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Justin Sanders makes it three in a row on Friday at Ocean Speedway in a spirited drive
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – May 18, 2015…When you’re hot, you’re hot and Justin Sanders has been a blazing inferno lately. The Watsonville, CA driver put on another masterful performance Friday night, en route to his third straight Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo victory.
A wide and racy track was presented once again on Friday and some of the best racing all season was put forth. Multiple drivers battled it out up front in heavy lapped traffic at times and it was Sanders that made the right moves during it. Once in front he checked out and took the checkered flag by over three seconds.
Sanders jumped from his car and climbed the fence in celebration on the front stretch after coming to a stop following the race. “Man I don’t even know what to say right now,” Sander’s joked. “This has just been incredible and that race tonight was awesome. Another great track here at Ocean Speedway so I want to thank everyone for that again. That was a lot of fun racing with those guys through traffic.”
Stockton’s Brad Furr and Easton’s Tommy Tarlton led the field down to green in the 30-lapper. The slicked off surface made for some incredible racing on the quarter-mile Tarlton looked for his third win of the season at Ocean Speedway, but had his hands full with Sanders, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding and Fremont’s Shane Golobic. Some outstanding back and forth action was seen all race long, with slide jobs aplenty throughout the feature.
Close racing, hair raising moves and more was seen as drivers tried to pick their way through lapped traffic. Three wide racing was seen numerous times. The move of the race came late in the going when Tarlton & Kaeding got a little too close for comfort in turn three, which allowed Sanders to shoot from third to first. Tarlton tried to come back, but the 22-year-old was not to be denied and scooted away to claim the Ed Entz checkered flag by 3.565 seconds.
Golobic won out in a photo finish over Tarlton to claim the second position. Golobic has put together the same style consistency that Sanders has, no matter what series or track he has been at. “That was a great race track tonight, but these second place finishes are starting to suck. Justin has been on fire though and he was really good tonight. I had a great race with Tommy those last handful of laps and luckily I was able to get him at the start finish line. I want to thank my whole team for everything they do for me.”
After leading a number of laps Tarlton earned his third podium finish of the season. “Justin is just the cream of the crop right now. I thought we were pretty good out front, but he has just been better than all of us lately. Fun race tonight with a great track. I want to thank my guys for working hard and all of our partners. We’ve welcomed Executive Auto Sales on board this year and they’ve been a great sponsor. We’ll be back in a couple weeks looking to get another win.”
Bud Kaeding crossed the stripe in fourth, with Laton’s Heath Duinkerken having another strong night by rounding out the top-five. Duinkerken has been one of the drivers on the rise over the last year or so. Furr, Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Auburn’s Andy Forsberg and Morgan Hill’s Nicholas Ringo completed the top-10.
The Last Chance Showdown was captured by Jake Haulot, with the dash as noted won by Brad Furr. The three eight-lap heat races were picked off by Kyler Shaw, Bud Kaeding and Justin Sanders. Shane Golobic kicked-off the night by setting the Ray Scheidts Electric Fast Time. Evan Suggs earned the High Five Pizza Hard Charger Award, with Darrell Taylor getting the Beer Optics Hard Luck Award. Full results are online at www.racepmg.com
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will have this week off, before resuming action with Round seven on Friday May 29.
A-main finish with starting spots: 1 5 17 Justin Sanders 2 3 22 Shane Golobic 3 2 21 Tommy Tarlton 4 6 0 Bud Kaeding 5 4 79 Heath Duinkerken 6 1 2 Brad Furr 7 12 72W Kurt Nelson 8 14 33E Evan Suggs 9 9 92SH Andy Forsberg 10 13 3T Nicholas Ringo 11 10 88 Koen Shaw 12 15 7H Jake Haulot 13 8 12 Scott Parker 14 16 8 Jermey Chisum 15 19 9J Dustin Golobic 16 7 92 Kyler Shaw 17 17 25Z Jason Chisum 18 11 10 Anthony Simone 19 18 55 Danny Malfatti 20 20 7 Nick Ringo, Jr 21 22 23 Ken Fredenburg 22 21 58 Jerry Bonnema 5/16
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Photos courtesy David Spencer TDS Shots
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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