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Paul Trevino Photo
Tyler Walker goes back-to-back in King of the West Series competition with victory at Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway’s KRC Safety Fall Shootout on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – October 10, 2015…Since returning to the seat of a Sprint Car in June with the King of the West Sprint Car Series Los Angeles, CA’s Tyler Walker has continued to get stronger & stronger. The 2009 series titlist & crew chief Lee Lindgren have certainly found their championship form from that season, with Walker racing to his second straight and third overall KWS win of the year on Saturday at Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway.
It was the 16th victory of Walker’s King of the West career, giving him sole possession of fifth on the all-time series win list. The only drivers ahead of him are Brent & Tim Kaeding, Jonathan Allard and Steve Kent. So far this year in 12 series starts Walker has driven the Richie Rich Motorsports/ Walker Performance Filtration No. 88 to seven podium finishes, including his three wins that have come in Stockton, Ventura and now Tulare. The triumph paid T-Dub $4,000 courtesy extra money from Gary Castro & KRC Safety.
“It feels great to be back in victory lane here at the Thunderbowl and I can’t thank my guys enough for giving me such a great car,” Walker commented. “We turned the fastest lap of the race on the final lap and that is really a testament to my crew chief Lee Lindgren and everyone that works on this 88 car. I was a little worried early because I thought I showed Bud Kaeding the line, but luckily I was able to get by him again and then just hit my marks. We haven’t done much 360 racing this year, but are really looking forward to the Trophy Cup next week.”
The feature came to the line with dash winner & KWS point leader Bud Kaeding on the pole and Walker to his outside. The opening lap saw the duo dice it up for the lead, but it was all for naught as the yellow waved for a slowing DJ Netto. On the ensuing restart Kaeding got the jump on the field and led the opening laps until Walker got a great run off the second corner to battle his way by for the top spot. The track surface was extremely fast all night long, but did widen out for the A-main. The red flag waved on lap-four as Tim Kaeding got upside down. TK was luckily okay, but done for the night.
Different tussles had developed throughout the field, with point leaders Bud Kaeding & Carson Macedo being one of them. The two drivers raced closely together for a number of laps, until Macedo took advantage of a restart to slice his way past for the second spot. Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild was fun to watch as always, riding the high-scary side of the Thunderbowl. He along with Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi and others fought it out during the 30-lapper.
The biggest drama of the race occurred with just three-laps to go when Bud Kaeding and a lapped car came together in turns one & two. Kaeding was able to restart, but lost lots of track position to his championship rival Macedo, who sat in the second spot.
On the restart Haudenschild tried to fight his way past Macedo, as the youngster tried to keep pace with Walker, who had run the bottom side to perfection over the last half of the race. When the Ed Entz checkered flag waved it was T-Dub crossing under it by 1.002 seconds over Macedo. Haudenschild came home third in his season debut driving for Roth Motorsports. The veteran looks to be one of the favorites as always at next week’s Trophy Cup.
Golobic had an outstanding run in the main event to charge from 13th to fourth, with Scelzi rounding out the top-five. Chico’s Jonathan Allard came home sixth. Fresno’s Cory Eliason was seventh, with Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan in eighth, Campbell’s Brent Kaeding ninth and Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto in 10th. Bud Kaeding finished the race in 13th and coupled with Macedo’s runner up effort gives us a new point leader for the sixth time in the last seven weekend’s of racing.
As noted Bud Kaeding won the dash, while the B-main went to Jonathan Allard. The four 10-lap heat races were picked off by Mitchell Faccinto, Dominic Scelzi, Placerville’s Andy Gregg and Paradise driver Kyle Hirst. Each heat winner will be awarded $500 courtesy of KRC Safety Company. Bud Kaeding set fast time to begin the night by clocking a 13.383 around the one-third mile clay oval.
The $500 longest tow award courtesy of KRC Safety goes to Crawfordsville, Indiana wheel-man Jacob Wilson. It was nice to have the two-time Little 500 winner on hand during the night. Scott Parker earned the KRC Hard Luck Award after a hot lap flip cut his night short.
A-main finish: 1. 88 Tyler Walker, 2. 21x Carson Macedo, 3. 83 Jac Haudenschild, 4. 22 Shane Golobic, 5. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 6. 3c Jonathan Allard, 7. 00jr Cory Eliason, 8. 25 Bobby McMahan, 9. 69 Brent Kaeding, 10. 37 Mitchell Faccinto, 11. 3 Craig Stidham, 12. 07 Jacob Wilson, 13. 0 Bud Kaeding, 14. 98 Sean Watts, 15. 56 Ryan Bernal, 16. 12 Jarrett Soares, 17. 83jr Kyle Hirst, 18. 16x Andy Gregg, 19. 9s Landon Hurst, 20. 88k Koen Shaw, 21. 35m Tim Kaeding, 22. 88n DJ Netto
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will return to action on Saturday October 24 at the Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford for the 30th Cotton Classic. Carson Macedo will bring the point lead into the night; in what will be the next to last event of the season for KWS. The season-finale takes place on November 7 at the Stockton Dirt Track.
The Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway returns with the 22nd annual Southwest Contractors Trophy Cup next week. Tickets continue to be on sale, with all seating in the house reserved. Grandstand tickets cost $40 on Thursday & Friday and $45 on Saturday. Bleacher tickets are $35 on Thursday & Friday and $40 on Saturday. Kids 6-12 are half price and 5 & under are free.
A seating chart is available at www.thunderbowlraceway.com and tickets can be acquired by calling 559-688-0909. The pit gate will be open for teams at 10am on Thursday October 15, with the drivers meeting at 3:30pm sharp. Cars will be on the track a little after 4pm. The ticket booth will open at noon on Thursday & Friday, while Saturday it opens at 10am.
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