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Tim Kaeding claims fifth win of the 2012 KWS season at Silver Dollar Speedway's Prelude to Gold Cup on Saturday

CHICO, CA (8-18-12) - Tim Kaeding hadn't raced in California since early-June, however, the reigning KWS champion returned home on Saturday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway and promptly raced to his series leading fifth win of the season with the Cancen Oil King of the West Sprints presented by Goodyear.

For the Fresno, California based Roth Motorsports team it marked their sixth overall victory of the KWS campaign, with Kyle Hirst's win on June 23 added in. It was also the 59th triumph in Kaeding's career with the Golden State/ King of the West Series and his first since June 9 at the Southern Oregon Speedway.

"I really have to thank Dennis & Teresa Roth and this whole Roth Motorsports team for giving me the opportunity to drive such a great race car," said the reigning King of the West Series champion. "We've been out on the road the last couple months and have run really well. Now we're back home getting ready for the Gold Cup so hopefully we come back in a few weeks and be standing in this same spot."

The 30-lap main event came to the line with KSE Dash winner Andy Gregg and Tim Kaeding on the front row and when the green flag waved it was Gregg getting the lead. In search of his first win of the season Gregg hit his marks over the early laps and persevered through a number of stoppages that slowed things down considerably. The fight for second early on changed hands a couple times, as Elk Grove's Kyle Larson tried to battle his way forward.

Larson's bid at victory took a hit around lap 10 when contact resulted in him suffering a flat tire, while at the same time Willie Croft got upside down in turn four with KWS point leader Jonathan Allard also involved. On the restart Kaeding stepped up his challenges and stayed glued to the rear bumper of Gregg's Guts Racing No. 53 mount. On lap 13 "TK" then made the winning move to slip by and take command of the race.

Once in front it was all Kaeding as he cruised off and worked lapped traffic to perfection, taking the checkered flag by over five seconds for his first victory of the year at Silver Dollar Speedway. Gregg was able to hold off a fast moving Peter Murphy to record his second runner up finish of the season with the Cancen Oil KWS Series presented by Goodyear.

"It's really great to be up here on the podium and if you're going to get beat by anyone a cherry picker like Tim Kaeding is the guy," Gregg chuckled jokingly with a big smile. "We're just happy to be on the front stretch because we've had some tough luck at times this season. We'll try and go on to finish the season strong at the Cotton Classic in October at Hanford."

Murphy's third place effort was a season best and unofficially moved him up to fourth in the KWS standings. The driver of the Dalton's Landscaping No. 11 also set fast time to begin the night and won the Last Chance Qualifier. "This was a good run for us tonight and going into it our goal was to try to move up in the points, so we're pretty happy. Congrats to Tim Kaeding and the "Windshield Wiper" Andy Gregg for great drives tonight."

Campbell's Brent Kaeding started 13th on the grid and moved his way forward to score a fourth place finish, with Grass Valley's Jason Statler charging from 15th to fifth, which earned him the Pit Stop USA hard charger award. Rounding out the top-10 were Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs, Chico's Brad Bumgarner, Kyle Larson, 19th starter Cody Lamar of Rio Linda and Fair Oaks Chad Compton. For Lamar it marked his first top-10 finish of the season with KWS.

Bringing home the Last Chance Qualifier was Peter Murphy and winning the KSE Dash was Andy Gregg. The four Kaeding Performance heat races were captured by Evan Suggs, Auburn's Richard Brace Jr., Kyle Larson and Tim Kaeding. Setting his first BR Motorsports fast time of the season to begin the night was Peter Murphy, who toured the quarter-mile in 12.118 seconds.

The Cancen Oil King of the West Sprint Car Series presented by Goodyear will now take nearly two months off, before heading for championship night at the Kings Speedway in Hanford for the annual "Cotton Classic" on Saturday October 13. Two-time state 410 champion Jonathan Allard will go into the event with a large lead in search of another title and is also the defending winner of the "Cotton Classic."

Don't forget to "like" the Cancen Oil King of the West Series on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kingofthewestsprints and follow us on Twitter @kwssprintracing for the most timely and up to date information on the series.

Also check out our official website http://www.kwssprints.com for the latest news, results, history and more on the Cancen Oil King of the West 410 Sprint Cars presented by Goodyear. Archived shows of "KWS Tonight" are also available on the website for your viewing pleasure.

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