|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
BUD KAEDING KEEPS HOT
STREAK GOING ON MANZY’S HALF MILE TRACK |
|
Phoenix, AZ (November 6) California drivers
captured both feature races in Saturday night’s NAPA/Budweiser Western World
Championships before a standing room only crowd at Manzanita Speedway. Bud Kaeding, winner of the 2002 Western and second place finisher last year, dogged Midwest driver Levi Jones for 35 laps before finally using traffic to move out front in the 40 lap race for USAC sprint cars on the half mile track. Only one local driver qualified for the feature and Charles Davis, Jr. made the most of the opportunity with a great drive from the fourth row to an impressive fourth place finish behind Josh Wise. With a strong wind blowing all day and an exceptionally warm day the track maintenance crew had to put more water on both the half and one third mile track before the first green flag fell about a half hour late. Both tracks held up reasonably well but the short track was less than ideal as most of the front runners were smoking their tires in the feature. Jones shot from the pole in his Lucas Oil/Karavan Trailer Maxim and built leads up to 1.82 seconds while Kaeding took his time in working past Josh Wise, part of the Tony Stewart Racing team that fielded three cars. Jones maintained about a second and a half lead over Kaeding until they encountered traffic, then Kaeding closed in. Bobby Cody blew a tire and slowed to a stop bringing out the yellow flag on the 18th lap. That was the only yellow in the feature. With no traffic ahead of him, Jones went back to work and again built a one second lead until he caught the back markers on the 31st lap. Kaeding then closed the gap and used the traffic to his advantage to put the BK Motorsports/Loan City Maxim into the lead on the 36th circuit. Kaeding held off repeated challenges by Jones who refused to give up but was still about a second in arrears at the checkered flag. Wise maintained third through out the race with his team mate Jay Drake dogging his every move. Drake faded in the closing laps and was the eighth driver across the finish line. Charles Davis, Jr. was the only local driver to qualify for the feature and made the most of the opportunity and brought the Tony Smiley Extreme chassis home in fourth after starting seventh. Damion Gardner started sixth and improved to fifth at the finish with Tracy Hines improving from 11th to sixth. Dickie Gaines was the hard charger of the race as he drove from 20th to seventh. Then came Drake, Mike Kirby and the 2003 Western World champion Tony Elliott. Most of the 25 car field finished the grind making traffic difficult for some of the leaders but seemed to work to Kaeding’s advantage. The “B” main went to Kirby who methodically worked his way from the fifth row and had a spirited duel with Gaines before finally getting the Glen Crossno/ITI Performance sprinter to the finish line in front of Gaines. Josh Ford had the pole for the 20 lapper and was third at the checkered flag. Jerry Coons, Jr. took fourth, Tracy Hines fifth and the final main event transfer spot went to Brian Venard. The rest of the top ten were Steve Ostling who started 21st, Peter Murphy, Mat Neely and Bobby Cody. Twenty one cars were scheduled to run the 15 lap “C” main but eight scratches left 13 cars to take the green flag. There were also two scratches in the “B” feature which allowed the top eight cars to transfer to the “B”. Jeremy Sherman, who had three straight top three finishes in the Western, including a win in 2001, started in the front row of the “C” and won it easily with Terry Schank in second, Mike Leslie third, Shon Deskins fourth and Steve Ostling fifth. The other transfer spots went to Seth Wilson, Ronnie Case and Chuck Buckman. Although Jay Drake faded to eighth in the USAC race that was more than enough for him to win the National Championship and he was crowned champion following the feature. It marked the first time a National Sprint Car champion was crowned in Arizona. NAPA/BUDWEISER WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS |
