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Tim Kaeding gets win No. 15 in NST 40 lap season finale
By
Gary Thomas

Tulare, Ca -
October 15, 2006... San Jose’s Tim Kaeding wanted badly to win in front of his home state fans and he showed it as he charged from his 13th starting position to pick up a dominating victory in the National Sprint Tour season finale at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway. Kaeding, who had earlier in the night set fast time, was forced to come through the B-main following contact with another car that sent him upside down in his heat race. Amazingly Kaeding had a similar feat at the Thunderbowl in 2002 while driving the Terry Cowan owned ABC Ready Mix No. 7t. On that night he won the B-main, started 17th in the main event and then proceeded to charge to the front picking up the ultra exciting win.

Fast forward four years later and it was a case of de ja vu for the man commonly refereed to as the TK Express. Kaeding started from the pole of the B-main and annihilated the field easily picking up the win. He then received his qualifying time back behind the dash cars which lined him up inside row seven. Kaeding looked so unbelievably fast in the B-main most people around the track wondered, “Can he do it from 13th?”

The 40 lap NST season finale started out with dash one winner
Brandon Wimmer jumping out to the lead. Wimmer, driving for Davey Key Motorsports looked super impressive in his dash which he won by nearly a ½ lap. He kept up the pace early on in the feature as he pulled away to a commanding lead over Steve Kinser. The whole thing changed on lap four, however, as Wimmer bicycled on the cushion in turn three and hit the wall ultimately getting upside down. The Thunderbowl  held true to its 2006 characteristics as it  had slicked off nicely with big cushion built up among the outer regions of the track. Most of the competitors used the top side of the raceway but Kaeding was able to work down low early on and pull some wicked sliders to make his way through the field.

With Wimmer gone from the picture it moved  Kinser up to the lead which he held until lap 16 when he pulled to a stop on the backstretch with a blown motor handing the lead to
California local Mike Faria. At this point Kaeding had continued to charge forward making some incredible moves on the 1/3 mile clay oval and sat in second for the lap 16 restart.  TK wasted little time and made an aggressive low side pass through the first and second corners to take the lead. Kaeding was in a league of his own and the only slowing him was multiple cautions and red flags that prolonged the race. A fuel stop occurred on lap 30 and after that two more red flag stoppages were seen. When all the yellows and reds were done Kaeding pulled away to lead the last handful of laps and pick up a convincing victory aboard the Slick 50, Steve Kinser Racing, Pilot Travel Centers No. 11k.

It totaled the 15th win of the season for the 2002 Golden State Challenge Series champion and capped off an outstanding first year of driving for Steve Kinser Racing. Kaeding is now set to compete next weekend at the Cotton Classic in
Hanford aboard the Rod Tiner No. 83. The following week he will run the Short Track Nationals in Arkansas before coming back to California and looking for his second career Trophy Cup win, this year driving the Tiner 83.

Finishing second last night in
Tulare was Double Down Jason Sides of Bartlett, Tennessee. Sides drove a smooth and solid race aboard the Wetherington Tractor Service, VRP Shocks, Weld Racing No. 7s and gained momentum for the upcoming Trophy Cup where he compete in the Doyle’s Harley Davidson No. 33.

A fine run for young Brad Sweet netted him an outstanding third place finish driving the Tom Rolfe Trucking, GP Development, Platinum Powder Coating No. 10. The
Grass Valley, Ca driver also had a great run a little over a month ago with a National series at the Gold Cup Race of Champions in Chico  finishing fourth during one of the preliminary night feature’s. The ultra versatile driver is opening up many eyes this year and will be a strong contender at the Trophy Cup.

Mechanicsburg, Pa’s Brian Paulus stayed out of trouble early on and made some nice low side passes late in the feature to finish fourth after starting way back in the 24th position aboard the Arnold Transportation, Hank’s Performance Products, Travel Centers of America No. 28. Paulus had trouble in qualifying and was only able to muster 27th quick out of 34 cars but his good run in the feature scored him his first top five finish of the year with NST.

The top five in the feature was rounded out by
Clovis, Ca driver Jason Meyers in the Elite Landscaping, Pacific Union Homes, Lafferty Homes No. 14. The finish was impressive in the fact that he suffered a flat tire after contact was made between himself and Mike Faria while battling for second on lap 30. After changing the tire and restarting at the rear he moved forward nicely working every portion of the speedway and passed Steve Kent in the final turn to score a top five finish.

Fresno, Ca’s Kent ran up front the whole race and held down fourth until a few laps left before falling a couple positions and ending up sixth in the Island Muffler and Brake No. 7n. Kent had a fifth place run in August with the NST at Gray’s Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wa and followed that great finish up with a solid night of action at the Thunderbowl.
13 time Golden State Challenge Series champion Brent Kaeding of
Campbell, Ca started 19th, stayed out of trouble and came on strong at the end to finish seventh in the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69. Finishing eighth through tenth were Salinas, Ca’s Ronnie Day in the Elite Landscaping No. 1, Tipton, Ca’s Danny Faria Jr in the Riverview Dairy No. 17v and Nashville, Tn’s Paul McMahan in the Bass Pro Shop’s No. 20.

Day’s eighth place finish was enough to give him the 2006 Thunderbowl Raceway track championship. Jonathan Allard was the point leader coming into the event but was involved in a hard flip during his heat race which broke an area of the roll cage on his Williams Motorsports No. 0 and forced him to scratch for the rest of the evening. That opened the door for Brent Kaeding to move into second in the final point tally.

The B-main was won in dominating fashion by Tim Kaeding. Also transferring out of the 12 lap race were Danny Lasoski,
Robert Ballou and Danny Faria Jr.

The two six lap dashes were picked off by Brandon Wimmer and Steve Kinser. Wimmer had the faster qualifying lap of the two and chose the outside line for the feature event.

The night’s first heat race was captured by Jason Sides who held off a last lap charge from Ronnie Day. Steve Kent out dragged Steve Kinser to the first turn in heat race No. two and held a comfortable advantage over the 20 time WOO champ to handily pick up the win. The third heat race was won impressively by Thunderbowl Raceway first timer Quick Rick Fauver of
Everett, Wa and the fourth and final heat race was picked off by Mount Vernon, Wa’s Jason Solwold.

Tim Kaeding’s lap of 12.897 beat 34 other competitors in timed qualifications.

To keep up to date with the latest happening’s of the National Sprint Tour visit http://www.nationalsprinttour.com
For the latest info on Thunderbowl Raceway visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
Tickets for the upcoming Trophy Cup are available by calling 559-688-0909

 

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