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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| KAEDING
CAPTURES SECOND WESTERN WORLD AT MANZANITA by Ken Wagner |
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DAMION GARDNER PULLS WITHIN 50 POINTS OF RIP WILLIAMS. |
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Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. chased down Levi Jones
with four laps to go to win the 37th NAPA Auto Parts/Budweiser
"Western World" title for the second time in front of an
overflow crowd at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz. The 40 lap
race had only one yellow flag as Kaeding used a lap car to squeeze
by Jones and beat him to the checkered flag for the $12,500 prize in
his Loan City,High Five Pizza, Maxim, Shaver. The excited Kaeding
dedicated his win to a friend who passed away this past week. He
said the Western is what it's all about. "I am so excited to
win because Levi was faster than us," said Kaeding in victory
lane. He let the crowd know he likes having his name up there with
the many famous winners before him. He finished in second place in
the USAC National points behind champion Jay Drake, who
finished eighth in Saturday night's feature.
The pics from Manzy. Thursday click here. Friday click here. Saturday click here. Levi Jones, driving the Lucas Oil Products, Karavan Trailer, Maxim, Gaerte, looked like a winner on the “heads up” 40 lap Main Event as he took off from the pole to race to a strong lead in the big show. He led 36 laps before a lap car didn’t move out of the only fast groove, and Bud was able to squeeze by for the lead and the win. He won his heat in a runaway and started on the pole. Levi will be driving the Lucas Oil car again in 2005. Josh Wise took a little time off recently and returned for the Western in one of the Tony Stewart, Vital Express, Eagle, Mopar cars. Josh did a great job in patiently running up front from his front row starting spot to get third. No announcements on who will replace Cory on the team yet as he moves back to the USAC/CRA series next year. I would guess that Josh might be at the head of the line to be that driver. Jay Drake won his first ever USAC sprint car championship and was a happy camper. His teammate, Cory Kruseman, ended up a close third in the standings after finishing 11th in the final event. The Western World weekend suffered this year from a new format that had heats that were started straight up by qualifying times with no main events on the prelim nights. This made fast freight trains with little passing the first two nights and the crowd was not appreciative. USAC did not mandate this format and took a lot of flak over it. The two qualifying nights featured three 15 lap heats that did little to wet the appetites of fans in attendance. Cory Kruseman’s 360 performance and Rickie Gaunt’s restart in his 410 heat helped to make things better, but overall it was not a very racy weekend, with some exceptions. With 24 cars timing in on Thursday and 34 on Friday, it didn’t have the numbers to support a split deal, but with the 360’s added, there were lots of fast laps on the track. The water truck made an appearance just a few minutes before the National Anthem and the result was a 45 minute delay and a lot of angry fans and USAC officials. The dust wasn’t billowing like it can as the wind blew some all day and evening, and the crowd was pelted with the gritty stuff, with goggles a luxury in the stands. It was one of the largest crowds I’ve seen there in a long time as they were really packed in. The fast groove was pretty much at the top each night and once they got strung out at speed, only the brave moved up. It was a pretty easy three days on equipment with few crashes and no major endo’s. The National sprint car season is over and the local CRA one is about to end. Once again the visitors brought their own cars and this resulted in better performances by them. Tracy Hines coming within .20 of the track record in the Hoffman car was one real obvious example. He has been coming out almost every year and drove some pretty top flight local equipment in the past, but never had much luck. In his regular ride this year, he had a better opportunity. That went for Jon Stanbrough, Tony Elliott and many more of the USAC National regulars who made the long tow out here. Jesse Hockett’s first trip wasn’t the best, but if he brings his own car next time, he will do better. Rip Williams did not have a Ripper type weekend, but still leads Damion Gardner by 50 points going into the last race, coming up in two weeks at Perris with around 70 points available. Damion can catch Rip, but Ripper is very good at Perris and unless something drastic happens, The Ripper will earn his first ever championship. Mike Kirby had kind of an 89er type of weekend. He ran 8th and 9th in the two division’s. He missed the CRA main from his heat, but won the semi and came from 19th to 9th for a good run. In the 360 main he finished 8th and must have been tired when it was all over, but not as tired as Charles Davis Jr. It seems like every time Charlie hit the track in his 360 over the event, he was restarting at the back. Still, he finished 10th in the 360 main. In the big show, he came up to finish fourth with one of his high flying efforts. Damion Gardner ran a strong fifth and picked up 37 points on the point leader and it all comes down to the last race in two weeks. Dickie Gaines started 21st and raced up to seventh for the hard charger of the race. Mike Kirby’s new ride was announced this past week and does the name Larry Woodward ring a bell? Volcano Joe’s will be the major sponsor as Kirby and Brett Roa will have a new deal for 2005. The only other news I have, Mopar power is rumored and won’t next year be grand with USAC/CRA! Eric Wilkins, the Arizona Champion, had a kidney stone problem Thursday night after the races and had to go to the ER. He was unable to race on Saturday night. Not too many CRA teams traveled to Phoenix, about 13 regulars, and the last race is November 20 so more should be coming to the Kindoll Classic honoring Wilda Kindoll’s husband Jack. VALVOLINE USAC NATIONAL & USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 6, 2004 Phoenix, Arizona Manzanita Speedway 37th NAPA Auto Parts/Budweiser Western World Championships FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Bud Kaeding (#29 BK), 2. Levi Jones (#2B, 2B Racing), 3. Josh Wise (#20s Stewart), 4. Charles Davis, Jr. (#8A, Smiley), 5. Damion Gardner (#50, Chaffin), 6. Tracy Hines (#69, Dynamics), 7. Gaines, 8. Jay Drake (#20 Stewart), 9. Kirby, 10. Tony Elliott (#11, Walker), 11. Cory Kruseman (#21, Stewart), 12. Jon Stanbrough (#10T, R & B), 13. Coons, 14. Dave Darland (#56az, Pruett/May), 15. Rickie Gaunt (#2A Smiley), 16. Hessert, 17. Troy Cline (#62, BWB), 18. Rick Ziehl (#14, Lancaster), 19. Troy Rutherford (#7, Priestley), 20. Ford, 21. Mike Spencer (#44, Engstrom), 22. Rip Williams (#3, Jory), 23. Marc Jessup (#11J, Walker), 24. Venard, 25. Cody. NT FINAL VALVOLINE NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Drake-1,620; 2-Kaeding-1,546; 3-Kruseman-1,538; 4-Jones-1,433; 5-Ford-1,198; 6-Elliott-1,130; 7-Darland-1,087; 8-Stanbrough-968; 9-Gaines-930; 10-Wise-865. NEW USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Williams-1,664; 2-Gardner-1,614; 3-Kirby-1,567; 4-Rutherford-1,059; 5-Bragg-910; 6-Spencer-881; 7-Kruseman-880; 8-Ostling-855; 9-Cody-807; 10-Tony Jones-795. |
