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Tim Kaeding ‘Thunderbowls’ His Way to Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series Victory Lane at KSP – LoneStar On Deck!
Kennedale, TX (3/28/21) by DarinShort.com. 39 racing teams from five states and Canada converged upon Kennedale Speedway Park last night for the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series Spring Nationals presented by The Peterson Agencies, Smiley's Racing Products, Griffith Truck & Equipment and Cabinets By Tommy, and when the 24-car starting field had reached the checkers, it was California native Tim Kaeding that would ‘Thunderbowl’ his way into victory lane piloting the Hill's Racing Team #77.
A beautiful Texas spring day with mostly sunny skies and temps in the low 80’s would greet all that traveled near and far to put on a FANtastic night of racing for the jumbo sized KSP crowd.
Dirt guru Bo Rawdon would have the track prepped in warp-speed condition for the qualifying heat races – but that would not stop faster cars from advancing through the field amassing critical passing points for their efforts. All four 10-lap, 9- and 10-car heat races were completed with just one caution plus one red flag, when Robert Boxwell would execute a rough series of flips – but he would emerge unscathed much to the relief of the fans in the stands.
But it would be 7th place heat race starter Dylan Westbrook of Scotland, Ontario Canada that would slice his way through the field to a 2nd place heat finish and would emerge as top qualifier and advance directly to the pole of the 25-lap feature event.
The top 16 qualifiers would punch their ticket directly to a straight up starting position to the A-feature, while the balance of the field would be relegated to twin B-features, sponsored by Cabinets By Tommy of Granbury Texas.
With the mega-sized field of ‘Bandits teams making the tow to Kennedale, we would like to thank Cabinets By Tommy for putting up enough added purse money to start 24 teams in the feature event instead of the advertised 20 starters. Their support for the series is truly appreciated. Cabinets By Tommy also fields two teams in ‘Bandits competition, with drivers Blake Mallory and John Ricketts behind the wheel.
While we’re at it, we’d also like to thank Kathy Graham (with the 33 car of Michael Merrell) for putting up $100 for a Hard Charger award for the feature event – which would eventually be split by two drivers that each passed 16 cars in the feature event! We’ll get back to the feature race in just a moment, but that fact right there shows how wild of a race it was. It would be a tough ending to the night for Michael Merrell, as he would get into the wall in corner one executing a series of flips in his B-feature – but would get out of the car unharmed.
And we’d like to thank The Ambassador, Claud Estes III, driver of the Estes Brothers Racing #74e for supplying the series with an awesome portable PA system to use for driver meetings, and special thanks to Fred Summers of www.FixYourGenerator.com for providing a generator so we can have lighting at our series table in the pit area…and remember, If Your Generator Is Dead, Just Call Fred! The ‘Bandits would also like to thank The Peterson Agencies for being on hand to provide business owners with information on their small business employee benefits packages available through their business – and for providing two $50 cash cards as prize drawings during the event.
Back to the racing action…the 24-car feature event lineup was set, with the top four qualifiers being Dylan Westbrook, Jerrad Warhurst, Tim Kaeding and Harli White. After a beautifully executed four-wide parade lap for the fans, the green flag would fly with Westbrook taking the lead and Kaeding in tow.
The racing surface was wide-open from the outside of the infield tires, pushing all the way up to the rail at Kennedale. Within five laps, Westbrook and Kaeding would reach lapped traffic, and the chess match of negotiating lapped traffic while racing on a highly technical racing surface would thrill the fans lap after lap. The pair would race side-by-side on several occasions, with Westbrook being able to retain command until entering corner three around lap 15 when 2018 ‘Bandits series champion Colby Estes would execute a couple of rollovers directly in front of the leaders – yet they’d be able to get whoa’d down in time to avoid being caught up in the fracas. Estes would be uninjured but finished for the night.
The green flag would fire action back up on the restart with Westbrook resuming the top position in the battle. With a clear race track ahead, Westbrook would take about a 15 car length lead while the upper tier groove of the track would get precariously close to the rails.
Westbrook would catch lapped traffic with about six laps to go with a quickly closing Kaeding in tow…all while JJ Hickle would start to make his presence known by passing his way up to third position. It was then that disaster would strike for Westbrook as he would get into corner three just about 3 inches too high and would clip the wall, causing an issue with his right rear and Kaeding would zip by to take the lead with Westbrook’s night coming to an end.
The race would stay green for the final handful of laps with TK taking the win – but it definitely got close towards the end as Washington’s JJ Hickle, who started 9th would catch Kaeding’s rear bumper in lapped traffic. Hickle would finish in second ‘Bandits series regular Dale Wester in 3rd after advancing 7 spots.
