By Brian Liskai
BRANDON, S.D. 7-30-10 – San Jose, California’s Tim
Kaeding predicted it would happen. The previous night a third place run
gave him the confidence a win was just around the corner. It came Friday,
July 30 at Huset’s Speedway during the first of three straight nights of
racing at the fast 3/8th-mile with the O’Reilly Auto Parts All Star Circuit
of Champions’ Thunder Through the Plains.
Kaeding took the lead from Huset’s regular Gregg Bakker on lap #2 and then
held off several challenges from young All Star regular David “The
Connecticut Kid” Gravel and fellow Californian Tyler Walker to nab his
second career All Star victory.
“Startin’ next to Gregg (Bakker) there and I knew he’s quick here all the
time so I knew I just had to get out front. This deal was like it was here
last weekend…kind of right up around the top. We took the back row
challenge, stepped on it flipped over and still run fourth. I have to thank
my crew guys they bust their tails all night. This one goes out to Bonz
(Dean ‘Bonzi’ Bruns, crew chief). He lives up here…this is his home track,”
said Kaeding beside his Dennis and Theresa Roth owned #83jr with backing
from HR Cattle.
The 30-lap feature produced close racing which brought out several race
stoppages. Local Gregg Bakker led the field to the green with Kaeding and
Walker in tow. Kaeding blasted around the outside into the lead on lap 2,
bringing fifth place starter and Ohio Sprint Speedweek champion David
Gravel along into second. The caution would fly on lap 6 when All Star
point leader Tim Shaffer and Johnn Cressman to tangled up. Shaffer’s CH
Motorsports car was towed to the pits, which ended a great string of seven
straight top three finishes for Shaffer, the defending All Star champion.
On the restart Kaeding and Gravel put on a great battle for the lead as
they raced into lapped traffic on lap 10. Kaeding showed his experience in
traffic while young Gravel drove like a pro to stay close. The caution
would fly on lap 13 when former track champion Terry McCarl stopped on the
high side of turn 3. The red was soon brought out as something happened on
the machine, causing an injury to McCarl who was taken to an area hospital
to be checked out.
On the restart Kaeding and Gravel resumed their fight with Gravel actually
nosing ahead of Kaeding for a brief moment. Kaeding would drive back by as
Walker would join the battle in his Keen Motorsports machine. On lap 16 the
action would grind to a halt as Cressman got upside down. On the restart it
was Kaeding, Gravel, Walker and local star Mark Dobmeier. The leaders ran
nose to tail as they hit lapped traffic on lap 23. As Kaeding picked his
way through the traffic, Gravel would close, but just could not get around
Kaeding as he took the checkered. Gravel, Walker, Dobmeier and local driver
Scott Winters would round out the top five.
“God this feels great…I can tell you that. We learned a lot racing here
last week. We changed a lot of things. We basically started where we ended
here last week and kind of worked from there and tightened her up all
night. Bonzi knows what he’s doing. I just had to go in there and not hit
the fence and not get taken out by lapped traffic. I have to thank all the
fans for coming out…it’s going to be a great three days I can tell you
that,” said Kaeding, possibly predicting more wins.
A second place run for Gravel continues his hot streak of late as he sits
third in the All Star point standings.
“It was a handful…the track’s really fast and lapped cars were
interesting,” said Gravel beside his DDR Motorsports, P&M Transportation
backed #89G. “The only groove was right around the outside. I tried like
hell on every restart to get by Tim. I was a little bit too nice…I should
have given him a dirty slide job. I thought we were a little better on long
green flag runs and we finally got passed all the lapped cars and the
checkered came out. We were coming but second place is good.”
“We didn’t need to see those yellows and reds because this track was fast
and it was hard to pass in open traffic. Tim did a good job and so did
David. I thought we had a shot at them there until that red came out. We
got by David and were right on Tim’s butt and I thought ‘alright here we
go…let’s get racing.’ But then it was yellow after yellow after yellow and
it just kept the field strung out. You’re going to have that…it’s racing
but I love this race track. I haven’t been here in quite awhile. I forgot
how fun this race track is,” said Walker beside his Peterbuilt backed #17.
