WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Mitchell Faccinto won a thrilling Taco Bravo 360 Series 30-lap feature at Ocean Speedway on Friday night.
Faccinto waited until the last lap to pass Shane Golobic with a bold move going into the first turn and survived a last-ditch effort by Golobic to re-pass him. Faccinto drove the Stan Greenberg owned Western Metal sponsored No. 37.
Golobic’s last-turn slide job effort proved costly as he did a 360-degree spin and give up a solid second place finish. His Matt Wood Racing No. 17w would avoid contact by the rest of the field and be scored with an 11th place finish. Golobic had led laps 20 through 29.
Chase Majdic jumped to the lead from the outside pole starting spot. The youngster outpowered Golobic coming out of the second turn and by lap seven, he was putting cars a lap down. Meanwhile D.J. Netto, the winner from the previous Friday night, had battled polesitter Golobic and by the ninth circuit had finally secured the second spot. Two laps later, Golobic reclaimed the position.
Majdic held a comfortable enough lead by the halfway point, that even jumping the 4th turn cushion and recovering, allowed him to keep the lead. The race’s first yellow flag waved on lap 17 when J.J. Ringo spun. Majdic continued to lead followed by Golobic, Netto, Faccinto, Kaleb Montgomery, Kurt Nelson and Bud Kaeding.
The restart provided Majdic with a clear track and he stretched his lead while Netto was dogging Golobic for the second spot. Majdic made a major mistake exiting turn two on lap 19. His colorful black and blue No. 2x clipped the outside wall sending him over and bringing out the red flag. Both Golobic and Netto narrowly missed the Majdic car as it laid on his side in the high-speed racing groove. Majdic’s night was over and he would be credited with an 18th-place finish.
Golobic would inherit the lead but it would be Netto’s turn to make a mistake when he bobbled in the second turn allowing both Faccinto and Kaeding to pass him. Now it was Golobic who would build up a lead only to see it negated by a yellow flag for a Jason Chisum spin on lap 27.
With three laps remaining, things would change again in a major way. Faccinto did a dive bomb move on Golobic going into the first turn which stuck. On the other end of the quarter-mile bullring, it was Golobic who would make a last-ditch effort to get back around Faccinto, but his attempt ended in a spin and a loss of nine positions before he could recover.
The 15 cars trailing Golobic all managed to miss him, but the chaos jumbled the finishing order.