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Thursday night Gold Cup Preliminary goes to Campbell's Tim Kaeding
by Bill Sullivan

Thursday, September 16 Results
Qualifying Results

No. 10 Tim Keading celebrates his Thursday night World of Outlaws feature win at Gold Cup.

CHICO, CA (9-16-99) - Just one year after he claimed the 1998 Silver Dollar Speedway track championship, 21-year-old Tim Kaeding of Campbell, California returned to his home turf Thursday night and claimed one of the biggest victory of his racing career during the first preliminary night of action for the 46th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at John Padjen's Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.

After qualifying 15th in the 43 car field with a 12:708 lap, Kaeding began his winning ways Thursday night with a victory in the second Napa Auto Parts Heat Race of the evening where he held off the challenges of Kevin Gobrecht to the line. Kaeding's performance in the 10-lap preliminary event qualified him for the seven-lap Channellock Dash, an event that determines the top line-up positions for the 25-lap feature event.

Much like he did in his heat race, Kaeding started the seven-lap dash on the pole and took a commanding lead at the waving of the green. Powering his Duke McMillen owned 10T machine to the low groove of the first set of turns, Kaeding muscled his way ahead of second place starter Todd Bammer of Pleasanton and immediately took a commanding lead which he maintained to the finish. Bammer finished second in the event followed by fast qualifier Sammy Swindell of Cordova, TN and Johnny Herrera of Tempe, AZ.

Earning the pole position for the A-feature, Kaeding had his patience tested at the waving of the green flag as a pair of caution periods delayed the official start just after he had powered ahead of the field. The first incident took place in the second turn when Bryan Bullard and Tim Kaedin collided on the starting lap which sent Kaeding off the track surface. The second incident occured in turns one and two when Bammer slid sideways in front of oncoming traffic and a multi-car collision ensued.

Once the incident was cleared, the new line up put Jason Meyer of Clovis on the outside of Kaeding and when the green flag came out for the second time, Kaeding once again set the pace as Swindell advanced from his third-place starting position into second where he was already setting his sights on Kaeding.

After closing in on Kaeding for the first lap and half, Swindell made his move on the second lap when he moved his Swindell Motorsports, Channelock #1 to the low groove of the third and fourth turns and slid beneath Kaeding. As the duo exited the fourth turn Swindell overtook the point and began to distance himself from Kaeding who's bridesmaid status was now being threatened by the efforts of Meyers.

At the seventh lap, Swindell encountered the challenges of lapped traffic which allowed Kaeding to make up lost ground while protecting his position from Meyers who was later passed by Kevin Gobrecht and Brent Kaeding after melee in the first and second turns sent Meyers back to the sixth position.

By the 16th lap, Kaeding had closed in on Swindell once again and began setting his sights on redeeming the lead. By the 20th circuit, Swindell no longer had the buffer of lapped cars between he and Kaeding which allowed Kaeding to set up the pass that placed him back into the lead. Exiting the fourth turn on the highside, Kaeding pulled up beside Swindell as they traveled down the front stretch. Continuing to run the high side of the track, Kaeding overtook Swindell just before entering the first turn of the 17th lap.

Once in front, the battle was far from over for Kaeding as it became obvious his brake system was beginning to fail by the large glow coming beneath the tail tank of the Compton Shakers No. 10 and he was forced to decelerate entering the turns in an effort to maintain the low groove.

The No. 10 of Tim Keading and No. 1 of Sammy Swindell battle to the end for the first spot.

With Kaeding slowing, Swindell closed in on the lead in waning laps and made a last lap run at the lead. Going to the high side of the third turn, Swindell pulled adjacent to Kaeding and the two drivers drove head to head into the fourth turn where Kaeding prevailed and pulled ahead of Swindell to take the win. Swindell finished second followed by Gobrecht, Brent Kaeding, Donny Schatz and Jason Meyerr.

"We've been fast here all year but we've struggled a couple times as well," said Kaeding. "Sammy drove everywhere he could and when he got underneath me on the last couple laps I don't know how I held on to it because at that point I had no brakes left at all for the almost the last 10- laps. This is a great win for us, we're looking forward to starting up front on Saturday night."

In preliminary action on Saturday, Swindell earned the Vivarin Fast Time Award with a 12:186 second lap. Heat race victories went to Swindell, Kaeding, Bammer and Randy Tiner of Rio Linda. In the B-main event Chad Hillier was the first driver to the checkered flag followed by Lowell Moural, Steve Fehrman and Gary Willy.