Technically, Tim Kaeding lives in San Jose, Calif., but for a couple of months out of the year, he resides near Brandon, S.D., so he can go Sprint Car racing.

Kaeding added to his racing resume by capturing the BWW NOSA Sprint Car feature at Brown County Speedway Friday night.

“In California we get weekend racing and that’s about it, and some places you don’t even get that in California anymore,” Kaeding said. “So to be able to come back here, race a little bit for the last 30 days or so, it’s been great.”

While Kaeding led the 30-lap feature from start to finish, the race certainly wasn’t without its challenges.

“Lap traffic got pretty thick there for a while. I think second place Jack Dover (of Springfield, Neb.) could have got us or third place could have got us at some point,” Kaeding said. “Luckily we started up front. We got out front and kept a really good pace, and didn’t let anybody get near us, but lap traffic could have got us at any point in time.”

The track conditions changed throughout the evening, and the work put in by officials during intermission paid major benefits.

“The track, after they reworked it, it got really good there. You were able to move around. You could get to the bottom, you could get to the top,” Kaeding said. “It was definitely racier than what we thought it was going to be at the start of the night, so I couldn’t complain about that. The track crew did a great job getting us a facility to be raceable.”

Kaeding thanked some friends for providing him a place to stay in South Dakota during the summer months.

“They give me a great opportunity to come back here and have fun like I’m a big kid,” Kaeding said. “You turn 47 this year and you’re older than 90 percent of the people you race with. It’s kind of difficult to keep pace with them, but it was hard for them to keep pace tonight.”

Kaeding won $3,000 for taking first place in the feature. Last week a four-night special at Husset’s in Brandon provided a much larger purse, but the Sprint Car drivers still are out to take the checkered flag.

“I mean, it’s still a race. We treat every race no matter what it is, it’s the same going in,” said Mark Dobmeier of Grand Forks, N.D., before the night began. “We’re here to win it. We’re here to do everything we can. Obviously, the pressure’s not as (great). You’re not racing for $250,000, you’re racing for $3,000. So total different event, but it’s great to come to Brown County. They got a great facility.”

While the drivers on the Sprint Car circuit are rivals, they are also friends, according to Dobmeier.

“It’s a lot of camaraderie to be honest,” Dobmeier said. “If one guy gets smashed up in his car, the other guy is right there to help him fix it.”

That racing brotherhood has been noticeable to Kaeding, who said that things are different on the west coast.

“Back here you definitely have Midwest nice. You can actually race with guys and interchange slide jobs,” Kaeding said. “In California, everybody’s right there, and it’s live or die, or be dead.”

Cayden Schmeling of Watertown won the final race of the evening, edging out Adam Brotherton of Huron in the final corner of the last lap in the Modified feature.

“My oil pressure light was yelling at me,” Schmeling said, “and so I got into the cushion over here.”

That allowed Brotherton to take a brief lead before Schmeling made one final move before the end of the race.

“It was cool lead the whole thing and then to race with Brotherton like that. He just got a new Modified. It was fun to race with him,” Schmeling said. “I just kind of held my own there. I was trying to make a decision on what to do, and I just kind of let ‘er rip. I was watching the lap counter and it was just a mind game there for the last few laps.”

The first two feature winners on the night both found the low side of the track to their liking.

Dawson Zabel of Selby started in the second row, quickly got out front and never gave up the lead in winning the Midwest Mod feature.

“It seems like a lot anymore starting position is a lot of your success at the end of the night,” Zabel said, “and it does help to start towards the front on a track like this.”

Once Zabel had his line on the bottom of the oval, he was not about to give it up.

“The bottom was definitely better, and I could tell right away,” Zabel said. “I did drive pretty hard on the top to get around whoever was on the bottom there to take over, but once I got there, there was no way I was leaving it.”

Huron’s Matt Goth also hugged the low side of the track on the way to winning the Street Stock feature.

While Goth started on the pole position, he found himself in a four-car battle for the majority of the race.

“We had some pretty good cars that were right up front with us with Maria (Broksieck) on the outside, (Jayden) Bogh right behind us,” Goth said. “I think (Zachary) Flickinger was up there, so just a really good field of cars and it was a good spot to be to start.”

Things got pretty tight at the end as Goth edged Bogh by less than a car’s length at the finish.

“I could feel him on my bumper after that restart,” Goth said. “I was trying to ease it in so I didn’t mess up, but apparently I was going a little bit too slow entering.”

Like Zabel, Goth was not about to relinquish his position on the low side of the track.

“My game plan was to stay on the bottom,” Goth said. “If they were going to beat me they were going to have to go around me on the high side.”

The final race of the night, the Super Stock feature, did not take place because of rain.

Racing continues Friday at 7 p.m. with the Fourth of July Special, which will include a fireworks display at the end of the program.

To see complete results, click on the following link:

https://www.myracepass.com/events/558228/races