Bud Kaeding wins one for Davy on Friday at Ocean Speedway
Watsonville, CA…On a night that he performed a Memorial Lap for the late Davy Thomas, former Ocean Sprints champion Bud Kaeding capped the event by claiming his second victory of the 2024 campaign.
Kaeding grabbed the lead early on and held off a fast Caeden Steele to earn the emotional triumph. In victory lane, the veteran dedicated his win to Davy, who grew up a big fan of the multi-time Silver Crown champ. It was also the final tune-up prior to next week’s Johnny Key Classic, with purse details included at bottom of this story.
Ocean Speedway also honored the late Diane Morgan on Friday night with a very special Memorial Lap and extra money on the line for the IMCA Modifieds. At the end it was Salinas driver Cody Burke making a late pass for the $1,000 grand prize.
Sharing victory lane on Friday were Tracy’s KC Keller with the IMCA Sport Mods and Ocean point leader Joe Gallaher with the Hobby Stocks.
The 30-lap Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo feature began with the night’s fast qualifier Jake Haulot jumping into the lead. The track surface was in phenomenal shape and lent itself to some excellent racing in all classes.
Kaeding utilized a beautiful move to slice his way into the top spot on lap four and then rode the cushion to perfection. Northern Auto Racing Club Rookie of the Year contender Caeden Steele made a rare Ocean Sprints start and moved into second place on lap 11.
Steele kept Kaeding within striking distance on several restarts and made it a race for the lead as it wound down. Kaeding hit his marks to perfection though and crossed under the Ed Entz checkered flag for victory over Steele. Riverdale’s Grant Duinkerken made a wild final corner pass upstairs to take third at the line over Joey Ancona and Haulot.
The 25-lap IMCA Modified feature in memory of Diane Morgan started with Fred Lind battling it out with Austin Burke up front. Burke took command on lap two but soon felt intense pressure from Cody Burke after moving into second on lap eight.
The Burke boys kept fans on the edge of their seats while racing closely together for the duration of the contest. Coming to the white flag Austin slipped up just enough to allow an opening for Cody, who took full advantage, slipping to his inside and taking over the point.
Cody Burke went on to tally the victory over Austin, Lind, Jacob Mallet Jr. and a very racy Robert Marsh.
The 20-lap IMCA Sport Mod finale saw Mike Gill lead the opening lap, until getting crossed up in turns one and two, looping it around. Recent winner KC Keller then found himself out front and had his way with things, en route to his second triumph of the Ocean Speedway year.
Point leader Emali VanHoff crossed the stripe in second, ahead of Brian Baggett, Steven Allee and Chuck Golden.
The 20-lap Hobby Stock main event was all about defending track champion and current point leader Joe Gallaher. The Virginia native got out front and raced to his sixth victory of the season at the quarter mile.
Track favorite Terry Campion returned to action on Friday and brought home a solid runner up finish, with the top-five rounded out by Bobby Gallaher, Adriane Frost and Norm Ayers.
Ocean Speedway now gears up for the two-night running of the 64th Johnny Key Classic. Opening night on Friday hands out $2,000 to the Ocean Sprints winner, while Saturday’s finale is $3,000 to win; $1,000 for second and $800 for third.
Each night will be a guaranteed $300 to start the main event. Extra money will also be on the line for fast time and hard charger both nights in memory of JP Morgan, who considered the Key Classic to be his favorite event.
Results
Ocean Speedway
August 2, 2024
Ocean Sprints:
- 29-Bud Kaeding[3]; 2. 121-Caeden Steele[1]; 3. 67G-Grant Duinkerken[4]; 4. 88A-Joey Ancona[5]; 5. 7H-Jake Haulot[2]; 6. 8-Jeremy Chisum[12]; 7. 25Z-Jason Chisum[11]; 8. 3D-Caleb Debem[7]; 9. 36-Kevin Barnes Sr[10]; 10. OB1-Orval Burke[6]; 11. 76-Jennifer Osborne[8]; 12. 0B2-Tanner Burke[14]; 13. 72W-Kurt Nelson[9]; 14. 98-Vince Giannotta[13]; 15. (DNS) 72S-Bradley Dillard
IMCA Modifieds:
- 20-Cody Burke[3]; 2. 25-Austin Burke[1]; 3. 77-Fred Lind[4]; 4. 127-Jacob Mallet Jr[5]; 5. 22-Robert Marsh[6]; 6. 6-Jim Pettit II[8]; 7. 01-Raymond Keldsen Jr[2]; 8. 46-Kyle Bryan[10]; 9. 46N-Jonathan Hagio[7]; 10. 22S-Cole Szlauko[9]; 11. 72-Mike Szlauko[11]
IMCA Sport Mods:
- 38-KC Keller[5]; 2. 4M-Emali VanHoff[7]; 3. 54R-Brian Baggett[10]; 4. 39-Steven Allee[4]; 5. 3G-Chuck Golden[8]; 6. 15-David Crocker[3]; 7. 42B-Max Baggett[2]; 8. 22W-Charlie Hunter[15]; 9. 34-Cody Bryan[14]; 10. X-Rob Gallaher[9]; 11. 33-Mike Gil[1]; 12. 6K-Mike Kofnovec Jr[6]; 13. 16-Chris Falkenberg[11]; 14. (DNS) 14H-Matthew Hagio; 15. (DNS) 6S-Mike Kofnovec SR
Hobby Stocks:
- 1-Joe Gallaher[1]; 2. 83-Terry Campion[2]; 3. X1-Bobby Gallaher[4]; 4. 22-Adriane Frost[8]; 5. 51-Norm Ayers[3]; 6. X2-Joyce Gallaher[5]; 7. (DNS) (8)-Cody Keldsen; 8. (DNS) 7T-Trent Golden; 9. (DNS) 01-DJ Keldsen
- Gary Thomas on Aug 03, 2024
- Article Date: 8/3/2024