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Hanford, CA....Oct 25-26......Usual
USAC racer only Bud Kaeding traveled to Kings Speedway to contest the unwinged
360 Bandit sprint car portion of the 8th Annual Western Dirt Track Nationals and
he left with a near perfect weekend. On Friday night, he posted quick time over
a 31 car turnout and ran second to Santa Maria star Jimmy Thompson in his heat.
Time problems forced the Kings Clash for the ten fastest qualifiers to be held
over to Saturday night and Kaeding won that crash-marred affair for a $500
payday. In the 30 lap feature, Kaeding took the lead from 4th starting on the
opening lap, but had to survive a fierce late race duel from young Aaron
Altaffer to score that $2,500 win. Altaffer faed on the final lap to an 8th
place finish as B Main winner Danny Faria Jr ran second ahead of Gene Manhire
and Davey Pombo Jr. This marked the first time that this division has been part
of this special show as they replaced the dirt late models.
Kaeding easily had fast
time at the 3/8 mile clay oval where brother Tim Kaeding and father Brent
Kaeding had so much success at the rich Trophy Cup action the previous weekend.
He ran a fast lap of 15.796 and a slow lap of 15.994 to pace the 31 cars.
Altaffer was second quick at 15.940 and Manhire ranked third at 15.961. Andy
Forsberg joined the action and he was fourth car in the 15's at 15.965. D Faria
Jr ranked fifth at 16.194. The cars were divided into four qualifying heat races
with the top four finishers in each advancing to the rich 30 lap A Main on
Saturday night. Outside front row starter Thompson won the first heat with sixth
starter Kaeding in second ahead of Davey Pombo Jr. Jerome Warmerdam won heat 2
from third starting as pole starter John Burnett ran second ahead of 5th starter
Ricci Faria. Greg Porte came from fifth to win heat 3 with Manhire second ahead
of Davey Key. Outside front row starter and Ventura Raceway regular Chris Wakim
won heat 4 as Forsberg ran second ahead of Anthony Pombo. Saturday night's
racing started with the leftover ten lap Kings Clash for the ten fastest
qualifiers. The drivers drew for their starting order and Forsberg and A J
Burgin drew the front row. Burgin insisted on starting in the front row even
though his car was running poorly and that triggered numerous restart cautions.
Seventh starter Kaeding won ahead of 4th starter Porte, R Faria and Manhire.
This event paid $500 to win and $50 each for the other 9 participants. The final
8 transfers came out of a 12 lap B Main. D Faria Jr had the pole and he paced
the entire race with Burgin overcoming his Kings Clash engine woes to run second
ahead of Jeff Fiscus, Dick Stevens and Derick Hearon. Mike Broome, Tom
Stansberry and Jason Yount just made transfers with Richard Harvey Jr, Dan
Gonderman and Scott Holloway just missing transfer spots.
The 30 lap A Main had just a four car
inversion that put Forsberg and Manhire in the front row ahead of Altaffer and
Kaeding. Kaeding leaped from 4th to the lead on the first lap and Altaffer
traded second with Forsberg. Davey Pombo Jr worked his way into third on lap 11.
Spins by Derrick Hearon and Jeff Fiscus slowed the action on both lap 10 and lap
11. D Pombo Jr was now third ahead of Forsberg. D Pombo Jr then started working
the inside in his challenge of second place Altaffer. D Pombo's shot at the win
ended when he pushed off the top of turn 3 and fell out of the top five with
Kaeding leading Altaffer, Forsberg, Manhire and D Faria. Kaeding began to smoke
just before lap 21 yellow flag as Johnathan Logan spun. At this caution,
Manhire was riding third ahead of D Faria Jr and Forsberg. Altaffer surprised
even leader Purkey as he made an outside run at the leader on the restart.
Altaffer led laps 22-24 before Kaeding used an inside to retake the lead on lap
25. The leaders were in heavy lapped traffic over the final half dozen laps as
Kaeding won ahead of D Faria Jr, Manhire, D Pombo Jr, Porte and Thompson.
The only event remaining on the
Kings Speedway schedule for 2002 is the annual Cotton Classic for the winged 410
sprint cars on November 16.
Summary Friday
Fast Time-Bud Kaeding 15.796
Heat 1-Jimmy Thompson, Kaeding, Davey Pombo Jr, Wade Griest, Danny Faria
Jr.
Heat 2-Jerome Warmerdam, John Burnett, Ricci Faria, Aaron Altaffer, Derrick
Hearon.
Heat 3-Greg Porte, Gene Manhire, Davey Key, Johnathon Logan, Mike Broome.
Heat 4-Chris Wakim, Andy Forsberg, Anthony Pombo, Dave Knott, Jason Yount.
Saturday
Kings Clash-Kaeding, Porte, R Faria, Manhire, D Faria Jr, Jeff Fiscus, Forsberg,
D Pombo Jr, A J Burgin, Altaffer.
B Main-D Faria Jr, A J Burgin, Jeff Fiscus, Dick Stevens, Hearon, Broome, Tom
Stansberry, Yount, Richard Harvey Jr, Dan Gonderman, Scott Holloway, Ray Knight,
John Dyer.
A Main-Kaeding, D Faria Jr, Manhire, D Pombo Jr, Porte, Thompson, Key, Altaffer,
Forsberg, R Faria, Wakim, Stevens, Warmerdam, Stansberry, Harvey, Burgin,
Burnett, Logan, Broome, A Pombo, Yount, Fiscus, Griest, Hearon.
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