“I’ve got a torn ACL so I’m kind of a little bit injured. I love what I’m
doing and I’ve got great car owners, Jesse and Lorraine Keen…they take good
care of me. We have the best crew out here…Jonesy, Pickle, Lee, my
girlfriend…I just love my life man, I’m doing what I love,” added Walker.
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 24-Terry McCarl, 10.882; 2. 89G-David Gravel, 11.002; 3. 83-Tim Shaffer,
11.020; 4. 17-Tyler Walker, 11.030; 5. 83JR-Tim Kaeding, 11.162; 6.
11X-Gregg Bakker, 11.219; 7. O4-Cap Henry, 11.236; 8. 23W-Scott Winters,
11.265; 9. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 11.295; 10. 56-Johnn Cressman, 11.297; 11.
57X-Jake Peters, 11.351; 12. 6-Bill Rose, 11.415; 13. O-Brandon Wimmer,
11.432; 14. 4-Chad Meyer, 11.489; 15. 101-Chuck McGillivray, 11.491; 16.
22T-Miranda Throckmorton, 11.549; 17. 14-Jody Rosenboom, 11.591; 18.
4H-Cody Hanson, 11.648; 19. 12-Jared Ridge, 11.668; 20. 1H-Jeremy Kerzman,
11.753; 21. 99J-Jacob Ossenfort, 11.776; 22. W20-Greg Wilson, 11.827; 23.
9M-Marlon Jones, 11.896; 24. 11-Troy Meyer, 12.073; 25. 96AU-Bruce White,
12.079; 26. 2D-Dusty Ballenger, 12.136; 27. 3-Donovan Peterson, 12.243
Heat 1 – MSD Ignition (10 Laps – Top 6 Transfer)
1. O-Brandon Wimmer; 2. 17-Tyler Walker; 3. 56-Johnn Cressman; 4. O4-Cap
Henry; 5. W20-Greg Wilson; 6. 24-Terry McCarl; 7. 22T-Miranda Throckmorton;
8. 12-Jared Ridge; 9. 96AU-Bruce White
Heat 2 – Kear’s Speed Shop (10 Laps – Top 6 Transfer)
1. 4-Chad Meyer; 2. 83JR-Tim Kaeding; 3. 57X-Jake Peters; 4. 14-Jody
Rosenboom; 5. 89G-David Gravel; 6. 23W-Scott Winters; 7. 9M-Marlon Jones;
8. 1H-Jeremy Kerzman; 9. 2D-Dusty Ballenger
Heat 3 – All Pro Heads (10 Laps – Top 6 Transfer)
1. 13-Mark Dobmeier; 2. 83-Tim Shaffer; 3. 101-Chuck McGillivray; 4.
11X-Gregg Bakker; 5. 11-Troy Meyer; 6. 4H-Cody Hanson; 7. 6-Bill Rose; 8.
99J-Jacob Ossenfort; 9. 3-Donovan Peterson
B-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (12 Laps – Top 6 Transfer)
1. 6-Bill Rose; 2. 12-Jared Ridge; 3. 99J-Jacob Ossenfort; 4. 2D-Dusty
Ballenger; 5. 1H-Jeremy Kerzman; 6. 3-Donovan Peterson; 7. 22T-Miranda
Throckmorton; 8. 96AU-Bruce White; 9. 9M-Marlon Jones
A-Main – O’Reilly Auto Parts (30 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 83JR-Tim Kaeding[2]; 2. 89G-David Gravel[5]; 3. 17-Tyler Walker[3]; 4.
13-Mark Dobmeier[9]; 5. 23W-Scott Winters[8]; 6. O4-Cap Henry[7]; 7.
57X-Jake Peters[11]; 8. 101-Chuck McGillivray[15]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson[21];
10. 6-Bill Rose[12]; 11. 11-Troy Meyer[22]; 12. O-Brandon Wimmer[13]; 13.
4-Chad Meyer[14]; 14. 2D-Dusty Ballenger[23]; 15. 1H-Jeremy Kerzman[19];
16. 12-Jared Ridge[18]; 17. 3-Donovan Peterson[24]; 18. 99J-Jacob
Ossenfort[20]; 19. 56-Johnn Cressman[10]; 20. 24-Terry McCarl[6]; 21.
11X-Gregg Bakker[1]; 22. 83-Tim Shaffer[4]; 23. 4H-Cody Hanson[17]; 24.
14-Jody Rosenboom[16]