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(Photo courtesy L&J Photography)

Tommy Tarlton Scores Third Win In Wild GLR Investments Main Event

By Gary Costa

WATSONVILLE, CA – (8-14-09) – Tommy Tarlton scored the 30 lap GLR Investments feature in a wild and exciting 30 lap feature event in front of a healthy crowd Friday night at Ocean Speedway in the Tarlton & Son, Inc. No. 21. The race would also be the last night of Johnny Key Classic Qualifying.

The victory marked Tarlton's third of the season in the Paul Baines wrenched machine. "This feels great! When they pulled that ten-pill I knew that it was going to put Brent (Kaeding) on the front-row," a jubilant Tarlton explained. "My guys did a great job tonight. Brent was actually past me going into Turn 3, but I didn't want to give another one away and just kept my foot in it."

The 30 lap GLR Investments main event started with pole sitter Brent Kaeding in the BK Motorsports No. 69 getting the jump on inside front row starter Cory Eliason in the KB Motorsports No. 00x. Tarlton was already up to fourth on lap 3 from his sixth starting spot battling it out with Brad Furr for the third position.

Drivers were taking advantage of the well groomed tacky racetrack. The surface was prime for high-speed, two and three wide battles breaking out all over the ¼-mile racing surface.

Ronnie Day, aboard the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 and Bud Kaeding, in the Sala/Matherly Motorsports No. 19 would show strength throughout the event. Day was charging through the pack from his eighth starting spot, while ninth starting Bud Kaeding was locked in a duel with seventh starting Justin Sanders in the North County Plastering No. 17. "BK" began distancing himself from the field, while Tarlton moved past Eliason for the third spot on lap 12.

Things really heated-up in the latter stages of the race, as the leaders began to enter heavy lapped traffic, with Tarlton catching Brent Kaeding. The pair began to swap positions seemingly every lap. Tarlton would get around Kaeding and Kaeding would get the lead right back.

Day utilized traffic and moved past third running Eliason for the third spot. Tarlton moved past Kaeding once again and looked like he was going to run away with the win; however a lap 27 yellow flag would set-up a wild three lap shootout.

Lapped cars would separate Tarlton and Kaeding for the restart. When racing resumed, Tarlton would get a great jump, but fourth running Eliason, who was in a spot to be locked into the Johnny Key, came together with a lapped car and the No. 00x spun wildly to a stop into the infield. Racing continued as Eliason was out of harms way.

Kaeding moved around the lapped cars, and he was right on Tarlton's tail. With the white flag waving in the air, all eyes were on Kaeding as he drilled the cushion to perfection off of Turn 2 and was hauling the mail down the back straight and into Turn 3 where he utilized the cushion again, and got by Tarlton momentarily. As both drivers were heading to the checkered flag, cars made contact with Kaeding flying through the air, and Tarlton taking the wild win by mere inches for his third win in the series. "To win three races in this series is incredible. The depth of talent that races here speaks volumes," Tarlton said. "I want to thank all of the fans for coming out here tonight – we really appreciate your support."

Ronnie Day, Bud Kaeding who earned himself a spot for the Johnny Key, Justin Sanders, Brad Furr, Kurt Nelson also earned a spot in the Johnny Key, Evan Suggs, Ricky Wright, Jr. is another driver grabbing a spot in the Key, and Brent Bjork would round out the Top-10.

Evan Suggs started the evening out by setting a new track record in the Suggs Racing No. 33E timing in with a blistering 11.692.

A scary incident occurred during lap 2 in B Main action that involved Orval Zane Burke, Jr., and Anthony Simone. Burke, Jr., rode over Simone's right rear wheel, and the No. OB1 launched into the air, and into the front stretch catch fence, with the car hanging from the fence. The safety crew did a fantastic job of untangling the car and making repairs to the mangled fence. Burke, Jr., walked away unscathed, and the race was called due to time restraints. Wes Gutierrez was the winner.

Full results will be available at www.OceanSpeedway.com

The next event for the GLR Investments Series will be the 49^th Running of the Johnny Key Classic on August 29.

49th Running Johnny Key Classic Qualifiers

Qualifying Starting June 26, 2009 and continuing thru August 14, 2009 Drivers will pre-qualify for the Johnny Key Classic. This will be accomplished by taking finishing positions 1, 2, and 3[DRIVERS] in the A-main and "locking" them into a starting spot for the Johnny Key Classic race. After the first night of pre-qualifying the top three (3) DRIVERS in the A-main NOT already pre-qualified will be taken and so on until the final night of pre-qualifying.

After August 14, 2009 the top two (2) DRIVERS in GLR Investments 360 Series points that have NOT secured a starting spot in the Key race will be included in the Key race line up. Race night format All Drivers will hot lap and take two (2) timed qualifying laps. There will be two (2) six (6) lap dashes consisting of the fourteen (14) Drivers that have pre qualified, seven cars in each dash. The 14 Pre Qualified Drivers will draw a pill for qualifying position and will take two (2) qualify laps, and the starting order of the Dashes will be; Dash # 1, Fastest Qualifier, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc. Dash # 2 will be 2nd Fast Qualifier, 4th, 6th, 8th etc. The finishing order of the first dash will determine the starting spots for inside row. The finishing order of the second dash will determine the outside row starting spots. The B-main cars will lineup as stated below. The fastest ten (10) qualifiers not in the Key will line-up "straight up" with the fastest car on the pole for the B-main, (if 33 or more cars will run a C-Main). The B-main will be 20 laps. The top eight (8) cars in the B-main will transfer to the A-Main, and will line up according to their finishing spot behind Drivers already pre-qualified in the Key race.

Johnny Key Race Laps: The Key race will consist of a total of fifty (50) laps. There will be two (2) twenty-five (25) lap segments. At the conclusion of the first segment the cars will be stopped on the front straight in front of the grandstands. There will be a 12-15 minute intermission in which cars can refuel, change tires, and make whatever adjustments the crews can do on the front straight before teams are signaled to leave the track and cars are pushed off. Cars will be lined up to resume the race in the order in which they finished the first segment.

To participating teams

Please work with us to make this a great event. We know everyone has their own opinion of how things should be done. Unfortunately we can never make everyone happy. So please keep that in mind. Minor adjustment may be made to this as deemed necessary by the track. For more information, please visit www.OceanSpeedway.com or www.OceanSprints.com