Tim Kaeding races to victory with the Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series at Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday night
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – April 16, 2011…Going into the season one of the heavy championship favorites was San Jose's Tim Kaeding and on Saturday night at the Thunderbowl Raceway he definitely showed why, making an early pass of Tommy Tarlton for the lead, before holding off a surge from Jonathan Allard to score victory with the Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series.
The triumph for Kaeding was the 49th of his career with the Golden State 410 Series and came aboard the Central Valley based Roth Motorsports, HR Cattle No. 83 at the 18th annual Chris & Brian Faria Memorial.
“I just love racing at this place and it was fun there for a while racing with Tommy and then Jonathan came out nowhere too,” commented the 2002 series champion. “We’re racing back home this year with the King of the West Series and I have to thank Dennis & Teresa Roth for giving me the opportunity and my whole team for giving me a great car.”
When the green lights came on in the 30-lap main event at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway it was Easton’s Tommy Tarlton jumping into the lead by way of his pole position. An early caution created a double-file restart and during it things began to heat up with both Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett and T. Kaeding making a pair of bold moves to dispatch of Tarlton.
It was all for naught however, as the yellow lights would come on for a spun car and made for a single file restart on the next attempt. When things went back green a couple more laps would click off before the red lights came on for Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, who tipped over in the third and fourth corners. The 13-time Golden State champ was okay though and was even able to restart the race.
When racing got back underway “TK” would step up his challenges and shoot to the lead just prior to another caution period on lap-eight. On the restart Chico’s Jonathan Allard made his presence known and with 10-laps down made the move around Tarlton for second. “JA” let it all hang out riding the high-side of the one-third mile clay oval and charged passed T. Kaeding for the lead on lap 13, but a yellow flag would negate the pass.
After this the track surface began to take rubber more and more, but Allard continued to charge hard after the No. 83 sprinter. Late in the race T. Kaeding was fighting apparent engine problems and with just a couple laps left Allard closed up to his rear bumper. Looking to make a move with the white flag waving Allard’s bid would then come to a tough end, as he caught the front stretch wall and flipped to bring out a red flag.
With curfew looming ahead and concerns over the abrasive conditions, the decision was made to conclude the race and T. Kaeding officially tallied his second win of the season at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway. "TK" also earned a $100 certificate for Auto Meter Products Inc. by way of his win.
“We had the motor going away there late in the race so I’m really happy we were able to make it,” he said. “We’ll move on to Watsonville now and hope all you fans come and support us.”
Tarlton came home in second and fifth row starter Kyle Larson of Elk Grove completed the podium. Rounding out the top-10 was Grass Valley’s Jason Statler, Crockett, Fresno’s Craig Stidham, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Tipton’s Mike Faria and Sacramento’s Willie Croft.
The PitStopUSA.com hard charger award for the main event went to Jason Statler who came from 11th to fourth aboard the DF Rios Motorsports No. 00 mount.
Puyallup, Washington’s Trey Starks claimed the 12-lap Last Chance Qualifier and Tommy Tarlton picked up victory in the KSE Racing Products/ Grant’s Fine Art Dash. Heat race wins during the night were picked off by Evan Suggs, Tim Kaeding, Craig Stidham and Tommy Tarlton.
Jonathan Allard set fast time for the second week in a row by cutting a 13.587 and earned seven championship points for doing so. Mike Faria, Brad Furr, Roger Crockett and Kyle Larson also earned points in qualifying. For setting quick time in the 32-car field Allard was awarded with a custom plaque from Grant’s Fine Art.
Allard will also receive the Dirt Solution hard-luck award for the night after his flip on the final lap relegated him to a 17th place finish.
The Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series will resume competition next Saturday night April 23 at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. Please note an earlier start time will be in place with the drivers meeting scheduled for around 3:45pm, wheel packing at 4 and qualifying about 4:45.
To keep up with the latest happenings with the Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series visit http://www.kwssprints.com or catch us on Facebook and Twitter.
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Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series Results- Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial” Saturday April 16, 2011
32 cars
Top-10 in Qualifying-
Fast time: Jonathan Allard 13.587. 2nd Mike Faria 13.749; 3rd Brad Furr 13.786; 4th Roger Crockett 13.796; 5th Kyle Larson 13.861; 6th Willie Croft 13.887; 7th Jason Statler 13.924; 8th Cory Eliason 14.024; 9th Trey Starks 14.030; 10th Tim Kaeding 14.064
Heat 1: Evan Suggs, Kyle Larson, Peter Murphy, Jonathan Allard, Trey Starks, Kenny Allen, Ken Fredenburg, Sean McMahan
Heat 2: Tim Kaeding, Willie Croft, Mike Faria, Bobby McMahan, Brent Bjork, Charlie Louden, Mark Barroso, Doug Gandy
Heat 3: Craig Stidham, Jason Statler, Bud Kaeding, Brad Furr, Andy Gregg, Garrett Ishii, Danielle Simpson, Pat Harvey
Heat 4: Tommy Tarlton, Roger Crockett, Brent Kaeding, Cory Eliason, Eli Deshaies Billy Strange Jr., Mark Workentine
Dash: Tommy Tarlton, Craig Stidham, Tim Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Roger Crockett, Evan Suggs, Mike Faria, Brad Furr
Last Chance Qualifier: Trey Starks, Brent Bjork, Andy Gregg, Charlie Louden, Garrett Ishii, Billy Strange Jr., Kenny Allen, Sean McMahan, Mark Workentine, Danielle Simpson, Doug Gandy, Eli Deshaies, Pat Harvey, Ken Fredenburg, Mark Barroso
A-main: Tim Kaeding, Tommy Tarlton, Kyle Larson, Jason Statler, Roger Crockett, Craig Stidham, Evan Suggs, Bud Kaeding, Mike Faria, Willie Croft, Peter Murphy, Brad Furr, Brent Kaeding, Andy Gregg, Garrett Ishii, Charlie Louden, Jonathan Allard, Billy Strange Jr., Cory Eliason, Trey Starks, Bobby McMahan, Brent Bjork
San Jose's Tim Kaeding is just one win shy of reaching 50 for his career with the Golden State 410 Series after claiming Saturday's KWS main event at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway.
Photo by Paul Trevino of http://www.paultrevinoracingphotos.com
- Gary Thomas on Apr 17, 2011
- Article Date: 4/17/2011