JUSTIN SANDERS WINS FINAL JOHNNY KEY CLASSIC QUALIFYING NIGHT
WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (August 17, 2013) - Watsonville's Justin Sanders topped 27 cars in the pits to win the fourth Johnny Key Classic qualifying night, in preparation for next Saturday's Johnny Key Classic, on Friday night at Ocean Speedway Watsonville. Sanders will join Kyle Hirst, Bud Kaeding, DJ Netto, Brad Furr, and Kurt Nelson as drivers qualified in to the $10,000 to win Johnny Key Classic.
Sanders' win came during the 13th round of the 2013 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo, with Sanders sweeping past Nelson on the outside on the 19th lap to take the victory in front of his hometown fans.
"It feels great! I'm super excited to get a win back in my own car," Sanders said. "I've got to give credit to everybody that's helped me with this deal. Eric Rossi - he's been helping me the past month and we haven't finished out of the top-three yet. We're coming for everybody!"
2012 Ocean Sprints champion Shane Golobic of Fremont started on the outside pole and led the opening lap of competition. Sanders started sixth, and was up into the third position by the fourth lap. Golobic encountered lapped traffic by lap five before disaster struck the race leader.
Coming into traffic, Golobic steered to avoid a sliding Tommy Tarlton and spun into the path of Fresno's Kyler Shaw. Shaw was eliminated with front axle damage, while Golobic was able to push off from the rear of the field. Golobic's spin surrendered the lead to Nelson.
On the restart, Kaeding tangled with lapped car Collin Markle and flipped hard on top of the turn two wall. Kaeding was uninjured in the incident.
By midpoint of the race, 16th starting Hirst had found his way near the top-five in a back-and-forth duel with Fresno's Dominic Scelzi and Anthony Simone.
Nelson fended off Sanders for many laps before Sanders got the big run he needed on the outside to sweep past for the lead on lap 20. Sanders paced Nelson through lapped traffic with Nelson getting as close as within two car lengths on several occasions.
Nelson faded late in the race into the clutches of Steven Tiner and the two staged a great battle for second place to the finish.
Sanders pulled away to a comfortable 1.442 second victory with Tiner narrowly edging past Nelson in last lap pass for second. Points leader Brad Furr finished fourth with Scelzi rounding out the top-five finishers.
The DDNi Hard Charger went to Hirst for his run from 16th to sixth in the feature. Heat race wins went to Nelson, Orval Zane Burke, Jr., and Koen Shaw. Jerry Bonnema ran an 11.720 second lap to earn the Ray Scheidt's Electric Fast Time in qualifying. The 12 lap semi was won by Dominic Scelzi.
The $10,000 to win, 53rd running of the Johnny Key Classic is on tap for this Saturday night at Ocean Speedway Watsonville. Drivers outside of the six qualified drivers will have to race their way into the 50 lap feature through several b-main events in one of the most exciting formats in West Coast Sprint Car racing.
On Friday night, several drivers will be on hand at the Taco Bravo location on Snell Road in San Jose as a preview to Saturday's action.
For more information on the Ocean Sprints 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, Nobel Construction, Get Som Sports, Ray Scheidt's Electric, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance for their support.
August 16 2013 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo - Watsonville, California
RAY SCHEIDT'S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: 58 Jerry Bonnema 11.720 HEAT 1: 72w Kurt Nelson HEAT 2: OB1 Orval Zane Burke, Jr. HEAT 3: 88 Koen Shaw 12 LAP SEMI: 41 Dominic Scelzi 30 LAP FEATURE: 1) 17 Justin Sanders, 2) 37 Steven Tiner, 3) 72w Kurt Nelson, 4) 2 Brad Furr, 5) 41 Dominic Scelzi, 6) 83 Kyle Hirst, 7) 10 Anthony Simone, 8) 98 Ryan Rusconi, 9) 58 Jerry Bonnema, 10) 8 Jeremy Chisum, 11) 22 Shane Golobic, 12) 21x Carson Macedo, 13) 88k Koen Shaw, 14) 21 Tommy Tarlton, 15) 39 Craig Smith, 16) 39n Nathan Washam, 17) 199 Nick Foster, Jr., 18) 33h Eric Humphries, 19) OB1 Orval Zane Burke, Jr., 20) 5 Collin Markle, 21) 29 Bud Kaeding, 22) 92 Kyler Shaw NT
LAP LEADERS: 22 Shane Golobic 1-8, 72w Kurt Nelson 9-19, 17 Justin Sanders 20-30
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