This message was edited on
July 01, 2007 at
07:41:07 PM by Gary Thomas
Photos by Paul Trevino Racing Photos
Tim Kaeding continues domination of Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - June 30, 2007... San Jose’s Tim Kaeding has shown time and time again that he can start from anywhere in the field and move forward. Put him on the front row, however, and the result is often the same as this past Saturday night at Thunderbowl Raceway when the former King of California put together a flag to flag performance picking up his second win of the season in Tulare. The 28 year-old charger had to fend off a late race restart move from Chico’s Jonathan Allard though, but Kaeding was on his toes and took advantage when Allard left the door open in turn three. The victory also marked the 30th time he has visited victory lane in Golden State Challenge competition.
The 30 lap main event started out with T. Kaeding on the pole, and father Brent Kaeding on the outside. The first start was a no go as Rio Vista’s Dan Simpson spun on the inside of turn four. The field realigned, but the second start was disaster and it saw Evan Suggs and Brett Miller, the top two rookies with the Golden State Challenge Series, get upside down on the front straightaway. Suggs was unfortunately not able to restart, but Miller was and got pushed back out to rejoin the field. Visalia’s Danny Faria Jr. was also involved in the melee and he was also not able to get back out to restart the race.
The third start of the 30 lap feature was able to get off without a hitch and it saw T. Kaeding jump into the lead aboard the Tom Rolfe Trucking, J.F. McCray Plastering No. 10 with B. Kaeding falling into second. Jonathan Allard made his presence known early on and put the pressure on BK for the runner-up spot. The defending King of California was all over the 12-time champ as they entered traffic and on lap six Allard made a great high side move to split Kaeding & a lap car to put the Williams Motorsports No. 0 into second place. Fairmont, IN’s Brandon Wimmer was the next driver to challenge BK as he closed in rapidly on the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69 and on lap nine he took the third position.
A caution came out on lap 14 and after that we seemingly couldn’t get off the lap as cautions and reds slowed the pace of the 30 lap contest. The 1/3 mile became one lane on the bottom and made for some tricky conditions which bit a lot of the competitors. When the caution flag bevy was finally finished after being on lap 14 for nearly 20 minutes, BK found a good line to get under Wimmer and reclaim the third position. The final caution of the race came out on lap 22 and during the yellow period, Salinas driver Ronnie Day slowed to a stop on the backstretch. Day was running in the fifth position and he was unable to get the Ridgeline Framing No. 1 back under fire and he was pushed to the pits to continue his snake-bitten year.
Throughout all the cautions and slow downs of the race, T. Kaeding was running up front with no worries as he had an extremely fast car and was doing a terrific job whenever he had to deal with traffic. When the green flag came back out, however, Allard dove to the inside in turn one to take the lead of the race. Entering turn three though, Allard carried a bit too much speed and Kaeding was able to seize an opening and squeeze to the inside of the 0 machine and retake the lead off of turn four.
That was all she wrote and TK went on to record yet another Thunderbowl Raceway victory and his second GSC win of the season. The super-talented driver showed again that he’s one of the best drivers in the country with a near mistake free performance on a surface that wasn’t exactly a typical TK track. "I wish we could have had a track where we could have gotten up near the fence and put on a little better show for you guys, but I’ll take a win and I’m happy with it," the defending Trophy Cup champ said after the race. He continued, "I want to thank Tom Rolfe Trucking, all our sponsors, the crew and all you fans for coming out tonight." T. Kaeding is set to run in California till the GSC season ends, then he and the Tom Rolfe Trucking, BR Motorsports, Platinum Powder Coating No. 10 team are headed back east to do some traveling.
Allard hung on for a second place finish in the GT Trends, K & N Filters No. 0 and B. Kaeding recorded a third place finish in the Kaeding Performance, Selco Heating & Air No. 69. Coming home fourth was Wimmer in the Roth Motorsports, HR Cattle DTR Transport No. 83jr.
The fifth place finisher was the show of the night as Visalia’s Ricci Faria charged through the pack putting on a breathtaking, rim riding performance. Faria was running eighth when he was involved in one of the lap 14 cautions and had to go to the back of the pack. The driver of the Darrell Green Trucking, Betty Brite Cleaners, TTC No. 89 got up on the wheel and put his car much higher than anybody else, especially in turns three and four where he looked like he was going smack the wall on multiple occasions. Faria was up to seventh with a handful of laps left and to get up to fifth he used a jaw dropping move to split Jason Statler and Trevor Green on the back stretch. Both Green and Statler were sideways heading into turn three and somehow, someway, Faria fit his car between the pair to take over fifth.
Sixth place went to the Fisher/Main Motorsports No. 35m of Oroville’s Sean Becker. Los Gatos driver Jason Statler made his GSC return aboard the DF Rios Construction No. 00 and went from 15th to seventh in the feature. Even with getting upside down on lap 14, last weeks winner Willie Croft of Sacramento brought home an eighth place finish in the Holey Smokes BBQ No. 29. Tracy’s Jason Botsford scored ninth in the Extreme Fabrication No. 29a and Carruthers Garrett Ishii finished 10th in the Ishii Farms No. 71g.
Tim Kaeding started from the outside of the front row and won the dash to earn the pole for the feature. Three 10 lap heat races were run and they were won by Evan Suggs, Charlie Louden and Jason Statler. Tim Kaeding ripped off a 13.462 second lap to earn fast time in qualifying.
The accompanying Western States Modifieds event saw Paul Stone win the battle, but Tim Balding win the war as he was crowned the first ever WSM champion. All season it has seemed to be the Stone & Balding show and the pair finished one/two yet again. Stone started sixth on Saturday night and was into the lead by lap two. Balding started fourth, fell back early and methodically worked his way up to second with about 10 laps remaining. Stone held a commanding lead and although Balding closed in, Stone remained poised and picked up his second WSM win in a row. Balding brought home a second place finish and in doing so became the WSM champ and earned a free entry into the upcoming U.S. Western States Modified Nationals on September 27, 28 & 29.
The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will now go dark the rest of the Summer as we try to beat the sweltering Central Valley heat. The next scheduled event for the Thunderbowl will be the U.S. Western Modified Nationals which pays $20,000 to win. The next sprint car race at the 1/3 mile clay oval will be October 13 when the World of Outlaw Sprint Series returns to Tulare. The World of Outlaw action was intense in February and the October stop will be a can’t miss. Another event surely to be a can’t miss will be the 14th annual Trophy Cup presented by Trophy City. The Trophy Cup will be the final event of 2007 at the Thunderbowl and is always one of the biggest events on the West Coast. The dates for the Trophy Cup have jumped around a bit from the originally announced ones and the event will be held on November 16 & 17. Mark your calenders because you won’t want to miss the Trophy Cup which packs a two day purse of $100,000. For ticket info contact 559-688-0909
Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway- Golden State Challenge Series Results June 30
Fast time- Tim Kaeding 13.462
Heat Winners- Evan Suggs, Charlie Louden, Jason Statler
Dash- Tim Kaeding, Brent Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Brandon Wimmer, Trevor Green, Sean Becker, Ricci Faria, Ronnie Day
A-main- Tim Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Brent Kaeding, Brandon Wimmer, Ricci Faria, Sean Becker, Jason Statler, Willie Croft, Jason Botsford, Garrett Ishii, Charlie Louden, Craig Stidham, Mark Workentine, Ric McCormick, Trevor Green, Ronnie Day, Brett Miller, Dan Simpson, Jon Maiwald, Ken Fredenburg, Kyle Larson, Danny Faria Jr, Evan Suggs
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