WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Multi-time Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo champion Justin Sanders returned to his home victory lane, scoring a convincing victory in Friday’s round four in Watsonville.
It marked Sanders’ first win at Ocean Speedway since claiming the 2022 Howard Kaeding Classic for the NARC 410 Sprint Cars last July.
Justin’s younger brother Rickey entered the night as the points leader and followed that up with fast time in qualifying over the 24 car field. Kaleb Montgomery claimed dash honors over Justin Sanders.
Montgomery and Justin Sanders shared the front row for the 30-lap feature. After racing side-by-side down the backstretch, Sanders crossed over Montgomery in turn four to lead lap one. The first caution fell on lap four for Jeremy Chisum stopped on the backstretch. Bud Kaeding and Montgomery dueled side-by-side on the restart with Kaeding briefly driving up the backstretch wall to avoid contact.
Chisum stopped on the backstretch for the next caution on lap seven. Sanders quickly encountered lapped traffic by lap 11.
Eighth-starting Tanner Carrick was on the move, advancing to fifth on lap 16. He then charged past Kaeding and Montgomery in a two-for-one pass to take second on lap 24. Sanders had a 4.1 second advantage at that stage but it was nullified on lap 27 when the caution flew.
Kurt Nelson stopped on the exit of turn two for the yellow flag. The incident earned him the Beer Optics Hard Luck Award.
Sanders drove high on the restart while Carrick tried to go low. Sanders had the right idea, soaring to a 1.602 second lead at the finish. Dylan Bloomfield worked to third over the final three laps followed by Montgomery and Kaeding.
“I just needed to time that restart and just get down the front straightaway without doing anything stupid,” Sanders said. “We’ll take this win and just try to keep building momentum to keep picking them off.”
2022 Hobby Stock champion Joe Gallaher continued his winning ways on Friday night in the 20-lap contest.
His grandson Bobby Gallaher led the first six laps with 2022 IMCA Sport Modified champion Adriane Frost of Watsonville in pursuit of the lead. Frost worked her way up the inside on the backstretch, taking the lead officially on lap seven.
Joe Gallaher drove into second then looked to reel in Frost. A caution on lap 12 evaporated Frost’s lead over the field. Gallaher dove inside in turn four to lead lap 15 and never looked back. Joe Gallaher scored the win over Frost. Sam Kennedy won the battle with Wally Kennedy for third when Wally slid through the infield on the restart. Bobby Gallaher and Dan Fassler rounded out the top five.
South Bay Dwarf Cars made their first appearance of the season at Ocean Speedway with Terre Rothweiler defending his home turf in an exciting 20-lap feature. T.J. Santos took the checkered flag in the 15-lap Four Banger feature.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[8]; 3. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[7]; 4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 5. 69-Bud Kaeding[3]; 6. 10-Dominic Gorden[5]; 7. 28-Chase Johnson[9]; 8. 02-Ashton Torgerson[10]; 9. 22-Mitchell Faccinto[6]; 10. 121-Rickey Sanders[4]; 11. 37-Michael Pombo[12]; 12. 3D-Caleb Debem[18]; 13. 72S-Bradley Dillard[20]; 14. 88-Austin Torgerson[14]; 15. 25Z-Jason Chisum[16]; 16. 8-Jeremy Chisum[11]; 17. 61-Travis Labat[13]; 18. 6D-Josh Chisum[23]; 19. 07-Richard Fajardo[21]; 20. 72W-Kurt Nelson[17]; 21. 56Z-Don Hart[22]; 22. 72JR-Chris Nelson[15]; 23. 3M-Adam Kaeding[19]; 24. (DNS) 34B-Glenn Bryan