Chico Silver Gold Cup Opener Report

Tim Kaeding Nips Swindell in Gold Cup Opener By Richard Day CHICO, CA (September 16) - Tim Kaeding made his father proud Thursday. The son of King of California Brent Kaeding won a fierce battle with Sammy Swindell to claim the preliminary feature as the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series opened the 46th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway. "This feels great," Tim said. "We've been fast here all year long, but we've struggled lately. I have to thank the Eldorado Hotel and Casino, Tri-C Engines, Duke McMillen and everyone here, especially you fans. I'm not going to jinx myself by talking about Saturday. I'm just going to do what I've been doing - have fun." Brent and Tim's brother, Bud, joined the fun, finishing in fourth and 11th place, respectively. Brent, the 1991 Mini Gold Cup champion, won preliminary features at the Gold Cup in 1993 and 1996. Tim, the 15th-fastest qualifier in the 43-car field, was more than half-a-second off the blistering pace Swindell set in time trials. He won the Second NAPA Auto Parts Heat Race, however, and earned the privilege of starting the 25-lap feature on the pole by winning the Channellock Dash. Bud Kaeding collided with Bryan Bullard in turn three as the cars approached the green flag for the start of the feature. Kaeding spun and restarted at the back of the pack. Todd Bammer, who started outside the front row, spun in the second corner as the race resumed, collecting Lance Blevins, Jason Statler, Johnny Herrera and Bullard. Bammer and Bullard were unable to restart. Tim Kaeding burst into the lead as the green flag fell. Swindell raced past Jason Meyers on the back stretch to take over second place midway through the first lap, then used an inside move in turn four to take the lead the next time around. Kaeding exchanged second place with Meyers during the fifth and sixth laps, and was four car-lengths behind Swindell when they entered lapped traffic early in lap eight. Meyers collided with Lowell Moural on the front straightaway three laps later. Moural suffered a broken front end and spun into the infield while four cars passed Meyers in the incident. Kaeding caught Swindell in dense lapped traffic during lap 14, and raced nose-to-tail with him for three laps. Swindell hit the berm deep in turn four late in the 17th lap, lifting the front end of the #1 Channellock Stealth off the ground and allowing Kaeding to take over first place. Swindell veered into the high groove to try to regain the lead late in the 24th lap, but was unable to surge ahead. He won a back- straightaway drag race with Kaeding the next time around, then turned into the low groove in turn three. Sammy had so much momentum entering turn four, however, he was unable to keep the #1 in the low groove. Kaeding passed him deep in the fourth corner and took the checkered flag by less than a car-length. "I saw Sammy try to get by me there the last couple of laps," Tim said. "It was pretty wild there at the end. After I passed him, I just kept waiting for him to get back by me. I could hear him back there the whole time. I just kept trying not to think about it." Kevin Gobrecht finished in third place, ahead of Brent Kaeding, Donny Schatz and Meyers. Herrera drove the #1BK Networks Eagle back through the field to finish seventh. Rounding out the top 10 in the first preliminary feature were Randy Hannagan, Daryn Pittman and Kevin Pylant. Swindell received his seventh Vivarin Fast-Time Award of the season after pacing the qualifying session with a 12.186-second lap around the semi-banked, 1/4-mile oval. A first-corner collision involving Lance Blevins and Sean Fenn sent Fenn flipping during hot laps. Blevins' crew replaced the rear end on the #21 PC Joey J&J, allowing him to take one qualifying lap. Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series points leader Mark Kinser was unable to race Thursday due to recurring back pain. He will race in Friday's preliminary program. WoO 1999 Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series 46th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions Silver Dollar Speedway, Chico, CA Thursday, September 16, Preliminary Program #1 Vivarin qualifications: 1. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, 12.186; 2. