TULARE, Calif. — Mitchell Faccinto won the 30-lap King of Thunder 360 Series sprint car race at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday night.
The Hanford, Calif., hotshoe drove his Western Metal blue No. 37 past Bud Kaeding after a lap-16 restart and held on to pick up his first win in new west coast series.
A disappointed Kaeding held on to finish second just in front of a hard charging Dominic Scelzi in the Roth Motorsports entry. Polesitter Steven Kent finished in the fourth spot ahead of fast-qualifer D.J. Netto.
Kent and Kaeding brought the 18-car starting field to the green with Kaeding taking the lead by the end of the opening lap. Scelzi wasted no time improving his position after starting seventh. The race went three laps before the first caution from a Vaughn Schott spin. Faccinto was also on the move, taking over the second spot but another caution would slow the field on the fourth lap.
Once the race restarted, it would run green all the way until lap 15 when Jared Faria would spin over the inside berm of the second turn. Kaeding was leading Faccinto and Scelzi followed by Kent and Tucker Worth.
Faccinto pulled off a slide job on Kaeding which was nullified when the red came out for a fourth turn tip over by Monty Ferriera. Also involved were Joey Ancona and Geoffrey Strole.
With Kaeding put back into the lead, Faccinto completed the final winning pass for the number one spot. The race went green the remaining laps with Faccinto taking the checkered flag first.
Kyle Rasmussen won the IMCA Western RaceSaver feature event.
The finish:
Mitchell Faccinto, Bud Kaeding, Dominic Scelzi, Steven Kent, D.J. Netto, Tucker Worth, Danny Faria, Zane Blanchard, Scott Parker, Grant Duinkerken, Brendan Warmerdam, Craig Stidham, Jared Faria, Steven Jaquith, Monty Ferriera, Joey Ancona, Geoffrey Strole, Vaughn Schott