8/6/2022
Ocean Speedway
DJ Netto claims 2nd Ocean Sprints win of the season Friday
DJ Netto, Bobby Hogge IV, Jacob Mallet Jr., Terry Campion and Danny Wagner claim Hall of Fame Night features at Ocean Speedway
Watsonville, CA…Hanford’s DJ Netto has been gaining steam with the season wearing on and last night put together a dominating performance for his second Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo win of the season.
Sharing victory lane during Hall of Fame Night were Bobby Hogge IV with the IMCA Modifieds, Jacob Mallet Jr. with the IMCA Sport Mods, Terry Campion with the Hobby Stocks and Danny Wagner with the South Bay Dwarf Cars.
Netto jumped into the lead at the waving of the green flag in the feature after earning the pole, by way of his win in the six-lap Dash earlier. The initial nine laps clicked off fast and furious following some track work just before the 30-lap contest. Ocean Sprints point leader Kurt Nelson then slowed to a stop in turn two, which drew the caution flag and set up a double file restart. Once getting back underway a long green flag was seen and during it Netto pulled away from the field with ease.
The 2019 NARC champion worked traffic to perfection, at one point having the comfort of six lapped cars between himself and second running Bud Kaeding. A yellow flag on lap 24 brought the party to a stop, but after that things began to heat up. When Ed Entz waved the green flag again fifth running Kaleb Montgomery made a wild move down low passing three cars to move up to second. He and Kaeding proceeded to battle back and forth in a thrilling duel before Montgomery solidified the spot prior to a caution with three circuits left.
Netto hit his marks on the final restart and drove off to accept the checkered flag aboard his Netto Ag/ Mission Foods No. 88n machine. Montgomery crossed the stripe in second to cap a solid night during his second start with the Keller Motorsports team. Kaeding, JJ Ringo and Jake Andreotti completed the top-five. Both Ringo and Andreotti raced close together for virtually the entire contest. Rounding out the top-10 in the feature were Mitchell Faccinto, Dylan Bloomfield, Rickey Sanders, Joey Ancona and Travis Labat.
Ocean Sprints finish: 1. 88N-DJ Netto[1]; 2. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[8]; 3. 69-Bud Kaeding[2]; 4. 3T-JJ Ringo[5]; 5. 7P-Jake Andreotti[4]; 6. 21-Mitchell Faccinto[6]; 7. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[7]; 8. 17-Rickey Sanders[3]; 9. 88A-Joey Ancona[10]; 10. 61-Travis Labat[12]; 11. 98-Michael Pombo[11]; 12. 72S-Bradley Dillard[16]; 13. 36-Craig Stidham[19]; 14. 5-Mark Chaves Jr[9]; 15. 72JR-Chris Nelson[13]; 16. 88-Koen Shaw[18]; 17. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[21]; 18. 25Z-Jason Chisum[17]; 19. 99-Wayne Katen[22]; 20. 21X-Gauge Garcia[14]; 21. 50-Bryce Eames[20]; 22. 72W-Kurt Nelson[15]
On a night when we honored Bobby Hogge III and Al Balding Sr. it was only fitting that their sons ran first and second in the IMCA Modified finale. Early on it was Andy Obertello who set the pace out front, but he soon had to deal with pressure from Hogge. On lap eight the duo went side by side only to have a caution slow the pace. On the restart Hogge shot to the lead but was deemed to have jumped, which docked him two positions for the ensuing attempt.
Hogge did not let that deter him however, as the multi-time Ocean Speedway champion moved back to second shortly after and then blasted to the lead on lap 14. At that point Tim Balding was putting on an exhilarating charge from the 13th starting spot. A green, white, checkered restart would settle things and during it Balding tucked right up to the inside of the leader, but Hogge was able to hang tough and accept the Ed Entz checkered flag for yet another Watsonville triumph.
Balding came home with an impressive runner up finish followed by Obertello, Cody Burke and Jim Pettit II. It marked the fourth Ocean Speedway win of the year for Hogge.
