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Tim Kaeding leads all 30 laps to win at Watsonville!
by Kelly Buchanan (filling in for Gary Thomas)
After having to miss two races last weekend due to injury, Tim Kaeding was back in form with a dominating performance at Watsonville's Ocean Speedway Friday night by winning his 4th GSC race this year. He started off the night by setting fast time, getting 3rd in the heat race, and 2nd in the dash. He was challenged at times by Brandon Wimmer when lapped traffic came into play and he also used quick thinking to avoid a car that had just spun out. Brandon Wimmer and Brent Kaeding swapped places a few times between 2nd and 3rd, but the numerous yellows made getting into lapped traffic difficult.
One of the surprises of the night was young Evan Suggs who won the dash and started on the front row. This is his 1st year in a 410 sprint car racing and he has been starting to come on strong in the last part of the season. Unfortunately, Suggs good start ended when he had car trouble late in the race and couldn't rejoin the field. Jerry Bonnema was also impressive in qualifying, qualifying 3rd and making it into the dash. The hard chargers of the night were Jason Statler, Ronnie Day, and Sean Becker. Jason Statler started 10th and made it as far as 5th when he got a flat tire and had to go to the back, Ronnie Day started 11th and finished 5th, while Sean Becker started 13th and got up to 6th.
There were just 3 sprint car heat races with the winners being Jason Statler, Ronnie Day, and Trevor Green. The track did not allow for much passing during the heat races, but did come in for the A main. The top ten finishers in the main event were Tim Kaeding, Brandon Wimmer, Brent Kaeding, Willie Croft, Ronnie Day, Sean Becker, Trevor Green, Jason Statler, Jerry Bonnema, and Brett Miller. For complete results and up to date points, log onto www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com. A familiar driver not in the lineup was Jonathan Allard, who decided to try his luck at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington for the $10,092 Brownfield Memorial race, only to get rained out. They will try to race again up there tonight, weather permitting.
With the GSC series coming to an end next weekend, there is the always exciting two day show at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway. Competing for the title of King of California are 12 time champion Brent Kaeding and 2005 GSC Champion Sean Becker. Both drivers have been racing very well lately and are always consistently at the front of the pack or winning races. Brent Kaeding has 8 wins this year, but still needs one more GSC race win this year to surpass the record of 8 held by Tim Kaeding. Sean Becker has 2 wins in GSC competition this year and races very well at his home track of Silver Dollar. With the points being as close as they are, anything can happen next weekend and there should be great racing with a high car count. Gates open at 6 pm both nights next weekend, so come out and enjoy watching the best 410 drivers in California!
Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the
West series schedule!
Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting
racecars on dirt!
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This message was edited on
July 22, 2007 at
06:08:17 PM by StuDeedooo
great night of racing. Cool to see Lafond and Lombardo in the stands, Suggs night was going great until he got schooled on the start of the A. From there it went completely in the tank. Maiwald ran as high as 6th but TK was the man and the race between him, Wimmer and BK was one for the ages. I think BK could have got him, but you can see frustration in his line when he cant get er done. TK, for winning, doing the donuts in 3-4 and the wing climb, could hardly stand up much less straight when we caught up with him in the pits. Im gonna guess he'll be spending the week in bed getting ready for Chico and then Iowa.
Drive of the night goes to Kenny Nott in the modifieds. Tangled with Scott and tagged the rear, then raced to 3rd in 15 laps. Great run Kenny! Even BK gave him thumbs up later on and for all the years Ive known Kenny, he never got that from anyone and it really made his night.
Good luck to everyone at Chico, have fun and stay safe!
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