Fall Nationals, 360 sprints, Chico, CA.,

Brent Kaeding Wins His First Fall Nationals Championship By: Troy Hennig For forty-laps Saturday night at the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals in Chico, the Kaeding family once again taught us all a lesson; father knows best. For forty-laps Brent and Tim Kaeding dueled lap after lap battling amongst themselves as well as lapped cars in what turned out to be a race for the ages. Tim led up until lap 15 when he bobbled just a bit coming out of turn four and Brent took the lead. Brent would go on to beat Tim to the finish line by one-car length and win his first ever Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals. Now, all three racing Kaeding’s; Bud, Tim and Brent, have won the Saturday night race. The win earned Brent $4,000 for his forty laps of work.

“This win is for all the old people tonight,” said Brent in victory lane. “This kid (Tim) has been kicking our butts lately and it feels good to beat him. I just have to thank my crew (the hogs) for keeping on me and making this old man keep digging and racing all these young kids.” Tim gave praise to his father in victory lane but also took some fun spirited jabs at him too. “There are some big money races coming up and I think he’ll be sitting here (in second spot) where I am tonight and I’ll be the one in first,” said Tim. During an on track bumper bang between the two on lap 26 Tim responded by saying, “I should of hit him harder,” which got an animated laugh from the crowd.

Finishing third was Chad Riolo. Something about this race always brings the best out in Chad, a winner of the race in 1999, and has led some people to call him the new “Mr. October” of sprint car racing. “I was just so excited to be able to race with these guys (Tim and Brent) and I need to thank my crew, especially my brother who sets up the car all year but wasn’t able to be here tonight,” said Riolo.

The twenty-car 40 lap main event started with Jayme Barnes and Steven Tiner on the front row, however, coming out of turn two on lap one Tim Kaeding moved from his inside second row starting position to take the lead. Following Tim into second was third row inside starting Brent Kaeding. A caution stopped the race on lap one which bunched the field up single file and placed the two Kaeding’s up front for the next 39 laps. On lap five, Tiner drifted off the edge of the racing surface and moved him back deep into the field. Then on lap seven, trouble found Tiner’s fellow front row starter Jayme Barnes who made serious contact with Jason Meyers while the two were battling for third. The incident caused Barnes to spin off of turn two and restart at the back.

Just seven laps later, Barnes and Tiner spun together on lap 14 bringing an end to Barnes’ night. After starting on the pole position, Barnes would be the first causality of the night and finish dead last. Following the single file restart, Brent began working the bottom of the track while Tim committed to the top. On lap 15, Tim made a slight error and Brent snuck by for the lead on lap 15. The next fourteen laps provided as much excitement and drama at the speedway that we’ve had all year. Both Kaeding’s weaved in and out of traffic bringing the crowd to their collective feet rooting on their favorite driver. Racing behind the two Kaeding’s was also great.

Two drivers that started in row nine were moving up. Iowa’s Dennis Moore Jr. and Chico’s Jonathan Allard put on quite a passing display and by lap 25 they were fifth and sixth on the speedway. Ahead of them, Chad Riolo and Jason Meyers scuffled back and forth, each trying to secure the third position. On lap 29, the race was red flagged when Sean Becker clipped the big white tire that separates the track from the infield causing him to flip. The remaining cars would come back onto the speedway with eleven laps to go and a clear track ahead of the leaders. When the green flag came back out Brent was able to pull away slightly from Tim but just as fast as he did, Tim would reel him back in.

As laps wound down, Tim kept trying to run the cushion in turns three and four and at times he was faster than Brent, but other times his car would pick up a slight push causing his car to role up over the cushion and lose valuable time to Brent. On lap 38 Brent had gained a half-straight-away lead and it seemed he had the race easily won, however, two slower cars loomed ahead and caused Brent to check up just a bit. Give Tim credit because he did everything in his power those final two laps to make up the ground he had lost. On the last lap, last turn of the race, Tim drove so far and hard into turn three that he had moved along side Brent but with Brent on the bottom and seemingly having more traction down there, Brent powered off turn four for the exciting win.

Tim followed Brent across the line. After the two Kaeding’s it was Riolo, Meyers and Allard. The 20 lap B main event saw Dennis Moore Jr., driving the Morrie Williams #0, take the lead and never look back. The Knoxville specialist showed his short track skills by holding off Allard, Jason Solwold and Sean Becker to the finish line. Those top four drivers would be the only transfers from the race into the A main event.

The most exciting race of the night might have been in the C Main event when Herman Klein chose to “win it or wear” on the last lap. With David Robinson Jr. leading with one lap to go, Klein forced the issue on the outside of the track. Robinson Jr. dove to the bottom in turns three and four while Klein, nicknamed “hang on Herman”, did just that. Klein kept his foot buried in the gas pedal and passed Robinson Jr. on the outside of turn four. At the line Klein beat Robinson Jr. by less than a car length. The biggest applause of the night by the crowd was given to Herman when he came by during the cool down lap.

Sacramento’s Duane Scott won the 12-lap D main event. Chico’s Troy Hovey drove a solid race to finish second followed by Scott Russell. Chico’s Chris Scott showed flashes of brilliance in winning the E main event. The night started off with Travis Jacobson winning the ten lap F main event.

RESULTS F Main: Travis Jacobson, Steve Stein, Charlie Thompson, Kevin Sharrah, Tim Boychuk, John Taylor, Paul Pedroncelli, John Huggins, Andy Kirkpatrick, Tom Baker E Main: Chris Scott, Andy Jacobson, Scott Russell, Eric Hopkins, Jade Parker, Jeff Young, Ron Myska, James Lester, Tony Silvera, Stein, Thompson

D Main: Duane Scott, Troy Hovey, Russell, Chuck Gurney Jr., Young, Mark Tabor, Jacobson, Scott, Rodney Olson, Parker, Eddie Lewis, Brent Dothage, Randall Ditgen, Troy Degaton, Hopkins

C Main: Herman Klein, David Robinson Jr., Shawn Smith, Colby Weisz, Tracy Canales, Jacobson, Hovey, Russell, Scott, Tabor, Pat Harvey, Dave Angus, Young, Tim Sherman, Gurney Jr.

B Main: Dennis Moore Jr., Jonathan Allard, Jason Solwold, Sean Becker, Destiny Hays, Greg DeCaires, Jim Van Lare, Klein, Weisz, Mark Tabor Jr., Brad Sweet, Smith, Steve Ferhman, Jeff Hallieb, Robinson Jr.

A Main: Brent Kaeding, Tim Kaeding, Chad Riolo, Jason Meyers, Allard, Moore Jr., Roger Crockett, Ricky Wondergem, Mike Henry, Solwold, Mark Hall, Jimmy Trulli, Erik Folger, Mike Benson, Korey Lovell.

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