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Shane Golobic wins 1st career GSC main event
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – April 12, 2008…16 year-old Shane Golobic put together an impressive night of action Saturday at the Ocean Speedway and capped it all off with a dominating drive to lead all 30 laps and pick up his first career Golden State Challenge Series main event win. The youngster looked very good at the track during the first GSC stop in March and came back this time to very nearly record a clean sweep aboard the Brian Sperry wrenched car.
Driving the Joe Von Schriltz owned No. 121 Golobic was the class of the field all night long as he set fast time, won the dash and proceeded to easily win the 30 lap A-main event. Warm temps during the day caused the track to dry out considerably as the evening went on and when feature time came about; the bottom groove was the place to be. The Fremont driver jumped out to big leads during much of the race however, and his only real challenge came after a handful of laps were completed.
Golobic had been leading the first four laps by a fairly large margin, but as traffic came into play it allowed current Golden State Challenge Series point leader Jonathan Allard of Chico to close in. Just as that happened though a caution flew on lap six and at the same time, disaster almost struck for the leaders as Ken Fredenburg spun in front of them. Golobic clipped Fredenburg and it sent the No. 23 car upside down to bring out the red flag. Thankfully for the youngster his car was fine and he was able to continue on without any worries.
The final 24 laps saw Golobic pull out to a commanding lead as he drove away from the field to convincingly pick up his first career Golden State Challenge Series main event victory. “This is just awesome and it really hasn’t sunk in yet,” the 16 year-old said in the pits following the races. Golobic credited crew chief Brian Sperry for giving him a great car all night long as well as former GSC champ Tim Green for coaching him during the night. He and father John also wanted to thank car owner Joe Von Schriltz as this has been a great combination for the youngster during two starts in the machine this season. Golobic became the third first time winner during the first seven races of the '08 season.
Allard held onto the second position the whole way to score his best finish of the early GSC season aboard the Williams Motorsports No. 0 and defending GSC champ Brent Kaeding of Campbell finished third to score his third straight podium. Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs brought home a fourth place finish for the second straight week in a row in the GLR Investments No. 33e with Campbell’s Bud Kaeding rounding out the top five aboard the Alviso Rock No. 29.
The rest of the top 10 in the 30 lap feature was made up of Los Gatos' Jason Statler, Los Angeles’ Tyler Walker, Ripon’s Brandon Carey, Fresno’s Mark Workentine and Petaluma’s Mike Mossi. It was the second consecutive week that Mossi had a good finish and it was nice to see for a guy that travels up and down California with an open trailer on a shoe string budget.
The Golden State Challenge Series will make its way to the Petaluma Speedway next Saturday night for the eighth race of the season.
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Ocean Speedway Golden State Challenge Series Results April 12, 2008
Fast time- Shane Golobic 11.908
Heat 1- Mike Henry, Bud Kaeding, Shane Golobic, Mike Stallings, Ken Fredenburg, Brandon Carey, Garrett Ishii
Heat 2- Brent Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Mark Workentine, Mike Mossi, Chris Masters, Jason Statler
Heat 3- Tyler Walker, Evan Suggs, Brent Bjork, Jon Maiwald, Dan Simpson, Justin Sanders
Dash- Golobic, Allard, Brent Kaeding, Walker, Suggs, Bud Kaeding, Henry, Bjork
A-main- Shane Golobic, Jonathan Allard, Brent Kaeding, Evan Suggs, Bud Kaeding, Jason Statler, Tyler Walker, Brandon Carey, Mark Workentine, Mike Mossi, Mike Henry, Ken Fredenburg, Chris Masters, Dan Simpson, Justin Sanders, Mike Stallings, Jon Maiwald, Brent Bjork
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I'm thinking Evan Suggs will be the next first time winner. He's been running well and it's cool to see him getting some good finishes.
Glad to see both Charlie Louden and Garrett Ishii were ok after hard crashes.
Major props to Mike Mossi. You see his little open trailer parked next to the rig of the #24, and there's Mike out there on the lead lap finishing tenth. That was after running Chico Friday night. I think he said he stopped at home and got about two hours of sleep before heading to Watsonville.
It looks like Tyler Walker is relaxed and having fun racing in California.
Seems Jon Maiwald can't buy a break. Hopefully things start going his way.
Former San Jose racers (besides the ones we usually see) spotted in the pits. Jamie Hood, Howard Fergerson, Gary Willey.
And a reminder to some I've mentioned it to, when you have time, take a look at www.dansimpsonracing.com
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