WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Gauge Garcia won the biggest race of his young sprint car career as he won the 64th Annual Johnny Key Classic at the Ocean Speedway on Saturday night.
The Lemoore, Calif. driver pocketed $3,000 in the 30-lap contest driving the Souja owned Valley Wound/Apex Construction No. 28. He beat Bud Kaeding in a two-lap shootout after a white flag caution slowed the race one final time. Kaeding, the only other race leader, having started on the pole, held off a fast closing Sean Becker.
Kaeding and Ashton Torgerson brought the 22-car field to the green flag with the veteran Kaeding jumping to the lead. But it would be the new comer Torgerson who challenged the No. 29 early on. The race would only go four laps when a stopped George Tristao Jr. would bring out a caution.
On the restart, it would be Caeden Steele who would next threaten Kaeding, until lap six, when Chris Nelson stopped his No. 72JR on the front stretch.
It would be Torgerson who would charge past both Kaeding and Steele on this restart, but that effort was negated when Jennifer Osborne, one of only two females in the field, went over the turns three and four banking to slow the race. The race would restart with Kaeding still in command, but the second female driver, Adrianna DeMartini, would stop in the fourth turn and had to be towed off the track.
The race would go to lap 12 before slowing again, this time Kyle Rasmussen looped his car in the second turn as Night No. 1 feature winner Tanner Carrick moved in the third position. Four laps later, Osborne and Kurt Nelson slid to the inside of the track in the second turn, slowing the race once again. This time it was Garcia who was on the march, running the low groove around the quarter-mile oval.
Garcia moved into position No. 3 as D.J. Netto spun exiting the fourth turn as the track was quickly developing a black colored surface.
Garcia moved around Steele for second and passed Kaeding on the low side taking the white flag but Rasmussen spins again in the second turn before the field completed the final circuit. It took the scoring officials several minutes to determine the running order for Garcia and Kaeding, but the track’s split caution rule determined Garcia the leader for a two-lap shootout.
Garcia, running the low groove, and Kaeding up on the top shelf where he had been running the entire race, provided an exciting finish. Garcia moved up nine spots from where he started, while Kaeding fell one spot, but it would be Sean Becker gained the most, going from 16th to third.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
Gauge Garcia, Bud Kaeding, Sean Becker, Caeden Steele, Joey Ancona, Tanner Carrick, Ashton Torgerson, Caleb Debem, Ryan Rocha, Colby Johnson, Jeremy Chisum, Cole Schroeder, Travis Labat, Cody Key, George Tristao, Jr., Jennifer Osborne, Kurt Nelson, Grant Duinkerken, D J Netto, Kyle Rasmussen, Adrianna DeMartini, Chris Nelson