(6/11/21 – Alex Nieten) Watsonville, CA … The Kaeding name has been synonymous with success in California for many years, and Tim Kaeding out-dueled his brother, Bud, on Friday night at Ocean Speedway to continue the family’s winning ways by earning his third Pombo-Sargent Classic victory with the NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Cars.

“Congrats to Bud, he ran a hell of a race. He just got snookered by the old man,” an elated TK joked in victory lane.

Tim’s win was his first with the series since August of 2019, and it made for the fourth different winner in as many NARC-KWS races this year.

Mitchell Faccinto led the field to green and paced the field early on with third row starters Bud Kaeding and Justin Sanders in pursuit. A caution after ten laps had been completed bunched the field back up for what would be a chaotic restart.

Bud used an excellent jump to slide Faccinto into turn one. Faccinto attempted to turn back underneath Bud, but he found Justin Sanders’ car sliding up the track, and the two collided in the middle and came to a stop in turn two.

Their misfortune proved to be the Kaedings’ gain as Bud and Tim inherited the top two spots for the ensuing restart.

What followed was a brotherly battle through lap traffic as the two raced for the Kaeding family’s 17th overall Pombo-Sargent Classic win. Tim seized on a key opportunity when Bud got trapped behind a slower car on lap seventeen and snuck by coming out of fourth corner in his Bates-Hamilton Motorsports Vinyltech/R&B Company No 42. Bud launched a huge slider into turn one the next lap, but Tim countered with a crossover and put a little distance between himself and the 69 car.

“We built a great racecar,” Tim said, crediting his BHR team and machine. “Josh, Bobby, Roger, everybody that’s associated with this forty-two car.”

A few more late race cautions brought the field back together, but with Bud, Shane Golobic and DJ Netto waging war late for the runner-up spot, Tim was able to cruise to a comfortable win in what he knew was one quick machine.

“This thing was bullet-fast,” Tim said. “It was fast all night long,”

Bud Kaeding, Shane Golobic, DJ Netto and Sean Becker completed the top-5.  The remainder of the top ten featured Kurt Nelson, Sean Watts, Colby Copeland, Austin McCarl and Ryan Robinson.

Ryan Robinson earned his first ARP Fast Time of the year by breaking the Ocean Speedway track record with a blistering 10.867.

FUJITSU FEATURE EVENT (30 laps) – 1. 42X Tim Kaeding 2. 69 Bud Kaeding 3. 17W Shane Golobic 4. 88N DJ Netto 5. 83V Sean Becker 6. 72W Kurt Nelson 7. 98 Sean Watts 8. 76 Colby Copeland 9. 21 Austin McCarl 10. Ryan Robinson 11. 01 Mitchel Moles 12. 46JR Joel Myers Jr. 13. 98X Bryce Eames 14. 3M Adam Kaeding 15. 88 Kyle Offill 16. 22 Keith Day Jr.  17. 26 Billy Aton 18. 2 J.J. Ringo 19. 78 Mark Barosso 20. 37 Mitchell Faccinto 21. 16A Justin Sanders 22. 41 Dominic Scelzi 23. 09S Geoffrey Strole 24. 34 Ryon Nelson

HOOSIER TIRE LAPS LEADERS: Faccinto 1-10, Bud Kaeding, 11-16, Tim Kaeding 17-30

SWIFT METAL FINISHING HARDCHARGER: Sean Watts 19th to 7th.

ARP FAST QUALIFIER (24 cars): Ryan Robinson 10.867 seconds (New Track Record)

BROWN & MILLER HEAT RACE #1 (10 laps): Austin McCarl, Justin Sanders, Ryan Robinson, Sean Becker, Mitchel Moles, Joel Myers Jr., Adam Kaeding

FUJITSU GENERAL USA HEAT RACE #2 (10 laps): Mitchell Faccinto, DJ Netto, Bud Kaeding, Dominic Scelzi, JJ Ringo, Keith Day Jr., Sean Watts, Mark Barroso

FLORACING.COM HEAT RACE #3 (10 laps): Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding, Ryon Nelson, Kurt Nelson, Colby Copeland, Kyle Offill, Geoffrey Strole, Bryce Eames

SUNNY VALLEY “POWERED BY BACON” DASH (6 laps): Mitchell Faccinto, Ryan Robinson, Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding. Bud Kaeding, Justin Sanders

Photos by Dennis Mattish and Donna Peter