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Brent Kaeding wins second straight Pombo/Sargent Classic at Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - April 29, 2007... Ronnie Day’s misfortune was Brent Kaeding’s gain Saturday night during the annual Pombo/Sargent Classic at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway. Kaeding, who has won the past two Golden State Challenge Series races, inherited the lead late in the event when Day had apparent engine troubles which parked him on the infield after dominating the 30 lap contest.
Day, the 2000 GSC King of California, started from the pole in the main event after getting his third GSC dash win of the season and jumped into the lead as the green flag came out. The Salinas veteran was seeking his first win with the Golden State Challenge Series since the ‘05 Pombo/Sargent Classic, and he appeared to well on his way to accomplishing that.
The 1/3 mile Thunderbowl Raceway became very challenging during the feature as turns three and four were one lane on the bottom and extremely slick and dusty. Visibility became a factor during much of the race as the cloud of dust made it so it was difficult to even see the competitors in turn four. Turns one and two didn’t have that problem however, and drivers were able to run up top and get good bite as well as run the bottom. The main issue with that however, was the fact that as soon as they got to turn three, they would have to get on the binders and hug the bottom so it made for very tough conditions and certainly made it a drivers racetrack.
Day had no problems with the track and held a comfortable lead over the rest of the field for the majority of the race. As Day was out front leading, Kaeding made the move under Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet on lap four to claim second. A total of 10 cautions and one red plagued the race as the challenging track conditions took its toll on many of the competitors. On the restarts Day would go high in turns one and two running right up next to the wall and on a lap 13 restart it nearly bit him. Day went way high in turns one and two but had a slight bobble that allowed Kaeding to sneak under to claim the lead. Day was a determined man though and diamonded turn two to drive back underneath Kaeding and get back in front by the time they got to turn three.
Day has had a season filled with bad luck and just as soon as it looked like he was going to break through and pick up a win, he slowed coming down the front stretch on lap 28 and parked the Ridgeline Framing, Elite Racing No. 1 in the infield. Kaeding now found himself out front and he had no problems the last few laps and went on to record his 73rd career Golden State Challenge Series win aboard his Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance, Selco Heating & Air No. 69. The victory was Kaeding’s ninth in the 20 year history of the Pombo/Sargent Classic and going back to last year it was his fourth consecutive Golden State Challenge Series win at Thunderbowl Raceway.
Sweet brought the GP Development, LRB Manufacturing, Circle Racing Wheels No. 6 home in second place to earn his best career Thunderbowl Raceway finish. The 21 year-old throttle abuser was exciting as he rode the ragged edge in turns one and two. Sweet actually closed in on Kaeding around lap 20, but was unable to do anything with the 12 time King of California.
Defending King of California Jonathan Allard of Chico drove the Williams Motorsports, GT Trends, K & N Filters No. 0 to a third place finish, his best with the Golden State Challenge Series since the season opening Mini Gold Cup. 2005 King of California Sean Becker brought the Fisher-Main Motorsports, Cherry St. Mini Storage, Rolling Hills Reality No. 35m home in fourth place. Becker has now finished in the top five seven times in eight races and hasn’t finish worst than sixth this season in GSC competition. Fresno’s Craig Stidham rounded out the top five in the Brad Johnson Trucking, Speed T’s, KRC No. 3. The 2001 Trophy Cup champion was able to get under Livermore’s Chuck Gurney Jr. on the final turn of the last lap to score his first top five finish of the season. Gurney Jr. came home in sixth aboard the Sperry Racing No. 51. Lil’Rim stayed out of trouble and ran a nice race to earn both his best career Thunderbowl Raceway finish and best career Golden State Challenge Series finish. Completing the top 10 was the Reedley Irrigation No. 89 of Ricci Faria from Visalia, the Wright One Construction No. 35 of Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, the Ishii Farms No. 71 of Carruthers Garrett Ishii and the Superior Dairy No. 1m of Chico’s Stephen Allard.
Tommy Tarlton won the 12 lap B-main with mid race pass of Stephen Allard. Ronnie Day won the dash to earn the pole position for the main event.
Four 10 lap heat races were held and they were won by Garrett Ishii, Craig Stidham, Willie Croft and Jon Maiwald.
Fast time was set for the first time this season by Brent Kaeding. BK’s lap of 13.650 beat out 28 other competitors.
Race Results Golden State Challenge Series- Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway
29 cars
Fast time: Brent Kaeding 13.650
Heat 1: Garrett Ishii, Ricci Faria, Brent Kaeding, Brad Sweet
Heat 2: Craig Stidham, Jonathan Allard, Mike Faria, Bud Kaeding
Heat 3: Willie Croft, Chuck Gurney Jr, Jason Statler, Danny Faria Jr.
Heat 4: Jon Maiwald, Ronnie Day, Sean Becker, Jim Skinner
Dash: Day, Sweet, Brent Kaeding, Statler, Allard, Croft, Mike Faria, Becker
B-main: Tommy Tarlton, Stephen Allard, Jason Botsford, Mark Workentine, Shawn Wright, Ric McCormick
A-main: Brent Kaeding, Sweet, Jonathan Allard, Becker, Stidham, Gurney Jr, Ricci Faria, Bud Kaeding, Ishii, Stephen Allard, Tarlton, Botsford, Wright, Day, Danny Faria Jr, Statler, McCormick, Workentine, Maiwald, Croft, Skinner, Mike Faria
Photo courtesy Paul Trevino Racing Photos
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