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 12.262; 3. Johnny Herrera, DOCC Motorsports 1BK, 12.263; 4. Brent Kaeding, M&M Racing 69, 12.415; 5. Jason Meyes, Carter 14, 12.420; 6. Randy Hannagan, TH Racing 1x, 12.428; 7. Kevin Gobrecht, Hylton/Blaney 93, 12.439; 8. Kevin Pylant, Pylant 14P, 12.486; 9. Daryn Pittman, Sonner 47, 12.574; 10. Jason York, York 25, 12.646; 11. Jason Statler, ATM/Rios 00, 12.656; 12. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 12.668; 13. Randy Tiner, Orth 24, 12.670; 14. Todd Bammer, Bammer 18, 12.700; 15. Tim Kaeding, McMillen 10T, 12.708; 16. Johnny Rodriguez, Jacobsen 3R, 12.764; 17. Kyle Schild, Schild 16, 12.912; 18. Bryan Bullard, Finkenbinder 5, 12.976; 19. Jason Solwold, Solwold 15S, 13.000; 20. Bud Kaeding, Macieal 29, 13.126; 21. Lowell Moural, Moural 7, 13.150; 22. Chad Hillier, Hillier 24C, 13.209; 23. Kevin Cory, Blackwell 27B, 13.260; 24. Korey Lovell, Lovell 71, 13.451; 25. Jeff Hallieb, Hallieb 72x, 13.507; 26. Beau Perkins, Perkins 18x, 13.510; 27. Steve Fehrman, Fehrman 30, 13.528; 28. Dan Nicholson, Nicholson 89, 13.548; 29. Mark Mackay, Mackay 86, 13.561; 30. Keith Collins, Collins 10x, 13.563; 31. Dave Clark, Clark 49, 13.585; 32. Danny Ochs, Ochs 11N, 13.651; 33. Eric Hopkins, Hopkins 21H, 13.759; 34. Dave Angus, Angus 1B, 13.792; 35. Gary Willy, Willy 2H, 13.872; 36. Pat Harvey, Harvey 15H, 13.893; 37. Tim Sherman, Sherman 87, 14.112; 38. Jim Trulli, Trulli 33T, 14.645; 39. Bob Scott, Scott 7S, 14.897; 40. Shawn Schmitz, Schmitz 38, 15.523; 41. Carl Vucinich, Vucinich 5D, no time; 42. Chris Carter, Carter 21C, no time; 43. Sean Fenn, Fenn 36, no time. First NAPA Auto Parts Heat Race (10 laps): 1. Sammy Swindell, 2. Daryn Pittman, 3. Johnny Rodriguez, 4. Kevin Pylant, 5. Kyle Schild, 6. Mark Mackay, 7. Jeff Hallieb, 8. Eric Hopkins, 9. Tim Sherman, 10. Lowell Moural. DNS - Shawn Schmitz. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Second NAPA Auto Parts Heat Race (10 laps): 1. Tim Kaeding, 2. Kevin Gobrecht, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Jason York, 5. Bryan Bullard, 6. Chad Hillier, 7. Dave Angus, 8. Keith Collins, 9. Chris Carter, 10. Beau Perkins, 11. Jim Trulli. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Third NAPA Auto Parts Heat Race (10 laps): 1. Todd Bammer, 2. Jason Statler, 3. Johnny Herrera, 4. Randy Hannagan, 5. Jason Solwold, 6. Steve Fehrman, 7. Gary Willy, 8. Kevin Cory, 9. Dave Clark. DNS - Bob Scott. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Fourth NAPA Auto Parts Heat Race (10 laps): 1. Randy Tiner, 2. Brent Kaeding, 3. Lance Blevins, 4. Jason Meyers, 5. Bud Kaeding, 6. Korey Lovell, 7. Danny Ochs, 8. Pat Harvey, 9. Dan Nicholson. DNS - Sean Fenn. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Channellock Dash (seven laps): 1. Tim Kaeding, 2. Todd Bammer, 3. Sammy Swindell, 4. Johnny Herrera, 5. Donny Schatz, 6. Jason Meyers, 7. Randy Tiner, 8. Brent Kaeding. (finish determined the first eight starting positions in the Preliminary Feature) B Feature (12 laps): 1. Chad Hillier, 2. Lowell Moural, 3. Steve Fehrman, 4. Gary Willy, 5. Jeff Hallieb ($150); 6. Kevin Cory ($125); 7. Mark Mackay ($100); 8. Eric Hopkins ($75); 9. Tim Sherman ($60); 10. Beau Perkins ($50); 11. Dan Nicholson ($40); 12. Danny Ochs ($40); 13. Dave Angus ($40); 14. Jim Trulli ($40); 15. Korey Lovell ($40); 16. Keith Collins ($40); 17. Chris Carter ($40); 18. Pat Harvey ($40); 19. Dave Clark ($40). (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Preliminary Feature (25 laps): 1. Tim Kaeding ($4,500); 2. Sammy Swindell ($2,500); 3. Kevin Gobrecht ($1,700); 4. Brent Kaeding ($1,500); 5. Donny Schatz ($1,350); 6. Jason Meyers ($1,250); 7. Johnny Herrera ($1,200); 8. Randy Hannagan ($1,100); 9. Daryn Pittman ($1,075); 10. Kevin Pylant ($1,050); 11. Bud Kaeding ($1,000); 12. Johnny Rodriguez ($800); 13. Jason Statler ($700); 14. Randy Tiner ($630); 15. Jason Solwold ($400); 16. Chad Hillier ($420); 17. Lance Blevins ($300); 18. Jason York ($300); 19. Kyle Schild ($300); 20. Gary Willy ($320); 21. Steve Fehrman ($320); 22. Lowell Moural ($320); 23. Todd Bammer ($300); 24. Bryan Bullard ($300). Lap leaders: Tim Kaeding 1, 17-25; Sammy Swindell 2-16 Vivarin Fast-Time Award winner: Sammy Swindell WoO