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Brent Kaeding wins 6th GSC main of season at Ocean Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA - June 2, 2007...You can’t keep the master down for very long. After going winless last weekend, current point leader and 12-time King of California Brent Kaeding won his sixth Golden State Challenge Series main event of the season Friday night at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. BK had a strong car from his Billy Albini led hogs and led every lap of the feature en route to his 76th career victory with the series. Chilly temps, coupled with a marine layer overhead made for a very fast track all night and one of the best we have seen in some time at Ocean Speedway.
Kaeding was able to get around Greg Decaires in the dash to set himself up with a front row starting position for the 30 lap feature. The opening lap saw a big mess as a car mid-pack got sideways and caused a big log jam that ended with about seven cars being involved. One of them was Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs who got upside down in his new Maxim Chassis No 33e machine. It put an early end to the night for the Suggs Racing team, but they were upbeat in the pits and looked forward to tonight’s event in Placerville.
When the field got back going green another caution appeared and it was decided to throw a red flag for fuel. When green came back out Kaeding jumped into the lead aboard his Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance, Selco Heating & Air No. 69. BK handled the field for the whole distance, with the exception of a couple peaks by Chico’s Jonathan Allard. Allard tried to get under Kaeding a few times but the current Golden State Challenge Series point leader would not be denied and picked up yet another career victory and his third of the season at Ocean Speedway.
Allard was coming off a win last Sunday night in Calistoga and backed it up with second place finish in Watsonville aboard the Williams Motorsports, GT Trends, K & N Filters No. 0. As the defending King of California tried to keep Kaeding in his sights during the race, he had to deal with San Jose’s Jason Statler late in the going. Statler was able to get under Allard on a lap 20 restart to take second, but Allard battled back and re-took second on lap 28. By that time Kaeding had gotten away and Allard had to settle for the runner-up position. Statler held on to claim third in the Tom Rolfe Trucking, DF Rios Construction, Pheasant Run Shopping Center No. 10. It marks the fourth straight top five for Statler who was coming off his first win of the season last weekend in Calistoga.
Elk Grove’s Greg Decaires was a surprise entry and finished a strong fourth in the SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors, Weld Racing No. 24. The former Civil War and Silver Dollar Speedway champ got around Campbell’s Bud Kaeding less than a few laps left to earn his second top five in two GSC starts this season. Bud Kaeding jumped into a second Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance, Selco Heating & Air No. 69 and turned in a fifth place performance. The defending USAC Silver Crown champ lost an engine last week at Calistoga and jumped into a team car to his pops and scored his fourth top five finish of the season.
Ocean Speedway fan favorite Ronnie Day from nearby Salinas set fast time and finished sixth in the feature aboard the Ridgeline Framing No. 1. Oroville’s Sean Becker finished seventh, but it was a hard earned seventh. "The Shark" started 11th in the feature and was one of the fastest cars on the track as he got up to fifth by lap nine. As Becker began to close in on the front runners on lap 16, his Fisher/Main Motorsports No. 35m slowed to a stop on the backstretch to bring out a caution. He pitted and got back out for the restart, but pitted again at the next caution. Once again he was pushed back out onto the track and he then came on strong at the end to finish seventh. Aussi Trevor Green brought home an eighth place finish in the Adrad Radiator No 11au. Fresno’s Mark Workentine finished ninth aboard the West Coast Trailers No. 6w to score his first career top 10 finish. Gilroy’s Jon Maiwald rounded out the top 10 to score a top 10 for the second Friday in a row driving the NOS Energy Drink No. 6m.
Statler won the dash to earn the pole position for the feature. Three 10 lap heats were held and were picked off by Green, Becker and Croft. Croft’s heat was especially exciting as he made a last turn pass of Brett Miller to claim victory. Fast time was set by Ronnie Day at a 12.036.
For more visit http://www.oceanspeedway.com and http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
The Golden State Challenge Series now heads to Placerville Speedway for another round of action tonight.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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