WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (July 9, 2011) – Tim Kaeding of Campbell swept past 2010 King of California Kyle Larson and rookie sensation Rico Abreu of St. Helena on lap 27 to win the Ocean Sprints vs. California Sprint Car Civil War on Friday night at Ocean Speedway. The victory is Kaeding’s second straight and third on the year at Watsonville.
Abreu led the first 27 laps aboard his Abreu Vineyards #89 mount before loosing the lead to a hard charging Kaeding. The rookie Outlaw Kart graduate held off the veteran through a series restarts and through heavy lapped traffic in the 30 lap feature.
36 winged 360 sprint cars checked into the pits for the night’s races, which marked round eight for both the Civil War and Ocean Sprints. Ocean Sprints points leader Ronnie Day of Salinas thrilled the large crowd by taking the Ray Scheidt’s Electric Fast Time award with an 11.692 second lap around the quarter-mile clay oval.
All four heat races were won by Ocean Sprints regulars with Abreu, “Cowboy” Craig Smith, Eric Humphries, and Kaeding snaring wins. The hotly contested heat races saw several high-profile drivers forced to the b-main including second in Ocean Sprints points Tommy Tarlton, and third in Civil War points Sean Becker.
The 20 car, 12 lap b-main event was full of action including a wild battle between Orval Zane Burke and Mike Henry for the final transfer that ended when they made contact going down the backstretch. Henry was sent over the cushion and for a spin, eliminating his chances for a transfer spot.
Tarlton won the semi over Justin Sanders, Steven Tiner, Burke, Kirk Simpson, and Kyle Hirst. Becker and Henry both failed to transfer.
22 cars started the 30 lap feature that was slowed several times in the first 10 laps. Ryan Rusconi and Sanders tangled in turn three to bring out the caution on lap one. Rusconi was done for the night. Abreu led from the pole but by lap nine he had his hands full with lapped traffic and Kaeding.
Ocean Sprints rookie Jeremy Chisum spun for the second time on lap 10 to bring out the caution and end his night, and on the restart Tommy Laliberte got upside down in turn four to bring out a red flag.
Larson, who started eighth, moved into third on the restart to challenge the leaders. Tarlton continued his charge through the pack from 11th as he took over fifth on lap 14. Kaeding put the pressure on Abreu through lapped traffic but bobbled on lap 19 to give up second to Larson.
Tarlton got around Alissa Geving for fourth to give himself an outside shot at the win while Kaeding played catch-up with the top-two. Abreu held off Larson through continued lapped traffic before Kaeding finally turned it on sweeping past Larson and Abreu to jump from third to first.
Kaeding went on to the win with Larson following him past Abreu for second in a close finish, while Tarlton and Geving rounded out the top-five. Larson’s second place finish locked him into the 51st Johnny Key Classic as Kaeding qualified for the race with his win on June 23.
Incoming Civil War points leader Andy Forsberg finished 12th, while Kyle Hirst’s run from 22nd to 11th gave him the DDNi Hard Charger Award worth $100. Day finished ninth for his worst performance of the season, closing his gap over Tarlton in the Ocean Sprints standings to just 13 points.
Laps are currently for sale for the Johnny Key Classic with interested parties urged to contact samantha@oceanspeedway.com Laps are $50 each to be paid out to the top-three cars each lap.
The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will return to action on July 29 while the Civil War Sprints move on to Petaluma Speedway on Saturday night to complete their two race swing.
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 Jul 09, 2011
- Article Date: 7/9/2011 by Steven Blakesley / Blakesley Sports Media