|
TARLTON COMES OUT
ON TOP IN EXCITING OCEAN SPRINT CAR MAIN ON FRIDAY
7/31/2010 - Series press release
 After
being plagued by bad luck the last couple races
defending Ocean Speedway 360 champion Tommy
Tarlton of Easton, California came back in a big
way on Friday night and raced to his third main
event victory of the season with the Ocean Sprints
presented by Taco Bravo.
The win for Tarlton was good enough to stretch his
current series point lead to 13-markers with
five-events remaining in the season and also made
him the third driver to lock in a starting spot
for the 50th running of the Johnny Key
Classic.
“It’s been a great season for us, but the last
couple weeks hadn’t gone too well so it feels
great to get back up here in victory lane
tonight,” said Tarlton. “I have a great team
around me and a lot of awesome sponsors so I have
to give a big thanks to them for making it
possible to be standing here.”
At the waving of the green flag in the 30-lap
feature former King of California Ronnie Day of
Salinas jumped into the lead of the race, as he
was in search of his first win of the 2010 season.
The veteran driver set a quick pace out front
aboard the Keith Day Trucking No. 22, but his
hopes at getting into victory lane were dashed
when multiple cars became piled up in turn two on
lap-three, which forced him to take evasive action
resulting in him spinning to a stop.
With Day having to go to the rear it moved pole
sitter Jerry Bonnema of Corralitos up to the lead,
but on the restart Campbell’s Brent Kaeding
blasted around the No. 58 sprinter to claim the
top-spot that he would hold until a yellow flag on
lap-six brought things back to a stop. On the
ensuing restart things turned even stranger when
Kaeding, who was in search of his first win of the
year, slowed to a crawl and eventually brought on
another caution as issues had developed on the
Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69. “BK” went to the work
area, but was unable to make it back out before
the lights turned off on the speedway.
Once again inheriting the lead was Bonnema, who
led the field back down to green and would lead
lap-seven, before Tarlton was able to charge to
the high-side and put the Corporate America
Lending No. 21 into the top-spot. Following
Tarlton into second a lap later was Grass Valley’s
Jason Statler, who looked very racy in the main
event at the helm of his DF Rios Construction No.
00 mount. A number of green flag laps were
then clicked off and the well prepared Santa Cruz
County Fairgrounds quarter-mile lent to some
fantastic racing, as multiple grooves were seen.
With Statler all over Tarlton for the lead of the
race sixth row starters Bud Kaeding of Campbell
and Kyle Larson of Elk Grove began marching their
way through the pack, with Kaeding up to fourth by
lap 11 and then third on lap 19, as he made the
move by Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs in lapped
traffic. With heavy duty traffic causing the
top-five cars to bunch up things began to heat up
with the laps winding down, but a caution with
20-circuits complete brought the party to a stop.
During the yellow flag period the top-five cars on
the speedway were Tarlton, Statler, Bud Kaeding,
Larson and Suggs.
When things went back green the action continued
to be fierce with track conditions still conducive
to side-by-side racing, but the top-five would
remain the same by the time a red flag occurred
for San Jose’s Matt Sargent with just five-laps
left. After getting Sargent on the hook and being
towed back to the pits the race looked to take
another turn as Tarlton went to the bottom on the
restart and Statler charged to the high-side to
make a beautiful pass for the lead. As the “Big
Guy” looked to check out from the field things
turned sour for sixth running Brad Furr from
Pleasanton, who had hooked a rough spot in turn
four and got upside down to bring out another red.
Unfortunately for Statler a lap hadn’t been
completed yet and he was forced to go back behind
Tarlton for the restart. When the green came out
for the final time Tarlton on this occasion went
to the top of the speedway in turns one and two,
which allowed him to extend his advantage out
front heading down the back stretch. During the
restart third place also changed hands with Larson
getting by Kaeding, before the youngster set his
sights on second and he would make the pass when
Statler got out of shape and dropped to fourth on
lap 27. Out front it was all Tarlton and the
current Ocean Sprints point leader drove off to
take the Ryan Riley checkered for his seventh
career Ocean Speedway victory.
Larson crossed the stripe in second aboard the
Stadelhofer Construction No. 99x with Bud Kaeding
rounding out the podium in the Sala/Matherly
Racing No. 19. Statler came across the line in
fourth and 13th starter Cory Eliason of
Visalia rounded out the top-five at the helm of
the Advance Auto and Smog No. 00x. Finishing sixth
through 10th were Clovis, CA’s Peter
Murphy, Suggs, Day, Bonnema and Gilroy’s Kurt
Nelson.
Suggs captured the evening’s 12-lap b-main with
San Jose’s Ryan Rusconi, Fresno’s Anthony Simone,
Tarlton and Brad Furr claiming the four eight-lap
heat races. Evan Suggs began the night by cutting
a blazing fast lap of 11.517 to set a new 360
sprint car track record at the Ocean Speedway and
beat out the 28-car field for fast time.
A-main finish: Tommy Tarlton, Kyle Larson, Bud
Kaeding, Jason Statler, Cory Eliason, Peter
Murphy, Evan Suggs, Ronnie Day, Jerry Bonnema,
Kurt Nelson, Nick Rescino Jr., Devon Ostheimer,
Wayne Katen, Ken Fredenburg, Ryan Rusconi, Nick
Ringo Jr., Anthony Simone, Brad Furr, Matt Sargent,
Justin Sanders, Brent Kaeding, Mark Chaves
Full results can be found at
http://www.oceanspeedway.com
Next up
for the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented Taco
Bravo will be the final qualifying race for the
Johnny Key Classic on Friday August 20. Also don’t
forget next Saturday night August 7 the Golden
State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series will be on
hand at the Ocean Speedway with Kyle Larson
holding a six-point lead over Brent Kaeding at the
top of the standings, in what will be the
penultimate race of the season for GSC.
|
