KAEDING NABS CIVIL WAR AND OCEAN
SPRINTS VICTORY OVER LARSON AND ABREU
WATSONVILLE,
CALIFORNIA (July 9, 2011) – Tim Kaeding of Campbell swept past 2010 King of California Kyle
Larson and rookie sensation Rico Abreu of St. Helena on lap 27 to win the Ocean
Sprints vs. California Sprint Car Civil War on Friday night at Ocean
Speedway. The victory is Kaeding’s
second straight and third on the year at Watsonville.
Abreu led
the first 27 laps aboard his Abreu Vineyards #89 mount before loosing the lead
to a hard charging Kaeding. The rookie
Outlaw Kart graduate held off the veteran through a series restarts and through
heavy lapped traffic in the 30 lap feature.
36 winged
360 sprint cars checked into the pits for the night’s races, which marked round
eight for both the Civil War and Ocean Sprints.
Ocean Sprints points leader Ronnie Day of Salinas thrilled the large crowd by taking
the Ray Scheidt’s Electric Fast Time award with an 11.692 second lap around the
quarter-mile clay oval.
All four
heat races were won by Ocean Sprints regulars with Abreu, “Cowboy” Craig Smith,
Eric Humphries, and Kaeding snaring wins.
The hotly contested heat races saw several high-profile drivers forced
to the b-main including second in Ocean Sprints points Tommy Tarlton, and third
in Civil War points Sean Becker.
The 20 car,
12 lap b-main event was full of action including a wild battle between Orval Zane
Burke and Mike Henry for the final transfer that ended when they made contact
going down the backstretch. Henry was
sent over the cushion and for a spin, eliminating his chances for a transfer
spot.
Tarlton won
the semi over Justin Sanders, Steven Tiner, Burke, Kirk Simpson, and Kyle
Hirst. Becker and Henry both failed to
transfer.
22 cars
started the 30 lap feature that was slowed several times in the first 10
laps. Ryan Rusconi and Sanders tangled
in turn three to bring out the caution on lap one. Rusconi was done for the night. Abreu led from the pole but by lap nine he
had his hands full with lapped traffic and Kaeding.
Ocean
Sprints rookie Jeremy Chisum spun for the second time on lap 10 to bring out
the caution and end his night, and on the restart Tommy Laliberte got upside
down in turn four to bring out a red flag.
Larson, who
started eighth, moved into third on the restart to challenge the leaders. Tarlton continued his charge through the pack
from 11th as he took over fifth on lap 14. Kaeding put the pressure on Abreu through
lapped traffic but bobbled on lap 19 to give up second to Larson.
Tarlton got
around Alissa Geving for fourth to give himself an outside shot at the win
while Kaeding played catch-up with the top-two.
Abreu held off Larson through continued lapped traffic before Kaeding
finally turned it on sweeping past Larson and Abreu to jump from third to
first.
Kaeding
went on to the win with Larson following him past Abreu for second in a close
finish, while Tarlton and Geving rounded out the top-five. Larson’s second place finish locked him into
the 51st Johnny Key Classic as Kaeding qualified for the race with
his win on June 23.
Incoming
Civil War points leader Andy Forsberg finished 12th, while Kyle
Hirst’s run from 22nd to 11th gave him the DDNi Hard
Charger Award worth $100. Day finished
ninth for his worst performance of the season, closing his gap over Tarlton in
the Ocean Sprints standings to just 13 points.
Laps are
currently for sale for the Johnny Key Classic with interested parties urged to
contact [email protected]
Laps are $50 each to be paid out to the
top-three cars each lap.
The Ocean
Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will return to action on July 29 while the
Civil War Sprints move on to Petaluma Speedway on Saturday night to complete
their two race swing.
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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