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KAEDING WINS WESTERN, GRIFFIN 3RD NWWC TITLE |
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PHOENIX, AZ, NOVEMBER 9, 2002 - Bud Kaeding entered the week favored by
many to win the 35th running of the NAPA Auto Parts / Budweiser Western World Championships at Manzanita Speedway. With a commanding Non-Winged World Championship (NWWC) point lead, Richard Griffin was favored to walk away with his third straight NWWC title. When it was all said and done, both men had fulfilled their pre-race expectations. Albeit, in more difficult fashion than either had hoped. Determined to erase a year's worth of disappointment, Kaeding overcame an ill-handling car and somehow managed to keep his High Five Pizza No. 29K Maxim ahead of defending Western World Champion Jeremy Sherman, who started in the 17th position. "Sherman got by me towards the end of the race, and I wasn't about to let this race get away again this year," Kaeding said, referencing last year's final lap accident while leading. "I kept hearing a noise since about the last half of the race. As it turned out, I had broken a right rear radius rod from the birdcage. I was so tight that I couldn't get the car turned, so I had to run through the slick stuff. We were fortunate that our car was still good enough that I could work around all that." Even though he had ambitions of winning the race, Griffin entered the NWWC finale knowing that a ninth place finish would give him the championship over J.J. Yeley. Kaeding lined up for the $12,500-to-win race with NWWC title hopes, as well. Granted, they were slim hopes since it would take the combination of Griffin finishing 15th or worse, and Yeley finishing outside the top-five, for Kaeding to steal the crown on a track where both drivers have enjoyed much success during their careers. By virtue of his preliminary win on Thursday, Kaeding started on the pole for the 40-lap championship race. Bolting into the lead at the start, Kaeding was followed by Troy Rutherford, Dave Darland, Bob Ream, Jr., Tony Elliott, Griffin and Yeley at the end of the first lap. Former "Western" Champ Jay Drake halted the action on the second lap after he rode out a turn-two flip. Drake was not the first driver on this night to get upside-down, but he would be the last. The two races leading up to the A-Main saw flips by Damion Gardner, Travis Rilat, Brain Stanfill and NWWC Rookie of the Year Bobby Cody. Fortunately, there were no injuries. With Kaeding leading after the restart, Ream was the story early. Moving into the second position on the sixth lap, Ream pinned his ears back and pulled to within striking distance of the leader shortly after Kaeding had reached lapped traffic on lap 17. Trapping Kaeding behind two slower cars, Ream took the lead one lap later. The scariest moment of the weekend occurred directly in front of Kaeding on lap 21, after a loose fuel line caused the car driven by Jerry Coons, Jr. to burst into flames. As the red flag waved, Coons was able to bail out of the car without injury. During the stoppage, Ream's crew noticed that his left rear tire was too blistered to send him out without a tire change. By SCRA rule, Ream was sent to the rear of the lead lap after the tire change, giving the lead back to Kaeding. Ream eventually battled his way back for an eighth place finish. Steadily working his way forward, Yeley had his ABC Sand & Rock No. 76 Twister up to second place for the restart. Driving the Ellis Race Cars No. 21, Sherman passed third-place Griffin when the green flag waved to resume racing. Continuing his charge forward, Sherman gave Yeley a rarely seen turn-two slide-job on lap 23. Ten laps from the finish, Sherman showed signs that he was going to be able to catch Kaeding. Sherman was aided further on lap 37, after Kaeding muffed a pass attempt on a slower car. Kaeding bobbled slightly in turn two with less than two laps to go giving Sherman an opportunity to set up for a turn-three slide-job. Sherman executed the slider to take the lead, only to have Kaeding launch off the bottom