WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Cole Macedo returned to Ocean Speedway and victory lane, claiming the 30-lap feature for the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo on Friday night.
Macedo’s win opens the 14th annual Howard Kaeding Classic, which includes Saturday’s NARC 410 Sprint Car Series feature. Macedo is tied for the championship lead with Justin Sanders heading into the $6,900 to win contest.
“Drew Warner and the guys had my car really dialed there,” Macedo said. “I love coming to Watsonville. My last time I was here was early last year and we ended up getting a win. Coming here the night before (the NARC race) is key and getting a good base package. It was in our best interest to come here and try some off the wall stuff we wouldn’t normally try.”
Macedo topped time trials at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds but it was Dominic Gorden who won the dash to start on the pole for the nightcap feature.
Gorden led Macedo into lapped traffic by lap six. Kurt Nelson then slid over the edge in turn two and into the wall for a caution on lap 10.
On the restart, Macedo executed a slidebjob underneath Gorden into turn one that stuck. He officially had the lead on lap 11. Macedo earned a quick and comfortable advantage over Gorden, but it tightened in lapped traffic just past halfway.
Brief cautions on lap 19 for D.J. Netto spinning and on lap 23 for Bradley Dilland getting sideways in turn four did not deter Macedo. Macedo topped Gorden at the checkered flag for the Ocean Sprints victory.
Bud Kaeding won a thrilling heat race earlier in the night, then finished off a successful evening by finishing in third. Gauge Garcia and Kaleb Montgomery rounded out the top five.
Western Midget Racing champion Bryant Bell of Oakley took over the points lead for the 2024 series with a big win, taking Friday’s 20-lap feature worth $500 to win.
Matthew Frazier won the IMCA Sport Modified 20-lap contest over a 16-car field.
D.J. Keldsen won his first Hobby Stock main event of the season after 20 laps of racing.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 21-Cole Macedo[2]; 2. 10-Dominic Gorden[1]; 3. 29-Bud Kaeding[3]; 4. 28-Gauge Garcia[4]; 5. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[8]; 6. 3D-Caleb Debem[12]; 7. 121-Caeden Steele[7]; 8. 88N-DJ Netto[6]; 9. 15-Nick Parker[5]; 10. 38-Colby Johnson[9]; 11. 8-Jeremy Chisum[13]; 12. 3M-Adam Kaeding[15]; 13. 72S-Bradley Dillard[10]; 14. 88-Koen Shaw[16]; 15. 76-Jennifer Osborne[14]; 16. 98-Vince Giannotta[17]; 17. 34B-Glenn Bryan[18]; 18. 72W-Kurt Nelson[11]