WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (June 4, 2011) – Ocean Sprints points leader Ronnie Day of Salinas made his first career series victory one truly for the ages, fending off 2010 series champ Tommy Tarlton in a crowd-pleasing finish that saw them collide as they came to the stripe.
The official margin of victory was .167 seconds but it was visually much closer than that. 2010 King of California Kyle Larson came home a close third.
“We kept going back-and-forth and I opened the door for him a little bit,” Day said. “I had one hand on the wheel and one hand on the wing valve to get more traction and we beat him to the line!”
Chasing an incoming rain storm, the feature rolled off after 7 p.m. on a slick and glazed over race track. Tarlton led the field to green and led through a series of restarts.
Four cautions slowed the first four laps of racing, with heat race winner Orval Burke, Jr. spinning twice to end his night early in a tough break for the 16 year-old rookie. On the lap four restart, heat race winner St. Helena’s Rico Abreu went high in turn two and back pedaled from third to 11th.
Another heat race winner on the night, Justin Sanders, spun in turn three on lap seven to bring out the yellow again. Day moved past Auburn’s Andy Forsberg on the restart to take over second before the race was stopped again for Abreu stalling in turn three.
The next six laps of competition saw a furious battle between Larson and “Cowboy” Craig Smith, before Smith then fell back to battle Jason Statler. Statler spun in turn three to force a yellow on lap 13.
Fremont’s Shane Golobic was to restart seventh but had a bearing failure in the left rear that caused heavy damage to his rear axle. Golobic made it to the infield and the race went green.
Business picked up with Sanders leaping up to sixth by lap 19 while Larson took over third from Forsberg on lap 23. The top-three cars of Tarlton, Day, and Larson raced under a blanket with many slidejobs to the approval of the crowd. Day took the lead on lap 28 as the caution came out to set up a wild two lap shootout.
Day had a strong restart running around the top, but Tarlton tried on multiple occasions to make the bottom work. Coming to the checkered flag, Tarlton threw his car deep into turn four and they raced side-by-side to the line.
In the drag race to the stripe, Tarlton’s left front made contact with Day as they ripped under the checkered flag. Day took the victory while Tarlton’s car came to a stop in turn one with damage.
“We had a good setup on the car,” Day said. “We were tight early but the car came to us right when we needed it to. I have to thank my brother Keith for all of his support this season. We’ve been so consistent this year by being in the top-five in every race.”
Larson’s third place finish gives him his third straight top-five after a fifth with the USAC National Midgets in the “Night Before the 500” and a second place run at Calistoga with Golden State King of the West. Forsberg and Brent Kaeding rounded out the top-five.
The DDNi Hard Charger award went to rookie Jeremy Chisum who recovered from a flip in his heat race to drive from 22nd to 11th in the feature. Brent Kaeding won the Ray Scheidt’s Electric Fast-Time award with an 11.922 second lap around the quarter-mile dirt oval.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will return on June 24, with the next major sprint car show at Watsonville on June 17th with the USAC CRA and Western Classic series in co-sanctioned event. Fromer Ocean Speedway wingless champion Ryan Bernal is among those expected to compete.
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
- Steven Blakesley on Jun 04, 2011
- Article Date: 6/4/2011 by Steven Blakesley / Blakesley Sports Media