WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Bud Kaeding won the 30-lap feature which honors his legendary grandfather Howard at Ocean Speedway on Saturday night.
The NARC-King of the West presented by Fujitsu 410 Series event paid $5,000 to the winner. Kaeding drove the famous No. 0 Morrie Williams-owned car to victory in the Howard Kaeding Classic.
Shane Golobic brought the Matt Woods No. 17w Nos Energy Drink sponsored car home in the runner up spot after leading prior to being passed by Kaeding. Willie Croft would finish third in his No. 29 after being in the hunt for most of the race.
Jonathan Allard and Billy Aton brought the 24-car field to the green with Aton taking the early lead when Allard stumbled in the first turn. The race would go three laps before a caution for a Jeremy Chisum and Danny Faria spin in the middle of the third and fourth turns. Aton was leading Croft and Golobic.
On the seventh circuit, Golobic took over the second spot. Three laps later, sixth-starting Kaeding, who slowly advanced each lap, would pass Golobic for second.
A caution on lap 16 for a Sean Watts spin in the third turn would bunch the field back up. Aton was still leading at that point, but the restart proved costly as he would fade under pressure from Kaeding, Golobic and Croft.
A three-wide traffic jam in the third turn would bring out the caution flag on lap 24. The shunt left Allard with a flat left rear tire and Dominic Scelzi with a bent front wing among other things, forcing him to pit for repairs.
The restart quickly turned back to yellow when Kyle Offill spun in the middle of the third and fourth turn. The caution proved costly for Justin Sanders who had just passed Croft for third but got put back a spot.
Kaeding was not to be denied the final six laps holding off both Golobic and Croft. The Campbell, Calif., third-generation driver did a patented Kaeding victory donuts in the fourth turn to celebrate the victory. The No. 0 stalled after doing no less than a dozen spins, so Kaeding jumped out of the stopped car and ran across the finish line in “Ricky Bobby” style.
Thirty-five cars signed into the pit area with several cars racing their 360 motored cars against their bigger 410 brothers.
The finish:
Bud Kaeding, Shane Golobic, Willie Croft, Justin Sanders, Colby Copeland, Jason Statler, Cole Macedo, Ryan Bernal, Jeremy Chisum, D.J. Netto, Billy Aton, Brad Furr, Kyle Offill, Nathan Rolfe, Danny Faria, Kenny Allen, Sean Watts, Geoff Ensign, James Ringo, Trent Canalas, Jonathan Allard, Mitchell Faccinto, Dominic Scelzi, Chase Johnson