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Photos by Johns Racing Photos
Bud Kaeding races to 3rd in Watsonville and 4th in Tulare
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – June 28, 2008…Campbell’s Bud Kaeding had a consistent weekend of competition as he returned to California following the Dirt Cup last week and brought home a pair of top five finishes at two distinctively different race tracks.
Earlier in the season Kaeding had planned on being at the Richmond International Raceway to compete with the USAC Silver Crown Series during this past weekend, but with the organization switching back to the old style pavement car it left him with no chance to run since he doesn’t posses the old style car anymore.
By not running with USAC however, it gave him a chance to head to Watsonville on Friday night to try and maintain his lead in the Wright One Construction 360 Series point standings. So far this season Kaeding has been ultra strong in the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 sprinter and it was no different on this night as he was up front all evening long.
The 28 year-old driver clocked the third quickest lap of the night in qualifying and proceeded to charge to the win in his heat race aboard the Los Gatos Construction Company, Kaeding Performance Maxim. The current Ocean Speedway point leader then lined-up sixth in the main event and had another consistent run as he brought the No. 20 machine home in the third position. “We were happy with the finish and it was fun running on the track because you could move around and do some good racing,” Kaeding said.
On Saturday Kaeding and the BK Motorsports team made the tow down to the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway for the annual Pombo/Sargent Classic to compete in the 16th race of the Golden State Challenge Series season. Early on in his career the Campbell racer won the Pombo/Sargent Classic in back to back years in ’97 and ’98, with those victories coming at the Kings Speedway located over in Hanford.
The event moved to the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway in 2006 and has been held at the track ever since. This season saw a short field of 20 sprint cars in competition, but the racing during the main event made up for the small amount of cars. Kaeding came out early in the qualifying order and his fastest lap of 13.468 was good enough for sixth quick aboard the MPD Racing Products, Alviso Rock No. 29.
Third place finishes in both his heat race and the dash then set him up to start from the second row in the 30 lap main event. When starter Willie Williams waved the green flag Kaeding shot into the third position and looked very good early on. The veteran driver ran in the third spot for a number of laps until Tyler Walker was able to get by in traffic just after the midway point.
A caution then flew on the 23rd lap and after going back green the second place car slowed to a stop, which moved the K & N Filters, Kaeding Performance Maxim back up to the third position. On the restart though Kaeding went high and was passed for position by Jonathan Allard, moving him back to fourth where he would go on and finish at the checkered flag. It was his second straight top five at the Thunderbowl Raceway and eighth overall on the GSC season.
Next up for Kaeding and the BK Motorsports team will be a double-header weekend of action at the Silver Dollar Speedway this coming Friday and Saturday. The Friday event will be a special 4th of July show featuring a fire works display and routinely attracts the biggest crowd of the season at the quarter-mile bullring. Kaeding has made one start in the Feather Falls Casino weekly season this year and that night netted a heat race win and a 10th place finish in the main event.
Then on Saturday the Golden State Challenge Series will invade the Chico track as the final month of the season gets underway. Kaeding will go into the night sitting third in the GSC standings and will look to gain ground with the season rapidly coming to an end. Please stop by the rig after the races to check out our T-shirts as well as our new BK Motorsports hats that are on sale.
More information, pictures and news on Bud Kaeding and BK Motorsports can be found at http://www.budkaedingracing.com
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www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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