WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (September 20, 2011) – The Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will square off with the California Sprint Car Civil War on Friday night with the Civil War Series championship up for grabs over the weekend. Salinas’ Ronnie Day won the 51st Johnny Key Classic on August 27 to take over the Ocean Sprints points lead while Auburn’s Andy Forsberg leads the Civil War.
Friday’s event will mark the third to last event for the Ocean Sprints while the Civil War will be competing in their championship weekend with Ocean Speedway on Friday and Saturday’s “Tribute to Al Hinds” to cap their season.
Not only did Day win the $5,000 Johnny Key Classic he also benefited from misfortune of his championship rival Tommy Tarlton who was gathered up in a crash before coming back to finish tenth. Day’s win made him the fourth driver to have repeat victories in 2011 joining Tarlton, Bud Kaeding, and Tim Kaeding.
Day leads Tarlton by seven points with St. Helena rookie Rico Abreu 45 points back in third after finishing eighth in the Key. Prunedale young gun Justin Sanders perhaps gained the most ground in the championship after the Key as his second place effort closed him to within five points of Abreu.
Tommy Laliberte rounds out the top-five in the Ocean Sprints standings while Shane Golobic, Kurt Nelson, Craig Smith, Ryan Rusconi, and Jerry Bonema round out the top-ten in the standings.
On the Civil War side of things, Forsberg leads Loomis’ Kyle Hirst by 22 points and Visalia’s Steven Tiner by 26 points in a very close points battle. Oroville’s Sean Becker and Penngrove’s Alissa Geving are still mathematically in the championship hunt going into Friday but will need a lot of things to go their way to still be eligible going into Saturday’s finale in Placerville.
Forsberg on paper has dominated the Civil War with five wins in 2011 but he is winless in heat races while Hirst has four heat race wins and Tiner has five.
Geving was the highest finishing Civil War driver when the series came together on July 8 when she finished fifth, while Forsberg was a distant 12th at the finish.
A field of more than 30 cars is expected to be on hand for this special co-sanctioned race, with Friday’s show also including Wingless Sprints and Ocean Modifieds. Adult tickets are just $17 with seniors 65+ $15 and kids ages 6-12 are $12. The family pass for two adults and two children is value priced at just $50. Qualifying will get underway at 6 p.m. with fan gates opening at 4:30 p.m.
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 Sep 20, 2011
- Article Date: 9/20/2011 by Steven Blakesley / Blakesley Sports Media