From Troy Hennig
Chico, CA — (July 4, 2012) — Campbell’s Bud Kaeding won his 10th sprint car main event in 2012 during Wednesday nights July 4th sprint car race at Silver Dollar Speedway. Kaeding has been vey impressive all year and it was no surprise to see him in victory lane at Chico. “It’s great to see all these fans out here tonight,” said Kaeding to some 3,000 people in the attendance. “I know there weren’t a lot of sprint cars here tonight but I hope we were still able to put on a show for you guys.” Kaeding was one of the few traveling winged 410 drivers who took advantage of racing for $3,000 to win offered by promoter Dennis Gage. In all, 14 sprint cars entered the Wednesday night race presented by Chico Honda Motorsports, Wells Fargo and Oxford Suites.
Joining the winged sprint cars on Independence Day at the speedway included street stocks, mini stocks and hobby stocks. Fred Ryland dominated the 20-lap street stock main event. Jason Clayton won the mini stock 15-lap feature. Steve Hammett grabbed the main event win in the hobby stocks.
Bud Kaeding by luck of the draw got the pole position for the 25-lap sprint car main event. Kaeding beat fellow front row starter Joey Magaruh into the first turn. Kaeding would never surrender the lead from there on out. Behind him, Bobby McMahan moved into the second spot while Brad Bumgarner held down the third spot. The race went 20 laps non stop until the first and only yellow was needed when Michael Tarter came to a stop in turn two. Kaeding led the field back to the green flag and continued to be untouchable. McMahan had to get by a lapped car before he could set his sights on Kaeding. By then Kaeding had built up a good sized lead and was well on his way to the win. On the final lap Bumgarner tried to pass McMahan for second on the high side of the speedway in turns three and four to no avail. Magaruh finished in the fourth spot while Kevin Sharrah rounded out the top five.
Tyler Wolf turned the quickest lap in qualifying at a 12.483. Heath Hall and BJ Martin each won their heat races. Winged sprint car return on July 13th.
Jason Clayton picked up his first win at Silver Dollar Speedway in the mini stock division. Clayton inherited the lead when Misty Castleberry and Shaun Merritt made contact going into turn one. Merritt had led but got passed by Castleberry. As Castleberry went into turn one, Merritt was right on her bumper and contact ensued. Clayton said thank you very much and dove to the bottom and passed them all. Clayton went on to extend his lead and had almost a half straight away lead at the checkered. To her credit, Castleberry fought back and after falling to fifth on the track, she clawed her way back to second. Travis Carter drove a smart race to finish in third. James Foster finished fourth and Sean Perry was fifth. Foster and Castleberry won the two heat races.
Fred Ryland conquered the street stock division tonight. Ryland easily won heat race number two. He then went out and drove a dominant race to win the 20-lap street stock main event. Ryland was able to keep Jake Vantol at bay all night. Vantol is the current point leader and had won two main events this season. Vantol finished in the second spot. Bill Patterson ran another solid race to finish in the third spot. Richard Workman came back from an early spin to finish fourth. Gary Newman rounded out the top five.
Steve Hammett was good all night. He won the six lap heat race number won. He then started deep in the hobby stock main event. Larry Button had the early lead but was then passed by Jeremy Hammons. On lap five Hammett took the lead and never looked back. He was quick enough to win the race by almost two and a half seconds over Hammons. Two-time winner Brain Compton finished third. Josh Tucker was fourth while Kyle Allen was fifth. Kyle Cheney won heat race one.
Full results at www.silverdollarspeedway.com or mylaps.com.