WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Kaleb Montgomery steered his family owned No. 3 sprint car to victory lane in the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo on Friday night, becoming the 10th different winner of the Sprint Car season at Ocean Speedway.
Montgomery’s win came during the Tribute to Terry Traub night which attracted nearly 80 entries across five divisions at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds speedplant.
D.J. Netto led time trials while teenager Gauge Garcia won the Gizdich Ranch Dash for the pole of the 30-lap feature.
Montgomery knifed to the inside of Garcia in turn four to take the lead on lap one. The race was then stopped when Jason Chisum nerfed nose first into the front stretch dirt and was collected by Vince Gianotta.
Incoming points leader Rickey Sanders nabbed second on the restart and July 28 winner Joey Ancona took over third. Bryce Eames stopped exiting turn two for the next caution on lap four.
Netto began to make his presence felt from third position in lapped traffic before a caution on lap ten. Netto used the restart to advance into second past Sanders. Montgomery led the field into traffic again at the halfway point and was slowed slightly in turn three, allowing Netto to take the lead on lap 16.
Ancona suffered a major side-over-side flip in turn one to bring out the red flag on lap 18. Two-time 2023 winner Mitchell Faccinto retired with a mechanical issue as well, relegating the only two 2023 Ocean winners in the field out of the race.
Montgomery slid back into the lead on lap 19 but Faccinto answered back with a slide job of his own to lead lap 20. Ryan Rocha flipped hard and landed on his lid but was uninjured.
Both 13th-starting Caeden Steele and 2022 champion Kurt Nelson overhauled rookie Caleb Debem to knock him out of the top-five on the restart.
Netto’s bid for victory ended when he ran into the back of the lapped car of Don Hart on lap 28, spinning to a stop to surrender the lead.
Montgomery assumed the top spot and fended off a challenge from Sanders for the victory. Nelson finished third followed by Steele and Easton’s Michael Pombo.
Multi-time Ocean Speedway Hobby Stock champion Rob Gallaher won the 33-lap Tribute to Terry Traub feature, winning $333 for topping a 16-car field.
Bryant Bell won his first Ocean Western Midget Racing win. IMCA Sport Modified state championship contender Jason Ryan, Jr. prevailed for his fourth win of the season in a 20-lap contest.
Jason Lazzerini moved closer to the 2023 Four Banger championship with a dominating win in the 15-lap race.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[2]; 2. 121-Rickey Sanders[4]; 3. 72W-Kurt Nelson[9]; 4. 121X-Caeden Steele[13]; 5. 37-Michael Pombo[11]; 6. 3D-Caleb Debem[12]; 7. 88N-DJ Netto[3]; 8. 8-Jeremy Chisum[10]; 9. 21X-Gauge Garcia[1]; 10. 56Z-Don Hart[15]; 11. 72S-Bradley Dillard[18]; 12. 46J-Geoffrey Grimm[16]; 13. 34B-Glenn Bryan[19]; 14. 5R-Ryan Rocha[8]; 15. 72JR-Chris Nelson[14]; 16. 88A-Joey Ancona[5]; 17. 22-Mitchell Faccinto[7]; 18. 50-Bryce Eames[6]; 19. 25Z-Jason Chisum[20]; 20. 98-Vince Giannotta[17]