WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Fresno’s Caeden Steele had been close to victory on several occasions this season and finally sealed the deal on Friday, making a late pass of Dominic Scelzi to claim the Key Classic kick-off race at Ocean Speedway.
Also scooping up wins on Friday night were Adriane Frost with the Hobby Stocks, Jason Lazzerini with the Four Bangers and Danny Wagner with the South Bay Dwarf Cars.
The 30-lap Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo feature saw Gizdich Ranch Dash winner Steele jump into the lead at the waving of the green flag. It was short lived however, as Scelzi scooted by to grab the point after one lap was complete.
Scelzi then held command and worked his way through heavy duty lapped traffic, with Steele not far behind. The duo raced closely together for a majority of the contest and gave the crowd on hand an excellent display of winged sprint car racing.
As the laps wound down traffic continued to play into things and with four circuits remaining, Steele made his move. The 17-year-old youngster dove to the inside of the two-time NARC champ and crossed the stripe as the leader on lap 27. Scelzi gave it one final shot on the last corners, but Steele hit his marks to bring home his second career Ocean Sprints triumph.
Scelzi finished in second, with Campbell’s Bud Kaeding rounding out the podium.
The 1996 Johnny Key Classic winner, Kaeding, had an excellent run in the main event making frequent impressive passes. Oakley’s Dylan Bloomfield and the night’s fastest qualifier Colby Johnson completed the top-five.
The remainder of the top-10 was filled out by Mitchell Faccinto, Kaleb Montgomery, Rickey Sanders, Ryan Bernal and Bryce Eames.
Feature Results
1. 121X-Caeden Steele[1]; 2. 41-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 3. 69-Bud Kaeding[5]; 4. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[7]; 5. 38-Colby Johnson[3]; 6. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[6]; 7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[9]; 8. 121-Rickey Sanders[8]; 9. 22-Ryan Bernal[15]; 10. 50-Bryce Eames[11]; 11. 10-Dominic Gorden[12]; 12. 2K-Gauge Garcia[10]; 13. 72W-Kurt Nelson[14]; 14. 8-Jeremy Chisum[13]; 15. 3D-Caleb Debem[20]; 16. 3M-Adam Kaeding[4]; 17. 72JR-Chris Nelson[19]; 18. 72S-Bradley Dillard[18]; 19. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[17]; 20. 56Z-Don Hart[21]; 21. 88A-Joey Ancona[16]; 22. 98-Vince Giannotta[22]