This message was edited on
June 04, 2011 at
01:31:45 PM by stevenblakesley
RONNIE DAY WINS FIRST CAREER OCEAN SPRINTS MAIN IN THRILLER
WATSONVILLE,
CALIFORNIA (June 4, 2011) – Ocean Sprints points leader Ronnie Day of Salinas made his first
career series victory one truly for the ages, fending off 2010 series champ
Tommy Tarlton in a crowd-pleasing finish that saw them collide as they came to
the stripe.
The
official margin of victory was .167 seconds but it was visually much closer
than that. 2010 King of California Kyle
Larson came home a close third.
“We kept
going back-and-forth and I opened the door for him a little bit,” Day
said.“I had one hand on the wheel and
one hand on the wing valve to get more traction and we beat him to the line!”
Chasing an
incoming rain storm, the feature rolled off after 7 p.m. on a slick and glazed over race
track.Tarlton led the field to green
and led through a series of restarts.
Four
cautions slowed the first four laps of racing, with heat race winner Orval
Burke, Jr. spinning twice to end his night early in a tough break for the 16
year-old rookie.On the lap four
restart, heat race winner St. Helena’s Rico Abreu went high in turn two and
back pedaled from third to 11th.
Another
heat race winner on the night, Justin Sanders, spun in turn three on lap seven
to bring out the yellow again. Day moved
past Auburn’s Andy Forsberg on the restart to take over second before
the race was stopped again for Abreu stalling in turn three.
The next
six laps of competition saw a furious battle between Larson and “Cowboy” Craig
Smith, before Smith then fell back to battle Jason Statler. Statler spun in turn three to force a yellow
on lap 13.
Fremont’s Shane Golobic was to restart
seventh but had a bearing failure in the left rear that caused heavy damage to
his rear axle. Golobic made it to the
infield and the race went green.
Business
picked up with Sanders leaping up to sixth by lap 19 while Larson took over
third from Forsberg on lap 23. The
top-three cars of Tarlton, Day, and Larson raced under a blanket with many
slidejobs to the approval of the crowd. Day took the lead on lap 28 as the caution came out to set up a wild two
lap shootout.
Day had a
strong restart running around the top, but Tarlton tried on multiple occasions
to make the bottom work. Coming to the
checkered flag, Tarlton threw his car deep into turn four and they raced
side-by-side to the line.
In the drag
race to the stripe, Tarlton’s left front made contact with Day as they ripped
under the checkered flag. Day took the
victory while Tarlton’s car came to a stop in turn one with damage.
“We had a
good setup on the car,” Day said. “We
were tight early but the car came to us right when we needed it to. I have to thank my brother Keith for all of
his support this season. We’ve been so
consistent this year by being in the top-five in every race.”
Larson’s
third place finish gives him his third straight top-five after a fifth with the
USAC National Midgets in the “Night Before the 500” and a second place run at
Calistoga with Golden State King of the West.Forsberg and Brent Kaeding rounded out the top-five.
The DDNi
Hard Charger award went to rookie Jeremy Chisum who recovered from a flip in
his heat race to drive from 22nd to 11th in the feature. Brent
Kaeding won the Ray Scheidt’s Electric Fast-Time award with an 11.922 second
lap around the quarter-mile dirt oval.
The Ocean
Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will return on June 24, with the next major
sprint car show at Watsonville on June 17th with the USAC
CRA and Western Classic series in co-sanctioned event. Fromer Ocean Speedway wingless champion Ryan
Bernal is among those expected to compete.
For more
information on the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo log onto http://www.oceansprints.com
and for more on the Ocean Speedway visit http://www.oceanspeedway.com
www.stevenblakesley.com
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