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Photo by L & J Photgraphy
Bud Kaeding wins 2nd straight Ocean Speedway 360 main event
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – June 8, 2008…New daddy and current Ocean Speedway point leader Bud Kaeding played his cards right on Friday night and drove the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 to his second straight victory in the Wright One Construction 360 series. The win allowed him to stretch his lead to 18 points in the Ocean Speedway standings as he attempts to chase down the track championship.
After wife Jennifer gave birth to his first child on Wednesday, Kaeding returned to the track on Friday looking to extend his point lead at the Ocean Speedway. Going into the night he held a scant five point lead over father Brent in the track standings and put together an impressive evening of competition to extend that mark this past Friday.
Kaeding timed in second quickest to begin the night and then went on to capture the second heat race of the evening. The Campbell driver then started the main event from the second row inside and was battling with leader Brad Furr when Tommy Tarlton was able to get by both for the lead.
The 28 year-old didn’t panic however, as Tarlton would spin with five laps left and Kaeding then took advantage of a miscue by Furr to put the Los Gatos Construction Company sponsored sprinter into the lead. He would go on and lead the final handful of laps to pick up his second victory of the season at the Ocean Speedway.
The track surface on Friday had taken rubber and one slip up was all it took for Kaeding to get by late in the race. “Brad just missed his line in turns three and four and I was able to sneak by for the lead,” Kaeding said. “I have a lot of laps on these rubber down tracks and a lot of my non wing experience helped out tonight. It feels great to be able to give Tim and this team another win and it’s fun driving this car,” he concluded.
Kaeding then made the drive to the Petaluma Speedway on Saturday for the 15th race of the Golden State Challenge Series season. During the last GSC visit to the track he drove the Alviso Rock No. 29 to victory lane and was hoping to make it a sweep of the events at the 3/8 mile oval on Saturday. Kaeding qualified 11th fastest in the 28 car field and won the night’s third heat race aboard the K & N Filters, Kaeding Performance Maxim.
The two-time defending USAC Silver Crown champ then finished seventh in the dash and tallied a sixth place finish in the feature, as he fought a tough track that didn’t lend too well to passing. Kaeding had made it up as high as fourth at one instance, but dropped a couple spots after the midway point of the 30 lap contest. The finish allowed him to remain third in the GSC standings as well as close in a bit on second running Tyler Walker who suffered a dnf.
The Golden State Challenge Series will now take a couple weekends off and it will allow Kaeding to hop back behind the wheel of the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 for next Saturday’s California Civil War 360 Series event at the Calistoga Speedway. Last August he attempted to compete with the Civil War Series at Calistoga in the Los Gatos Construction Company Maxim, but mechanical issues in hot laps forced him to scratch for the night.
Kaeding will go into Calistoga next Saturday looking to claim the top spot in what will be one of only two winged sprint car events at the half-mile dirt track this season. After the event at the Napa County Fairgrounds track, Kaeding will make the trek up to the Skagit Speedway for the annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup as he looks for the $25,000 grand prize for winning the event.
More information on Campbell’s Bud Kaeding can be found at http://www.budkaedingracing.com
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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
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