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Photo by Graph X Designs
Bud Kaeding finishes runner-up with GSC in Watsonville & 3rd with BCRA in Placerville
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – May 31, 2008…Campbell’s Bud Kaeding showed his versatility this past weekend by bringing home podium finishes while driving both a 410 winged sprint car and a wingless BCRA Midget at a pair of different tracks. The 28 year-old made a special midget start on Saturday driving for veteran owner Mike Sala and put on a show charging from the rear of the field.
The weekend began on Friday though with Kaeding making the short drive to his home track of Ocean Speedway for the 13th race of Golden State Challenge Series season. He went into the weekend sitting fourth in the GSC standings, but with father Brent being back in Knoxville for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony it gave him a shot to move up in the series points.
A short field of 20 cars made the tow to the Ocean Speedway on Friday night and Kaeding kicked off the event by timing in third fastest aboard the Alviso Rock, MPD Racing Products No. 29. He then tallied finishes of second in his heat race and sixth in the dash to put him in the third row for the 30 lap main event. The track surface was one of the best seen for a GSC show at the Ocean Speedway in some time and a very racy main event took place, despite a number of cautions and reds.
Lining up sixth in the feature Kaeding was able to move up to fourth by the time a caution appeared on the eighth lap. The current Ocean Speedway point leader continued to march forward and claimed third from GSC point leader Jonathan Allard on lap 13 before a red flag period on the 14th lap, which turned into an open red for fuel and adjustments. After going back green Kaeding went to work on second running Stephen Allard and following several laps of battling for the spot he was able to make the pass on lap 23.
After getting into the runner-up spot Kaeding sat there for the remaining laps to record his second best finish of the Golden State Challenge Series season. It also marked his third top five of the season in three GSC starts at the Ocean Speedway and continued his recent string of success at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds facility.
On Saturday Kaeding made the drive to the Placerville Speedway to do double-duty at the event as he sat behind the wheel of both the BK Motorsports No. 29 as well as the potent Mike Sala owned No. 19 midget. The Bay Cities Racing Association sanctioned part of the night featured a point average show and with Kaeding not making any starts with the series this year he was forced to come from the back all night.
Lining up in ninth during the second heat race the two-time and defending USAC Silver Crown champ put the Sala Racing No. 19 on the ragged edge as he carved his way through the field with authority. Running high and low Kaeding was able to get up to fourth by the checkered flag in the 10 lap contest. He then lined up way back in the 13th position for the 30 lap BCRA Midget main event and wasted no time coming forward.
Kaeding ran the high side of the quarter-mile bullring and got up to sixth by lap seven and was then third by the 14th circuit. He closed in on the top two a couple times, but each occasion saw him catch the cushion in turn four to stall his momentum. Kaeding gave it a hard run the rest of the way and came up with a fourth place finish at the checkered flag.
The Golden State Challenge Series portion of the night saw the Campbell driver qualify a bit further back than usual and it caused him to start from the 12th position in the main event. The 30 lap race saw him do the best he could as a number of cautions and reds once again slowed the pace of the feature much like the night before. After dicing it up for 30 laps Kaeding brought the K & N Filters, Kaeding Performance Maxim home in the eighth position.
This coming weekend will find Kaeding and the rest of the Golden State Challenge Series teams competing at the Petaluma Speedway on Saturday night. During the previous series visit to the track it was a good night for the BK Motorsports team as the No. 29 machine ended up in victory lane after an extremely exciting main event. Going into the night Kaeding sits in the third spot in the GSC point standings and will look to double up on the season at the tacky 3/8 mile clay oval.
More news and pictures on Bud Kaeding & BK Motorsports can be found at http://www.budkaedingracing.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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