PETERSEN MEDIA
Though he won a thriller on Friday night at the Tulare Thunderbowl, Tim Kaeding was disappointed when the weekend came to a close as he wound up finishing in the fourth spot in the Trophy Cup standings.
In one of the biggest, and most unique, races of the year, Kaeding kicked it off in style on Friday as he best the 81 cars checked in during time trials, as he set fast time.
Lining up sixth in his heat, the San Jose, CA driver got a great start, and jumped up into the third spot, where he finished, and transferred to the feature event.
Sitting third in event points, TK lined up in the fifth row, and moved forward at will in the feature event.
Early in the feature event Kaeding made serious ground by running the top of the track, but after the caution flew on the 16th lap, and he sat in the fourth spot, TK did something you hardly see him do at the Thunderbowl, and that is run the bottom.
Getting around Jonathan Cornell on the restart, TK set his sights on Jonathan Allard and David Gravel as he ran the bottom to near perfection in turns one and two, while he used the top shelf in three and four.
Getting into the second spot on the 26th lap, TK looked under Gravel a few times until the caution flew with just two laps to go, putting him on Gravel’s rear bumper.
Trying to slide up in front of Gravel in the first set of corners, Gravel held the spot as TK felt pressure from Kyle Larson.
In the final set of Corners, TK made a last attempt at getting the win as he dove low, crossing the scoring loop .003 seconds ahead of Gravel.
Sitting atop the points after the opening night win, Kaeding returned to action on Saturday night, and kicked his night off by charging from eighth to fourth in his heat, keeping him atop the standings, putting him in the 12th row of the 50-lap finale.
When the race went green, TK hung at the back, as he looked to find the fastest way to the front, as he ran in the 18th spot on the 11th lap.
When the race resumed it had an extended green flag run, and though Kaeding was able to work up into the 12th spot, he didn’t seem to be much of a factor during the race.
Looking to fight his way forward as much as he could, TK lost the handle on the 44th lap, and ultimately finished fourth in the standings.
“It was great to open the weekend up with a win,” TK said. “We were fast all night, and that was a huge for us. On Saturday night the car felt good early, though we got off to a slow start, then it felt like we sealed our tires, and couldn’t’ get going. It wasn’t what we had hoped for but we will move forward. Everyone on this team worked hard all weekend, and I couldn’t ask for a better team to work with.”
Tim and his Roth Motorsports team would like to thank Roth Enterprises, HR Livestock Transportation, 3H Cattle, Mobil1, FK Rod Ends, Weld Wheels, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Kent Performance, Kaeding Performance, and Astro Titanium for their support in 2013.
2013 ROTH MOTORSPORTS BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-66, Wins-15, Top 5’s-36, Top 10’s-45.
ON TAP: TK and the Roth Enterprises team will now be in action on November 2nd at the Stockton Dirt Track for the King of the West finale.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Roth Motorsports by checking out their new website, www.rothmotorsports83.com. You can also follow Tim on Twitter by following @tkaedingracing.