So, you may be asking yourself at this point why the reference to the title of this race recap “Kaeding Thunderbowl’s His Way to Victory Lane.” It’s a direct reference to a track in California, Thunderbowl Speedway in Tulare, of which TK has years of experience on, that literally was the exact same type of racing conditions as KSP last night. This writer actually made that reference during the call to the fans during the event, that although TK had never raced at KSP before, he was highly accustomed to that type of technical and tricky racing surface – thus, IMO, giving him an edge, which ended up being a real key to victory lane. The ‘Bandits feature was 4th division out, yet still had completed just prior to 11pm.
Many of the ‘invading’ drivers commented that they enjoyed racing with the ‘Bandits series rules and the enhanced competition it creates – especially when the lead pair all of the sudden would see ‘Bandits series regular Chad Wilson catch them in lapped traffic – their team chose to compete in the event with a 305C.I. engine, proving the point that the ‘Bandits rules package works across a variety of engine combinations.
Two drivers would split the Kathy Graham $100 Hard Charger award after they each advanced 16 spots from their starting position! Those honors went to Chase Brewer and John Ricketts. Once again, thanks to Kathy for her support!
We’d like to thank the entire KENNEDALE SPEEDWAY PARK staff for providing such an excellent facility for the ‘Bandits teams to showcase their skills at, with lots of passing and wide-open racing surfaces. And we look forward to returning there on Saturday, June 19th.
Our next Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series event is at the wide, high-banked expanses of LoneStar Speedwayjust off of I-20 near Kilgore Texas on Saturday, April 3rd at 7pm. A full program of LoneStar racing divisions will round out the 5-division racing card. A compete event flyer and press release are already posted at the track and series Facebook pages.
Make sure to check out last night’s feature race video clip if you weren’t at the track to see it in person, as several drivers had excellent runs that may not be reflected by the finishing order of the event. Click https://youtu.be/eDwzF8oO0gI to watch Don Cook’s video of the feature event.
One final shout-out for today. Thank you to all the drivers that competed in this event, and special thanks to the 'invading' drivers for not only adopting our rules package to compete with - but being respectful of those rules. It made for a great night of fun for all involved.
Here are the feature race results from the Bandits Outlaw Spring Nationals event for the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series at Kennedale Speedway Park on Saturday March 27th:
Driver (starting position):
Tim Kaeding (3)
JJ Hickle (9)
Dale Wester (10)
Chase Brewer (20)
Harli White (4)
Chase Randall (7)
Chad Wilson (8)
John Ricketts (24)
Chris Tarrant (6)
Claud Estes III (14)
Blake Mallory (13)
Jerrad Warhurst (2)
Tyler Harris (17)
Logan Scherb (12)
Briley Stone (19)
Devon Debrick (23)
Dylan Westbrook (1)
Jason Howell (21)
DJ Estes (5)
Colby Estes (11)
Bryan Debrick (22)
Dalton Steed (18)
Jacob Harris (15)
Channin Tankersley (16)
For the latest news and series info, please visit us online at www.2021BOSS.com and on Facebook at BanditsOutlawSprintSeries. Here is our remaining 2021 schedule as of 3/28/21:
Saturday, April 3, 2021 - Bandits Outlaw Bunny Hop on the High Banks, LoneStar Speedway, Kilgore, TX
Saturday, April 24, 2021 - Hammer Hill Bandits Outlaw Sprint Nationals, I-30 Speedway, Little Rock AR*
Friday, May 14, 2021 - Children's Tumor Foundation Night, Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Waco TX
Saturday, May 22, 2021 - Panhandle 25 Outlaw Sprint Nat’ls, Monarch Motor Speedway, Wichita Falls, TX
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - TBA
Thursday, June 10, 2021 - Bandits Outlaw Sprint Nationals at The Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway**
Friday, June 11, 2021 - Bandits Outlaw Sprint Nationals at The Dirt Track, Texas Motor Speedway**
Saturday, June 19, 2021 - Bandits Outlaw Summer Nationals at Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale TX
Friday, June 25, 2021 - MDA Muscling in the Dirt Night, Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Waco TX
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - Flags & Fireworks Bandits Outlaw Sprint Nationals, 82 Speedway, Petty TX
~ Bandits Summer Break ~
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021 - Bandits Outlaw Fall Nationals at Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale TX
Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021 - Falls Town Outlaw Sprint Showdown Monarch Motor Speedway Wichita Falls TX
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021 - 3rd Annual Paul Peters Memorial featuring Bandits Outlaw Sprints, 82 Speedway Petty TX
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021 - 24th Annual Fall Classic, Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Waco TX
*Special Out of Area Event Purse: $2,000/win, $350/start (starts 22 cars) & $150 to all NQ’s. Full ‘Bandits rules.
**Special Event Purses: $2,500/win, $400/start (starts 24 cars) nightly & $150 to all NQ’s. Pre-entry and eligibility info will be posted well in advance of event. Full ‘Bandits rules. This is the kickoff to NASCAR All-Star weekend at TMS.
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