Kaeding Thunders in Tulare

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Kaeding Continues Hot Streak at Thunderbowl

He becomes the first repeat WoO winner after a victory last Thursday in Las Vegas

TULARE, Calif. — March 16, 2012 — Tim Kaeding might as well have his mail addressed to Thunderbowl Raceway.

The Californian showcased why the high-banked, one-third mile race track is his house with a dominant performance on Friday in the first of the World of Outlaws doubleheader.

“This is my home away from home,” he said. “We’ve definitely done a lot of things at this track that nobody else can say.”

Not only did Kaeding win, but he did it in style. After starting fourth, Kaeding climbed to second by lap five. One lap later, he rocketed past Steve Kinser off turn four to take the lead at the flag stand in front of the rowdy cheers of a packed crowd.

“This is one of those tracks where you have to have a little bit of patience and big you know whats downstairs,” Kaeding said. “It kind of fits my driving style. The harder you run around this place the better you get around here. I kept doing what I do – live or die by the high side. We definitely lived it up tonight.”

On that circuit the duo entered lapped traffic and Kaeding damaged his nose wing after contact with Bill Rose. Kaeding’s wing collapsed on the left side, but he continued to pull away from Kinser, who later sustained his own collision with lapped traffic.

While running second on lap 11, Kinser spun in turn two and fell back to 12^th. Jason Sides capitalized and began the chase on Kaeding. Sides stayed within striking distance and restarted on the inside of Kaeding six times between Kinser’s spin and lap 26, which was a fiasco.

After Jason Meyers flipped on lap 13, the drivers raced 13 more laps before Jonathan Allard stopped on the frontstretch because he was out of tear-offs and couldn’t see. Kerry Madsen flipped in turn two on the restart before Bud Kaeding stopped against the wall in the same corner on the ensuing restart.

Then a few scarce but heavy drops plagued the track and the drivers voted that it was too wet to continue. Officials sent the drivers to the work area in the pits, where they were allowed to make any changes to the car, while push trucks packed the track.

“I’ve never had one of those red flag rain delays and just go out there and work on it and do what you need to,” Sides said. “That was kind of our downfall tonight.

“We were a little loose late in the race and I think if we would have tightened it up a little bit we would have been all right. It’s one of those things where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. We left it like it was for traffic and we just thought wrong.”

After a delay of approximately 15 minutes, the cars were back on the track. The first restart saw the fourth-and-final red flag when Sammy Swindell, who was running fifth, flipped after contact with seventh-running Lucas Wolfe in turn two.

Tim Kaeding, whose crew was able to fix his damaged nose wing during that red flag, again shot out to a big lead and the competition only closed in one last time. Chad Kemenah’s spin in turn two on lap 31 gave Sides and the rest of the Outlaws a final crack at Kaeding.

However, the veteran created a huge advantage off turn two while Craig Dollansky powered by Sides for the runner-up position.

“On that last restart I got a good run on the outside of Jason (Sides) and Terry (McCarl),” Dollansky said. “Tim had a good car. He knows his way around this place.

“Our car was getting better there toward the end. I was just hanging it down a little in turns three and four where it was getting slick in the middle.”

Kaeding held off Dollansky to become the first repeat winner of the season. Eight days ago Kaeding picked up his first World of Outlaws win since 2009.

“To come out and run top six in the first three races and to win two of them, I definitely could have never told you we were going to do that,” he said. “With everything the way it’s going, I’m definitely going to keep swinging for home runs.”

Sides finished third with McCarl in fourth. Joey Saldana, who was the fast qualifier with a lap of 13.515 seconds, placed fifth.

Donny Schatz was sixth and Kinser seventh, while Austen Wheatley had a career-best finish of eighth. Bud Kaeding finished ninth and Kraig Kinser rounded out the top 10.

Trey Starks picked up the KSE Hard Charger Award after gaining nine spots to finish a career-best 13^th.

Steve Kinser, Schatz and Sides each won a heat race, and Cody Darrah claimed the Last Chance Showdown.

Thunderbowl Raceway Notebook

WINNERS – Tim Kaeding – 2 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 16 and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 8); Joey Saldana –1 (Perris Auto Speedway on March 10); Craig Dollansky – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Donny Schatz – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19); Danny Lasoski – 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 18).

TIME TRIALS – Joey Saldana was the fastest qualifier around the one-third mile with a time of 13.515 seconds to earn five championship points. Also earning points were Sammy Swindell (4 points), Craig Dollansky (3), Tim Kaeding (2) and Kraig Kinser (1).

WE’RE ONLINE – Make sure to check out WorldofOutlaws.com for the latest news and results, plus exclusive driver interviews, video and pictures. Also listen to every event live at DIRTVision.com.

