WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (July 13, 2024) – Justin Sanders of Aromas won his 20th career Northern Auto Racing Club 410 Sprint Car Series win and his second Howard Kaeding Classic, claiming Saturday night’s 30-lap feature at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. The victory in the 14th edition of the HK Classic paid $6900 to win.
“Our car was pretty close. We were really good there in the midpoint of the race. (Our season) could turn around in an instant but we’ll go and enjoy this win,” Sanders said. “It was hard to know what to do on the restarts. It was hard with the top is that far around but also the bottom is so dirty.”
Templeton’s Kaleb Montgomery and San Jose’s Bud Kaeding split Automotive Racing Products qualifying honors on a split field against the 30 entrants on hand. Lemoore’s Cole Macedo then topped Sanders in the Beacon Wealth Strategies Dash to score the pole position for the coveted feature. Macedo and Sanders entered the evening tied in the NARC championship standings and entertained the full house at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds dirt track in a thrilling feature event.
Macedo charged past Sanders to the lead in turn one over the 24-car field, but the move was nullified when Clovis’ Dominic Gorden spun on the backstretch. Macedo led the way on the following restart as well despite Sanders attempt to turn underneath him on the backstretch.
Sanders then pulled off a slide job in turn one to move past Macedo to lead lap two. Sanders led Macedo into traffic by just the sixth lap. Macedo took advantage of traffic, showing his nose on both laps 10 and 12.
Jeremy Chisum of Salinas spun in turn two for a caution on lap 12. Macedo dove inside of Sanders in turn three on the restart, driving alongside Sanders to be credited with the lead on lap 13. Macedo’s lead lasted a few hundred feet before Sanders soared underneath him to retake it in turn one. Sanders officially had control of the event on lap 14. 2021 HK Classic winner Sean Becker of Roseville emerged in third on the restart as well.
Sanders paced Macedo by a few car lengths in traffic before the final caution of the night when Gauge Garcia of Lemoore faltered with a mechanical issue in turn one. Sanders led the final seven circuits for victory over Macedo, Becker, Bud Kaeding, and Tim Kaeding.
Bryant Bell of Oakley, Calif. completed the Western Midget Racing weekend sweep by claiming the $1200 to win, 25-lap feature. The win also kicked off the Triple Crown Series for the WMR division.
Bell won the pole position after winning the fast heat race against the six locked in cars from Friday night. Santa Cruz’ Logan Mitchell won the other heat race. Payette, Idaho’s Teddy Bivert drove around the outside of Bell to lead lap one. Bell then challenged Bivert on the inside to retake the lead on lap seven.
Delano’s Terry Nichols used the outside to close in on Bivert for second as the field navigated traffic on lap 12. A red flag flew for a serious crash in turn one when Mitchell and Sacramento’s Isaiah Vasquez tangled. Vasquez flipped side over side off the edge of the speedway and Mitchell tipped over as well. Vasquez was transported for further evaluation after initially walking away.
Nichols completed the pass for second place on the restart then turned his attention to Bell. The pair went side-by-side for the lead on lap 20 and remained in lockstep. Nichols and Bell then collided in turn two, sending Nichols into a wild tumble to end his event on lap 23. He was able to walk away.
Bell fended off a side-by-side challenge from his Boscacci Racing teammate Anthony Bruno of San Jose to claim the big win. Bivert finished third followed by Roseville’s Jerry Kobza and Todd Hawse of Moorpark.
Oakley’s Jacob Mallet, Jr. won the IMCA Modified 25-lap feature. Todd Hermosillo of Watsonville led the first three laps before Mallet took over. Jim Pettit II of Prunedale followed him into second position as well.
Austin Burke and 2023 Pettit Shootout winner Troy Foulger of Oakley collided in a bid for fifth, sparking a multi-car crash involving Ryan Porter of Atwater and Markus Frazier of Santa Maria for a caution flag on lap eight. On the restart, Andrew Peckham of Grass Valley took an off-road path through the apron in turn two then had no steering in turn three to draw a caution. Cautions continued to plague the event on the next attempt when Hermosillo and Foulger tangled hard on the backstretch.
