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| Another Bud @ Budweiser Oval
Nationals by Ed Hollowell |
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PERRIS, CA-RIS- Back in 2001 21 year old Bud Kaeding won his first
Perris Oval Nationals Championship when he beat Tony Jones and his
father, Brent in an epic battle. The next year in 2002 he became the
first repeat winner of the event. He seemed to have set a pattern as
the next two winners, Cory Kruseman and Dave Darland were also
repeat winners and now Bud Kaeding has set a new mark for the others to shoot for by making himself the first three time winner of the Oval Nationals. Kaeding summed up his feelings about Perris and the Oval Nationals when he said, “I love this place! Jesus!” The parallels between that 2001 victory and 2007 were many. Instead of his father Brent being the early leader this year he had to pass Tim Kaeding who had lead the opening laps. Instead of having to fight the son of legend Bubby Jones for the win he had to beat Casey Shuman, the son of Hall of Famer Ron Shuman. The 40 lap finale for the 2007 Budweiser Oval Nationals had 28
drivers in the starting field with Kevin Swindell on the pole and
sharing the front row with Damion Gardner. Friday preliminary winner
Daron Clayton started third with Tim Kaeding fourth. Jesse Hockett,
the Thursday preliminary winner was fifth with Casey Shuman, who had
finished third At the start it appeared that Damion Gardner was going to lead lap one but Tim Kaeding took the advantage from Damion in the third turn and made himself the early leader. They were followed by Daron Clayton, Kevin Swindell and Casey Shuman. Good sense seemed to have been in use at the start as the race settled down to a steady pace with Tim leading. Daron Clayton seemed to be testing his speed as he took second from Gardner on lap three but Gardner took it back on the fifth lap and slowly began to reel in Kaeding. Ten laps in the top five remained as they had on the first lap with Jesse Hockett in sixth, Bud Kaeding in seventh, Rickie Gaunt in eighth and Danny Sheridan in ninth. The first car out was Troy Rutherford who parked it on lap 13, the same lap that Gardner caught and passed Tim Kaeding to take the lead. On the 19^th lap 2005 and 2006 winner Dave Darland ended a night he would surely rather forget when he pulled off and went to the trailer to finish 27^th . Twenty laps, halfway into the race there had still been no caution flags and Gardner lead with Tim Kaeding in second, Daron Clayton in third, Kevin Swindell in fourth and Jesse Hockett in fifth. The leaders were starting to catch the back markers at this point and this slowed Gardner and allowed Kaeding to reclaim the the lead. The first four were all involved in a dog fight at this point and that was when the first incident of the race occurred. On the 22^nd lap Kevin Swindell and Daron Clayton made contact and Clayton flipped in the first turn. The race was stopped and Clayton climbed out of the wreckage that had been his race car and started toward Swindell who had stopped at the other end of the front straight. He wanted to see Kevin Swindell but he got to see Sammy who reportedly tripped him up before officials could calm things down. The race was restarted with twenty laps scored. Tim Kaeding was the leader with Gardner second, Swindell third, Hockett fourth, Shuman in fifth and Bud Kaeding in sixth. When the race was restarted Swindell tried to advance but after attempts to pass Gardner he appeared to slow and was passed Hockett and Shuman. Kevin fought back and took fourth back from Shuman on the 24^th lap and then got around a slowing Gardner and Hockett to move into second behind Tim Kaeding with Bud up third followed by Gardner, Hockett and Shuman. On the 27^th lap the first sign that Tim Kaeding was in trouble was seen when he jumped the cushion in turn one and lost most of what had been a comfortable lead. At the same time Shuman had turned up the heat and moved past Bud Kaeding to take third. Caution was called on lap 29 when Mike Spencer had his engine blow up and stopped in the second turn. Spencer had been in a close battle with Tony Jones for the USAC/CRA season title and his retirement was a blow to his chances for for that crown as Tony Jones ended the race in ninth place and added 27 points to his 67 point lead at the nights start. The restart did not go well for Swindell, who slapped the wall in turn one and only kept rolling far enough to get to the work area. The yellow was displayed for debris. The next restart saw Shuman get a good run and take the lead from Kaeding. Tim Kaeding was struggling and Bud passed him to claim second on lap 32. Tim Kaeding jumped the cushion again and dropped from the top five. The next lap Brady Bacon in the Kasey Kahne racing #99 passed Damion Gardner for third and three laps later on lap 36 Gardner's engine erupted in smoke as he retired. Tim Kaeding was still fighting his ill handling car trying for a good finish but that hope ended on lap 38 when he hit the wall in turn four. Leading up to the caution it appeared that Bud Kaeding was able to challenge Shuman for the lead. On the lap 38 restart Casey got some room but Bud was soon on his bumper and pulling along side him coming out of the corners. “I could hear him back there in the turns but he always went away on the straights.” Said Shuman. It all came down to the last lap when Kaeding got a good run low coming through the second turn and passed Shuman on the back straight. Casey was unable to fight back and Bud Kaeding was the first three time winner of the Oval Nationals. “Casey drove a hell of a race. Him and I got going on the bottom there and got past my brother whom my hat's off to as well. I mean you guys saw something special there. I mean that guy can drive a race car. Like I said the other night whether it's a winged or non winged car. Back to two or three to go, I was trying to size Casey up there and we had that yellow with three to go and man I got going, I got going and God damn I kept bobbling up on entry and I knew if I didn't too tight on entry and I sailed it in a little bit low, chased up to the curb, I could definitely pull it off. We got it by inches. Hell I wanted to celebrate coming off four but I heard motors coming and I knew him and the Mopar cars were back there and there were a lot of people coming after us. End of the night we got $30,000 in front of us!” The first time Bud won the Nationals he said he was going to Disneyland and after winning it a third time he refrained that when he said, “I'm ready to celebrate and tomorrow I'm going to treat my boys to Disneyland like we have in the past and next week we're off to Phoenix to win the Silver Crown Championship.” “This is really hard to swallow and it's going to take a little while but we Gota' be really happy with the performance. I mean to come out here and be on the podium three nights on a row with the best drivers at the best race track around. It's mixed emotions. I'm really happy but, man, I feel like I let one go too.” Said Casey Shuman. Preliminary Action- It may be that the most remarkable thing to happen happen in the preliminaries was Dave Darland flipping his car as he warmed up for the B-main. According to his wife, Brenda he said he got the front wheels in some 'grease' and just couldn't turn it. He hit the wall coming out of the second turn and went up and over. The team was able to repair the car to start as a provisional in the main event but he was really just running for USAC National series points because provisional starters don't qualify for the Oval National awards. In the 20 lap B-main Santa Maria California's Danny Sheridan lead
the final six laps to win the race and the first of twelve transfer
positions to the finals. Charles Davis, Jr. lead the remainder of
the race and finished second with Brady Bacon finishing third, just
as he Sammy Swindell crashed out of the C-main during a failed start.
R. J. Johnson took the lead at the start from a third place starting
position and lead the whole of the 20 lap race for eight transfer
positions to the B-main. Robert Ballou was second and Cole Whitt was
third. The fight for the final transfer place was won by Dustin
Morgan who beat out Ricky Peter Murphy won the 15 lap D-main. Eight drivers advanced to the C-main from the D and they were, in addition to Murphy, Garrett Hansen, Ricky Stenhouse, Jason York, Chris Wakim, Critter Malone, Mike Martin and Matt Rossi. Jimmy Crawford finished second but scratched from the C-main allowing Rossi to advance from ninth place. Most of the same drivers from the Oval Nationals will be in the next USAC National and USAC/CRA event, The Western World Championship at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, AZ on November 9 – 10. |
