TULARE, CA (5-15-10) - Making his California return on Saturday night at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway San Jose's Tim Kaeding took advantage of a final lap 360-degree-spin by leader Tommy Tarlton to drive by and claim his second career Pombo/Sargent Classic victory, in what was a thrilling 30-lap Golden State Challenge Series main event.

Also picking-up wins during the night at the Tulare County Fairgrounds 1/3 mile clay oval were Campbell's Bud Kaeding with the USAC West Coast 360 Series and Chowchilla's Alex Stanford with the dirt modifieds.

For T. Kaeding the victory came during his first night back in California since early March, after spending the first two and half months competing on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series tour. "First off I have to say Tommy Tarlton drove one heckuva race tonight so it was tough to see him lose the race like that because he did a real good job, but it's definitely great to get this Roth Motorsports car on the front stretch," said Kaeding. "I have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth for giving me great stuff and bringing us back home to race in front of all you great fans and we'll just try to have some fun these next few weeks."

The 30-lap Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series main event featured thrilling action right from the get-go as pole sitter Bud Kaeding and second row starters Tim Kaeding and Bixby, Oklahoma's Shane Stewart went three-wide for the lead heading down the back stretch after flag man Willie Williams waved the green. A caution on lap two allowed everyone to catch their breath after the entertaining start and with a couple laps complete Bud Kaeding sat out front with T. Kaeding second and Stewart third.

A couple more slow downs would occur shortly thereafter, before the final 25-laps would be completed green-to-checkered with some of the most exciting racing of the season seen on the well prepared Thunderbowl clay. When the racing got into a groove it became a battle between the Kaeding brother's as the duo traded the lead back-and-forth running all over the track with the crowd cheering their approval. It soon became a three-way fight with Tarlton joining the fray and when T. Kaeding claimed the lead on lap-seven, the driver of the Corporate America Lending, Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino No. 21 followed along in second.

With "TK" out front aboard the DTR Transport, Roth Motorsports No. 83 Tarlton charged hard after him in an attempt to move into the top-spot and on lap 12 he would execute a beautiful maneuver to make that happen. As the pair rounded turn four Tarlton made an impressive pass of the defending Trophy Cup champ to take the lead of the race. Following that Tarlton would pull away and be in command, as the rest of the field continued to put on a terrific show with side-by-side racing being seen up and down the order. With just under 10-laps remaining however, T. Kaeding started to reel back in Tarlton as heavy-duty lapped traffic began to appear and it became a battle for the lead in no time at all.

As Tarlton was caught in traffic Kaeding quickly closed in and with three-laps remaining he looked to the inside to take the lead, but Tarlton was able to fend him off and hang onto the point momentarily. With the final couple laps clicking off it appeared to be Tarlton's race to win, but with the white flag waving he would get loose in turn two and spin completely around. Luckily he was able to keep the motor lit, but by the time he had straightened it back out T. Kaeding had gone zooming by and drove off to score his 43rd career GSC win in dramatic fashion. Tarlton regrouped and crossed under the checkered in second, with Elk Grove's Kyle Larson in third, Bud Kaeding in fourth and Chico's Jonathan Allard rounding out the top-five.

The rest of the top-10 in the Golden State Challenge Series main event was filled by Shane Stewart, Clovis' Peter Murphy, Vancouver, Washington's Zach Zimmerly, Campbell's Brent Kaeding and Grass Valley's Jason Statler. Bud Kaeding captured the six-lap dash with Zimmerly, Tim Kaeding and Murphy winning the three 10-lap heats. Stewart drove Paul Silva's Rock Star Energy Drink No. 57 sprinter around the 1/3 mile clay oval in 13.640 seconds to record quick-time at the start of the evening.