Tim Kaeding wins first
WoO feature of 2005
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So it figures that when
Kaeding raced to his first
Or a lot of drama. The
night was delayed to begin with because a thunderstorm around
With 49 cars in the pits
and the clock ticking, time trials were tossed out for the first time since
July 1990 at Williams Grove. Dashes also were lost in an effort to complete the
race. Instead, cars were lined up for five heats by the order in which they
drew for time trials. Passing points were used to score the heats and determine
the field for the A- and B-mains. Passing points reward drivers for passing
cars as well as their finishing position in the heats. Joey Saldana started the
fifth heat from the outside of Row 2 and took the checkered flag, earning the
pole for the feature as he was aiming to win an Outlaws race at Sheboygan for
the second year in a row.
In the 40-lap main event,
Saldana charged to the lead at the drop of the green flag while
As the leaders started
running through traffic, Steve Kinser maneuvered around his son, Kraig, to grab
the fourth position on Lap 10. Saldana drove up to the cushion to put cars down
a lap and try to maintain his 0.8-second advantage over Kaeding and Meyers.
With the top three running
nose-to-tail, Kinser went to work on Meyers, finally slipping past on the
inside as they came off of Turn 4 on Lap 19.
Kaeding continued to carry
his momentum around the high side of the track like he has done so many times
this season. In fact, using the same tactics, Kaeding finished third last
Saturday at Eldora Speedway and second on Thursday at I-96 Speedway.
On Lap 23, Kaeding made his
move. Riding the cushion, he slid by Saldana as they came off of Turn 4,
completing the pass just before Jason Solwold brought out a caution when he
jumped the cushion and stopped in Turn 4.
But the excitement was far
from over for Kaeding. Pushing hard to stay in front of Saldana and Kinser on
Lap 27, Kaeding raced down the length of the frontstretch with his front wheels
in the air.
Three laps later, Kinser
tangled with Saldana in a battle for second and both cars spun. Kinser managed
to keep his car moving but Saldana’s stopped car brought out a caution, and put
Kinser directly behind Kaeding.
On the restart, Kaeding
shot to the cushion in his Roth Motorsports machine while Kinser worked the
bottom of the track. It was enough for Kinser to slice into Kaeding’s advantage
and steal the lead in Turn 4 on Lap 34. But Kaeding had already run second to
Kinser a couple of times this season and wasn’t about to do it again.
As the white flag came out
to signal the final lap, Kaeding refused to settle. Kinser and Kaeding came up
on traffic. Kinser went low, thinking he would clear the car. Kaeding shot back
to the cushion. The lapped car was still there and Kinser was stuck. Kaeding
shot into the lead and held on during the final lap to claim his first victory
of the season by 0.56-seconds over Kinser.
Finishing behind Kaeding
and Kinser were Meyers, Kraig Kinser, Donny Schatz, Daryn Pittman, Shane
Stewart, Brooke Tatnell, Terry McCarl and Travis Rilat.
“I still can’t believe it,”
said Kaeding, a native of
“It was just unbelievable.
[The track] was greasy all night, but once it came in it got a big old curb
around the top and that was all she wrote. That was our turning point. … He
messed up one time and I just said, ‘OK, I’m either going to make it or I’m
going to crash,’ and I made it.”
Kinser, who was trying to
win for the 12th time this season, feels he let this one slip away when the
traffic jam blocked the low side of the track as Kaeding was pushing hard on
the cushion.
“I just went to the wrong
spot on the lapped car,” said Kinser, a 19-time series champion from
“I started in the fourth
row, and I should have won the race, but I got into Joey up there, too. It was
just one of those nights.”
All the action between
Kaeding and Kinser was happening in front of Meyers, who has finished in the
top three in three of the past five races.
“One went to the top and
one went to the bottom,” said Meyers, a native
“It was a great move. Tim
was running the top and bounced over the cushion a couple of times. He actually
lost the lead by bouncing up over the cushion. He stuck with it and kept
whittling away and just hung it out there on the edge at the end and brought it
home.”
The adjusted qualifying format
didn’t seem to affect the Mean 15 racers I needed to hustle the car a little
more. I got in there and didn’t feel real good on the top and went to the
bottom for a while. I think I should have just stayed up top and bounced around
a little bit and held onto the racecar. It might have been a little better, but
hindsight is 20/20.
