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KAEDING REPEATS OVAL NATIONALS WIN |
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PERRIS, CA, NOVEMBER 2, 2002 - Bud Kaeding won the 100 lap Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply / Budweiser Oval Nationals Saturday to become the race's first repeat winner. Kaeding's second straight win in the most prestigious event of the year at the Perris Auto Speedway was worth $30,000, giving him a two-year total of $55,000 in prize money that he has earned in Oval Nationals competition. "Two years in a row, I can't believe it…Party at Disneyland, penthouse suite, it's already reserved," Kaeding said after scoring the biggest of his three Non-Winged World Championship (NWWC) series wins of this season. "When you come out here and race against these SCRA guys, you race against some of the hardest racers in the country, and they ran me harder than hell for 100 laps." Over the course of the three-night event, Kaeding's only shortcoming was in time trials. Despite qualifying 35th on Thursday and 31st on Friday, Kaeding still managed to accumulate the fifth highest point total, which locked him into Saturday's A-Main. Steve Ostling was the high-point man entering the night, but the roll of the dice determined that the top-six point earners would be inverted for the championship race. This gave Cory Kruseman and Kaeding the front row. Driving the BK Racing / High Five Pizza No. 29K Maxim, Kaeding beat Kruseman to starter Lee Jaskowiak's green flag and was followed by Rickie Gaunt, Kruseman, Richard Griffin, Damion Gardner and J.J. Yeley. Most of the top-runners seemed content to set a cautious pace earlier. Gaunt showed that he wasn't one of the drivers that was content to follow and blasted past Kaeding for the lead on the sixth lap. Gardner, who entered the night ranked second in NWWC points, had just passed Kruseman for third when he suffered a flat left rear tire during a lap 13 caution period. With Gardner stranded in the work area, Gaunt controlled the pace and reached lapped traffic on the 30th lap. Kaeding's father, Brent, used a bit of strategy on lap 43. Moments after being lapped by Gaunt, the elder Kaeding promptly slowed on the racetrack, forcing a yellow flag that would allow him to stay on the lead lap. At first, it looked like the younger Kaeding might benefit more from the yellow flag since he took the lead on the restart lap thanks to a Gaunt bobble in turn three. Yeley had other ideas and passed Kaeding along the backstraight to put his G.T. Racing / ABC Sand & Rock No. 76 Twister into the lead for the first time. With Gaunt, Ostling and Tony Jones all either relegated to the pit area or now out of contention, Yeley led until he received a lap 66 slide-job from Kaeding in turn one. Yeley tried to immediately reply, only to be passed by Troy Rutherford, who had worked his way from the 16th starting spot. Yeley passed Rutherford back on the following lap and set sail after Kaeding. Over the course of the next few laps, Yeley pressured Kaeding on several occasions, but could never regain the lead. "Me and J.J. had a pretty awesome race, and I think we took off from the rest of the field for awhile," Kaeding said. "I just wanted to stay out of trouble in the first 50 (laps) and I think the experience J.J. and I have in Silver Crown cars really worked to our advantage because we both knew how to save our cars for the end." Opportunistically, Griffin held the second position thanks, in parts, to some wild restarts. Griffin got the short end of a lap 89 restart, however, and was passed by Rutherford and Yeley. With Rutherford and Yeley tussling over second place, Kaeding was able to complete the remainder of the distance without challenge. Rutherford eventually prevailed over Yeley, giving the Mark Priestley / Roy Miller Freightlines No. 7 Stealth, a well-deserved second place finish. Griffin appeared to run low on fuel coming down to accept the white flag, relegating him to an eighth place finish. Despite losing 20 NWWC Championship points on the final lap, Griffin holds a 38 point lead over Yeley heading into next weeks NWWC final at Manzanita Speedway (Phoenix, AZ). Tony Elliott did a masterful job of saving his BWB Racing / Coyote Express No. 26 J&J for the end. Passing two cars on the final lap of the race, Elliott was reward with a fourth place finish. Mike Spencer started his night by winning the C-Main event. One hundred and forty-five green flag laps later, last year's NWWC Rookie of the Year earned his first career top-five finish. It was also the first top-five finish for Spencer's car owner Hal Engstrom. 7TH ANNUAL OVAL NATIONALS / PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY, PERRIS, CA Date of Race: 11/02/02 - NON WINGED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (NWWC) C FEATURE (20 Laps) 1. Mike Spencer. 2. Peter Murphy. 3. Seth Wilson. 4. Ed Carpenter, Jr.. 5, Alan Ballard. 6. Andy Forsberg. 7. Danny Sheridan. 8. Josh Ford. 9. Tom Downing. 10. Steve Venard. 11. Mel Murphy. 12. Jonathan Vennard. 13. Dennis Rodriguez. 14. Cory Witherill. 15. Brian Venard. 16. Bobby Cody. 17. Nicholas Lima. 18. Jack DeArmond, Jr. 19. Jarrett Chaney. 20. Casey Shuman. 21. Jerry Coons, Jr. B FEATURE (25 Laps) 1. Levi Jones. 2. Rip Williams. 3. Dave Darland. 4. Troy Rutherford. 5. Mike Faria. 6. Mike English. 7. Cary Faas. 8. Tracy Hines. 9. Adam Mitchell. 10. Mike Spencer. 11. Verne Sweeney, 12. Danny Faria, Jr. 13. Ed Carpenter, Jr. 14. Andy Forsberg. 15. Alan Ballard. 16. Jason York. 17. John Scott, 18. Danny Sheridan. 19. Seth Wilson, 20. Mike Kirby. 21. Richard Harvey, Jr. 22. Travis Rilat. 23. Peter Murphy. 24. Josh Ford. A FEATURE (100 Laps - $30,000 to win) 1. Bud Kaeding. 2. Troy Rutherford. 3. J.J. Yeley. 4. Tony Elliott. 5. Mike Spencer. 6. Rip Williams. 7. Mike English. 8. Richard Griffin. 9. Mike Faria. 10. Cory Kruseman. 11. Charles Davis, Jr. 12. Tracy Hines. 13. Verne Sweeney. 14. Brent Kaeding. 15. Danny Faria, Jr. 16. Steve Ostling, 17. Dave Darland. 18. John Scott. 19. Rickie Gaunt, 20. Levi Jones. 21. Josh Wise. 22. Tony Jones. 23. Damion Gardner. 24. Mike Kirby. 25. Adam Mitchell. 26. Cary Faas. Laps Led: Kaeding 1-5, Gaunt 6-42, Kaeding 43, Yeley 44-65, Kaeding 66-100 NWWC points as of 11/2/02 TOTAL Richard Griffin 651 J.J. Yeley 613 Bud Kaeding 602 Cory Kruseman 592 Damion Gardner 573 Rip Williams 478 Troy Rutherford 472 Rickie Gaunt 450 Mike English 440 Tony Elliott 423 Mike Kirby 402 Tony Jones 393 Levi Jones 369 John Scott 301 Bobby Graham 295 Mike Spencer 246 Adam Mitchell 192 Charles Davis, Jr. 177 Rodney Argo 158 Bobby Cody 146 Tracy Hines 87 Jack DeArmond, Jr. 82 Lance Gremett 75 Billy Pauch 68 Mike Lauterborn 53 Brian Venard 33 Jay Drake 1 |
