4/27/2010
Sprint Source
Bud Kaeding wins 1st GSC feature of season
Bud Kaeding makes it back-to-back wins at Ocean Speedway with Golden State Challenge Series victory on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Campbell, CA – April 25, 2010…Returning to his home track of Ocean Speedway this past Saturday night Bud Kaeding of Campbell, California made the right moves in traffic to claim the lead late in the race and charged to an exciting victory with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series.
Going into the night Kaeding was the most recent winner in GSC competition at the Ocean Speedway after winning at the track last August and the victory on Saturday was the seventh of his career with the series.
"This entire crew has worked their tails off for me and I can't believe I'm standing up here again in victory lane for the second week in a row at this place," said Kaeding, who now sits in a tie with Jimmy Sills, Greg Decaires and Randy Hannagan for 12th on the all-time GSC win list. "When I first came back here and started running with the wing more and more we kind of struggled a bit, but over the last year or so we've really got our winged program working well so it's been really good lately."
To begin the night the track was very uncharacteristically dry for Ocean Speedway and an early draw paid dividends as Kaeding clocked the second fastest lap in qualifying aboard the Alviso Rock, K&N Filters, MDR Machine Inc. No. 29 Maxim. Starting fifth in the heat race the three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champion made some great moves to score second at the finish, as he put the car right up along the ledge that had formed at the top of turns one and two. Following a fourth place finish in the dash the track preparation crew then spent some time re-working the surface and by the main event it had become extremely racy with drivers dicing it up all over the quarter-mile clay oval.
When the green flag waved in the 30-lap feature things got hectic towards the front of the field with everyone trying to shake things out in the first set of corners. Kaeding settled into fifth early on, before making the move by Zach Zimmerly to steal fourth after a few laps. When the half-way point neared he then battled wheel-to-wheel with Jonathan Allard, until the pair made contact in turn four on lap 13, but Kaeding was luckily able to continue on with him now sitting in the third position for the final restart of the night.
When racing got back underway the final 17-laps would run green to checker and with just over 10 circuits remaining Kaeding closed in on second running Kyle Larson and leader Brent Kaeding. Finding the high-side to his liking in turns one and two the younger Kaeding charged hard after the leaders and when Larson took command on lap 18, he would follow along just after to claim second. With traffic coming into play the Campbell racer used it to his advantage and rocketed around Larson on lap 24 to move the Swift Metal Finishing, Hive Five Pizza, Angello's ATV Rental No. 29 into the lead of the race.
Once in front Kaeding continued to feel pressure from the youngster, but he was able to run smooth and clean laps to drive off the final corner and cross under the checkered to tally his second consecutive victory at Ocean Speedway. "It feels awesome to make it two in a row at this place because we had a lot of sponsors and supporters in attendance so it's always nice to win in front of them," said Kaeding. "It was also really nice to get a good track in the main event so we could put on a great show for all you fans that came out tonight."
Next up for Kaeding will be the two-night second annual Doug Fort Memorial at the Santa Maria Speedway this coming Friday and Saturday. The opener on Friday evening will be an Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo event, while Saturday will be a Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series show.
Kaeding is the current Ocean Sprints point leader after his victory in the opener on April 16 and he'll look to make it back-to-back wins to begin the season with the series on Friday aboard the Sala/Matherly Racing, Kaeding Performance No. 19. "We invite everyone to come on down to Santa Maria and make a weekend out of it this Friday and Saturday," said Kaeding. "Chris Kearns has done a great job with the promotion at Santa Maria and we'd really like to have a succesful event both nights this coming week."
For more information on three-time and defending USAC Silver Crown Series champ Bud Kaeding log onto http://www.budkaedingracing.com
Campbell's Bud Kaeding pictured in victory lane with the No. 29 team and Ocean Speedway promoter John Prentice after winning his first Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series main event of the season on Saturday night. The 30-year-old will go into this coming week's Ocean Sprints & GSC double-header at the Santa Maria Speedway as the most recent winner with both tour's. Photo by L&J Photography http://picasaweb.google.com/jmart16164?pli=1
Submitted By: Gary Thomas
