WATSONVILLE — Brad Furr won the 30-lap Taco Bravo Sprint Car Main Event Friday night at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville.
The win was Furr’s third of the season. The victory increased his slim lead over fifth-place finisher Koen Shaw.
Furr wasted little time getting the lead from Mitchell Faccinto, and never looked back.
Justin Sanders maintained his championship hopes with a solid third-place finish ahead of Ryan Bernal, Shaw, Kurt Nelson, Jason Chisum, Jeremy Chisum, James Ringo and Bryan Grier.
Faccinto bested the 16-car field in qualifying with a quick lap of 11.684. Furr’s 11.755 was good enough for second.
Sanders won the first eight-lap heat race ahead of Jeremy Chisum, and Tucker Worth outran Jason Chisum to win the second heat.
The heat winners and Top 2 qualifiers ran a six-lap Trophy Dash to set the first two rows of the Main Event.
Faccinto won that race, just ahead of Furr.
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Alex Wilson won his first 25-lap IMCA Modified Main Event of the season.
The 2015 State champion outlasted Austin Burke to claim the victory.
Past Street Stock star Jeff McCoun piloted the Jim Pettit car to a third-place finish, followed by Raymond Keldsen Jr. and point leader Cody Burke.
Wilson won the eight-lap heat race.
AMERICAN STOCKS
Rob Gallaher won the 20-lap American Stock Main Event.
This was the third win of the season for the reigning division champion.
J.C. Elrod and point leader Matt Kile continued their intense battle from last week’s Mike Cecil race and also ran closely with Gallaher to finish second and third, respectively.
D.J. Keldsen was a solid fourth, followed by Joe Gallaher, Terry Traub, Jimmy Bowman, Tony Oliveira, Tom Cline and Mark Reist.
Kile won his eight-lap heat race by a half-lap ahead of Traub, and Rob Gallaher won a closer battle with Elrod in their heat race.
SOUTH BAY DWARF CARS
Point leader Gene “Punky” Pires won the 20-lap South Bay Dwarf Car Main Event.
Pires started on the front row with Joe Barket, but Barket fell out before the finish.
Pires and Kyle Jones had an intense battle in the waning laps, and Pires beat Jones back to the checkered flag in a photo finish.
Mark Biscardi was third, followed by Ryan Amlen, Eric Weisler, Mack Aceves, Barket, Chris Dorto, Justin McKenna and Trafton Chandler.
Zach Price and Pires recorded eight-lap heat races.
POLICE-N-PURSUIT
The ladies took their turn behind the wheel in the Police N Pursuit division, and Chei Romel won the 10-lap Main Event by a wide margin.
Romel represented the California Highway Patrol.
Franni Morasci drove the San Jose Police Department entry to a second-place finish, followed by Cheryl Weir, Nancy Iler, Sharon Hohmann and Kristen Jensen.
Iler was the five-lap heat race winner.
Over $600 in donations was raised through the Police N Pursuit division to go to the Special Olympics.
UP NEXT
Racing continues Friday night with the Taco Bravo Sprint Cars back in action.
IMCA Sport Modifieds return along with the American Stocks and South Bay Dwarf Cars.