At first it feels odd, but
you just got to get over it and realize it’s just another race. It was a
different format, but the main goal tonight was to race good for the fans.
In the B-main, Brandon
Wimmer grabbed the lead coming out of Turn 2 and drove off with the victory to
continue his strong efforts in qualifying races. Also transferring the the
feature were Tim Shaffer, Craig Dollansky and Joe Roe.
With passing points from
the heats used to set the field for the feature, heat race winners included
Kaeding, Donny Schatz, Steve Meyer, Jason Sides and Saldana. For Sides, it was
his third consecutive event with a heat race victory.
The
All of the action from the
June 1 race at
If fans can’t get to a
track to see the series, they can experience the excitement of the
The
Qualifying
Qualifying was cancelled due to heavy rain showers just before warm-ups. Heat
races were lined up according to the qualifying draw, and passing points were
used to determine the cars transferring to the A-feature. (Top 20 in passing
points transferred, and lined up according to passing point.
First Heat Race (10 laps,
Passing points)
1) Tim Kaeding
2) Wayne Modjeski
3)
4) Brooke Tatnell
5) Terry McCarl
6) Scott Grissom
7) Travis Whitney
8) Kurt Davis
9) Jason Johnson
10) Mike Kertscher
Second Heat Race (10 laps,
Passing points)
1) Donny Schatz
2)
3) Kraig Kinser
4) Craig Dollansky
5) Rick Kelsey
6)
7) K.J. Skelton
8) John Haeni
9) Troy Wondra
10) Dave Eltz
Third Heat Race (10 laps,
Passing points)
1) Steve Meyer
2) Travis Rilat
3) Kim Mock
4) Jason Solwold
5) Danny Lasoski
6) Tim Shaffer
7) Jeremy Schroeder
8) Dave Enders
9) Scott Biertzer
10) Lloyd Dykstra
Fourth Heat Race (10 laps,
Passing points)
1) Jason Sides
2) Daryn Pittman
3) Shane Stewart
4) Paul McMahan
5) Michael Emme
6) Jim Melis
7) Donny Goeden
8) Bill Wirth
9) Keith Oljenik
10) Ty Bartz
Fifth Heat Race (10 laps,
Passing points)
1) Joey Saldana
2) Scott Neitzel
3) Steve Kinser
4) Joe Roe
5) Brandon Wimmer
6) Dave Uttech
7) Mike Stefka
8)
9) John Sauermilch
Failed to qualify for
B-main:
Troy Wondra [$100], Jason Johnson [$100], Scott Biertzer [$100], Keith Oljenik
[$100], John Sauermilch [$100], Mike Kertscher [$100], Dave Eltz [$100], Lloyd
Dykstra [$100], Ty Bartz [$100]
B-main (12 laps, top 4
finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) Brandon Wimmer [$20]
2) Tim Shaffer [$20]
3) Craig Dollansky [$20]
4) Joe Roe [$20]
5) Jim Melis [$200]
6)
7) Rick Kelsey [$175]
8) John Haeni [$160]
9) Michael Emme [$150]
10) Dave Uttech [$150]
11) Donny Goeden [$150]
12) Bill Wirth [$150]
13) Jeremy Schroeder [$150]
14) Mike Stefka [$150]
15) K.J. Skelton [$150]
16)
17) Kurt Davis [$150]
18) Dave Enders [$150]
19) Travis Whitney [$150]
20) Scott Grissom (DNS) [$100]
A-main (40 laps)
1) Tim Kaeding [$10,000]
2) Steve Kinser [$5,500]
3)
4) Kraig Kinser [$2,800]
5) Donny Schatz [$2,500]
6) Daryn Pittman [$2,300]
7) Shane Stewart [$2,200]
8) Brooke Tatnell [$2,100]
9) Terry McCarl [$2,050]
10) Travis Rilat [$2,000]
11) Paul McMahan [$1,500]
12) Craig Dollansky [$1,200]
13)
14) Jason Sides [$1,050]
15) Joey Saldana [$1,000]
16) Brandon Wimmer [$900]
17) Joe Roe [$800]
18) Kim Mock [$800]
19) Wayne Modjeski [$800]
20) Jason Solwold [$800]
21) Steve Meyer [$800]
22) Tim Shaffer [$800]
23) Scott Neitzel [$800]
24) Danny Lasoski [$800]