WATSONVILLE, Calif. — With the backdrop of Hall of Fame night at Ocean Speedway, Justin Sanders put on a master class on the way to his eighth Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo victory of the season.
West Coast Stock Car / Motorsports Hall of Famers with Ocean Speedway ties Howard Kaeding, Jim Pettit II and Dave Byrd were honored during opening ceremonies for their contributions to area motorsports.
Sanders started on the outside pole of the 22-car, 30-lap feature. He immediately charged past dash winner Keith Day, Jr. of Salinas into turns one and two to take the lead.
Travis Labat spun in turn two on lap two, collecting Zane Blachard who flipped over. After the red flag, the following restart saw both incoming points leader Bud Kaeding and fast-time qualifier Joey Ancona drive past Day for second and third. The passes were nullified when 15-year-old Dylan Bloomfield stopped in turn three.
Day and Kaeding went back-and-forth for second before Day maintained the position. Sanders encountered lapped traffic by lap seven but knifed through them quickly. Kaeding and Ancona each drove over the edge of turn two on successive laps on lap 12 and 13. That allowed Kurt Nelson slot in between them in fourth.
Sanders accumulated a half-track lead, 6.4 seconds, by lap 25 and lapped until to seventh place. His commanding lead was erased when J.J. Ringo stopped in turn one for a caution. Kaeding looked inside Day for second on the restart before stopping on the backstretch for another yellow flag. Ancona dueled with Day on the restart before Day fell back in the closing laps. Sanders led wire-to-wire for the victory followed by Ancona, Joel Myers Jr., Jake Andreotti and Day.
Andy Orbetello won the IMCA Modified 25-lap feature, outrunning Cody Burke.
Fred Ryland earned his seventh IMCA Sport Mod main event triumph of the year driving car No. 7J.
Mark Biscardi won his second South Bay Dwarf Car feature of the campaign. Rob Gallaher earned win five of his hobby stock season. Dakota Keldson was best in the four-banger class.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17-Justin Sanders[2]; 2. 88A-Joey Ancona[3]; 3. 46JR-Joel Myers[10]; 4. 7P-Jake Andreotti[7]; 5. 22-Keith Day Jr[1]; 6. 2-JJ Ringo[14]; 7. 72W-Kurt Nelson[5]; 8. 50-Bryce Eames[12]; 9. 67G-Grant Duinkerken[8]; 10. 15T-Tristan Guardino[13]; 11. 72JR-Chris Nelson[18]; 12. 58-Jerry Bonnema[20]; 13. 5R-Ryan Rocha[15]; 14. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[16]; 15. 8-Jeremy Chisum[17]; 16. 88-Koen Shaw[22]; 17. 25Z-Jason Chisum[19]; 18. 69-Bud Kaeding[4]; 19. 98-Michael Pombo[21]; 20. 61-Travis Labat[6]; 21. 7Z-Zane Blanchard[9]; 22. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[11]
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