HammerDownUSA.com
Tim Kaeding gets win No. 15 in NST
40 lap season finale
By Gary
Thomas
Tulare, Ca - October 15, 2006... San Jose’s Tim Kaeding wanted badly to win
in front of his home state fans and he showed it as he charged from his 13th
starting position to pick up a dominating victory in the National Sprint Tour
season finale at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway. Kaeding, who
had earlier in the night set fast time, was forced to come through the B-main
following contact with another car that sent him upside down in his heat race.
Amazingly Kaeding had a similar feat at the Thunderbowl in 2002 while driving
the Terry Cowan owned ABC Ready Mix No. 7t. On that night he won the B-main,
started 17th in the main event and then proceeded to charge to the front
picking up the ultra exciting win.
Fast forward four years later and it was a case of de ja vu for the man
commonly refereed to as the TK Express. Kaeding started from the pole of the
B-main and annihilated the field easily picking up the win. He then received
his qualifying time back behind the dash cars which lined him up inside row
seven. Kaeding looked so unbelievably fast in the B-main most people around the
track wondered, “Can he do it from 13th?”
The 40 lap NST season finale started out with dash one winner Brandon Wimmer jumping out to the lead.
Wimmer, driving for Davey Key Motorsports looked super impressive in his dash
which he won by nearly a ½ lap. He kept up the pace early on in the feature as
he pulled away to a commanding lead over Steve Kinser. The whole thing changed
on lap four, however, as Wimmer bicycled on the cushion in turn three and hit
the wall ultimately getting upside down. The Thunderbowl held true to its
2006 characteristics as it had slicked off nicely with big cushion built
up among the outer regions of the track. Most of the competitors used the top
side of the raceway but Kaeding was able to work down low early on and pull
some wicked sliders to make his way through the field.
With Wimmer gone from the picture it moved Kinser up to the lead which he
held until lap 16 when he pulled to a stop on the backstretch with a blown
motor handing the lead to California local Mike Faria. At this point
Kaeding had continued to charge forward making some incredible moves on the 1/3
mile clay oval and sat in second for the lap 16 restart. TK wasted little
time and made an aggressive low side pass through the first and second corners
to take the lead. Kaeding was in a league of his own and the only slowing him
was multiple cautions and red flags that prolonged the race. A fuel stop
occurred on lap 30 and after that two more red flag stoppages were seen. When
all the yellows and reds were done Kaeding pulled away to lead the last handful
of laps and pick up a convincing victory aboard the Slick 50, Steve Kinser
Racing, Pilot Travel Centers No. 11k.
It totaled the 15th win of the season for the 2002 Golden State Challenge
Series champion and capped off an outstanding first year of driving for Steve
Kinser Racing. Kaeding is now set to compete next weekend at the Cotton Classic
in Hanford aboard the Rod Tiner No. 83. The
following week he will run the Short Track Nationals in Arkansas before coming back to California and looking for his second career
Trophy Cup win, this year driving the Tiner 83.
Finishing second last night in Tulare was Double Down Jason Sides of
Bartlett, Tennessee. Sides drove a smooth and solid race aboard the
Wetherington Tractor Service, VRP Shocks, Weld Racing No. 7s and gained
momentum for the upcoming Trophy Cup where he compete in the Doyle’s Harley
Davidson No. 33.
A fine run for young Brad Sweet netted him an outstanding third place finish
driving the Tom Rolfe Trucking, GP Development, Platinum Powder Coating No. 10.
The Grass Valley, Ca driver also had a great run a
little over a month ago with a National series at the Gold Cup Race of
Champions in Chico finishing fourth during one of the preliminary
night feature’s. The ultra versatile driver is opening up many eyes this year
and will be a strong contender at the Trophy Cup.
Mechanicsburg, Pa’s Brian Paulus stayed out of trouble early
on and made some nice low side passes late in the feature to finish fourth
after starting way back in the 24th position aboard the Arnold Transportation,
Hank’s Performance Products, Travel Centers of America No. 28. Paulus had
trouble in qualifying and was only able to muster 27th quick out of 34 cars but
his good run in the feature scored him his first top five finish of the year
with NST.
The top five in the feature was rounded out by Clovis, Ca driver Jason Meyers in the Elite Landscaping, Pacific
Union Homes, Lafferty Homes No. 14. The finish was impressive in the fact that
he suffered a flat tire after contact was made between himself and Mike Faria
while battling for second on lap 30. After changing the tire and restarting at
the rear he moved forward nicely working every portion of the speedway and
passed Steve Kent in the final turn to score a top five finish.
Fresno, Ca’s Kent ran up front the whole race and
held down fourth until a few laps left before falling a couple positions and
ending up sixth in the Island Muffler and Brake No. 7n. Kent had a fifth place run in August
with the NST at Gray’s Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wa and followed that great finish up
with a solid night of action at the Thunderbowl.
13 time Golden State Challenge Series champion Brent Kaeding of Campbell, Ca started 19th, stayed out of
trouble and came on strong at the end to finish seventh in the Al’s Roofing
Supply No. 69. Finishing eighth through tenth were Salinas, Ca’s Ronnie Day in the Elite
Landscaping No. 1, Tipton, Ca’s Danny Faria Jr in the Riverview Dairy No. 17v
and Nashville, Tn’s Paul McMahan in the Bass Pro
Shop’s No. 20.
Day’s eighth place finish was enough to give him the 2006 Thunderbowl Raceway
track championship. Jonathan Allard was the point leader coming into the event
but was involved in a hard flip during his heat race which broke an area of the
roll cage on his Williams Motorsports No. 0 and forced him to scratch for the
rest of the evening. That opened the door for Brent Kaeding to move into second
in the final point tally.
The B-main was won in dominating fashion by Tim Kaeding. Also transferring out
of the 12 lap race were Danny Lasoski, Robert Ballou and Danny Faria Jr.
The two six lap dashes were picked off by Brandon Wimmer and Steve Kinser.
Wimmer had the faster qualifying lap of the two and chose the outside line for
the feature event.
The night’s first heat race was captured by Jason Sides who held off a last lap
charge from Ronnie Day. Steve Kent out dragged Steve Kinser to the first turn
in heat race No. two and held a comfortable advantage over the 20 time WOO
champ to handily pick up the win. The third heat race was won impressively by
Thunderbowl Raceway first timer Quick Rick Fauver of Everett, Wa and the fourth and final heat race
was picked off by Mount Vernon, Wa’s Jason Solwold.
Tim Kaeding’s lap of 12.897 beat 34 other competitors in timed qualifications.
To keep up to date with the latest happening’s of the National Sprint Tour
visit http://www.nationalsprinttour.com
For the latest info on Thunderbowl Raceway visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
Tickets for the upcoming Trophy Cup are available by calling 559-688-0909
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