WATSONVILLE, Calif. – After an electrifying first win at Ocean Speedway on April 8, Chase Johnson had a more straightforward path to victory lane on Friday night as he led the final 23-laps in the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo.
Johnson’s win came aboard Sean Quinn’s No. 28 Our Heroes Dreams entry.
When asked how he’s been so good at Ocean this year, Johnson said “I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for that. We even switched over our tire program this week and I felt we were pretty dang good,” Johnson said. “It’s actually three in a row with one win at Tulare and two here – it’s pretty awesome. A big hats off to Sean Quinn and Tyler Silva. It’s just a great team together and I’m lucky to be a part of it. I’m happy to find my home here with them.”
Joey Ancona paced time trials, and then won the dash to score the pole for the 22-car, 30-lap feature. Ancona started alongside Johnson and the duo went side-by-side over the first lap and a half before Ancona had solid possession of the lead on lap two.
Lapped traffic became a factor early on lap five. Ancona went high in traffic through turn one on lap seven with Johnson diving low to slide in front of him for the lead.
A caution fell on the following lap for Adam Kaeding stopped in turn four.
Steel Powell spun to a stop on the inside of the backstretch for a caution on lap 13 while Keith Day Jr. stopped for a caution on lap 14. Rickey Sanders seized third from Jake Andreotti before the caution for Day but kept the position after a split yellow was determined by scoring.
Sanders and Andreotti continued to race hard for third after the restart. Lapped traffic entered the mix again by lap 20, but Johnson received a reprieve when the caution fell for Brandon Sampson slowing in turn one.
Johnson used the open race track ahead of him to fend off a challenge from Ancona through turns three and four on the restart. Andreotti and Sanders dueled once more before a caution waved on lap 28 for Gauge Garcia, who stopped in turn two.
Johnson drove away from Ancona over the final two laps for the win followed by Ancona, Andreotti, Sanders, and eighth-starting J.J. Ringo.
“I mean it was all driver there. I gave it up in lapped traffic,” Ancona said. “I should have stayed on the bottom longer and made him go around me. Glad to get rid of the bad luck and come home with a finish.”
The Hobby Stock was won by points leader Joe Gallaher, who outlasted 2020 IMCA Sport Mod champion Adriane Frost.
Jacob Mallet, Jr. won the IMCA Sport Modified main event over Jim DiGiovanni, while Bobby Hogge led all 20-laps for the IMCA Modified win, and Nicole Beardsley earned the Four Banger feature.