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Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo returns to Ocean Speedway this Friday night May 7

By Gary Thomas

Watsonville, CA – May 4, 2010…Following the inaugural appearance outside of Watsonville this past weekend the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo will return home this Friday night to the Ocean Speedway for the third round of racing in the 2010 season.

The most recent event for the series was held this most recent Friday at the Santa Maria Speedway and featured one of the most bizarre endings seen in recent memory, as defending Ocean Sprints champion Tommy Tarlton and Campbell's Bud Kaeding fought it out for the win right down to the wire. The wild finish saw Kaeding flipping down the front stretch after contact with a lapped car, which ultimately resulted in Tarlton getting to the line first for the victory.

After the exciting main event win in Santa Maria Tarlton goes into this weekend with blazing-hot momentum and sits atop the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo standings. In addition to his triumph with the Ocean Sprints last week, the Easton driver also tallied a clean sweep on Saturday night with the Golden State Challenge Series to cap a huge weekend of racing aboard his Corporate America Lending, Sharp Insurance No. 21. Tarlton last season captured four victories at the Ocean Speedway and will be looking his first win of the year at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds track on Friday.

Former two-time Ocean Sprint Car Series champion Brent Kaeding of Campbell ranks second in the standings going into this Friday and is just three-digits behind Tarlton for the lead. "BK" has driven his Al's Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69 to finishes of third and fourth in the first two races and will be looking for season win number one on Friday. Kaeding is also the current point leader with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series.

Having a strong start to the year so far is veteran Eric Rossi of Gilroy, who has charged through the pack to score fifth and sixth place finishes respectively to open the season aboard the Team RCR, Chase Wood Racing No. 4r sprinter. The former Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial winner has looked extremely racy during the first two events and ranks third in the Ocean Sprints points, just five-markers back of the lead coming into Friday.

After being scored 14^th at Santa Maria three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champion Bud Kaeding goes into this Friday sitting fourth in the Ocean Sprints standings. The driver of the Sala/Matherly Racing, M&M Powder Coaters No. 19 will be looking to make it three wins in a row at Ocean Speedway, after winning with the Ocean Sprints on April 16 and then the GSC 410's on April 24.

Currently rounding out the top-five in the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo standings is the Stadelhofer Construction, Peppermill Casino No. 99x of Elk Grove's Kyle Larson. The 17-year-old scored a runner-up finish at the opener and then backed that up with a sixth place effort this past Friday in Santa Maria. Fellow 17-year-old racer Justin Sanders sits sixth in the standings aboard his North County Plastering, STS Trucking No. 17 mount and will be looking to rebound after a tough ending this past Friday. The Prunedale competitor finished fourth at the season-opener in Watsonville and then ran 13th in the feature at Santa Maria.

Former King of California Ronnie Day is coming off an impressive outing at the Santa Maria Speedway and goes into this Friday seventh in the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo standings. The Salinas veteran picked-up a strong runner-up finish in the main event at Santa Maria behind the wheel of the Keith Day Trucking, El Camino Machine & Welding No. 22. Also coming off a solid run in Santa Maria is Morgan Hill's Devon Ostheimer, who ranks eighth in the Ocean Sprints points. The 16-year-old was the Sun-Electric hard-charger at the opener on April 16 and then scored an seventh place effort this past Friday aboard the MDR Machine, German Auto Body No. 5 sprinter.

Fan-favorite Peter Murphy currently sits ninth in the standings going into this weekend and will look to score his first Ocean Sprints win of the season on Friday, after a third place finish in Santa Maria at the helm of his Buster & Ziggy Enterprise, Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino No. 11 machine. The Clovis racer started 14th in the main event at Santa Maria and moved through the field to earn the "Fully-Charged" hard-charger award presented by Sun-Electric. A three-way log-jam for 10^th is also seen going into Friday between Gilroy's Kurt Nelson, San Jose's Matt Sargent and Corralitos' Jerry Bonnema, with the trio being 28-points out of the lead.

Other drivers expected in action with the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo this Friday night at Ocean Speedway will include Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs, Pleasanton's Brad Furr, Visalia's Cory Eliason, Clarksburg's Justyn Cox, San Martin's Craig Smith, San Jose's Ryan Rusconi and Wayne Katen, Morgan Hill's Ricky Wright Jr., Gilroy's Ken Fredenburg and Jon Maiwald, Tracy's Steve Osborne and more.

