Tim
Kaeding Rules 2009 Trophy Cup
by Ron Rodda
Continued from Trophy Cup home page.
Inverting the entire 8 car field
for 10 lap heats and offering 36 points for a win with a 3 point drop,
the six heats were talent filled. Geoff Ensign took heat one while Shane
Stewart, the top point car, finished 7th. Jason Statler won heat 2 during
which Tim Kaeding moved from his 8th spot to 4th to tie Stewart in total
points. Steven Tiner had something break and hit the turn 1 wall hard
to end his evening.
Paul McMahan picked up points by winning heat 3 from 6th starting while
the top point car of Tyler Walker was 5th from 8th starting. Roger Crockett
aced heat 4 but the top point car of Andy Forsberg moved up only one spot
to 7th. Jonathan Allard did move up to 2nd from his 7th start to move
up in the point standings.
Heat 5 went to Washington driver, Brock Lemley but Bobby McMahan started
and finished in 8th. Brett Miller won heat 6 and late race progress saw
top point car of Bud Kaeding take 4th from his last starting spot.
After the heats, the top 20 point cars went directly to the A main, the
next 20 to the B, and the final 8 were joined by 8 D main cars for a 16
car, 15 lap C main the elevated the top 4 to the B. Bend, Oregon long
tow Chad Groves led the C main before Zach Zimmerly used the bottom of
turn 1 to lead the last 11 times around Thunderbowl’s racy surface.
Brett Miller, Chad Compton, and Brad Bumgarner took the other transfer
spots.
A loaded B main inverted six by points, moved 4 forward to the finale,
and was a 25 lap test. Seven yellows, two reds, and a fuel stop were all
part of the lengthy battle that saw Randy Hannagan lead all the way. Shane
Golobic ran 2nd until Peter Murphy took that away on lap 9 with a low
turn 4 pass. Murphy ran 2nd the remainder and Mason Moore took 3rd in
the same low spot in turn 4 on lap 14, all joined by Crockett as transfers.
The dramatic finale completely inverted the top 24 point cars so Shane
Stewart and Tim Kaeding shared row 12, tied in points at 296. The B main
transfers automatically get the first two rows as the are always the four
lowest point cars so Crockett and Murphy enjoyed row one starts.
The main awarded 150 points to win with a five point drop and the 50 lap
thriller featured a race up front for the checkers while the top point
cars race their way from the back of the pack for the finishing points.
Crockett led from the start with one lap scored before 2nd running Murphy’s
engine seized just out of turn 4 and Cory Eliason’s hopes for a
top finish ended when he clipped Murphy’s left rear and flipped.
Hannagan and Moore chased Crockett on the restart and the very early stages
showed Forsberg tops in points until Jonathan Allard took that spot over,
moving forward from his 18th starting location to 10th after only 4 laps.
The top 3 remained unchanged for 20 laps except for Grand Forks, ND driver
Mark Dobmeier grabbing 3rd, using the top of turn 2 on lap three.
J. Allard had a large point lead during the first third of the main as
he had made great progress while Stewart and T. Kaeding were slower at
making passes. J. Allard met with agonizing misfortune after 15 laps when
he bicycled in turn 2 and flipped to end his strong run. This cleared
the way for the ensuing Stewart/T. Kaeding battle for Cup supremacy. The
driver that finished in front of the other would break their point tie
and capture the Cup title.
Crockett’s leading effort ended after 21 laps with a turn 4 spin,
one lap after Kyle Larson took 3rd, using the top of turn 2. Hannagan
inherited the lead and Larson used the bottom of turn 4 to lead lap 26
before Hannagan came back a lap later to regain the top spot. Dobmeier
was 3rd until spinning with 34 laps complete, putting Paul McMahan in
3rd.
P. McMahan got under Larson for 2nd on lap 40, again in the popular turn
4 spot while Hannagan continued leading. The race between Stewart and
T. Kaeding was thrilling the large crowd as the pair made numerous passes
of each other as they raced forward while knowing the champion would be
which of the pair prevailed in their personal battle.
