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Photo by John Meirhofer of http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Bud Kaeding wins with Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo Friday night and runs seventh with GSC in Petaluma Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – April 17, 2010…Despite being one of the most consistent drivers with the Ocean Sprints last season Campbell's Bud Kaeding missed out on getting to victory lane and he made certain that it wouldn't happen in 2010 by charging right out of the box on opening night at Ocean Speedway to claim his first 360 win at the track in over a year.
Last season Kaeding made eight Ocean Sprint Car Series starts and tallied seven top-five finishes in those outings, with five of them being podiums in what was his first year at the track driving the No. 19 car co-owned by Brian Matherly and Mike Sala. "We put this deal together last year with Brian and Mike and we were fast every night, but were never able to win so I couldn't be happier to get it done for them on opening night," said Kaeding. "I want to thank all you fans for coming out tonight and we hope everyone will go to your local Taco Bravo to support a business that gives a lot to sprint car racing around here."
Following a rainout on April 2 the weather turned beautiful in the Watsonville area this past Friday and a solid 31-car field signed into the Ocean Speedway pits for the opener of the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo. Kaeding would kick-off the 2010 year at the track by qualifying second fastest overall behind Brad Furr and then running third in his heat race to transfer the Sala/Matherly Racing, M&M Powder Coaters, Kaeding Performance No. 19 Maxim into the main event. When the number zero pill was drawn for the A-main inversion it then put the three-time and defending USAC K&N Silver Crown Series champion on the front row.
When the green flag came out in the feature Kaeding took the lead into turn one, but soon felt pressure from Elk Grove's Kyle Larson after a few laps. With the bottom line being the preferred groove by most, Larson tried to run a little higher on the speedway, but Kaeding would get maximum bite off the exit of the corners and hang on, as the youngster tried to make something happen up top. With Kaeding doing everything he could to maintain the top-spot, cautions kept him out of traffic for much of the early-middle stages of the contest and the 30-year-old would run mistake free in the open track as the laps wound down to score his sixth career Ocean Speedway victory after 30-laps of racing.
Kaeding's most recent Ocean Sprints win had come during the 2008 season while driving the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 sprinter. "I could hear the kid behind me and I knew he'd be coming so we were lucky to get the breaks out of traffic with the yellows," said Kaeding. "Each time we got to traffic I started making a mistake or two and it gave Kyle some chances, but the luck was on our side tonight and that's how it goes in this sport sometimes. It's nice to get three BK Motorsports affiliated cars up here on the podium and hopefully we can do it again next time as well."
On Saturday Kaeding then made a visit to the Petaluma Speedway to compete aboard his own Alviso Rock, K&N Filters, High Five Pizza No. 29 sprinter with the Golden State Challenge Series. He went into the event fresh off a runner-up finish with the tour the previous Saturday in Tulare, but drew an early number in qualifying at Petaluma and timed-in 14th fastest, before finishing fifth in his heat race. Starting in the seventh row of the main event Kaeding quickly began to march forward while charging around the high-side of the sticky 3/8 mile clay oval. By lap 12 he had already made it up to sixth and spent the rest of the race locked in a battle with Bobby McMahan and crossed the stripe in seventh at the checkered flag.
This Saturday night Kaeding will be in action at the Ocean Speedway once again, but this time it will be with the 410 under the hood as the Golden State Challenge Series invades the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds quarter-mile for the fifth round of action in the battle for the King of California title. The last time GSC visited Ocean Speedway Kaeding raced to a dominating victory in the 30-lap race, as he got by Jason Statler on lap eight and pulled away from eventual King of California Tyler Walker in traffic. "It was a pretty big win last August and we'd definitely like to do it again this coming weekend," said Kaeding. "We're hoping to keep the momentum rolling from last Friday and have another good run at our home track with GSC coming in on Saturday."
For more news and info on Campbell, California's Bud Kaeding log onto http://www.budkaedingracing.com
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Bud Kaeding and the Sala/Matherly Racing team pictured in Ocean Speedway victory lane on Friday night with the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo. Kaeding will return to the track this Saturday night when the Golden State Challenge 410's convene at the quarter-mile bullring. Photo by L&J Photographyhttp://picasaweb.google.com/jmart16164/Week42010#
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