TOMMY TARLTON LEADS ALL 50 LAPS FOR $10,000 JOHNNY KEYWIN
WATSONVILLE,
CALIFORNIA (August 25, 2012) – Tommy Tarlton won his second career Johnny Key Classic
and sixth Ocean Sprints feature of 2012 on Saturday night, leading all 50 laps
to win the $10,000 DDNi 52nd Johnny Key Classic.The perfect drive by Tarlton came before a
nearly sold-out crowd that saw 36 360 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo
entries in the pits.
Tarlton won
three of the four Johnny Key Classic qualifying races in the build up to
Saturday's race and was an early favorite for many observers in the pits.Tarlton lived up to the expectations in the #21
Tarlton & Son entry for one of the biggest victories of his career, fending
off Rico Abreu in a three lap shootout for the finish.
"You
guys got your money's worth tonight," Tarlton said."I can't thank my crew enough and Paul
Baines.This is definitely a
highlight.I won a little more money
when I won Trophy Cup here but this is awfully close to the top for me!"
"I
have to thank DDNi as well for putting up the big money and it brought out a
lot of amazing cars!"
The dash
for the five qualified cars was won by Stockton's Brad Furr ahead of Tarlton which
set the front row for the 50 lap feature.Sacramento's Mike Henry shattered the track record with an 11.274 in
qualifying while the three B mains went to Clovis' Peter Murphy, Campbell's Bud
Kaeding and Tim Kaeding.
Furr led
the field to green but Tarlton took the lead from the outside pole.The first 25 lap segment of the feature was a
fast paced affair with the lone caution coming out on lap four when Craig
Stidham of Fresno stopped on the backstretch with a
flat left rear tire.
Tarlton
encountered lapped traffic for the first time on lap ten but was able to
navigate through traffic smoothly.Points leader Shane Golobic of Fremont passed Fresno's Dominic Scelzi and Furr in the
closing laps of the first segment to move into second.
After a ten
minute break, the action intensified with a caution and red-flag laden second
half of the event.All told, there were
nearly a dozen stoppages as drivers jockeyed for position in the richest race
of the year.
On the
restart, Scelzi and Furr made contact battling for third in turn four sending
Furr on a hard barrel roll.Furr ended
up getting hit by Henry and Watsonville's Justin Sanders.51st Johnny Key winner Ronnie Day was also
involved but he continued on.
San Jose's Ryan Rusconi and 1997 Key winner
"Cowboy" Craig Smith spun to bring out the next caution.Through the series of cautions, St. Helena's Rico Abreu started his move from
ninth starting position and moved past Golobic for second on lap 29.
After a lap
30 caution for Evan Suggs spinning, Abreu seized the opportunity to dive
underneath Tarlton and they raced side-by-side down the backstretch
briefly.Tarlton maintained the lead and
Golobic went after Abreu.Golobic jumped
the cushion briefly in turn one and surrendered third to Tim Kaeding.
On lap 34
Day stopped with a flat left rear and the ensuing restart saw a large
crash.Tim Kaeding, who started 17th,
went over the turn one cushion and flipped wildly.Brent Kaeding also went upside down in the
melee while tangled up with Stidham.All
three drivers walked away from heavily damaged machines.Golobic suffered some damage on his top wing
when Kaeding clipped him while flipping down the banking as well.
With each
restart, Abreu tried to go inside Tarlton and complete a slide job but Tarlton
proved to be too strong. A
back-and-forth battle raged on between 16th starting Bud Kaeding and Golobic
for third, with Bud finally breaking through to take the position for good on
lap 41.
Hanford's DJ Netto spun on lap 47 to set up
a three lap shootout but Tarlton again pulled away when Abreu poked his nose
inside.At the finish, Tarlton claimed
the victory over Abreu, Bud Kaeding, Golobic, and Murphy.Gilroy's Kurt Nelson flipped in turn one
at the conclusion of the event but was uninjured.
"We
just got free there at the end and on the cushion it was tough to not make too
many mistakes," Abreu said."I
tried getting him there on restarts but he's good on restarts so it just made
us better racing with him."
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
Ocean
Speedway would like to thank Taco Bravo, Digital Delivery Networks, Get Som
Sports, Ray Scheidt's Electric, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance for
their support of the 2012 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo.
August
25, 2012 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo - Watsonville, California
52nd Johnny Key Classic presented by
DDNi
RAY SCHEIDT'S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: 21m Mike Henry 11.274
B MAIN1: 11m Peter Murphy
B MAIN 2: 20 Bud Kaeding
B MAIN 3: 83jr Tim Kaeding
50 LAP
FEATURE: 1) 21 Tommy Tarlton $10,000, 2) 89 Rico Abreu, 3) 20 Bud Kaeding, 4)
9j Shane Golobic, 5) 11m Peter Murphy, 6) 41 Dominic Scelzi, 7) 33e Evan Suggs,
8) 72w Kurt Nelson, 9) 6m Jon Maiwald, 10) 88n DJ Netto, 11) 21x Carson Macedo,
12) 98 Ryan Rusconi, 13) 83jr Tim Kaeding, 14) 69 Brent Kaeding, 15) 39 Craig
Smith, 16) 3 Craig Stidham, 17) 22 Ronnie Day, 18) 37x Steven Tiner, 19) 2 Brad
Furr, 20) 21m Mike Henry, 21) OB1 Justin Sanders, 22) 4j Andy Ferris DNS: 14
Nick Green
LAP
LEADERS: 21 Tommy Tarlton 1-50
www.stevenblakesley.com
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