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Jac Haudenschild wins World of Outlaw event at Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – October 18, 2008…Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild had been close to picking up a World of Outlaw win at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on a pair of different occasions before, but each time he wasn’t able to seal the deal. That all changed on Saturday night however, as the “Wild Child” put on a show for the fans like he always does, en route to picking up his fifth overall victory of the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaw Sprint Series season.
The early stages of the World of Outlaw main event at the Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday night mirrored the one from the night before at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway, as 20-time series champion Steve Kinser looked untouchable out front in the open track. When lapped traffic came into play around lap 15 however, it gave Sunnyvale, Texas driver Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Haudenschild a chance to close in.
The Thunderbowl Raceway surface had been extremely quick all night, but by main event time it had widened out and gave competitors a chance to race on virtually every square inch of the 1/3 mile clay oval. As Kinser got bottled up in traffic on lap 20 it looked like Hafertepe would have the opening he needed to claim the top spot, but as soon as that happened Haudenschild made a thrilling move up high in the first & second corners to get by both drivers and put the City Wide Insulation No. R19 into the lead of the race.
Just after the ultra exciting handful of laps in traffic a yellow flag would appear, giving drivers a clear track and after this Haudenschild was untouchable for the rest of the 35 lap contest. The thrilling action didn’t stop there though as drivers diced it up all through the pack with most eyes fixed on San Jose’s Tim Kaeding who was charging forward from the 20th starting position in the locally based Roth Motorsports No. 83jr machine.
The 30 year-old pilot used his customary high line as he blew through the field and was up to the fourth spot with just five laps remaining in the main event. Kaeding was then going after Hafertepe for the third position and the pair battled into turns three and four with the lapped car of Craig Stidham directly in front of them. Kaeding looked to go high, but the back end came around on him and unfortunately spun to a stop with just three laps remaining to put an end to a great run for the California local.
When the final restart of the night went green Haudenschild stepped on the gas and pulled away from the field to charge off and claim his first Thunderbowl Raceway World of Outlaw victory and first win at the track since picking up the Saturday night Trophy Cup main event in 2006. “Leonard Lee has this car really fast right now and it felt good all night,” said Haud. “I’ve always enjoyed running out here in California on these tight bullrings and we’ve always seemed to have some good luck out here through the years.”
Kinser was able to hold off a late race charge from Hafertepe to score his second top two finish of the weekend after claiming the victory on Friday night at Ocean Speedway. “It was a fun race but the Wild Child just put it to me tonight,” Kinser chuckled while speaking to George Hague on the front stretch. “We were a bit tight in the feature and it made it tough getting through traffic as fast as I wanted to," he concluded.
Hafertepe’s third place finish was very impressive considering the strong field of cars and at times during the middle stages looked like he might have been in position to score his first WOO victory. “I have to give a lot credit to Rick Ferkel who has come on board these last few races and has been a big help,” Hafertepe said. “It’s great to come out of here with a third place finish, but we definitely had the car to win the race.”
Rounding out the top five in the feature were a couple of former California regulars who are now running on a national basis, with those being Randy Hannagan who came home in fourth and Jason Meyers who ended up fifth. Finishing sixth was Altoona, Iowa’s Terry McCarl who has been one of the hottest drivers with the World of Outlaws Sprint Series over the last month.
Dash winner Roger Crockett rebounded for a seventh place finish following an early race 360 spin while running at the front. Chico’s Jonathan Allard scored eighth in the main event as he also rebounded from near disaster when he backed into the wall during the middle stages of the feature. Easton’s Tommy Tarlton was the hard charger for the night as he came all the way from the C-main to charge up to ninth in the feature after starting 24th. Rounding out the top 10 was second year Outlaw driver Chad Hillier from Burlington, Washington.
Full results from the night of racing are available at http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
Next up- The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will finish off the season next week with the 15th annual Trophy Cup, which kicks off in just a few short days on Thursday evening. Three-night reserved tickets are still on sale and can be purchased by calling the track office at (559) 688-0909
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After winning the Gold Cup Race of Champions in early September, Wooster, Ohio's Jac Haudenschild came back to the Golden State and drove to victory at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway. Photo by Paul Trevino Racing Photos
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