From Gary Thomas, image courtesy of Jeff Arns
Queensland, Aus – Traveling to Australia to compete in a series of events along with his father Brent Kaeding three-time and defending USAC K&N Silver Crown champion Bud Kaeding made the most of his second start of the down under trip and charged to victory at the Brisbane International Speedway on Friday January 1.
Kaeding’s initial start at the Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway on December 30 netted him a fourth place finish in the feature, after battling through mechanical issues during heat race competition, which forced him to start from the sixth row in the 30-lap contest. “It was nice to salvage a fourth in the main event during our first race because the night certainly didn’t start how we would have wanted it to,” said the Campbell, California veteran. “We really have to thank John Kelly and everyone for having us doing here.”
Coming back on New Years Day Kaeding blazed out of the gates early on as he clocked a 12.434 in qualifying to narrowly beat out father Brent for fast-time in the 24-car field. The 30-year-old competitor then continued the torrid pace by carving his way from the sixth starting position to claim victory in the opening heat race, before scoring a third place effort in the fifth heat, which was good enough to give him the pole position in the main event.
When the green lights came on in the 30-lapper Kaeding settled into second behind fellow front row starter Peter Thorley as he ran smooth and consistent laps in the early going. Keeping the leader in sight Kaeding closed in quickly near the halfway point and while navigating through traffic he was able to make his move for the top spot, only to have a caution at that same time negate the pass and force him back to second. With Thorley back in the lead Kaeding kept at it and was not to be denied as he once again made the pass when the action got back underway and would drive off to score his first career Brisbane win.
With momentum under his belt Kaeding is now set for some very big events upcoming with the first of them taking place this Wednesday night when the Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway hosts the 35-lap, $10,000-to-win Capalaba Wreckers Sprint Car Cup. A star-studded field is expected to be on hand at the event including four-time and defending World of Outlaw champion Donny Schatz, 13-time King of California Brent Kaeding, Outlaw regular Jason Sides, ASCS National runner-up Jason Johnson, Missouri’s Jesse Hockett, as well as top Australian drivers Brooke Tatnell, Kerry Madsen, Max Dumesny, Robbie Farr, Garry Brazier and many more.
After the event on Wednesday all those top names will return to BIS on Friday and Saturday as the Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars invade the track for two big nights of racing in the Titan Garages Australian Sprintcar Open. The event on Saturday night will be capped with a 50-lap feature and Kaeding is looking forward to competing in the big week of action. “These next few nights should be really fun and we’re excited about them because you can really find out how you stack up with such a quality field on hand,” said the three-time Perris Oval Nationals winner. “A lot of the best drivers from down under and some of the best from the U.S. will be here so it doesn’t get much better than that.”
We are also less than one week away from the start of the 24th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals where Kaeding will once again be in action behind the wheel of the Murray Erickson/Guardian Racing, Spike/Mopar No. 8k machine. In his career at the Chili Bowl Kaeding has made the Saturday night main event on three separate occasions, with the best finish of those being a third place result in 2000. His other two main event starts garnered finishes of 13th in 2005 and 15th in ’06.
Last season Kaeding finished 13th in the second b-main on Saturday and will kick-off his Chili Bowl bid this year during the E3 Spark Plugs Friday night qualifier. “The Chili Bowl keeps getting bigger and bigger each year and has certainly become one of the top events in short track racing, if not the biggest,” he said. “The competition at the Chili Bowl is incredible and we’ll be giving it our all next week to try and get into that main event on Saturday. The big events always have the most media coverage and recognition so they’re the ones you always strive to be the best at.”
The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals currently has more than 250 entries and will kick-off next Tuesday night January 12 featuring four qualifying nights prior to Saturday’s championship finale on January 16. All of action from the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma will be broadcasted via live audio feed for the low cost of just $4.99 on http://www.racinboys.com
For more information on three-time USAC Silver Crown Series champion Bud Kaeding log onto http://www.budkaedingracing.com