TULARE, Calif. – March 16, 2012 – Tim Kaeding might as well have his mail addressed to Thunderbowl Raceway.
The Californian showcased why the high-banked, one-third mile race track is his house with a dominant performance on Friday in the first of the World of Outlaws doubleheader.
“This is my home away from home,” he said. “We’ve definitely done a lot of things at this track that nobody else can say.”
Not only did Kaeding win, but he did it in style. After starting fourth, Kaeding climbed to second by lap five. One lap later, he rocketed past Steve Kinser off turn four to take the lead at the flag stand in front of the rowdy cheers of a packed crowd.
“This is one of those tracks where you have to have a little bit of patience and big you know whats downstairs,” Kaeding said. “It kind of fits my driving style. The harder you run around this place the better you get around here. I kept doing what I do – live or die by the high side. We definitely lived it up tonight.”
On that circuit the duo entered lapped traffic and Kaeding damaged his nose wing after contact with Bill Rose. Kaeding’s wing collapsed on the left side, but he continued to pull away from Kinser, who later sustained his own collision with lapped traffic.
While running second on lap 11, Kinser spun in turn two and fell back to 12th. Jason Sides capitalized and began the chase on Kaeding. Sides stayed within striking distance and restarted on the inside of Kaeding six times between Kinser’s spin and lap 26, which was a fiasco.
After Jason Meyers flipped on lap 13, the drivers raced 13 more laps before Jonathan Allard stopped on the frontstretch because he was out of tear-offs and couldn’t see. Kerry Madsen flipped in turn two on the restart before Bud Kaeding stopped against the wall in the same corner on the ensuing restart.
Then a few scarce but heavy drops plagued the track and the drivers voted that it was too wet to continue. Officials sent the drivers to the work area in the pits, where they were allowed to make any changes to the car, while push trucks packed the track.
“I’ve never had one of those red flag rain delays and just go out there and work on it and do what you need to,” Sides said. “That was kind of our downfall tonight.
“We were a little loose late in the race and I think if we would have tightened it up a little bit we would have been all right. It’s one of those things where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. We left it like it was for traffic and we just thought wrong.”
After a delay of approximately 15 minutes, the cars were back on the track. The first restart saw the fourth-and-final red flag when Sammy Swindell, who was running fifth, flipped after contact with seventh-running Lucas Wolfe in turn two.
Tim Kaeding, whose crew was able to fix his damaged nose wing during that red flag, again shot out to a big lead and the competition only closed in one last time. Chad Kemenah’s spin in turn two on lap 31 gave Sides and the rest of the Outlaws a final crack at Kaeding.
However, the veteran created a huge advantage off turn two while Craig Dollansky powered by Sides for the runner-up position.
“On that last restart I got a good run on the outside of Jason (Sides) and Terry (McCarl),” Dollansky said. “Tim had a good car. He knows his way around this place.
“Our car was getting better there toward the end. I was just hanging it down a little in turns three and four where it was getting slick in the middle.”
Kaeding held off Dollansky to become the first repeat winner of the season. Eight days ago Kaeding picked up his first World of Outlaws win since 2009.
“To come out and run top six in the first three races and to win two of them, I definitely could have never told you we were going to do that,” he said. “With everything the way it’s going, I’m definitely going to keep swinging for home runs.”
Sides finished third with McCarl in fourth. Joey Saldana, who was the fast qualifier with a lap of 13.515 seconds, placed fifth.
Donny Schatz was sixth and Kinser seventh, while Austen Wheatley had a career-best finish of eighth. Bud Kaeding finished ninth and Kraig Kinser rounded out the top 10.
Trey Starks picked up the KSE Hard Charger Award after gaining nine spots to finish a career-best 13th.
Steve Kinser, Schatz and Sides each won a heat race, and Cody Darrah claimed the Last Chance Showdown.
Thunderbowl Raceway Notebook
WINNERS – Tim Kaeding – 2 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 16 and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 8); Joey Saldana -1 (Perris Auto Speedway on March 10); Craig Dollansky – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Donny Schatz – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Danny Lasoski – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 18).
TIME TRIALS – Joey Saldana was the fastest qualifier around the one-third mile with a time of 13.515 seconds to earn five championship points. Also earning points were Sammy Swindell (4 points), Craig Dollansky (3), Tim Kaeding (2) and Kraig Kinser (1).
