This message was edited on
April 27, 2009 at
12:45:17 PM by Gary Thomas
Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Bud Kaeding picks up first top five of GSC season at Ocean Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – April 27, 2009…Competing at his home track of Ocean Speedway on Saturday night Campbell, CA's Bud Kaeding raced to his first top five finish of the Golden State Challenge Series season aboard the BK Motorsports No. 29.
Kaeding, who currently sits third in the weekly GLR Investments 360 track standings, hoped to parlay his success from the first two weekly events as the traveling Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series invaded the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds bullring.
A total of 21 cars were on hand for the fifth round of action in the fight for the King of California title and the two-time Silver Crown Series champion began the evening by qualifying eighth fastest in the field aboard the K&N Filters, Alviso Rock, Kaeding performance Maxim.
Kaeding then started from the front row in his heat race and zoomed into the lead at the waving of the green flag. He held a strong advantage during much of the heat, but was forced to hold off a hard-charging Tyler Walker during the last couple of laps. The Ocean Speedway regular was able to do so and cross under the stripe to pick up the win in the 10 laps contest.
The driver of the Swift Metal Finishing, Zarounian Motorsports, Smith Motorsports No. 29 then started from sixth in the dash and brought the car home in sixth, to earn a third row starting spot in the main event. A well prepared racing surface was put together and it created very racy conditions during much of the feature. Traffic became abundant in the early stages as the first 12 laps were able to click off caution free.
Prior to the first yellow of the main event Kaeding had been locked in an entertaining tussle with Jason Statler and Kyle Larson. When racing got back underway the fight continued and the 29 year-old driver had his elbows up as he charged past Statler for fourth on lap 14 and then immediately went to work on Tyler Walker for third. Kaeding pushed the BK Motorsports No. 29 hard into the corners and was able to squeak in front of Walker heading down the back stretch on lap 17.
Kaeding had a nose in front of Walker heading into turn three, but the driver of the green 24 sprinter charged into the corner up high and got back alongside of the black 29. Exiting the corner side by side Walker was able to use the momentum up high to reclaim the position relegating Kaeding back to fourth. The final caution of the night appeared on the 19th lap and on the restart Kaeding would lose a spot to the youngster Larson as he dropped back to fifth. The Campbell racer tried hard to get back by, but had to settle for fifth at the checkered.
The next scheduled event for Kaeding will be this Saturday's Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series show at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway. It will mark his first start of the season at the always racy 1/3 mile clay oval, in what will be the sixth round of action in the battle for the King of California championship. Kaeding's best finish at the Thunderbowl Raceway last season was a fourth place result in June during the annual Pombo/Sargent Classic.
Bud Kaeding-BK Motorsports apparel and merchandise can now be ordered online using pay pal. Log onto http://www.budkaedingracing.com for more info and to view all of the available items.
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Bud Kaeding brought the BK Motorsports, K&N Filters, Alviso Rock No. 29 home in fifth place with the Golden State Challenge Series at his home track of Ocean Speedway on Saturday night. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
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