BUD KAEDING WINS HIS SECOND JOHNNY KEY CLASSIC WITH NARC 410 VICTORY AT OCEAN SPEEDWAY

WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA (August 2, 2025) – 29 years after his Johnny Key Classic victory in 1996 at San Jose Speedway, Bud Kaeding claimed Saturday’s 65th running of the Key at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. The NARC 410 Sprint Car Series feature win is Bud’s 23rd career NARC 410 victory and the ninth Kaeding family win in the Johnny Key Classic. Photo by Top Dawg Photos

The dash race went to Kaeding, earning the pole for the $5,000 to win, 30-lap feature. Caeden Steele flipped wildly side over side on the backstretch for a stoppage on the opening lap of competition.

Kaeding charged into the lead over Tanner Carrick in turn two with 2024 Johnny Key winner Gauge Garcia in third. Kaeding quickly accumulated a straightaway lead, steering to lapped traffic by just the fifth lap of the race.

Dominic Gorden of Clovis slid on his side to a stop in turn one, losing the eighth position to bring out a caution on lap 14.

In the final five circuits, Kaeding, Carrick, and eighth-starting former HK Classic winner Sean Becker of Oroville lined up in lapped traffic. Kaeding briefly tussled with a lapped car but eventually placed the slower car between himself and Carrick.

Bud Kaeding soared to the redemption victory after a runner-up performance in the 2024 Johnny Key Classic. Carrick, Becker, Oregon’s Tyler Thompson, and Garcia were the top-five finishers.

Bobby Hogge of Salinas extended his points lead in the IMCA Modifieds, leading just the final corner for a thrilling victory in the 25-lap feature.

Nevada’s Kaetlyn Robertson held off numerous challenges from Oakley’s Jacob Mallet, Jr., withstanding the onslaught to continue to lead through the first 13 laps of competition. Robert Marsh of Salinas drove past Mallet into second then passed Robertson for the lead on lap 14.

Hogge, from seventh on the grid, followed Marsh to take over second as well. The duo ran nose to tail over the final 11 circuits.

Marsh got held up in slower traffic coming into turn three on the final circuit, sending Marsh wide in turn three. Hogge soared underneath and snatched the victory. Mallet finished third followed by Robertson and Markus Frazier.

The Frazier family enjoyed a successful night with younger brother Matthew scoring the 20-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature. Santa Cruz’ Steven Allee took the lead from the outside pole position. Cody Bryan of Freedom stopped in turn two to bring out a caution on lap seven. Frazier pounced on the restart, using a slidejob to lead lap eight.

Bryan then stopped again in turn two on lap 13 with a flat right rear tire. On the restart, DJ Keldsen and points leader Danny Wagner of Baypoint collided. Wagner spun in turn three and both drivers had to restart at the tail. Rob Gallaher drove into second on the restart but was unable to track down Frazier. Frazier scored victory followed by Gallaher, Allee, Chris Falkenberg of Merced, and a resurgent Wagner.

Livermore’s Greg Dennett put his stamp on the return for the BCRA Lightning Sprints to Ocean Speedway after a two year absence, dominating the 20-lap feature to extend his points lead. Elk Grove’s Matt Land finished second while Cody Dayton of Placerville ran third.

Santa Cruz’ Logan Mitchell won his second consecutive Johnny Key Classic with Western Midget Racing, winning Saturday’s 15-lap feature. The victory was Mitchell’s third of the year and increases his 2025 championship points lead as well.

Cody Gray of Auburn won the heat race with an outstanding performance in his Midget debut. Gray and Mitchell then lined up on the front row for the feature before a strong crowd.

Mitchell quickly drove past Gray as the field drove into turn one. Ventura winner Anthony Bruno of San Jose spun to a stop in turn two for a caution on lap seven. Gray then slowed from second on the restart.

The incidents thrust fifth-starting Terry Nichols of Delano into second. Mitchell and Nichols ran closely but Mitchell prevailed. Nichols, 15-year-old rookie Chevy Schroer of Orland, Bruno, and Santa Cruz’ Nathan Moore were the top-five finishers.