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Thunderbowl Raceway Statistical Report; Tulare, Calif.; March 16, 2012
A Main – (35 Laps) – 1. 83-Tim Kaeding [4] [$10,000]; 2. 7-Craig Dollansky [6] [$5,000]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [1] [$3,000]; 4. 24-Terry McCarl [3] [$2,700]; 5. 9-Joey Saldana [8] [$2,500]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz [5] [$2,200]; 7. 11-Steve Kinser [2] [$2,000]; 8. 44W-Austen Wheatley [10] [$1,800]; 9. 19K-Bud Kaeding [16] [$1,600]; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser [11] [$1,450]; 11. 14-Jason Meyers [15] [$1,300]; 12. 21-Brian Brown [12] [$1,200]; 13. 55-Trey Starks [22] [$1,100]; 14. OO-Cory Eliason [21] [$1,000]; 15. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild [18] [$950]; 16. 63-Chad Kemenah [23] [$900]; 17. O-Jonathan Allard [13] [$850]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell [7] [$750]; 19. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [9] [$725]; 20. 19-Tyler Wolf [19] [$700]; 21. 4-Cody Darrah [20] [$700]; 22. 29-Kerry Madsen [14] [$700]; 23. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [17] [$700]; 24. 6-Bill Rose [24] [$700]. Lap Leaders: Steve Kinser 1-5, Tim Kaeding 6-35. KSE Hard Charger Award: 55-Trey Starks [+9].
Qualifying – 1. 9-Joey Saldana, 13.515; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell, 13.641; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky, 13.696; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding, 13.803; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.871; 6. 21-Brian Brown, 13.888; 7. 24-Terry McCarl, 13.924; 8. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.952; 9. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.969; 10. 11-Steve Kinser, 14.004; 11. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 14.005; 12. 44W-Austen Wheatley, 14.146; 13. O-Jonathan Allard, 14.173; 14. 29-Kerry Madsen, 14.214; 15. 14-Jason Meyers, 14.233; 16. 19K-Bud Kaeding, 14.328; 17. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 14.373; 18. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild, 14.384; 19. 19-Tyler Wolf, 14.389; 20. 4-Cody Darrah, 14.418; 21. OO-Cory Eliason, 14.544; 22. 55-Trey Starks, 14.601; 23. 6-Bill Rose, 15.001; 24. 63-Chad Kemenah, 15.188; 25. 98M-Mitch Olson, No Time.
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11-Steve Kinser [1]; 2. 24-Terry McCarl [2]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding [3]; 5. O-Jonathan Allard [5]; 6. 19K-Bud Kaeding [6]; 7. 55-Trey Starks [8]; 8. 19-Tyler Wolf [7].
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 5. 29-Kerry Madsen [5]; 6. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [6]; 7. 4-Cody Darrah [7]; 8. 6-Bill Rose [8].
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 2. 44W-Austen Wheatley [1]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky [4]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 5. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 6. 14-Jason Meyers [5]; 7. OO-Cory Eliason [7]; 8. 63-Chad Kemenah [8].
Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 2. 11-Steve Kinser [1]; 3. 24-Terry McCarl [4]; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding [5]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 6. 7-Craig Dollansky [6]; 7. 1-Sammy Swindell [7]; 8. 9-Joey Saldana [8]; 9. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [9]; 10. 44W-Austen Wheatley [10].
B Main – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 4-Cody Darrah [2] [-]; 2. 19-Tyler Wolf [1] [-]; 3. 55-Trey Starks [4] [-]; 4. OO-Cory Eliason [3] [-]; 5. 63-Chad Kemenah [6] [-]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [5] [-]; 7. 98M-Mitch Olson [7] [$200].
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings
Pos.
Driver
Total
Diff
Wins
T5
T10
QT
1.
Donny Schatz
828
1
3
5
0
2.
Sammy Swindell
823
-5
0
3
5
1
3.
Jason Sides
820
-8
0
3
4
0
4.
Joey Saldana
814
-14
1
3
4
1
5.
Jason Meyers
800
-28
0
2
3
1
Kraig Kinser
800
-28
0
2
5
0
7.
Steve Kinser
798
-30
0
2
4
0
8.
Craig Dollansky
785
-43
1
3
3
0
9.
Sam Hafertepe Jr.
743
-85
0
0
3
0
10.
Chad Kemenah
736
-92
0
1
2
2
11.
Cody Darrah
707
-121
0
0
1
0
12.
Lucas Wolfe
692
-136
0
0
1
0
13.
Kerry Madsen
673
-155
0
1
1
0
14.
Bill Rose
634
-194
0
0
0
0
15.
Terry McCarl
632
-196
0
1
1
0
16.
Jac Haudenschild
608
-220
0
0
0
0
17.
Tim Kaeding
440
-388
2
2
3
0
18.
Brad Sweet
408
-420
0
1
2
0
19.
Dale Blaney
401
-427
0
0
2
0
20.
Brian Brown
392
-436
0
1
1
0
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