Motor sports: Kyle Hirst wins in Watsonville, Carson Macedo takes series points lead

Kyle Hirst drove the Fresno-based Roth Motorsports sprint car to victory Saturday night in the Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville.

Carson Macedo finished fourth in the Easton-based Tarlton & Son car, pushing Macedo into the King of the West series points lead after previous points leader Dominic Scelzi of Fresno finished his night being towed off the quarter-mile track and in 18th place.

Hirst started outside front row and led all of the 30-lap race.

His weekend teammate, Texan Aaron Reutzel, finished fifth. Craig Stidham of Fresno was sixth, Bud Kaeding in the Oakhurst-based Williams Motorsports car seventh and Mitchell Faccinto of Hanford eighth (recovering from a midrace spin).

Other central San Joaquin Valley finishers: DJ Netto of Hanford 12th, Scott Parker of Coarsegold 15th and Landon Hurst of Riverdale 22nd after a car fire ended his race.

Scelzi’s night started well, with his first fast-time qualifier award of the season.

It’s tight at the top of the series standings: Macedo leads Scelzi by five points and Kaeding by seven. The series is at Placerville on July 18 and then comes to Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on July 25 for the second Peter Murphy Classic.

Madera Speedway

Nick Chivello of Manteca won the 100-lap Bay Cities Racing Association midgets race Saturday night on the one-third-mile paved oval.

It was the feature race of the annual Gerhardt Classic honoring Fresno motorsports legend Fred Gerhardt. His great-grandson Cody Gerhardt finished fourth in the BCRA race and seventh in the 30-lap Winged Sprints main event.

Other feature winners: DJ Hamilton in Winged Sprints, Eric Humphries in NCMA Sprints, Victor Machado (Open Modifieds), AJ Russell (360 Super Modifieds) and Dylan Nobile (USAC HPD Midgets).

This story was originally published July 12, 2015 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Motor sports: Kyle Hirst wins in Watsonville, Carson Macedo takes series points lead."