OCEAN SPEEDWAY – April 17^th, 2009…As I walked into the beautiful Ocean Speedway pits for Round #2 of the GLR Investments 360 Sprint Car Series, I can envision UFC referee “Big” John McCarthy standing in the pits shouting, “Are you ready? Are you ready? LET’S GET IT ON!” And get it on they would.

Heading into the Round #2, Brent Kaeding would be the point’s leader, with son Bud Kaeding trailing by a mere 3 points. Points would be crucial, as only 15 points would separate 1-10 in the point standings. With only 12 races in the competitive series to decide who’s going to be the one to put the championship trophy on their mantle, they must be consistent and on the gas.

27 Sprint Cars would sign in on an absolutely gorgeous Friday night. Evan Suggs would be the second car out and the young masher turned a 12.207, which would garner him quick time of the evening.

1. Evan Suggs 12.207

2. Craig Smith 12.314

3. Wes Guterriez 12.472

4. Brent Kaeding 12.496

5. Tommy Tarlton 12.498

6. Anthony Simone 12.560

7. Bud Kaeding 12.577

8. Steve Osborne 12.664

9. Jerry Bonnema 12.683

10. Jason Statler 12.792

Jason Statler and Bud Kaeding would bring them down to the green flag. Statler was aggressive on the start and jumped out in the lead. BK made a bold move to take the lead and started to walk away from the field. Statler and Kaeding would wage their own war out on the track. Suggs would again drive smart just as he did in Round #1. He would press Statler, but not put either in a bad spot.

(Jason Newton)

Cory Elliason and Steve Osborne would bring the field down in this one. Elliason and Osborne put on a show for the fans, with good hard side-by-side racing throughout the event. Tommy Tarlton and Craig Smith were having a massive battle for third place. Tarlton got the spot and set his eyes on the racy Elliason. Coming out of turn-2, Tarlton proceeded to take away second place from the young lion. Garrett Ishii held onto the final transfer spot over Ricky Wright, Jr.

Justin Sanders and Jerry Bonnema would bring them down for the final fast paced heat races. Sander got the jump with Bonnema in tow. Wes Gutierriez was on the move, doing what he could do to move forward. A battle between the Day brothers started heating up for the final transfer. Ronnie and Keith put on a show for the fans as they raced each other hard. Ronnie would get the final transfer, sending his brother to the semi. Matt Sargent was on the gas and did a fantastic job coming home fourth.

(Mike Stallings)

Anthony Simone and Luke Dollansky would lead the field to the green. Simone would get the jump on Dollansky. Good hard racing throughout the field. The veteran would claim the win as the young visitor from Minnesota would finish second. Keith Day looked impressive as he moved from his sixth starting spot to finish third, scratching and clawing for everything that he got.

 (Brad Furr)

The 10-pill was drawn for the 30-lap main even which put Cory Elliason and Jason Statler on the front row. When the green came out, Elliason and Statler immediately went to work on each other. Statler was relentless as he pressured Elliason. On lap-3 Brad Furr and Wes Gutierriez performed a double flip on the back straightaway. With the track blocked, mayhem ensued with cars trying to dodge the upside down cars. Tarlton, Ishii, Kurt Nelson and others, got a piece of the action.

Gutierriez was done for the night; amazingly Tarlton was able to get back out after suffering major front end damage. Furr was towed to the work area, where the crew changed the top wing and other twisted parts and was able to make it back out.

When the green unfurled again, the action was intense. Tough luck on lap-13 as Elliason would break while running up front. Bud was moving forward from his fifth starting spot and eventually put himself in a position to battle for the win. Quick qualifier Suggs was putting on a show from his tenth starting spot.

Tarlton and Furr were both putting on a high-speed display of car control. They both were on the loud pedal where they respectively finished seventh and eighth. Sanders found something as he was coming from his 12^th starting spot eventually finishing fifth.

Statler would tattoo Bud on the restarts, however Bud would reel Statler in for the lead after a caution would come out. The veteran shoe would score a popular win with the nice crowd that was on hand to witness his Round #2 win.

(Jason Statler)

Round #3 of the GLR Investments 360 Sprint Cars will be contested on May 8^th. For all information regarding the series, please check out Ocean Speedway on the web www.oceanspeedway.com

Consistency? The top-4 from Round #1 (BK, Statler, Bud, Suggs) were in the top-4 in Round #2 (Statler, Bud, BK, Suggs).

Scrafan.com’s Lance Jennings came to check out the races from Los Angeles: “This place is underrated. The series is tough; I love it here and I will be back!”

BF: “This is a Golden State race minus Tyler Walker and Jonathan Allard. 27 cars in pits, in this economy, let alone on a Friday? This is great!”

Justin Sanders is on the gas in a big way. Look for this kid to do big things in the future.

I would have thought that Steve Osborne and Cory Elliason were racing for $50K to win in their heat race. Good stuff!

“The Big Guy” Jason Statler hasn’t missed a step. He never “rides around”. He is fast and aggressive and it’s a joy to watch him every time that he hits the track.

I’ve got to take my hat off to ninth place finisher Jerry Bonnema. I have been watching him for years, and I hope to see him for many more.

If he didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. Ronnie Day and another car came together on lap-6, ending this exciting driver’s night.

He sucked it up and drove hard. There are no cry babies in Sprint Car racing, and Brad Furr proved just that. The pilot came from last to seventh after his flip with a broke and battered car.

Do you have a friend at the races that every time you see him he brings a smile to your face? I do to and I’m really honored to call him my friend. He calls the shots on the No. 19 car: Brian Matherly

Tommy Tarlton is another driver that falls into the bad luck category. For the second consecutive race while running fourth, he busted the front end. He still salvaged an eighth place finish.

*All photos courtesy of Jennifer Costa