4.22.17 King of West Sprints Results
4/22/17 – Tulare, CA … Bud Kaeding scored a lucrative $11,000 victory Saturday night at the Thunderbowl Raceway with a convincing green-to-checkered 30-lap run in the King of the West/NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series Peter Murphy Classic.
Driving Morrie William’s Alviso Rock/Kaeding Performance Center sponsored Maxim, Kaeding won a drag race down the front straightaway against quick qualifier Giovanni Scelzi and never looked over his shoulder the rest of the way. Kaeding dedicated his victory to longtime family friend and race supporter Bob Miller who passed away just two days earlier.
“We lost a member of our family,” said Kaeding on the victory podium. “Bob was a great friend of mine and was like a grandfather to me. He was great for the sport and they don’t make them like that anymore. We are going to miss him dearly.”
Tenth starter Bobby McMahan was involved in a wild crash down the front stretch on the first attempt to get the event underway. He was unhurt, but the same couldn’t be said for destroyed race car. The only other yellow flag was on lap five for Jason Statler who sustained major front end damage. The 25-laps chase to the checkered ran non-stop.
Sixth starter Carson Macedo pulled to within three-car lengths of the leader in traffic with two to go, but ran out of laps. Piloting the Tarlton Motorsports Tachi Palace backed machine, Macedo locked horns and passed Scelzi for third at the halfway point, and powered past Buddy Kofoid for second on lap 19. By that time Kaeding had built a four second lead advantage, plus a two lapped car interference.
Polesitter and Peter Murphy Pole Shuffler winner Scelzi passed Kofoid in the waning laps to earn a podium finish in the Roth Motorsports HR Livestock Transportation sprinter. Kofoid held on to cross the checkered in an impressive fourth. DJ Netto rounded out the top five in the Tri-C Machine sprint car.
The rest of the top ten included 11th starter and defending champ Kyle Hirst, Mitchell Faccinto, Mason Moore, 20th starter Dominic Scelzi, and Willie Croft. Earlier Hirst scored his first-ever USAC non-wing feature victory in their 25-lap headliner.
Shane Golobic took top honors in the 21-car Hoosier Tire B-Main event. He started 12th in the field driving a 360 powered sprint car. His team had blown their 410 engine in their heat race and changed motors.
Giovanni Scelzi’s fast time of 13.801 seconds around the 3/8 mile oval was the quickest in the 39 car field. Heat races were picked off by Moore, Croft, Hirst, and Rico Abreu.
RACE RESULTS:
KWS-NARC Tachi Palace/Fujitsu Feature Event (30 laps): Bud Kaeding, Carson Macedo, Giovanni Scelzi, Buddy Kofoid, DJ Netto, Kyle Hirst, Mitchell Faccinto, Mason Moore, Dominic Scelzi, Willie Croft, Cory Elliason, Chase Johnson, Tanner Thorsen, Shane Golobic, Craig Stidham, Brent Kaeding, Jarrett Soares, Lucas Ashe, Jason Statler, Bobby McMahan
Lap Leaders: Bud Kaeding 1-30
Fast Qualifier (39 cars – 3/8 mile dirt oval): Giovanni Scelzi 13.801
Heat 1 (10 laps): Mason Moore, Giovanni Scelzi, Buddy Kofoid, Cory Eliason, Craig Stidham, Shawn Conde, Cori Andrews, Nathan Rolfe, Jared Peterson
Heat 2 (10 laps): Willie Croft, DJ Netto, Bobby McMahan, Chase Johnson, Jason Statler, Dominic Scelzi, Dustin Golobic, Kalib Henry, Jeremy Chisum, Mathew Moles.
Heat 3 (10 laps): Kyle Hirst, Carson Macedo, Bud Kaeding, Sean Becker, Brent Kaeding, Taylor Malsam, Kaleb Montgomery, Scott Parker, Shane Golobic
Heat 4 (10 laps): Rico Abreu, Tanner Thorsen, Mitchell Faccinto, Jarrett Soares, Lucas Ashe, Sean Watts, Andy Gregg, Bill Butler, Brent Bjork
Peter Murphy Pole Shuffle (6 laps): Bobby McMahan defeated Mitchell Faccinto; Bobby McMahan defeated Kyle Hirst, DJ Netto defeated Bobby McMahan, DJ Netto defeated Tanner Thorsen, DJ Netto defeated Mason Moore; Carson Macedo defeated DJ Netto; Buddy Kofoid defeated Carson Macedo; Buddy Kofoid defeated Rico Abreu, Willie Croft defeated Buddy Kofoid; Bud Kaeding defeated Willie Croft, Giovanni Scelzi defeated Bud Kaeding.
B-Main (12 laps): Shane Golobic, Craig Stidham, Jason Statler, Dominic Scelzi, Brent Kaeding, Lucas Ashe, Taylor Malsum, Kalib Henry, Scott Parker, Jeremy Chisum, Dustin Golobic, Shawn Conde, Nathan Rolfe, Sean Watts, Cori Andrews, Brent Bjork, Andy Gregg, Jared Peterson, Mathew Moles, Billy Butler, Ryan Bernal