Van Hoff Scores Breakthrough SportMod Win at Ocean 

By Steven BlakesleyBlakesley Sports Media WATSONVILLE, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2023) – Troy Foulger completed the sweep of the Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout at Ocean Speedway in Saturday’s 103-lap finale, grabbing the 13th annual Friesen Performance IMCA Modified event in Watsonville. The victory paid $3,006 to win in the extra distance affair at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds after Foulger snared $1,003 and Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility on Friday night. “Thank you to the Pettit family for everything they do. They are a wonderful family and give us a great race,” Foulger said. “Hats off to the track crew and hopefully that was a good show for the fans. I saw (Nick DeCarlo’s) nose down there and I didn’t know what pace to set. Lapped traffic was thick so I just started sliding people. So I kind of moved my line down there in three and four and was able to get away.” Hall of Famer Jim Pettit II led the 22 starters from the pole position before Foulger took over the lead [Read More]

By Steven Blakesley WATSONVILLE, Calif. (Mar. 28, 2025) — Cody Burke of Salinas drove from the eighth starting position to win the season opening 25-lap Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature. Robert Marsh of Salinas fended off some tough customers for the first half of the event. A caution for both Jonathan Hagio and Kyle Bryan each in separate spins, set up the key restart for Burke. Burke drove inside Marsh on the backstretch to take the lead on lap 15. Bobby Hogge followed him into second as well. Hogge hounded Burke to no avail over the final ten laps. Burke earned the victory over Hogge, Marsh, Bakersfield’s Robby Sawyer, and Prunedale’s Jim Pettit II. It is Burke’s first win of the season in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region. Wagner Slices Through Field for SportMod Triumph Baypoint’s Danny Wagner took home the win in the 20-lap Karl Chevrolet IMCA SportMod main event from a scheduled ninth starting position. Cody Bryan, Matthew Frazier, and Rob Gallaher each took turns at the lead over the first four laps. [Read More]

By Ben Deatherage  WATSONVILLE, Calif. (April 1, 2022) – Ocean Speedway returned to racing on Friday for their third race on the campaign, with IMCA feature wins going to Cody Burke and Jonathan Hagio.  At the release of the green flag for the 20-lap IMCA Northern SportMod main, Igor Gandzuk took the reins on the opening lap and set a rapid pace but was eventually caught by the completion of the seventh circuit. The driver to catch Gandzuk was Jonathan Hagio. However, Hagio was by no means out of the proverbial woods as he got bottled up in lapped traffic that brought the entire top five into contention for the lead. Shortly after Hagio passed the last car on the lead lap, a multi-car incident, including two top-five runners, occurred on the 12th circuit. Hagio got up to speed but felt some brief heat a few circuits later. Richard Ragsdale got close to getting around Hagio, but the leader kept Ragsdale in check and scored his first win of 2022. Ragsdale was second, followed by Fred [Read More]