With 34 scored, T. Kaeding was 4th and Stewart 5th although Stewart was
ahead on lap 38 for his next to last time as the overall leader. T. Kaeding
got by Stewart yet again a lap later to retake not only 4th but become
the Cup leader also. With 11 laps left, the very real potential of TK
winning not only his 3rd Cup title but also the main event became a reality.
T. Kaeding swept from 4th to 2nd by driving under P. McMahan and Larson
at one time on the bottom of turn 4 with still 10 laps to go. Kaeding
and Hannagan battled back and forth for the lead and Kaeding go sideways
coming out of turn 4 on lap 44 and came close to stalling his Dennis Roth
owned mount. As they raced to the line the 46th time, Tim Kaeding moved
into the lead with a low pass in turn 4 to become the first ever 24th
starter to lead a lap.
Not content to just lead, Kaeding stayed on the gas to put space between
himself and Hannagan and scored the historical win over Hannagan and Larson.
Bouncing through some turn 2 bumps and nearly brushing the wall, T. Kaeding
was not cruising to the Willie Williams checkers but making history with
exclamation marks.
Stewart was 4th in the main and 2nd in overall points, trailing Kaeding
by 15 in the final tally. Paul McMahan drove to 3rd in points with the
help of a 5th in the main and Forsberg was 4th overall, finishing 9th
on Saturday after winning Friday. The top 5 point cars were filled by
Kyle Larson, helped by his 3rd place finish in the finale.
After last year’s great main event at Tulare in the Trophy Cup finale,
many wondered how this year would compare. Seeing Tim Kaeding accomplish
what has not been done before makes that answer quite obvious.
D main 1---Randy Pierce, Jim Richardson, Roberto Kirby, Burt Foland Jr.,
Pat Harvey, Steve Jaquith, Albert Pombo (DNS)
D main 2--Kurt Nelson, Andy Ferris, Steve Dyer, Jonathan Logan, Rusty
Carlisle, Koen Shaw
Heat 1--Geoff Ensign, Chad Groves, Randy Hannagan, Kyle Hirst, Bradley
Terrell, Cory Eliason, Shane Stewart, Kyle Larson
Heat 2--Jason Statler, Mike Reinke, Davey Pombo, Tim Kaeding, Craig Smith,
Brad Furr, Henry Van Dam, Steven Tiner
Heat 3--Paul McMahan, Brad Bumgarner, Tommy Tarlton, Shane Golobic, Tyler
Walker, Greg DeCaires, Matt Barber, Ronnie Day
Heat 4--Roger Crockett, Jonathan Allard, Mark Dobmeier, Chad Compton,
Stephen Allard, Mason Moore, Andy Forsberg, Matt Sargent
Heat 5--Brock Lemley, Peter Murphy, Stan Yockey, Brent Kaeding, Mike Henry,
Andy Gregg, Zach Zimmerly, Bobby McMahan
Heat 6--Brett Miller, Sean Becker, Wayne Johnson, Bud Kaeding, Cameron
Mendes, Justyn Cox, Craig Stidham, Anthony Simone
C main--Zimmerly, Miller, Compton, Bumgarner, Pierce, Nelson, Sargent,
Ferris, Richardson, Foland, Kirby, Logan, Groves, Yockey, Dyer, Simone
(dns) B main--Hannagan, Murphy, Moore, Crockett, Golobic, Statler, DeCaires,
Terrell, Becker, Miller, Reinke, D. Pombo, Day, Cox, Bumgarner, Gregg,
Zimmerly, Barber, Compton, Smith, Lemley, Mendes, Ensign, Tiner (dns)
A main--T. Kaeding, Hannagan, Larson, Stewart, P. McMahan, Stidham, S.
Allard, B. Kaeding, Forsberg, Henry, Van Dam, Crockett, B. Kaeding, Johnson,
Tarlton, Dobmeier, Walker, Moore, B. McMahan, Furr, Hirst, J. Allard,
Murphy, Eliason |