PERRIS, CA, November 3 - Twenty-one year-old Bud
Kaeding became the sixth different driver in as many years to win the Temecula
Valley Pipe & Supply / Budweiser Oval Nationals. The victory was worth
$25,000 to Kaeding. Richard Griffin finished eighth in the race, which was
good enough for him to win his second straight Non-Winged World Championship
(NWWC) title.
One week ago, Kaeding led all but the final lap of the Western World
Championships at Manzanita Speedway. His heartbreaking defeat came as a
result of a front end failure that sent him hard into the turn one wall. Although
Kaeding was extremely pleased with Saturday's 50 lap victory at the Perris Auto
Speedway, he remained disappointed with last week's outcome.
"I wouldn't say this makes up for it, but it does kind help heal it,"
Kaeding said. "We won $25,000 tonight and we could have won $12,500
last week, but that's just the way it goes. We'll go back home now, do our
homework, and try to start next year like we've end this one."
Driving the BK Racing / Kohler Faucets No. 29K Maxim, Kaeding started on the
pole with his father, Brent Kaeding, to his outside. Dad showed his son
that he still had a few lesson to learn and easily won the drag race to the
green flag.
Danny Sheridan halted the race on lap eight after he flipped high in the air
through the first turn. Sheridan was not hurt during an incident that also
collected Tony Elliott and Gary Howard. Jerry Coons, Jr. and Rodney Argo bumped
tires along the backstraight after the restart leaving Coons stopped on the
track with a flat left rear tire.
Brent held the lead for the restart, only to watch Bud drop his M&M Racing /
Al's Roofing Supply No. 2M Maxim back to the second spot in turn two.
One lap later, Tracy Hines bicycled Andy Morales' "Tamale Wagon" in
turn three. Hines rode up the wall, flipped and was hit by 1999 Oval
Nationals Champion, Rickie Gaunt. A small fire broke out after the flip
resulting in
some anxious moments when Hines crawled from the car with one of his legs on
fire. Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished and it was reported
that Hines did not suffer any serious burns. It was later feared, however,
that Hines may have sustained a broken ankle in the accident.
With Bud now into lapped traffic, Tony Jones used one of his trademark PAS slide
jobs to put the Mike Wall / Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply No. 37 Avenger
ahead of Brent on lap 22. A pair of past Oval Nationals winners ran into
problems two laps later. Much like Hines' accident, Argo biked and flipped
in turn three leaving Rip Williams nowhere to go except into Argo. Williams
returned for the restarted, but might have wished he hadn't after he flipped
entering three on lap 29. Neither driver was hurt.
With no lapped cars between first and second place, Jones knew that the restart
might present an opportunity for him to try another one of his slide jobs.
Bud was more than aware of this since his crew chief is Jones' brother
(Davey). Nevertheless, Jones was able to grab the lead on the restart with
a big slider in turn one. Bud battled back and regained the lead in turn
three.
"I'm just glad I survived a Tony Jones slide job," Kaeding laughed.
"I spent all week listening to everything thing he was going to do and
everything to watch out for. At the same time, it worked out in our favor
because not
everyone can warn you about it. Tony got by me and I saw that he had
blistered his tires real early in the race. We put a harder tire on and
were able to beat him down the straightaway."
Reminiscent of his Oval Nationals victory over Mike Kirby last year, Jones
seemed content to wait for Bud to reach lapped traffic. Bud eventually
reached the last running car ten laps from the finish. As it tuned out,
lapped traffic benefited the leader more than it did Jones. Jones did,
however, make up the ground that he had lost and was within striking distance
when passed beneath the white flag. Bud was slowed for a split second by a
slower car through turn two and it looked like Jones might have a shot at
victory. That is, until the yellow flag waved for Gaunt, who stopped on
the racing surface.
Reverting back to lap 48 on the restart, Bud powered away from Jones as the
green flag flew. Jones was once again within striking distance as the
white cloth appeared and tried one final turn one slide job for the win.
Refusing to have victory snatched from his hands for the second week in a row,
Bud looked like a seasoned veteran when he beat Jones to the cushion and drove
on to reach starter Lee Jaskowiak's checkered flag first.
On the cool down lap, Bud was greeted with a loving wheel rub from his dad, who
finished third. Once out the their respective mounts, father and son
hugged on the front straight before joining Jones on the victory podium.