Ocean Speedway races again on Friday night August 8. For more information, visit www.OceanSpeedway.com

Ocean Speedway August 2, 2025 – Race Results 65th Annual Johnny Key Classic

A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 29-Bud Kaeding[1]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 3. 7B-Sean Becker[8]; 4. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[5]; 5. 2K-Gauge Garcia[3]; 6. 17W-Shane Golobic[10]; 7. 88N-DJ Netto[6]; 8. 2X-Max Mittry[14]; 9. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[12]; 10. 7P-Jake Andreotti[4]; 11. 88A-Joey Ancona[9]; 12. 61-Travis Labat[17]; 13. 12J-John Clark[15]; 14. 72W-Kurt Nelson[16]; 15. 10-Dominic Gorden[7]; 16. 12-Jarrett Soares[11]; 17. 121-Caeden Steele[13]; 18. (DNS) 15-Nick Parker

Dash (6 Laps): 1. 29-Bud Kaeding[1]; 2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 3. 2K-Gauge Garcia[3]; 4. 7P-Jake Andreotti[5]; 5. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[6]; 6. 88N-DJ Netto[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 29-Bud Kaeding[2]; 2. 10-Dominic Gorden[1]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[4]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]; 5. 121-Caeden Steele[6]; 6. 72W-Kurt Nelson[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[3]; 2. 88A-Joey Ancona[2]; 3. 2K-Gauge Garcia[4]; 4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[5]; 5. 2X-Max Mittry[6]; 6. (DNS) 15-Nick Parker

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7P-Jake Andreotti[2]; 2. 7B-Sean Becker[1]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick[4]; 4. 12-Jarrett Soares[3]; 5. 12J-John Clark[6]; 6. 61-Travis Labat[5]

Qualifying (3 Laps): 1. 88N-DJ Netto, 00:10.693[18]; 2. 2K-Gauge Garcia, 00:10.846[11]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 00:10.861[6]; 4. 10-Dominic Gorden, 00:10.878[16]; 5. 15-Nick Parker, 00:10.882[15]; 6. 7B-Sean Becker, 00:10.915[12]; 7. 29-Bud Kaeding, 00:10.966[10]; 8. 88A-Joey Ancona, 00:10.967[2]; 9. 7P-Jake Andreotti, 00:10.995[17]; 10. 17W-Shane Golobic, 00:11.089[7]; 11. 35KM-Tyler Thompson, 00:11.098[1]; 12. 12-Jarrett Soares, 00:11.106[4]; 13. 72W-Kurt Nelson, 00:11.115[8]; 14. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 00:11.132[14]; 15. 61-Travis Labat, 00:11.132[13]; 16. 121-Caeden Steele, 00:11.140[5]; 17. 2X-Max Mittry, 00:11.235[3]; 18. 12J-John Clark, 00:11.239[9]

IMCA Modifieds A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2-Bobby Hogge[7]; 2. 22-Robert Marsh[6]; 3. 127-Jacob Mallet Jr[3]; 4. 7-Katelyn Robertson[1]; 5. 15F-Markus Frazier[9]; 6. 20-Cody Burke[8]; 7. 6-Jim Pettit II[13]; 8. M22-Paul Miller[10]; 9. 3-Todd Hermosillo[11]; 10. 15P-Andrew Pearce[12]; 11. 22S-Cole Szlauko[4]; 12. 46N-Doug Hagio[5]; 13. 28T-Matt Kampfraat[2]

IMCA Sport Mods A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 15F-Matthew Frazier[4]; 2. X-Rob Gallaher[8]; 3. 39-Steven Allee[2]; 4. 3C-Chris Falkenberg[6]; 5. 11D-Danny Wagner[9]; 6. TWO23-Raymond Lindeman[11]; 7. 99B-Paul Brown[7]; 8. 42B-Max Baggett[12]; 9. 4M-Emali VanHoff[13]; 10. 55F-Shane Freeman[1]; 11. 01-DJ Keldsen[5]; 12. 14H-Kaden Perez[18]; 13. 75X-Jim DiGiovanni[15]; 14. 89-Duane Bieser[19]; 15. 15-David Crocker[14]; 16. 168-Bo Crebs[3]; 17. 28P-Joseph Pato[10]; 18. 34-Cody Bryan[16]; 19. (DNS) 19-Connor Solis

Western Midget Racing A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 96X-Logan Mitchell[2]; 2. 2ND-Terry Nichols[5]; 3. 9-Chevy Schroer[4]; 4. 09-Anthony Bruno[3]; 5. 25JR-Nathan Moore[6]; 6. 11-Cody Gray[1]; 7. (DNS) 35-Ryan Carter; 8. (DNS) 1P-Kelly Nichols

BCRA Lightning Sprints A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 47-Greg Dennett[2]; 2. 91-Matt Land[1]; 3. 00-Cody Dayton[6]; 4. 31-Bradley Schmidt[5]; 5. 12-Kindal Barstow[8]; 6. 22-Jason Schostag[3]; 7. 7N-Justin Norton[7]; 8. 72-Mike Schriver[9]; 9. 18-Josef Ferolito[4]; 10. 51K-Kennedy Ramirez[10]