IMCA Modified finish: 1. 2-Bobby Hogge IV[8]; 2. 1B-Tim Balding[13]; 3. 29-Andy Obertello[2]; 4. 20-Cody Burke[7]; 5. 6-Jim Pettit II[6]; 6. 14-Matthew Hagio[3]; 7. 3-Todd Hermosillo[11]; 8. 22G-Paul Guglielmoni[12]; 9. 77-Fred Lind[1]; 10. 01-Raymond Keldsen Jr[4]; 11. 28-Trevor Fitz[9]; 12. 84X-JC Elrod[5]; 13. 89-Freddie Ploudre[10]
The 20-lap IMCA Sport Mod main event saw Billy Robertson lead early, before Jacob Mallet Jr. dispatched of him to take over the top-spot shortly after. The driver known as “J-Money” continued his recent dominance of the quarter mile to dominate the remainder for his fifth victory of the 2022 campaign. Point leader Jonathan Hagio came home in second, followed by Richard Ragsdale, Adriane Frost and Robertson.
IMCA Sport Mod finish: 1. 127-Jacob Mallet Jr[8]; 2. 46-Jonathan Hagio[5]; 3. 82M-Richard Ragsdale[4]; 4. 22-Adriane Frost[6]; 5. 5-Billy Robertson[3]; 6. 3G-Chuck Golden[7]; 7. 42B-Max Baggett[2]; 8. 89-Duane Bieser[10]; 9. 22W-Charlie Hunter[9]; 10. 27S-Dwayne Short[1]
The Hobby Stocks put on a wild back and forth affair during Hall of Fame Night on Friday. Veteran Wally Kennedy carved his way to the early lead but had intense pressure in the form of Terry Campion after a few laps. Campion eventually charged his way past Kennedy to snag the lead on lap eight and brought along a very fast Joe Willoughby. The fight for the top spot was a good one and on lap 12 Willoughby jumped ahead of Campion to snag the point.
At this moment all eyes were on current point leader Joe Gallaher who was on the move after restarting from the rear of the pack earlier. Gallaher picked off cars one by one and challenged for the lead until Willoughby slowed with issues just four laps shy of the finish. Gallaher looked to be headed for a ninth win on the season however, slowed with a flat tire in the final corners, which allowed Campion the chance to pounce for the victory.
Dakota Keldsen, Norm Ayers and Brady Muller rounded out the top-five.
Hobby Stock finish: 1. 83-Terry Campion[5]; 2. 9-Wally Kennedy[2]; 3. 3-Dakota Keldsen[11]; 4. 51-Norm Ayers[1]; 5. 73B-Brady Muller[7]; 6. 1-Joe Gallaher[6]; 7. 3OG-Dan Fassler[8]; 8. 196-Joe Willoughby[3]; 9. 55F-Shane Freeman[10]; 10. 36-Nate Teramo[9]; 11. 51X-Xavier Baez[4]; 12. (DNS) X-Bobby Gallaher; 13. (DNS) 283-Lenard Stanfill
The South Bay Dwarf Cars put on the race of the night as Danny Wagner and Shawn Jones thrilled the crowd on hand. Unofficially the lead at the line changed hands a total of six times between the talented pair. Jones led the opening circuit until Wagner took command on lap three. The duo raced side by side for darn near 15 consecutive laps. Jones took back the lead at the line on lap eight, before Wagner led lap 11.
Two laps later Jones held command at the line, but Wagner blasted back by to lead lap 14. After this Wagner pulled away over the final stages to pick up another Ocean Speedway victory this season. Jones, Eric Weisler, Mark Biscardi and Ricardo Rivera completed the top -five.
Dwarf Car finish: 1. 11D-Danny Wagner[2]; 2. 26B-Shawn Jones[1]; 3. 64B-Eric Weisler[3]; 4. 66B-Mark Biscardi[4]; 5. 45-Ricardo Rivera[8]; 6. 88B-Travis Day[6]; 7. 69-Eddy Claessen[7]; 8. 10B-Barry Waddell[10]; 9. 16R-Chad Matthias[5]; 10. 26N-Dan Zuger[9]
Article Credit: Gary Thomas
Submitted By: Gary Thomas
