This message was edited on
July 21, 2012 at
01:52:12 PM by stevenblakesley

TARLTON WINS FOURTH OCEAN SPRINTS FEATURE OF 2012, GREEN
LOCKS INTO KEY
WATSONVILLE,
CALIFORNIA (July 21, 2012) – 2010 Ocean Sprints champion Tommy Tarlton continued his domination of
the series as he won his fourth feature of the year in Saturday's Johnny Key
Classic Qualifier for the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo. Tarlton locked himself into the Key by
winning the last qualifier on June 30th, allowing Friday's second place
finisher Nick Green into a qualifier spot for the 52nd Johnny Key Classic in
August.
"I
have to thank Paul Baines again for giving me a good car," Tarlton
said. "Jason Myers was here tonight
in the pits and we're going to run him at Knoxville. But I have to tell you, I love this speedway, I love the fans, I love
John Prentice.I'm just having a blast."
Green took
the Johnny Key Classic qualifier spot in a comeback race aboard a brand new #14
All Weld Fabrication ART, after flipping in the USAC show on June 15.
"It's
such a huge load off (for the Key) knowing you can just show up and dial in
your car and takes so much pressure off of you," Green said. "I think I'm going to keep the wings on from
now on!This is a brand new car from ART and this is a huge momentum builder
going into the ASCS Speedweek coming up."
Tarlton led
from the pole position in a race that had numerous yellow and red flags making
for a long evening on the quarter-mile dirt track in Watsonville. The first seven laps went caution-free with Tarlton pulling away to a
comfortable lead before hitting lapped traffic.Joshua Williams of Glendale, AZ brought out the first red flag after a tumble down
the front stretch in his #41w entry.
When racing
resumed, a torrid battle was underway between Fresno's Dominic Scelzi, points leader
Shane Golobic of Fremont, and fast-time qualifier Justin
Sanders under a blanket for the third position.
Carson
Macedo of Lemoore brought out the next red flag with several end over end flips
out of turn two in an incident that also involved "Cowboy" Craig
Smith, San Jose's Ryan Rusconi, and Eric Humphries of Chowchilla. Humphries continued on with minor wing damage
and Rusconi had to briefly go to the work area, but Smith and Macedo were done
for the night.
The ensuing
restart saw a big shakeup when Scelzi got off the line slowly, dropping from
third to sixth in one lap before yet another stoppage on lap eight. Salinas' Carter Train spun in turn three
and collected Humphries, with the impact sending Train upside down. Both drivers were done for the evening,
ending Humphries' comeback race after a serious crash a few weeks ago.
Things
settled down on the restart with Tarlton leading Green, while Sanders worked
the cushion from third.Sanders swept
past Green on lap 14 and looked poised to challenge Tarlton in lapped
traffic. But on lap 18, Sanders slowed
dramatically with a mechanical problem in turn two to bring out another
caution.
The final restart
with 12 to go was all Tarlton as he drove away from Green, while the battling
was from third on back. Bud Kaeding
worked his way past Golobic, and Petaluma's Jason Toft continued his hard
charge from 15th to pass Stockton's Brad Furr for fifth.
In the end,
Tarlton was too strong as he claimed his fourth win of the season by two
seconds over Green, Kaeding, Golobic, and Toft. Furr, second in the points, was sixth on the night while Scelzi managed
to bring home the #41 entry in seventh.
Heat race
wins went to Sanders, Macedo, and Furr.The DDNi Hard Charger was won by Jerry Bonnema who finished eighth after
starting 21st. Sanders claimed the Ray
Scheid'ts Electric fast-time award after turning an 11.742 second lap in
qualifying.
The Ocean
Sprints presented by Taco Bravo will return this Friday night, July 27, for
another Johnny Key Classic Qualifier.
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
Ocean
Speedway would like to thank Taco Bravo, Digital Delivery Networks, Get Som
Sports, Ray Scheidt's Electric, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance for
their support of the 2012 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo.
July 20,
2012 Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo - Watsonville, California
RAY SCHEIDT'S ELECTRIC QUALIFYING: OB1 Justin Sanders 11.742
HEAT RACEONE: OB1 Justin Sanders
HEAT RACE TWO: 21x Carson Macedo
HEAT RACE THREE: 2 Brad Furr
30 LAP
FEATURE: 1) 21 Tommy Tarlton, 2) 14 Nick Green, 3) 20 Bud Kaeding, 4) 9J Shane
Golobic, 5) 27 Jason Toft, 6) 2 Brad Furr, 7) 41 Dominic Scelzi, 8) 58 Jerry
Bonnema, 9) 99 Wayne Katen, 10) 6m Jon Maiwald, 11) 98 Ryan Rusconi, 12) 72W
Kurt Nelson, 13) 4 Tim Decarlo, Jr. 14) OB1 Justin Sanders, 15) 25Z Jason
Chisum, 16) 2X Carter Train, 17) 15 Eric Humphries, 18) 39 Craig Smith, 19) 21x
Carson Macedo, 20) 41W Joshua Williams DNS: 37x Michael Twitchell
LAP
LEADERS: 21 Tommy Tarlton 1-30
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