Thunderbowl Raceway Statistical Report; Tulare, Calif.; March 16, 2012

A Main – (35 Laps) – 1. 83-Tim Kaeding [4] [$10,000]; 2. 7-Craig Dollansky [6] [$5,000]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [1] [$3,000]; 4. 24-Terry McCarl [3] [$2,700]; 5. 9-Joey Saldana [8] [$2,500]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz [5] [$2,200]; 7. 11-Steve Kinser [2] [$2,000]; 8. 44W-Austen Wheatley [10] [$1,800]; 9. 19K-Bud Kaeding [16] [$1,600]; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser [11] [$1,450]; 11. 14-Jason Meyers [15] [$1,300]; 12. 21-Brian Brown [12] [$1,200]; 13. 55-Trey Starks [22] [$1,100]; 14. OO-Cory Eliason [21] [$1,000]; 15. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild [18] [$950]; 16. 63-Chad Kemenah [23] [$900]; 17. O-Jonathan Allard [13] [$850]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell [7] [$750]; 19. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [9] [$725]; 20. 19-Tyler Wolf [19] [$700]; 21. 4-Cody Darrah [20] [$700]; 22. 29-Kerry Madsen [14] [$700]; 23. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [17] [$700]; 24. 6-Bill Rose [24] [$700]. Lap Leaders: Steve Kinser 1-5, Tim Kaeding 6-35. KSE Hard Charger Award: 55-Trey Starks [+9].

Qualifying – 1. 9-Joey Saldana, 13.515; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell, 13.641; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky, 13.696; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding, 13.803; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.871; 6. 21-Brian Brown, 13.888; 7. 24-Terry McCarl, 13.924; 8. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.952; 9. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.969; 10. 11-Steve Kinser, 14.004; 11. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 14.005; 12. 44W-Austen Wheatley, 14.146; 13. O-Jonathan Allard, 14.173; 14. 29-Kerry Madsen, 14.214; 15. 14-Jason Meyers, 14.233; 16. 19K-Bud Kaeding, 14.328; 17. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 14.373; 18. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild, 14.384; 19. 19-Tyler Wolf, 14.389; 20. 4-Cody Darrah, 14.418; 21. OO-Cory Eliason, 14.544; 22. 55-Trey Starks, 14.601; 23. 6-Bill Rose, 15.001; 24. 63-Chad Kemenah, 15.188; 25. 98M-Mitch Olson, No Time.

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11-Steve Kinser [1]; 2. 24-Terry McCarl [2]; 3. 9-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding [3]; 5. O-Jonathan Allard [5]; 6. 19K-Bud Kaeding [6]; 7. 55-Trey Starks [8]; 8. 19-Tyler Wolf [7].

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 15-Donny Schatz [2]; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]; 5. 29-Kerry Madsen [5]; 6. 26-Sam Hafertepe Jr [6]; 7. 4-Cody Darrah [7]; 8. 6-Bill Rose [8].

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 2. 44W-Austen Wheatley [1]; 3. 7-Craig Dollansky [4]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 5. 83SR-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 6. 14-Jason Meyers [5]; 7. OO-Cory Eliason [7]; 8. 63-Chad Kemenah [8].

Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [2]; 2. 11-Steve Kinser [1]; 3. 24-Terry McCarl [4]; 4. 83-Tim Kaeding [5]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 6. 7-Craig Dollansky [6]; 7. 1-Sammy Swindell [7]; 8. 9-Joey Saldana [8]; 9. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [9]; 10. 44W-Austen Wheatley [10].

B Main – (8 Laps – Top 6 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 4-Cody Darrah [2] [-]; 2. 19-Tyler Wolf [1] [-]; 3. 55-Trey Starks [4] [-]; 4. OO-Cory Eliason [3] [-]; 5. 63-Chad Kemenah [6] [-]; 6. 6-Bill Rose [5] [-]; 7. 98M-Mitch Olson [7] [$200].

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Top 20 Championship Standings

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), STP (Official Fuel Treatment), Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), Gravely Tractors (Official Lawn Equipment), University of Northwestern Ohio, VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel), Vicci (Official Apparel); in addition to contingency sponsors, including; Cometic Gaskets, Comp Cams, JE Pistons, KSE Racing Products, MSD Ignitions, Penske Shocks, Superflow Dynos, and Wix Filters; along with manufacturer sponsors, including; Astro Titanium, Intercomp, J&J Auto Racing, Jake’s Carts, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo, and TNT Rescue.

(Paul Trevino Photos)

LIVE UPDATES: Tim Kaeding wins — again

Click on this page throughout the night for live updates, including lineups and results for qualifying, heat races, the dash and main events. We will also provide any weather updates when necessary and other interesting tidbits from the pits.