Mallet paced a fast-paced final 17 circuits to win comfortably over Pettit, Porter, Fred Lind of Prunedale, and Frazier.
2023 Hobby Stock champion Joe Gallaher returned from a spin on Friday night to win on Saturday night in a 20-lap feature. Watsonville’s Adriane Frost led the first seven laps until the fourth starting Gallaher took control of the race.
Friday winner DJ Keldsen of Newman, Matt Kile of San Jose, and Rob Gallaher of San Jose rounded out the top-five finishers.
Ocean Speedway races again on Friday night July 19 with the IMCA Sport Modifieds, South Bay Dwarf Cars, Four Bangers, and Police-in-Pursuit competing. For more information, visit www.OceanSpeedway.com
Ocean Speedway July 13, 2024 14th annual Howard Kaeding Classic – Race Results
NARC Sprint Cars A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]; 2. 21-Cole Macedo[1]; 3. 7B-Sean Becker[4]; 4. 29-Bud Kaeding[3]; 5. 0-Tim Kaeding[13]; 6. 24-Chase Johnson[5]; 7. 17W-Shane Golobic[8]; 8. X1-Michael Faccinto[22]; 9. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[7]; 10. 73-Ryan Bernal[12]; 11. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[14]; 12. 15-Nick Parker[6]; 13. 42X-Justyn Cox[17]; 14. 88A-Joey Ancona[11]; 15. 88N-DJ Netto[21]; 16. 121-Caeden Steele[10]; 17. 2K-Gauge Garcia[15]; 18. 10-Dominic Gorden[9]; 19. 26-Billy Aton[18]; 20. 12J-John Clark[19]; 21. 72W-Kurt Nelson[16]; 22. 25Z-Jason Chisum[20]; 23. 12-Jarrett Soares[23]; 24. 8-Jeremy Chisum[24]
IMCA Modifieds A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 127-Jacob Mallet Jr[3]; 2. 6-Jim Pettit II[4]; 3. 14P-Ryan Porter[9]; 4. 77-Fred Lind[12]; 5. 15F-Markus Frazier[8]; 6. 01-Raymond Keldsen Jr[14]; 7. 55H-Mickey Hill[13]; 8. 28T-Matt Kampfraat[1]; 9. 20-Cody Burke[7]; 10. 75-Andrew Peckham[6]; 11. 3-Todd Hermosillo[2]; 12. 49-Troy Foulger[10]; 13. 25-Austin Burke[5]; 14. (DNS) 46-Kyle Bryan
Hobby Stocks A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 1-Joe Gallaher[4]; 2. 22-Adriane Frost[1]; 3. 01-DJ Keldsen[11]; 4. 5-Matt Kile[3]; 5. X-Rob Gallaher[6]; 6. 57W-Sam Kennedy[7]; 7. 55F-Shane Freeman[5]; 8. 31W-Steve Remde[2]; 9. (8)-Cody Keldsen[8]; 10. X1-Bobby Gallaher[9]; 11. 39-Matt Ehler[10]
Western Midget Racing A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 09-Bryant Bell[1]; 2. 9-Anthony Bruno[3]; 3. 11-Teddy Bivert[2]; 4. 35-Jerry Kobza[5]; 5. 18-Todd Hawse[6]; 6. 20-Kyle Hawse[9]; 7. 15-Adam Weisberg[10]; 8. 6X-Taylor Hall[12]; 9. 68-Ron Hazelton[13]; 10. 57-Ray Richards[11]; 11. 1K-Terry Nichols[4]; 12. 96X-Logan Mitchell[7]; 13. 4-Isaiah Vasquez[8]; 14. 1T-Scott Hall[14]
- Steven Blakesley on Jul 14, 2024
- Article Date: 7/14/2024 by Steven Blakesley