard the NOS Energy sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC. Thompson, who is chasing NARC Rookie of the Year honors, suffered nose wing damage during the event but still managed to run in the podium positions throughout the event.
After some difficulties last Saturday at Antioch, Thompson bounced back with a third-place finish aboard the HAM Construction sponsored Main Motorsports No. 35km Kistler-powered Maxim.
Landon Brooks, a track record setter earlier in the evening, ran in the top 10 throughout the race and finished fourth aboard the Lippert Construction sponsored Bates-Hamilton Racing No. 21L Kistler-powered Maxim.
Tanner Holmes came from 14th to finish fifth aboard the American Rock & Rent sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 Kistler-powered Maxim.
Jim Petit II topped the modified feature and Joe Gallaher won the hobby stock race.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 2x Justin Sanders (1), 2. 17w Shane Golobic (3), 3. 35km Tyler Thompson (2), 4. 21L Landon Brooks (4), 5. 21 Tanner Holmes (14), 6. 41 Dominic Scelzi (19), 7. 29 Bud Kaeding (5), 8. 2k Gauge Garcia (15), 9. 7p Jake Andreotti (17), 10. 88n D.J. Netto (9), 11. 7b Sean Becker (7), 12. 83t Tanner Carrick (10), 13. 10 Dominic Gorden (13), 14. 0 Tim Kaeding (6), 15. 12 Jarrett Soares (16), 16. 12j John Clark (16), 17. 31 Kyle Beilman (22), 18. 14 Mariah Ede (21), 19. 3 Kaleb Montgomery (12), 20. 26 Billy Aton (18), 21. 72w Kurt Nelson (11), 22. 73 Ryan Bernal (8 – DNS).
