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Bud Kaeding runs 4th at Hoosier Hundred & tallies pair of top fives in Calistoga on Memorial Day weekend
By Gary Thomas
Calistoga, CA – May 26, 2009…A busy week of competition in a pair of different states saw Campbell, CA's Bud Kaeding put together possibly his finest weekend of action so far in the '09 season, scoring a trio of top five finishes aboard the BK Motorsports No. 29, which included extending his point lead in the current USAC Silver Crown Series standings.
Kaeding kicked off the hectic weekend with Thursday's Tony Hullman Classic at the Terra Haute Action track in Indiana, but issues during the main event slowed his bid at back-to-back top 10's with the USAC National Sprints after picking up a seventh place finish at Eldora in April.
The 29 year-old driver then headed for Friday's Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in an attempt to claim the USAC K&N Silver Crown Series point lead outright as he went into the event tied for the top spot, following his season opening victory at the Copper on Dirt in Arizona. A strong field of race cars signed in at the back gate for the prestigious event and featured 28 Silver Crown machines taking to the track for qualifying.
Kaeding opened up the Hoosier Hundred by timing-in sixth fastest in the field at the helm of the MPD Racing Products, K&N Filters, Swift Metal Finishing, YAK Graphics No. 29. Lining-up in the third row for the 100 lap race the Campbell driver ran strong for the entire running of the contest and brought home a fourth place finish at the checkered. The result was good enough to put Kaeding out front in the USAC Silver Crown Series standings by 24 digits over Tony Stewart Racing's Tracy Hines. The next scheduled event for the Silver Crown cars will be on June 26 and 27 at the Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia and will be the first pavement race of the season for the series.
Calistoga Speedway nets solid weekend for BK Motorsports-
Kaeding then flew home to compete over two nights of racing at the Calistoga Speedway half-mile with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series. He started the double-header weekend by qualifying eighth fastest in the field on Saturday and then brought home fourth place finishes in his heat race and the dash to put the Alviso Rock, Gordon Smith, High Five Pizza, Trimble Motorsports No. 29 in the second row for the feature.
One of the better prepared surfaces was put together at the Calistoga Speedway on Saturday night, as the groove widened out more than usual for a winged sprint car event at the track and made for some good racing at the long oval. Kaeding settled into fourth on the start, but on a lap one restart would slide Jonathan Allard for third however, the defending GSC champ would get back by just after that. Lap seven though saw second running Tyler Walker get upside down in the first set of corners and it would bump the BK Motorsports, MDR Machine, Kaeding Performance Maxim up to third.
The remaining laps featured Kaeding trying to hold off the advances of Jason Statler & Brent Kaeding and the 29 year-old was able to do so and bring home his first podium finish of the Golden State Challenge Series season. "This is great to bring home a third place finish at Calistoga," Kaeding said. "Tonight is the most comfortable I've felt in a winged car in a long time and trying to acclimate myself back to it was a little tough after running 30-second laps in the Silver Crown car yesterday. Tonight was my little girl's first race at Calistoga and for me to get a podium and her uncle to win is pretty cool."
Coming back on Sunday to Calistoga saw Kaeding have problems in qualifying, which forced him to start from the outside of the seventh row in the 14th spot for the 25 lap feature. He proceeded to get his elbows up on the half-mile however, and carve his way through the pack to bring home a fifth place finish, marking his third top five of the GSC season. It helped move Kaeding up to eighth in the current series standings as the 410 tour makes its way to his home track of Ocean Speedway on Friday evening, before making the haul to the foothills on Saturday for an event at the Placerville Speedway.
More news and info on Bud Kaeding can be found at http://www.budkaedingracing.com
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Bud Kaeding with daughter Makenzie, joined on the podium at Calistoga Speedway by Saturday winner Tim Kaeding and second place Jonathan Allard. Photo by http://www.tohf.com/
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