of turn four as the leader, with the white flag in sight. Hoping for some last lap heroics, Sherman dove to the bottom of turn one and, by inches, narrowly avoided contact with Kaeding. Darting off the second corner, Sherman was positioned perfectly to try another slide-job in turn three. Unfortunately for Sherman, a few lapped cars were blocking the low line, denying him a chance to be the first driver in 20 years to score back-to-back Western World wins. Yeley came home in third ahead of the Arizona Race Mart No. 94 driven by Charlie Davis Jr., who started in eleventh. Griffin finished fifth giving him the NWWC title over Yeley by 25 points. "We knew where we had to finish tonight, we were just hoping that we would have a car that was capable of winning the race. We knew with 20 laps to go that we weren't that good, so we focused on winning the championship," Griffin said, after officially earning a $10,000 bonus for winning the NWWC title. ### SCRA RACE #42 - MANZANITA SPEEDWAY, PHOENIX, AZ (NWWC) 35th ANNUAL WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIOHSIPS Date of Race: 11/9/02 C-MAIN (10 Laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Cory Kruseman, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Steve Cushman, 5. Marty Wilcox, 6. Josh Ford, 7. Dennis Rodriguez, 8. Allan Ballard, 9. A.J. Felker, 10. Mike Rux, Jr., 11. Ronnie Clark, 12. Travis Rilat, 13. Matt Westfall. B-MAIN (20 Laps) 1. Jeremy Sherman, 2. Levi Jones, 3. John Scott, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Brian Tyler, 6. Casey Shuman, 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 8. Mike Spencer, 9. Cory Kruseman, 10. Tim Crawley, 11. J.D. Vance, 12. Marty Wilcox, 13. Steve Cushman, 14. Verne Sweeney, 15. Brian Stanfill, 16. Bobby Cody, 17. Dan Hillberg, 18. Tom Downing, 19. Jordan Hermansader, 20. Damion Gardner. WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (40 Laps - $12,500 to win) 1. Bud Kaeding, 2. Jeremy Sherman, 3. J.J. Yeley, 4. Charles Davis, Jr., 5. Richard Griffin, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Rickie Gaunt, 8. Bob Ream, Jr. 9. John Scott, 10. Troy Rutherford, 11. Tony Jones, 12. Mike English, 13. Levi Jones, 14. Steve Ostling, 15. Brian Tyler, 16. Rip Williams, 17. Danny Sheridan, 18. Rick Ziehl, 19. Tony Elliott, 20. Mike Spencer, 21. Casey Shuman, 22. Jerry Coons, Jr., 23. Tracy Hines, 24. Jay Drake. Laps Led: Kaeding 1-17, Ream 18-20, Kaeding 21-40 2002 FINAL NWWC POINTS 1 Richard Griffin 760 2 J.J. Yeley 735 3 Bud Kaeding 727 4 Cory Kruseman 630 5 Damion Gardner 600 6 Troy Rutherford 562 7 Rickie Gaunt 544 8 Rip Williams 540 9 Mike English 521 10 Tony Elliott 491 11 Tony Jones 473 12 Levi Jones 420 13 Mike Kirby 402 14 John Scott 376 15 Bobby Graham 295 16 Mike Spencer 290 17 Charles Davis, Jr. 284 18 Adam Mitchell 192 19 Bobby Cody 177 20 Rodney Argo 158 21 Tracy Hines 134 22 Jack DeArmond, Jr. 82 23 Lance Gremett 75 24 Billy Pauch 68 25 Mike Lauterborn 53 26 Jay Drake 49 27 Brian Venard 33 SCRA DRIVER Point Standings as of: 11/09/02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 41 2302 2. 87 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 41 1865 3. 20 Damion Gardner Concord CA 39 1820 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 41 1795 5. 1 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 37 1776 6. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 41 1688 7. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 33 1612 8. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 41 1600 9. 83 John Scott Hesperia CA 38 1577 10. 5 Mike Kirby Torrance CA 36 1564 11. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 30 1154 12. 21 Jeremy Sherman Phoenix AZ 24 1144 13. 57 Bobby Graham Riverside CA 31 1103 14. 94 Charles Davis, Jr Buckeye AZ 34 1020 15. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 40 858 16. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 24 821 17. 19 Rodney Argo Gardena CA 28 748 18. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 32 707 19. 76 J.J. Yeley Phoenix AZ 15 686 20. 25 Gary W. Howard Fontana CA 22 679 |
