Tim Kaeding Wins Opening Night of the Dirt Cup

Tim Kaeding. (T.J. Buffenbarger photo)

From Kaleb Hart

ALGER, Wash. (June 23, 2022) — For the first time in 23 years, Tim Kaeding won a preliminary night of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway. Kaeding led all thirty laps of the main event from the outside of row number one.

At the drop of the green flag, Kaeding rocketed out to the top spot with Joel Myers Jr pursuing. With a 16 car invert, action was heavy although out the field. Myers would drop out after riding the wall before the midway point of the main, giving the threesome of Tyler Thompson, Mitchell Faccinto and Justin Sanders a chance to try and run down the leader. A scary crash for Austen Wheatley and Tanner Holmes on lap 16 bunched the field again, and in this exchange, it was DJ Netto marching his way forward on the field and eventually up into second place. Netto gradually closed on Kaeding and with two laps to go, was low enough to pressure Tim on the low side of the track. Netto pulled even with Kaeding through the middle of turns three and four on the final circuit, but it was Kaeding hammering down hard off the cushion who beat Netto to the checkered flag by just a few feet in taking his first prelim Dirtcup win since 1999. Netto would settle for second while Mitchell Faccinto came out on top of a spirited battle for third. 44 cars signed in for competition at the 50th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by The Skagit Casino & Resort. Tyler Courtney set quick time and came out as the top point scorer on night one. Justin Sanders, Cory Eliason, Greg Hamilton and Tanner Carrick won the heats, while Eliason won the B Main.

The NW Focus Midgets came to Skagit Speedway as the support division for the weekend, and it was Jake Helsel leading all 25 laps of the main event for his first win in the class. He was chased all race long by Alex Peck who ended up second with Tanner Holm taking home third in the main that saw no yellow or red flag stoppages. Helsel, Holm, Peck and Shane Smith won the heat races for the 37 car field, while Chuck Pierce won the B Feature.

410 Sprint Cars

Fast Time – Dominic Scelzi 11.311

Heat 1 – Justin Sanders

Heat 2 – Cory Eliason

Heat 3 – Greg Hamilton

Heat 4 – Tanner Carrick

B Main – Cory Eliason, Jonathan Allard, Corey Day, Jesse Schlotfeldt, Tanner Carrick, Greg Hamilton, Max Mittry, Luke Didiuk, Garen Linder, Logan Forler, Billy Aton, JJ Ringo, Tony Gomes, Ashleigh Johnson, Travis Jacobson, Justin Youngquist, Sean Becker, Brock Lemley, Andy Caruana, Dana Glenn

A Main – Tim Kaeding, DJ Netto, Mitchell Faccinto, Justin Sanders, Corey Day, Tyler Courtney, Tyler Thompson, Zeb Wise, Kerry Madsen, Jason Solwold, Shane Golobic, Dominic Scelzi, Nick Parker, Trey Starks, Blake Carrick, Willie Croft, Bud Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Tanner Holmes, Austen Wheatley, Joel Myers Jr, Ryan Robinson, Cory Eliason, Jesse Schlotfeldt

Lap Leaders – T Kaeding 1-30

NW Focus Midgets

Heat 1 – Jake Helsel

Heat 2 – Tanner Holm

Heat 3 – Alex Peck

Heat 4 – Shane Smith

B Main – Chuck Pierce, Jake Munn, Matt Loving, Brian Aune, MIchael Knutson, Hailey Bower, Tyler West, Dave Mills, Mark Adams, Joe Shawley, Brian Rose, Jesse Geddes, Dalton Christmas, Ayuka Carlson, Chris Foster, Tyler Ketchum

A Main – Jake Helsel, Alex Peck, Tanner Holm, Nick Evans, Jared Peterson, Sawyer Lind, Shane Smith, Hannah Lindquist, Ashley Thompson, Travis Jacobson, Jesse Munn, Alden Ostrom, Gabe Sessler, Brian Holmkvist, Jake Munn, Levi Harless, Matt Loving, Jeff Westergard, Chuck Pierce, Kyle Hanson, Stewart Lee, Todd Hartman, Michael Hodel, Brian Aune

Lap Leaders – Helsel 1-25