PETERSEN MEDIA- Taking advantage of a USAC West Coast 360 and King of the West Series double-header at the Thunderbowl in Tulare, Bud Kaeding scored a pair of second place finishes aboard the BZE/Alviso Rock No.29 and had woes aboard Brian Matherly’s SCI/Kaeding Performance No. 19.
Kaeding continues to be a strong contender in the USAC West Coast 360 Series and his strong weekend has propelled him into the point lead.
“The non-wing car was great both nights,” said Kaeding. “Unfortunately Larson was just a little better than us both nights, and put us in the…you know..fun position of second place.”
Friday night saw Kaeding time his K&N Filters/Yak Graphics/Factory Kahne Shocks entry in fifth quick, and lead him to a second place finish in his heat propelling him into the feature event.
Starting in the fifth spot, Kaeding slowly worked is way towards the top three as rubber had built up during the King of the West feature and made passing tough.
Grabbing third on the 20th lap, Kaeding benefitted from a spinning Ryan Bernal and took the second spot, and held the spot at the stripe behind Kyle Larson.
Saturday night during the USAC portion of the evening, Kaeding had a stout night going as he timed in 2nd quick, won his heat, and found himself in command of the feature event on the 20th circuit.
Once in front of Matt Mitchell, Kaeding then had his hands full with a hard charging Larson, who had worked up into the second spot from his last row starting spot.
The duo diced for the lead for a pair of laps, but Larson would grab the spot on lap 26, and cruise on to the win with Bud grabbing second again.
“My guys worked on this thing, epscially with me being in both classes,” said Kaeding. “We’re strong, we will win a few more races for sure.”
In the King of the West side of things, Kaeding grabbed seventh on Friday night, before an early wreck on Saturday shut down what was looking to be a very promising run for the third generation driver.
“There are some guys you can race with, and some guys that you simply can’t race with, and we figured that out again on Saturday,” explained Kaeding.
Scoring a fourth place finish in his heat on Friday, Kaeding found himself lining up in the middle of the pack on the extremely slick Thunderbowl.
During the first eight laps of the race, fans were entertained to a vast array of drivers dicing it up, and Kaeding was on the move as he quickly entered the top-ten.
As the rubber continued to build up, and the field fought for the bottom of the track, Kaeding was able to utilize a couple late restarts and grab the seventh spot at the stripe.
Saturday night again saw Kaeding line up in the middle of the pack, and he looked to be on a mission during the early stages of the race.
“We had a feeling the track would be the same it was on Friday, so I wanted to try and get as many spots as I could early, and Brian Matherly and the boys had this thing rolling.”
Inside the top ten by the eighth circuit, Kaeding continued to charge forward as he found himself in the fifth spot on the 13th lap, when contact ensued and knocked Kaeding from the race.
“We were going really good there, and just fell victim to circumstance in the winged race,” said Kaeding. We had a good car and it would have been interesting to see if we could of gotten to the front, but I do want to congratulate Rico Abreu on his win. That was pretty bad ass to see.”
Kaeding would like to thank Kaeding Performance, Sprint Car Innovations, Alviso Rock, BZE, Factory Kahne Shocks, Racing Optics, K&N Filters, Yak Graphics, ButlerBuilt, and Brown and Miller for their continued support.
ON TAP: Bud will now head back to the Midwest for some USAC Silver Crown and Sprint Car action this weekend as he will be in in a sprint car Friday in Bloomington and Sunday in Kokomo, and will hop in his Silver Crown car Saturday at O’reilly Raceway Park.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Bud by visiting www.budkaedingracing.com, www.facebook.com/budkaedingracing or following @Bud_Kaeding on twitter.
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- Petersen Media on May 13, 2012
- Article Date: 5/13/2012