From Gary Thomas, Photo courtesy of Bryan Lugo
The 29-year-old competitor went into this past week fresh off a top-five finish at the Budweiser Oval Nationals the previous Saturday and had already clinched the Silver Crown Series title going into PIR on Thursday. Looking to finish off the season with a victory Kaeding opened the event by timing-in 10th fastest in the 23-car field aboard the BK Motorsports, K&N Filters, Alviso Rock No. 29. The 100-lap feature then saw him bring home an eighth place finish, during a race that saw young Cole Whitt score victory in his very first pavement start with the series.
With the title Kaeding joins fellow Northern California racer Jimmy Sills as the only two drivers to have won the Silver Crown championship on three different occasions. “I was hoping for a little better finish tonight so that’s kind of disappointing, but it feels great to win this title,” said Kaeding, who finished among the top-10 in each race this season. “This is a real historic series so it’s an honor to get a third championship and I have to thank all my guys for working hard all season long. Hopefully this series can keep growing back up and we’re looking forward to next year trying for our fourth title.”
Following Phoenix the BK Motorsports team then headed for the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday and Sunday to compete in the USAC National and USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series sanctioned Pacific Coast Nationals. Opening night was a tough one though for Kaeding as qualifying 34th quickest in the field left him playing catch up all night, where he ultimately ended up finishing 14th in the semi-main to put an early end to the evening.
With Saturday behind him Kaeding focused on improving things during the Sunday finale and it started off stronger right from the get-go as he clocked the fourth fastest lap in qualifying out of the 51 entrants on hand. A ninth place finish in the heat race however, put the High Five Pizza, Kaeding Performance Maxim into the semi for the second night in a row, but this time around it went much better as a runner-up finish in the 12-lap contest transferred him into the A-main.
With the USAC National Sprint Car Series format giving drivers their times back within the six car inversion, it still allowed Kaeding to line-up in the second row for the $12,500-to-win feature and the veteran wheel-man would immediately find the high-side to his liking as he ran among the top-five for the duration of the 40-lapper. With the laps winding down Kaeding hounded third running Damion Gardner and was finally able to get the momentum needed to slingshot by on lap 33 to move into the third position.
The Campbell driver then closed in on second running Chad Boat, but ran out of laps and had to settle for a third place finish at the waving of the checkered flag by starter Willie Williams. “After the way last night went it’s awesome to get up here on the podium tonight,” Kaeding said. “We had our old friend Davey Jones helping us out tonight and the car was great so I couldn’t be happier. The track was a lot better tonight as well so we have to thank the track crew, because you could move around a lot more and that’s what non-wing racing is all about so hopefully the crowd got a good show.”
For more news and information on Campbell, CA’s Bud Kaeding visit http://www.budkaedingracing.com