Tom Rolfe Racing @ SprintCar PR

'TK' Runs 15th in Oval Nationals Opener

LAKE PERRIS , CA (November 1) – What a different 24 hours can make.

Tim Kaeding was the fastest driver on the racetrack in Wednesday's practice session for the 12th Annual Budweiser Oval Nationals Presented by Temecula Valley Pipe & Supply at Perris Auto Speedway. The 2002 Golden State Challenge King of California Series champion was disappointed with his 15th-place finish in Thursday's opening-night "A" Feature.

“It was all I could do to hang on,” Tim said as he climbed out of the #10 Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim. “I thought we were would be better, but there just no passing whatsoever. It was a follow-the-leader deal kind of like the (October 20th) Outlaws show. It would have been better if the bottom wasn't so good. You had to have your car really good to run around the bottom, but our car was a little too snug to run the bottom. We tried to run where the car would work better, but you really can't go anywhere when you're running on marbles. When everybody's in the groove and you try to make your own groove, it's not going to go very well. The corners are a lot more narrow than Vegas so, if you don't have your car just right, you're going to have a tough time here. It was a good considering we rolled the car in the trailer and didn't tear anything up.”

Although he was only the 22nd-fastest qualifier in the 67-car field, “TK” was the runner-up in the Second Heat Race.

“We had a second-place car in the heat race, and that's where we finished,” Tim said. "We ran third and fourth for a while and, after we got by them, we wanted to run down the leader (Cory Kruseman), but we were a straightaway behind."

Kaeding is looking forward to Friday's second preliminary program and hopes to secure a good starting position for Saturday's finale.

“Hopefully, we can run better Friday," Tim said. "We're going to try some different things. We're going to change the shocks a little bit to loosen the car up some. It would be great if we could pick up our qualifying and run better in the heat race and the feature so we can make the show Saturday.”

Tim Kaeding drives the #10 Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim at the Perris Auto Speedway

Photo courtesy of John’s Racing Photos

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