By: Fast Time Media
8/23/23… Watsonville, California: Friday & Saturday Night, Kaleb Montgomery was back in action at Ocean Speedway for the Johnny Key Classic. Coming off a win the previous weekend, Kaleb looked to emulate that performance this past weekend.
Kaleb started the night out with qualifying, where he was the 7th of 24 cars to hit the track. Going out early, the track would still be greasy. Kaleb was able to time in 6th quick overall. That lined him up on the inside of row two in the 3rd spot for his heat race. After starting 3rd, Kaleb finished where he started in 3rd & transferred to the feature.
That put Kaleb started on the inside of row five in the 9th spot for the feature event. Early on, Kaleb would fall backwards. After falling back in the early parts of the feature, Kaleb began to move forwards again. He was able to gain a couple of spots and finished the feature event in the 7th spot.
“Friday night the track was greasy and we were the 3rd group out so we managed 6th quick in qualifying. We made it out of our heat and started 9th in the main. I fell back a couple of spots and then made my way back up to 7th.“
Saturday Night, Kaleb was back in action at Ocean Speedway. After a solid finish on Friday, Kaleb looked to improve on Saturday & end the Johnny Key Classic on a strong note.
He started Saturday Night in group one for qualifying. He would be the 7th car to roll out in the group, and would time in 5th quickest in the group. That put him starting 5th in his heat race. Kaleb needed to make the top-4 to transfer to the feature. Fortunately, Kaleb did just that as he made his way to 4th where he would finish.
“Saturday the driver didn’t do his job in qualifying putting me in 5th. From there we had to pass some cars in the heat and we did so getting the final transfer spot.”
Kaleb’s heat race finish would lock him into the feature where he rolled off from 14th. He would get involved in a big pileup on lap two & damage the front wing. Despite the damage, Kaleb was able to move his way forward. The checkered flag fell, and Kaleb finished in the 7th spot.
“I started 14th in the main and even with a lap 2 incident flattening my nose wing, I was able to march my way up to 7th. I think if I didn’t have the nose wing issues, we had the car to contend for a top 5 finish!“
It was a very good weekend for Kaleb & his team. He brought home a pair of 7th place finishes against some very good competition in Watsonville. He has this coming weekend off, as he will be helping crew on his friend Max Adam’s car at the Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo Speedway!
“Very happy with the weekend all together and looking forward to helping my buddy max this weekend at the smack down!”
Kaleb would like to thank his sponsors on the #3; Luxton Real Estate, Bullseye, and David Crye.
2023 season stats; 33 events, 32 features, 2 wins, 11 top-5's, 23 top-10's
Next Race: 9/2, Placerville Speedway