Wes 5th in Points after Ocean Speedway Opener

When, April 3, 2009
Where, Watsonville, CA Ocean Speedway
Weather, Clear Skies, Cold Mid 40’s
Promoter,
Car Count, 26

It was opening night at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, CA. With the GLR Investments 360 Sprint Cars being the feature division, with the help of Chris Luck of GLR Investments, Ocean Speedway looks forward to a great 2009 season. With Wes still attending high school and arriving late to the track it was going to be a challenging night. Wes would have to qualify his 2009 FK Rod Ends, ButlerBuilt, Maxim chassis second to last on a fast deteriorating track. Wes made the best of a bad situation and qualified 9th fast with a 12.534 behind fast timer Rick Wright Jr. with a 12.143, 2nd fast was Fresno’s own Tommy Tarlton with a 12.205 followed by Evan Suggs with a 12.287.

With a 9th place qualifying attempt this would give Wes and his 2009 ButlerBuilt, Hertz, DWT Maxim chassis an outside front row start in his heat beside Keith Day from Salinas. Keith got a good start and led the first lap, on the second lap going into turn three Keith was running the bottom and Wes decided that the bottom was a little lower than Keith was running and made a very veteran like move on the bottom for the lead. Wes and his 2009 Kaeding Performance, Simpson, DMI, Maxim chassis pulled away to a four second lead to take the checkered flag over Day, followed in third by Jason Statler.

WG Motorsports had a little extra help in the pits tonight with the appearance by long time family friend Ken Harden and his friend Floyd. Jeff Decker, a local late model driver, also made an appearance to lend a helping hand to the WG Motorsports Team. With the main fast approaching, crew Rod Stiles, Luis and Sher Gutierrez carefully applied the changes requested by Wes and Crew Chief Robb Russell. With a 9th place starting spot Wes would have his work cut out for him with the likes of Brent Kaeding #69, Bud Kaeding #19, Tommy Tarlton #21 and Ronny Day #20 all starting up front. With the track pretty much on the bottom Wes made a valiant effort on the top side in turns one and two and using the brakes hard in turn three and four to stay on the bottom - trying everything he could to move forward while staying out of trouble. Wes cautiously worked his way up to 6th place while trying to break into the top five. On the final re-start Craig Smith made a move on the outside going into turn one and was able to get by Garrett Ishii and Wes moving Wes back to seventh. With just two laps remaining Wes hit a rut that had been a nuisance all night long that allowed Garrett Ishii to get by. With the checkered flag waiving, Wes ended the night with a solid 8th place finish, behind Main event winner Brent Kaeding, second Jason Statler and a strong finish for Bud Kaeding rounding out the top three. After the race Wes was very irritated that he did not get a chance to challenge for the win but he is looking forward to a very successful season in 2009 BultlerBuilt, Defnder, Simpson, Maxim chassis.