Prior to the last restart, Cory Kruseman was in a position to win his second
NWWC title. Griffin struggled for most of the race and was running tenth
at the time. Unbelievably, the combination of Yeley passing Kruseman for
fourth and Griffin moving up to an eighth place finish gave Griffin the title by
just three points.
"Right from the start we didn't have a very good race car," Griffin
said after winning the $10,000 bonus that goes with the NWWC Championship.
"I'm a little bit disappointed because we had a good car on Thursday and
was looking forward to tonight, but it just wasn't hooked up. We had a lot
of chances under those reds to make it better and we never really helped it a
whole lot. That last yellow came out and I knew what I had to do if I
wanted to win it and I focused on that. Luckily, J.J. was able to get by
Cory and we were able to pass two cars on the last two laps and pull off the
Non-Winged World Championship again."
Second generation driver Mike Spencer, who's father won shared CRA Rookie of the
Year honors with Buster Venard in 1976, won the Speedway Motors, Inc. / NWWC
Rookie of the Year Award.
###
SCRA RACE #42 - OVAL NATIONALS - PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA
Date of Race: 11/03/01
D FEATURE (15 Laps)
1. Adam Mitchell. 2. Jeremy Sherman. 3. Cal Smith. 4. Bobby Cody. 5, Tony Lima,
6. Steve Venard.
C FEATURE (20 Laps)
1. Troy Cline. 2. Tracy Hines. 3. Mike Spencer. 4. Brad Noffsinger.
5. Jeremy Sherman. 6, Charlie Ekiss. 7. Tim Crawley, 8. Ed Carpenter, Jr.. 9.
Jason York. 10. Adam Mitchell. 11. Bob Ream Jr. 12. Tyler Walker, 13. Bobby
Cody. 14. Rick Becker. 15. Ronnie Clark. 16. Steve Venard. 17.
Andy Forsberg. 18. Jason Statler, 19. Cal Smith, 20. Tony Lima.
B FEATURE (20 Laps)
1. Brian Venard, 2. Charles Davis, Jr. 3. Rickie Gaunt, 4.
John Scott. 5. Mike Kirby. 6. Jarrett Chaney. 7. Danny Sheridan. 8. Gary
W. Howard. 9. Michael Hinrichsen. 10. Tracy Hines, 11. Steve Ostling. 12.
Tony Elliott. 13. Troy Cline. 14. Jeremy Sherman. 15. Eric Rossi.
16. Lance Gremett. 17. Tim Crawley. 18. Levi Jones. 19.
Ed Carpenter, Jr. 20. Mike Spencer. 21. Charlie Ekiss. 22. Dan Hillberg.
23. Verne Sweeney. 24. Brad Noffsinger.
A FEATURE (50 Laps - $25,000 to Win)
1. Bud Kaeding. 2. Tony Jones. 3. Brent Kaeding. 4. J.J, Yeley. 5. Cory
Kruseman. 6. John Scott. 7. Charles Davis, Jr. 8. Richard Griffin. 9. Jeremy
Sherman. 10. Mike Kirby. 11. Troy Cline. 12. Steve Ostling. 13.
Michael Hinrichsen. 14. Brian Venard, 15. Gary W. Howard. 16.
Rickie Gaunt. 17. Troy Rutherford. 18. Rip Williams, 19. Rodney Argo. 20.
Jarrett Chaney. 21. Tracy Hines, 22. Jerry Coons, Jr. 23. Danny
Sheridan. 24. Tony Elliott.
Laps Led: Brent Kaeding 1-8, Bud Kaeding 9-50
FINAL 2001 NON-WINGED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (NWWC) TOUR POINTS TOTAL
Richard Griffin 637
Cory Kruseman 634
Mike Kirby 546
Troy Rutherford 522
Steve Ostling 487
Rickie Gaunt 461
Charles Davis, Jr. 448
John Scott 448
Rip Williams 437
Danny Sheridan 363
Troy Cline 342
Bob Ream, Jr. 326
Tony Jones 308
Adam Mitchell 259
Mike English 248
Lance Gremett 232
Mike Spencer 187
Ronnie Clark 183
Brian Venard 180
Mike Hinrichsen 152
Tony Elliott 151
George Gervais 142
Casey Shuman 131
Kevin Doty 121
Glenn Crossno 92
Hank Winter 89
Tony Everhart 39
Kevin Frisbie 20
Josh Davis 11