(9:45 p.m.) Tim Kaeding outlasted the competition and the rain to become the first repeat winner of the 2012 campaign. Here are the feature results:

1, Tim Kaeding. 2, Craig Dollansky. 3, Jason Sides. 4, Terry McCarl. 5, Joey Saldana. 6, Donny Schatz. 7, Steve Kinser. 8, Austen Wheatley. 9, Bud Kaeding. 10, Kraig Kinser. 11, Jason Meyers. 12, Brian Brown. 13, Trey Starks. 14, Cory Eliason. 15, Jac Haudenschild. 16, Chad Kemenah. 17, Jonathan Allard. 18, Sammy Swindell. 19, Lucas Wolfe. 20, Tyler Wolf. 21, Cody Darrah. 22, Kerry Madsen. 23, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 24, Bill Rose.

(9:08 p.m.) We’re in a red situation with the cars in the work area with 11 laps remaining. A bit of rain fell on the track and the drivers voted that it was too wet to restart. Push trucks are packing the track right now and the drivers can do anything to their cars in the pits.

Tim Kaeding is the leader right now with Jason Sides in second and Craig Dollansky third. Terry McCarl is fourth, Sammy Swindell fifth, while Joey Saldana, Lucas Wolfe, Austen Wheatley, Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser round out the top 10, respectively.

(8:14 p.m.) The drivers are headed toward staging. It’s almost feature time.

(8:07 p.m.) The horn just sounded for drivers to start getting ready for the feature. A few scarce raindrops have been dropping the last couple of minutes, but nothing consistent.

(7:52 p.m.) Here is the lineup for the 35-lap feature:

1, Jason Sides. 2, Steve Kinser. 3, Terry McCarl. 4, Tim Kaeding. 5, Donny Schatz. 6, Craig Dollansky. 7, Sammy Swindell. 8, Joey Saldana. 9, Lucas Wolfe. 10, Austen Wheatley. 11, Kraig Kinser. 12, Brian Brown. 13, Jonathan Allard. 14, Kerry Madsen. 15, Jason Meyers. 16, Bud Kaeding. 17, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 18, Jac Haudenschild. 19, Tyler Wolf. 20, Cody Darrah. 21, Cory Eliason. 22, Trey Starks. 23, Chad Kemenah. 24, Bill Rose.

(7:44 p.m.) Cody Darrah claims the Last Chance Showdown and all six cars advance to the feature. Here are the results:

1, Cody Darrah. 2, Tyler Wolf. 3, Trey Starks. 4, Cory Eliason. 5, Chad Kemenah. 6, Bill Rose. 7, Mitch Olson (DNS).

(7:38 p.m.) Jason Sides outlasted Steve Kinser to win the dash and the pole position for the feature. Here are the dash results:

1, Jason Sides. 2, Steve Kinser. 3, Terry McCarl. 4, Tim Kaeding. 5, Donny Schatz. 6, Craig Dollansky. 7, Sammy Swindell. 8, Joey Saldana. 9, Lucas Wolfe. 10, Austen Wheatley.

(7:18 p.m.) Tyler Wolf and Cody Darrah start on the front row of the eight-lap Last Chance Showdown. Here is the lineup:

1, Tyler Wolf. 2, Cody Darrah. 3, Cory Eliason. 4, Trey Starks. 5, Bill Rose. 6, Chad Kemenah. 7, Mitch Olson.

The top six advance to the feature.

(7:16 p.m.) The dash inversion was an eight, so fast-timer Joey Saldana will start on the outside of the fourth row in the six-lap dash. Here is the lineup:

1, Steve Kinser. 2, Jason Sides. 3, Donny Schatz. 4, Terry McCarl. 5, Tim Kaeding. 6, Craig Dollansky. 7, Sammy Swindell. 8, Joey Saldana. 9, Lucas Wolfe. 10, Austen Wheatley.

(7:12 p.m.) Jason Sides led all eight laps and Austen Wheatley finished second to advance to the dash. Here are the results:

1, Jason Sides. 2, Austen Wheatley. 3, Craig Dollansky. 4, Brian Brown. 5, Jac Haudenschild. 6, Jason Meyers. 7, Cory Eliason. 8, Chad Kemenah.

(7:07 p.m.) Donny Schatz led all eight laps to claim the second heat race and Lucas Wolfe was second to earn a bid to the dash. Here are the results:

1, Donny Schatz. 2, Lucas Wolfe. 3, Sammy Swindell. 4, Kraig Kinser. 5, Kerry Madsen. 6, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7, Cody Darrah. 8, Bill Rose.

