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Photos by http://www.JohnsRacingPhotos.com
Bud Kaeding scores fast-time & top 5 on opening night before concluding Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals with 7th place finish in B-main
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – September 6, 2008…Getting back behind the wheel of the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 sprint car Campbell’s Bud Kaeding finished off the 17th Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals with a seventh place finish in the B-main on Saturday night at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway.
Heading into the annual 360 winged sprint car event there were questions as to whether or not Mother Nature would hold off as a storm system was predicted to hit the area by Friday. The one good hope however, was that Thursday looked good and it turned out to be true, but Friday’s action fell victim to an extremely rainy day and forced officials to tweak the format for Saturday’s finale.
With the weekend forecast in mind a total of 41 sprint cars were on hand for opening night of the 17th annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals on Thursday and Kaeding kicked off the event on a very good note by qualifying the Los Gatos Construction Company, SL & M No. 20 with fast time by cutting a lap of 11.890. He then brought home finishes of third in his heat race and sixth in the dash to give him an outside row three starting spot in the main event.
With the track being very fast and locked down it made for a very quick paced 30 lap feature and Kaeding spent much of the early to middle stages locked in a battle with Dan Menne and brother Tim. The younger Kaeding tried desperately to make moves on the high side, but would lose a spot to Tim on a restart after trying the bottom in turn one. The 28 year-old racer motored on over the remaining laps and crossed under the checkered flag in the fifth position to give himself a solid points night to open the Fall Nationals.
Friday morning brought about cloudy skies, which soon turned to rain lasting practically all day and when all was said and done, more that an inch of precipitation had fallen in the Chico area. Silver Dollar Speedway officials then made the choice to completely scrap the points from Thursday night and run a completely new show on Saturday, utilizing a pill draw and passing points, rather than qualifying.
That was all dependent with the rain stopping however, and when it did 75 sprinters packed the pit area at the quarter-mile clay oval for a one night shootout at $6,000 on Saturday evening. A total of seven heat races were held during the night and Kaeding lined-up on the outside of the second row in the fourth heat. The two-time Fall Nationals champion tried to hound the leader over the duration of the heat, but with everyone running so tightly packed on the rough track, it made any move costly and a slight bobble by the leader caused Kaeding to get out of the gas and lose a spot to Tyler Walker.
The same thing happened with less than a couple laps remaining as Kaeding had to check up for Walker and it cost him a spot to young Kyle Larson, which left him with a fourth place finish and put the Kaeding Performance, Alviso Rock No. 20 into the B-main. Starting 12th in the 20 lap semi Kaeding struggled with the rough track, but was able to move forward a few spots to end the race in seventh, which was still three spots shy of transferring into the main event. It was a tough way to end the weekend after having such a good night on Thursday, which would have been enough to give him a starting spot among the first few rows on Saturday had the rain held off on Friday.
That’s part of the breaks though and Kaeding will now move on and get back aboard the BK Motorsports No. 29 for the upcoming Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Series events on October 17 & 18 at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville and Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare. During the Friday event the Campbell racer will look to hold up local honors at his home track as the best drivers in the country invade the quarter-mile bullring, which is located at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
Kaeding finished third in points with the Golden State Challenge King of California Series this season and the World of Outlaws weekend will mark his final time in a winged 410 sprint car this year. Following the WOO weekend he will be back at the Thunderbowl to compete at the 15th annual Trophy Cup in the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 for one last time in 2008.
More news and info on two-time Silver Crown Series champ Bud Kaeding please visit http://www.budkaedingracing.com
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Bud Kaeding will look to steal the glory from the traveling drivers when he takes on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville while driving the Alviso Rock, Kaeding Performance, K & N Filters No. 29 on October 17
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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