The front gate of the Ocean Speedway will open at 4:30pm this Friday night May 7 with hot laps at 5:45, qualifying around 6 and racing to follow. All seating will be general admission with adult tickets costing $16, children 6-12 $11 and kids five and under free. A family pack featuring two adults and two kids is available for $40 and seniors 65 and older with id will be $14. The Ocean Speedway is located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville, California.

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

Coming up- The Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo will be back in action at Ocean Speedway next Friday night May 14, with that being followed with a Saturday evening event at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare on May 22.

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www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Ocean Sprints ruling on finish at Santa Maria Speedway

By Gary Thomas

Watsonville, CA – May 4, 2010…After a wild and hectic finish this past Friday night at the Santa Maria Speedway the Ocean Sprint Car Series has ruled that Campbell's Bud Kaeding will be placed 14^th in the official rundown, as was the original ruling.

Kaeding was leading the race coming off the final corner, but got together with a lapped car and flipped down the front stretch. Officials at Santa Maria Speedway ruled that Kaeding did not cross the flag stand.

After a back and forth review of the outcome Ocean Sprints promoter John Prentice has determined that Kaeding will in fact be moved back to 14^th in the final finish, due to Santa Maria Speedway rules stating, "Video tapes and SMS video replays will in no way influence or change the decisions by track officials."

"The officials made the call that Bud Kaeding did not cross the finish line and the scorers and flagman also said the same thing, so that is what the final ruling will be," said Prentice.

Tommy Tarlton was the winner of the main event and will lead the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo into its next event this Friday night at Ocean Speedway.

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www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Interesting.......

That is a really bad call since the car was rolled over, hooked-up and moved, then dropped before any official even bothered to see if if crossed the line. If you are going to be an official and make a call like that, you should be prepared at all times and know situation, look at the car before it is touched and make a ruling.

both the video on the santa maria web site and the taco bravo sprint car web site show what seems to be an official with head phones and wearing white pants and carrying a clip board, walking around by where buds car landed. he seemed to walk to the front of the car, before it was moved or rolled over, and was looking at where the car was and looking towards the flag stand. so i don't know why you are posting that no one in an official capacity paid any notice to where the car landed. it says above that the officials on the scene, the scorers, and the flagman all agreed that the car did not make it past the line. now from what i have seen on the video, there is no clear description of where the finish line is, and with the angles of the videos, it it looks like it would be a judgement call no matter what call was made. tough deal for everyone involved it seems. why doesn't this place have any way to score cars in this day of electronic transponders etc except by trying to guess where the finish line is, and if it was crossed? it is a tough deal for bud, but it would be a tough deal for others if the decision was different. no one is going to be happy. but it seems everyone that needed to be in agreement with the original call was in agreement. one thing for sure, it was one exciting finish! good luck to everyone next time.

the guy in the video that you are talking about looks to be Rick Albarran, the race director for ocean speedway. i am not going to say he knows where the line is, but i would say he noticed where the car was. i would guess that if someone pointed out where the line was, he could say if he thought the car crossed it. i could also say i think if Rick thought bud crossed the line, he would stick up for him. i can't say one way or the other where the line is, and if you can't either, how can you say it was crossed? or that it wasn't? i did notice where the timing lights were set up, and for lack of anything better, i would call that the finish line. it looked to me, from up top of the stands, that the lights were set up a couple of feet or so past the flagman. bud asked me after the races if i though he made it. i was basing my opinion off of where the lights were set up for qualifying and i told him i didn't think he made it, but who knows. i originally just asumed that bud had got second, but when took a better look i couldn't say for sure. again that is based off of where the timing lights were set up and that may not be the correct spot.

to indy and beyond!!

I think what you are really saying here is "too bad this guy wasn't Rat"

i have no idea what the correct call should be. from what i read here, some of the people posting don't either. one thing i do know is this. i didn't hear a bunch of complaining when the first ruling was over turned and put Bud up front. so how come it starts now when the original ruling is reinstated?

The problem lies in the fact they made an original ruling then they changed the ruling and then they changed the reverted back to the original ruling. That's why you make a decision and it's final right there and then. If they didn't revise the original ruling there would never be a controversy otherwise. Bud decided to win it or wear it and that's what he did. I will buy one of his shirts next time I'm at a track he's running for that driving style.

you have a very good point about changing things. so who took it upon themselves to change things in the first place if the officials and the scorers and the flagman all agreed in the first place, and on what authority?

