Irwindale Report

IRWINDALE SPRINTS TO KAEDING; STYER, WISE TAKE TQs SPRINTS MAKE SHASTA MOTORSPORTS COMPLEX DEBUT SATURDAY

Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. extended his lead in the USAC Western Sprint Car Series going into this Saturday night's series debut at the Shasta Motorsports Complex in Anderson, Calif. by winning Saturday night's 30-lapper at the Irwindale (Calif. ) Speedway. A 30-lap feature is scheduled at the 1/3-mile paved Anderson oval. Kaeding caught Jimmy Sills on the 22nd lap at Irwindale and led the rest of the way in his BK Motorsports Special to beat Sills, IRL veteran Davey Hamilton, Rick Hendrix and Rick Williams. The victory left Kaeding with an 83-point lead over Hendrix in the new standings. Hamilton was the fastest Irwindale qualifier and won the first heat race. Other heats went to Williams and Bobby McMahan and Tony Hunt won the semi. Sills led the first seven laps of the feature before yielding to Curtis Brown, who won an April race at Tucson, Ariz. Sills regained the lead on lap 12 but fell victim to Kaeding's charge 10 laps later. Josh Wise and Jim Styer scored victories in the USAC MCI WorldCom TQ Midget Car series last week, Wise remaining in the hunt for the series championship in the process. Wise passed series leader Greg Edenholm on the fourth lap at Irwindale Saturday, then led the rest of the 20-lap distance to beat J.J. Ercse, Edenholm, Walt Johnson and fast qualifier Randi Pankratz. Styer won Tuesday night's 20-lap race at the Ventura (Calif.) Raceway, beating Edenholm, Wise, Gene Godepski and Troy Barkley. West Evans led the first two laps, the Godepski led laps 3-13 before yielding to Styer. The win was Styer's second in the series and first this year.

MCI WORLDCOM TQ MIDGET CAR STANDINGS

1.      Greg Edenholm   289             6.      West Evans      176
2.      Josh Wise       258             7.      Jim Styer       151
3.      Randi Pankratz  231             8.      Todd Hunsaker   135
4.      Gene Godepski   185             9.      Ron Wade        122
5.      Walt Johnson    184             10.     Steve Lambert   119

WESTERN SPRINT CAR STANDINGS

1.      Bud Kaeding     569             6.      Dave Fitzgerald 348
2.      Rick Hendrix    483             7.      Mike Boat       341
3.      Rick Williams   470             8.      Jeff Gardner    312
4.      Bobby McMahan   419             9.      Tony Hunt       337
5.      Curtis Brown    353             10.     Paul Beregszaszy        256