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Fast 4 Media Pic
Shane Golobic fends off late challenges from Bud Kaeding to scoop up his first Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo win of 2014 on Friday
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – July 18, 2014…Despite leading the point standings since early in the season Fremont, CA’s Shane Golobic had still been in search of his first Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo victory of the year. That all changed on Friday night however, when the 2012 champ took the lead midway through and dominated much of the remainder, despite a two or three lap slide fest with Campbell’s Bud Kaeding.
The win for Golobic broke a long dry spell at the track, with his most recent win with the Ocean Sprints coming on May 17 of last season. The San Jose State grad has put together a strong & consistent year with the Taco Bravo Sprints, having finished outside the top-five just once all season aboard the Keith Day Trucking, Gabilan Ag Service No. 22 machine. Golobic is also the current point leader with the Civil War Sprint Car Series presented by Flowmaster.
“It feels great to finally get a win here at Ocean Speedway this year,” said a happy Golobic on the front stretch. “We’ve been close, but for one reason or another it hadn’t happened. My guys gave me a great car tonight so I can’t thank them enough. That was a lot of fun racing with Bud Kaeding again late in the race. We ran clean & hard and I hope all the fans enjoyed that one. I wish we could have won last week, but I’m pretty happy to be standing up here in victory lane tonight. We’ll be back next week looking for another.”
When the green flag waved it was Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo rookie contender Mitchell Faccinto jumping into the lead with last year’s champ Brad Furr in tow. Another terrific racing surface was put together on Friday and drivers had multiple grooves to use in the main event. Golobic soon made his presence known and rocketed into the second spot on lap eight.
Golobic chopped down the advantage little by little and while battling through traffic he got the run he needed heading down the back stretch on lap 14. The two leaders ran toe to toe off the fourth corner, which saw Golobic get to the preferred outside groove and find the opening he needed. At this time Faccinto had heartbreak city while battling for the lead, as he drove to the bottom in turn one and got crossed up with a lapped car, resulting in him spinning to a stop.
This moved ninth starting Bud Kaeding up to second for the double file restart, but Golobic hit it perfectly and looked to check out from the field. Another yellow would wave though and bunch everyone right back up, resulting in another double file restart. Golobic was on his game and once again hit it with precision to jump back into the lead, but a minor miscue on the tricky cushion late in the race allowed last week’s HK Classic winner Bud Kaeding the chance to make it a fight for the lead.
Kaeding pounced on the opportunity and reminiscent of last week the pair would trade multiple sliders while racing for the top spot to the delight of the crowd. As the two raced through turns three and four with a few laps to go, Kaeding tried to pull another slider, but couldn’t make it stick and Golobic was able to check out from there. The current Ocean Sprints point leader took the checkered flag by 2.152 seconds for the victory and in doing so, extended his point lead to 52-markers going into next Friday.
Bud Kaeding earned the High Five Pizza Hard Charger Award by coming from ninth to second in the feature aboard the Williams Motorsports 0 Sprinter. “That was a great race with Shane and I’m just glad that I got the opportunity to get close, because he was really fast tonight. Hope everyone up there enjoyed it and will bring a new fan to the races next week. We couldn’t be doing this without all your support and we really do appreciate it. We’ll be back here next week trying to get locked into the Key.”
Lemoore’s Carson Macedo was back to his consistent ways and rounded out the podium to earn his seventh top-five in eight races this season with the Ocean Sprints. The 18-year-old was part of a great battle with Justin Sanders, Brad Furr, DJ Netto & Kurt Nelson over the course of the feature. “It’s great to be back up here on the podium this week,” said the driver of the WFO Apparel No. 21x mount. “Paul Baines and my guys gave me a great car as always and I can’t wait to get back here next Friday.”
Sanders had a strong run in the main event to come from 11th to fourth in the North County Plastering No. 17, while Stockton’s Brad Furr completed the top-five at the helm of the Price Rite Restaurant Equipment No. 2 machine. Hanford’s Collin Markle had one of the best nights of his Taco Bravo Sprints career coming home in sixth, with Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson in seventh, Fresno’s Kyler Shaw in eighth, 16th starter Koen Shaw of Fresno ninth and Salinas’ Jason Chisum rounded out the top 10.
The three heat races held during the evening were captured by Shane Golobic, Hanford’s DJ Netto and Cotati’s Jake Haulot. Brad Furr began the night by setting his fourth Ray Scheidts Electric Fast Time Award of the season with a time of 11.723 around the Ocean Speedway quarter-mile. Full results are available on www.oceanspeedway.com by clicking on the results tab.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will return to action next Friday night for the second Johnny Key Classic Qualifying Race. The first was held at Petaluma Speedway on July 5, where Princeton’s Mason Moore picked up the win and locked himself into the 54th running of the event on August 23 at Ocean Speedway.
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