(7:02 p.m.) Steve Kinser led all eight laps to win the first heat race. Terry McCarl finished second to also advance to the dash. Here are the results:

1, Steve Kinser. 2, Terry McCarl. 3, Joey Saldana. 4, Tim Kaeding. 5, Jonathan Allard. 6, Bud Kaeding. 7, Trey Starks. 8, Tyler Wolf. 9, Mitch Olson (DNS).

(6:57 p.m.) We just finished Opening Ceremonies and the first heat is being pushed onto the track.

(6:43 p.m.) Here are the lineups for the eight-lap heat races, which transfer the top two to the dash and top six to the feature:

Heat #1: 1, Steve Kinser. 2, Terry McCarl. 3, Tim Kaeding. 4, Joey Saldana. 5, Jonathan Allard. 6, Bud Kaeding. 7, Tyler Wolf. 8, Trey Starks. 9, Mitch Olson.

Heat #2: 1, Lucas Wolfe. 2, Donny Schatz. 3, Kraig Kinser. 4, Sammy Swindell. 5, Kerry Madsen. 6, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7, Cody Darrah. 8, Bill Rose.

Heat #3: 1, Austen Wheatley. 2, Jason Sides. 3, Brian Brown. 4, Craig Dollansky. 5, Jason Meyers. 6, Jac Haudenschild. 7, Cory Eliason. 8, Chad Kemenah.

(6:33 p.m.) Joey Saldana, who won the last World of Outlaws race, was the fast qualifier with a lap of 13.515 seconds. Sammy Swindell was second at 13.641 seconds, Craig Dollansky third at 13.696, Tim Kaeding fourth at 13.803 and Kraig Kinser rounded out the top five with a lap of 13.871 seconds.

Mitch Olson flipped in qualifying without completing a lap. He is ok. Also, Mike Faria is a scratch for the rest of the race.

(6:09 p.m.) Steve Kinser was the quickest in the third and final hot-lap session with a lap of 15.096 seconds.

(6:03 p.m.) Kraig Kinser was the quickest in the second hot-lap session with a top lap of 15.077 seconds.

(5:59 p.m.) Tim Kaeding posted the quickest time in the first hot-lap session with a lap of 15.224 seconds.

(5:29 p.m.) Drivers are climbing into their cars. According to weather.com, there is a storm about to hit the area in the next hour. It doesn’t look too bad and the chance of rain from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. is no worse than 15 percent.

Also, the scoring system is down here. They are working to fix the situation.

(5:19 p.m.) The driver’s meeting just wrapped up. They’ll put heat in the engines next and then hot laps are scheduled for 5:45 p.m. with qualifying at 6 p.m.

(5:04 p.m.) Since we are weather permitting, here is the tentative schedule for tonight. With 26 drivers signed in, we will have three, eight-lap heat races. They will be inverted by four positions based on qualifying (i.e., the fast qualifier starts fourth in the first heat, the second quickest starts fourth in the second heat, etc.). The top six in each heat advance to the 35-lap feature and the top two to the six-lap dash. The next four fastest in qualifying who advance to the feature also make the dash.

There will be an eight-lap Last Chance Showdown, which will transfer six to the feature.

The weather outlook isn’t great, so everything the schedule and laps of each race are tentative as of now.

(5:01 p.m.) The driver’s meeting is in about 10 minutes. Here is the qualifying order after the draw in, which will also serve as a roster:

63 — Chad Kemenah

14 — Jason Meyers

29 — Kerry Madsen

55 — Trey Starks

83 — Tim Kaeding

6 — Bill Rose

44w — Austen Wheatley

19k — Bud Kaeding

00 — Cory Eliason

4f — Mike Faria

83sr — Jac Haudenschild

1 — Sammy Swindell

4 — Cody Darrah

0 — Jonathan Allard

7 — Craig Dollansky

26 — Sam Hafertepe Jr.

11k — Kraig Kinser

5w — Lucas Wolfe

21 — Brian Brown

19 — Tyler Wolf

11 — Steve Kinser

98m — Mitch Olson

9 — Joey Saldana

7s — Jason Sides

15 — Donny Schatz

24 — Terry McCarl

(4:03 p.m.) The drivers are in the process of drawing in to determine the qualifying order. The weather is exactly the same as it has been all day — overcast with a light breeze.

(1:44 p.m.) It is overcast right now in Tulare, Calif., for the opener of the Thunderbowl Raceway doubleheader this weekend. The temperature is approximately 60 degrees with a slight breeze. According to weather.com, the chance of rain is 20 percent until 10 p.m., when it doubles to 40 percent.

Cars are rolling into the pits and I’d estimate we have about a dozen here so far. The driver’s meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Here is our prerace video:

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