The officials,scorers and flagman ALL agreed that Bud DID NOT cross the line. The Promoter of Santa Maria made the change Saturday morning all by himself to the surprise of everyone. The change was made based on the video clip that is on the home page of Santa Maria web site.

After reviewing the tape, measuring the start finish line and then using a square and a stringline, I determined that Bud Kaedings car flipped to a rest 4 inches over the start finish line. When he landed on his side, his engine was still running and the rear tires were still spinning, which pulled his car back 8-10 inches. That made it appear that he had not crossed the finish line. It would have been easier the way it was and 12 racers would have been happier, but the correct decision and the right thing to do was to award Bud Kaeding with a 2nd place finish.

I dont think it should matter if we jump to conclusion, or took our time, or changed a decision or etc. What matters is that in the long run, the correct desision was made and it was.

Chris Kearns
www.ChrisKearnsPresents.com
805-714-8538
[email protected] 

Chris

Transponders would of given everyone a correct finish order and none of this would of happened.

You have a great track and all of us with Ocean and GSC looked forward to racing last weekend however without transponders the scoring was questionable both nights. With all the lapped cars scorekeeping was the hardest job out there. I know its expensive to buy the transponders but to host events such as last weekend, guys running for points and final finishes translating to money transponders just make sense. You can print out finshes in a matter of minutes rather the nearly an hour it took both nights, everything is right there in black and white for all to see and not question.

your concern to get to the bottom of the matter is impressive. just when was all of this squaring and stringing done? was it done right at the time of the incident, before anything had been disturbed? or was it done the later that night or the next day, after the car had been removed and the area contaminated by vehicles and people walking around? just what are you basing your "four inches" on? no video i have seen is good enough to determine that, and it doesn't seem it was detected by eye at the time. also it seems you have a rule at your track that forbids video to change or influence the decisions of officials. so any information obtained from any video should not be considered. just what brought about this stringing and squaring expedition? it has been stated that all officials and scorers agreed on the initial call. how often do you reverse the decisions of your staff, and how often do you use video to do it? it does seem that some better way of determining if the finish line was crossed other than a string and a square, possibly after everything has been removed, might be in order. i hear you are a good promoter and a great guy, too bad you just didn't seem prepared for this type of situation.

I dont think it should matter if we jump to conclusion, or took our time, or changed a decision or etc. What matters is that in the long run, the correct desision was made and it was.

That sounds good enough for me. What exactly would you have them do now?? Maybe transponders for future events.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

What would I have them do? Well let me first say that since I'm an older fellow who doesn't get to as many races as I used to, and since ocean speedway is close to home, I am thankful they are running sprints on a regular basis. That lets me see them more than I would be. Also let me say it matters not to me who finished where in santa maria. Now, what would I have them do? I would have them follow and implement their rules in a consistent manner. If I was a person who at sometime in the past had good video evidence that would have helped reverse a call against me and it was not allowed, I would now be very upset. Also if I was not allowed to use video to help in the future, I would really be upset. At some point the promoter has to have the back of the people he puts in position of authority and trust them. Not take it upon himself to over rule them the next day after a call had previously been unanimously agreed upon by everyone else, and by ignoring his own rules. Also john prentice has stated that mr kearns reversed the call by himself to the surprise of everyone. I am guessing here, but I doubt mr kearns is in charge of the taco bravo series. So to make a call, without consulting and confirming with whoever is in charge, and breaking one of his own track rules while doing it, is something he maybe shouldn't have done. It seems to have created more of a mess than necessary. I doubt he would have reversed an outlaw or golden state call all on his own, with out discussing it with the operators of the series. He says the correct decision was made. That depends on how you look at it. Was it correct for him to over rule everyone else, with out discussing it, based on information that is stated in his own track rules to not be used to influence or change officials calls? And just how accurate was all this measuring after the fact? It is a guess and a judgment call at best I would venture to say. It is too bad that bud kaeding had to be taken on such a roller coaster ride. All he did was try to race hard. The same with the other drivers affected.

Now I am not making accusations against mr kearns, but to some, this could have the appearance of playing favorites. Since I am wondering just how often he goes to the extreme of breaking not only his rules, but breaking out the string and square and taking the time to analyze things down to within four inches. At some point maybe he should just have said " bud, sorry it didn't go your way but the call has been made and the results already posted and that's the way it is."