4/27/2025
Ocean Speedway
Dominic Gorden wins Ocean Sprints round two
Dominic Gorden dominates Ocean Sprints round two on Friday
Watsonville, CA…After winning the Gizdich Ranch Dash to earn the pole on Friday, Clovis driver Dominic Gorden proceeded to dominate the 30-lap Ocean Sprints main event, en route to his first Watsonville win of the season.
The loaded six division program also saw victories snagged by reigning IMCA Sport Mod champion Emali VanHoff, Lilly Mead, Logan Mitchell, Chris Durden and John Hohmann.
In the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo finale it was Dom Gorden who shot into the lead at the waving of the green flag. Right off the bat it was apparent that Gorden would be a man to beat, and he held a steady lead for much of the contest.
Lemoore’s Gauge Garcia climbed into third on lap six and then secured second just past the halfway point. He attempted to close in on the leader, but Gorden was fantastic through lapped traffic and took the checkered flag three and a half seconds ahead of the field.
Garcia, Tanner Carrick, Bud Kaeding and Max Mittry rounded out the top five. Gorden also began the evening by earning fast time in group qualifying by clocking a blistering fast 11.208.
For the second event in a row the IMCA Sport Mods put on an action filled 20-lap main feature. Chowchilla’s Emali VanHoff brought home the Ocean Speedway title last year without winning a main event, while using extreme consistency.
On Friday night she was determined to check off a main event win and had some tremendous battles with Trent Golden, KC Keller and others. The Sport Mods ran high and low on the well-prepared Ocean bullring.
Van Hoff led some before falling to second but regained the lead around the halfway point. She went on to claim the big triumph over Keller, previous winner Bo Crebs, round one victor Danny Wagner and Matthew Frazier.
Logan Mitchell of Santa Cruz earned his third-career home track Western Midget Racing win, dominating Friday’s feature at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway in round two of the 2025 season.
Delano’s Terry Nichols won the eight-lap heat race, then lined up on the pole position for the feature at the quarter-mile dirt track at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Mitchell started third but jumped to second immediately into turn one on the first lap.
Mitchell hounded the back bumper of Nichols before executing a crossover pass down the backstretch, officially leading lap eight. Mitchell stormed to a 5.8 second advantage before the race was halted by a red flag on lap 18. Elk Grove’s Blaine Craft flipped on the backstretch requiring an extended stoppage. Craft eventually emerged from the machine under his own power.
The green-white-checkered finish allowed Ventura winner Anthony Bruno of San Jose to pass Nathan Moore for third. Mitchell darted to victory followed by Nicholas, Bruno, Moore, and Santa Clarita’s Adam Weisberg.
The 20-lap Hobby Stock finale showcased an exceptional race up front between Ryan Hart and Lilly Mead. With Hart up front Mead hounded the No. 38 car and finally made the pass down low with five laps remaining. Defending track champ Joe Gallaher followed along for second and tried to do something with the leader.
Mead was able to fend off all challengers and scored the win over Gallaher, Hart, Bobby Gallaher and Brady Muller.
Chris Durden led all the 20-laps for the South Bay Dwarf Car victory on Friday night. He was followed across the line by Pete Piantanida, Mark Biscardi, Justin Bingman and Travis Day.
The Police N Pursuit feature saw a late race move net John Hohmann the victory over Kyle Wowak.
Ocean Speedway returns to action this coming Friday May 2nd.
Results
Ocean Speedway
April 25, 2025
Ocean Sprints:
- 10-Dominic Gorden[1]; 2. 2K-Gauge Garcia[6]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick[3]; 4. 29-Bud Kaeding[4]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry[2]; 6. 8-Jeremy Chisum[8]; 7. 3-Cole Schroeder[10]; 8. 7H-Jake Haulot[5]; 9. 73-Cole Wakim[12]; 10. 3D-Caleb Debem[9]; 11. 72W-Kurt Nelson[13]; 12. 76-Jennifer Osborne[7]; 13. 31-Kyle Beilman[16]; 14. 25Z-Jason Chisum[15]; 15. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[11]; 16. 17-Anthony Snow[14]; 17. 56Z-Don Hart[18]; 18. (DNS) 34B-Glenn Bryan
IMCA Sport Mods:
- 4M-Emali VanHoff[1]; 2. 38-KC Keller[9]; 3. 168-Bo Crebs[14]; 4. 11D-Danny Wagner[8]; 5. 15F-Matthew Frazier[6]; 6. 33G-Gavin Espino[10]; 7. 39-Steven Allee[4]; 8. 19C-Tommy Clymens[11]; 9. 42B-Max Baggett[13]; 10. 75X-Jim DiGiovanni[3]; 11. 15-David Crocker[12]; 12. 01-DJ Keldsen[5]; 13. 89-Duane Bieser[16]; 14. 22W-Charlie Hunter[17]; 15. 7T-Trent Golden[2]; 16. 2C-Trevor Clymens[7]; 17. 47-Chris Mayer[15]
Hobby Stocks:
- 117-Lilly Mead[4]; 2. 1-Joe Gallaher[8]; 3. 38-Ryan Hart[2]; 4. X1-Bobby Gallaher[1]; 5. 73B-Brady Muller[10]; 6. 97-Austin VanHoff[6]; 7. 22-Adriane Frost[7]; 8. 9-Joseph Laws[9]; 9. 8-Wayne Reeder[5]; 10. 03-Cody Keldsen[3]; 11. (DNS) 51-Norm Ayers
South Bay Dwarf Cars:
- 410-Chris Durden[1]; 2. 96-Pete Piantanida[9]; 3. 66B-Mark Biscardi[6]; 4. 12-Justin Bingman[2]; 5. 88B-Travis Day[8]; 6. 80-Dan Zuger[4]; 7. 31B-Tommie Plantanida[5]; 8. 0-Jason Lazzerini[10]; 9. 69-Eddy Claessen[12]; 10. 43-Sean Catucci[3]; 11. 13-Larry Clover[7]; 12. 24-Sammi Rivera[13]; 13. 64B-Eric Weisler[11]
WMR:
- 96X-Logan Mitchell[3]; 2. 2ND-Terry Nichols[1]; 3. 09-Anthony Bruno[6]; 4. 25JR-Nathan Moore[2]; 5. 15-Adam Weisberg[5]; 6. 57-Blaine Craft[4]; 7. 9-Rayce Edward[7]; 8. (DNS) 68-Marvin Mitchell
Police N Pursuit:
- 01-John Hohmann[6]; 2. 245-Kyle Wowak[1]; 3. 36-Kevin Elliott[2]; 4. 3577-Jeff Nehf[4]; 5. 14-AJ Waltrip[7]; 6. 134-Pat Sullivan[5]; 7. K9-Jerry Ogg[3]
Submitted By: Gary Thomas