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TDS Shots
Shane Golobic perseveres through obstacles on Friday to claim his first Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo win of the year
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – May 29, 2015…Overcoming a few wild & near disastrous moments in the main event on Friday, two-time & reigning Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo champion Shane Golobic put that behind him and raced away from the field to pick up his first victory of the season at Ocean Speedway.
The win certainly didn’t come easy for the Fremont driver, as he battled lapped traffic and current point leader Justin Sanders of Watsonville. It continued a strong season at the quarter-mile bullring for Golobic, who has been on the podium in all but one of his starts at the track aboard the Keith Day Trucking/ Gabilan Ag Service No. 22 machine. He now has a chance at the $3000 Double Down Bonus if he can win tonight’s Civil War event at the Placerville Speedway.
The 30-lapper came to the line with Sanders & Golobic sharing the front row after finishing one-two in the night’s dash. Nobody has had better seasons in Nor Cal so far this year than the pair and when the green flag waved they battled hard for the lead, with Golobic motoring into the top-spot down the back stretch. The hardest crash of the night occurred on lap-two when Easton’s Tommy Tarlton bicycled hard and flipped in turn four. He reportedly had the wind knocked out of him, but was luckily okay after the scary incident.
When things went back green Golobic held the advantage out front, but lapped traffic loomed ahead and on lap 10 things got crazy in the first & second corners. As Golobic was lapping cars he had come in contact with Anthony Simone and spun a complete 360, nearly coming to a stop. He somehow kept the engine lit and continued on to the amazement of the crowd. Keeping his spot Golobic led the field back down to green and soon had Sanders stepping up the challenge.
The 22-year-old Ocean Sprints point leader Sanders battled with the 23-year-old current champion Golobic over a couple laps, trading the lead back & forth.
On lap 15 the complexion of the race changed however, when Sanders pulled a slider in turn one looking to take the top-spot. Golobic crossed back under him and when the pair raced off turn two, just enough contact was made between the duo, resulting in Sanders having front end damage. Golobic was able to keep going without worries, but Sanders bid at four in a row came to an end. Despite the tough ending for Sanders, it was an excellent hard fought battle between two of the best in California over a two-lap period.
After this Golobic’s only worry was getting through lapped traffic, which did get hectic at times, as he had to take evasive & pinpoint action at some moments. He was able to keep the field at bay though and take the Ed Entz checkered flag by 1.529 seconds over Auburn’s Andy Forsberg for the victory.
“We’ve been really consistent all season so it feels great to finally get a win at Ocean Speedway,” said Golobic after the race. “I wish we could have raced Justin Sanders to the end. You never like to see things happen like that, but it was good hard racing and that’s what we get at this track. It was really racy again and my guys gave me a tremendous car all night. I can’t thank everyone that helps us out enough. Hopefully we can go on to Placerville and take home the Double Down Bonus.”
Forsberg’s runner up finish was the better of his two Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo starts this season. The seven-time Civil War Series titlist last week became the first driver to lock his way into the 55th Johnny Key Classic, which will be held August 29 at Ocean Speedway. The second place effort came aboard the Forsberg Motorsports/ Autism Awareness No. 92 mount.
“We don’t get here very often, but definitely love coming to this track,” Forsberg commented. “I was too far back to see those cool young kids up front battling, so I don’t know what happened with Sanders, but we will take a second tonight for sure. We also don’t get chances to run this car very much either, so to finish runner up isn’t too bad for us. Thank you everybody for coming out tonight and we’ll see you tomorrow in Pville.”
Former Ocean Sprints champ Brad Furr had a solid night and came home in third at the finish at the helm of his Price Rite Restaurant Equipment/ Brad Furr Racing No. 2 Sprinter. “It was a good night for us to get up here on the podium,” he said. “That was a tough break for Justin Sanders because he has been fast. But congrats to Shane on the win and Andy on the second place finish. We’ll be back in a couple weeks looking for a win.”
Gilroy’s Kurt Nelson put together a great night to come home in fourth at the conclusion. The veteran driver made some nice moves in the feature and earned his season best finish. Morgan Hill’s Nicholas Ringo also had one of the finest nights of his Sprint Car career to round out the top-five. Ringo also looked very solid in the feature. Fresno’s Kyler Shaw battled in the top-five at times and finished sixth, despite having his Wing posts break early on, resulting in his Wing angle being very low all race long. Jeremy Chisum, Jerry Bonnema, Koen Shaw and High Five Pizza Hard Charger Jason Chisum completed the top-10.
Justin Sanders captured the evening’s dash and the opening heat race. The other two heats were picked off by Andy Forsberg and Fremont’s Dustin Golobic. Shane Golobic kicked-off the night by setting his Ocean Sprints leading third Ray Scheidts Electric Fast Time of the year. He toured the quarter-mile in 11.738 seconds to set the mark. Full results are available at http://racepmg.com/results/ocean-sprints/?cls=360%20Sprint%20Cars&track_id=8217&tname=Ocean%20Speedway&cls=360%20Sprint%20Cars&track_dt=2015-05-29&types=A%20Main
A-main finish: 1. 22 Shane Golobic, 2. 92sh Andy Forsberg, 3. 2 Brad Furr, 4. 72w Kurt Nelson, 5. 3t Nicholas Ringo, 6. 92 Kyler Shaw, 7. 8 Jeremy Chisum, 8. 58 Jerry Bonnema, 9. 88 Koen Shaw, 10. 25z Jason Chisum, 11. 7h Jake Haulot, 12. 23 Ken Fredenburg, 13. 55 Danny Malfatti, 14. 7 Nick Ringo Jr., 15. 17 Justin Sanders, 16. 10 Anthony Simone, 17. 9j Dustin Golobic, 18. 34 Darrell Taylor, 19. 21 Tommy Tarlton
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will have this coming week off, before resuming action on Friday June 12 for round eight.
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Andy Forsberg scored a runner up finish on Friday night while driving his Forsberg Motorsports/ Autism Awareness No. 92 Sprinter. TDS Shots Photos
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