by Stephanie Odom

Seventy-five winged 360 sprint cars checked into opening night at the Gropetti Automotive Tulare Thunderbowl for the seventeenth running of the Trophy Cup. The Trophy Cup supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation giving the foundation a check that is presented every year in front of the fans.

The event kicked off with qualifying in which Jayme Barnes out ran his competion setting a new track record of 13.381 seconds. Barnes hit the track sixty-second out of seventy five cars. Following Barnes was twenty-three year old graduate student Evan Suggs with a lap time of 13.503. Tommy Tarlton, Jonathan Allard and Shane Golobic rounded out the top five.

The top forty-eight qualifiers were placed into six heat races with the top thirty-six being inverted. Drivers that qualified outside of those positions raced in a non qualifiers heat race for points. The night had three “D” main events along with a “C” and “B.” Brent Kaeding and Andy Gregg started their feature events in the “C” main and eventually made it into the nights “A” main.

The night’s “B” main saw many big name drivers trying to fight their way into the top six spots to transfer into the feature event. Mason Moore and Peter Murphy set the pace for the twenty lap event with twenty-four cars in competition. On the start Murphy leaped ahead of Moore until a caution came out bringing the field back for a complete restart. The outcome was the same with Murphy leading the way and Moore, Shane Golobac, Klien and Hannigan trailing. Kline and Hannigan got together in turn two bringing out another yellow flag.

During the yellow flag Peter Murphy pulled off the track thinking that the officials had black flagged him only for his thought to be wrong. After the misconception was resolved Murphy pulled back onto the track and took back his first place position as no wrenches had touched his car.

After the restart another caution would be thrown with one lap in the books when Bradley Terrell and Kenny Allen got together. Following the restart the 2010 King of California and Cotton Classic Winner Kyle Larson began his march forward passing Mason Moore in turn three for second and using every inch of the racing surface to pass Murphy for the lead running against the wall. The race stayed green until lap eighteen when Cory Eliason brought out another yellow flag.

On the restart Ronnie Day flipped in turns one and two bringing out the final stop in the race. Day was able to walk away from the crash. Following the incident the race was able to stay green allowing Larson, Murphy, Moore, Brent Kaeding, Andy Gregg, and Evan Suggs to transfer into the feature.

The feature event inverted twelve drivers by their points with all “B” main transferees getting their points back for the line up. World of Outlaw driver Lucas Wolfe and Roger Crockett shared the front row and set the pace for the thirty lap main event that started twenty-four cars. On the start Crockett got a better jump than Wolfe taking control with fourteen year old Trey Starks, Mason Moore and Ocean/King Speedway’s Champion Tommy Tarlton running in the top five. The first caution came out on lap four when Brady Bacon spun in turn four collecting Bud Kaeding. Following the restart point’s leader Jason Allard was moving his way to the front after starting twelfth place. By lap ten Allard had passed Moore for fifth position.

A red flag was brought out on lap fourteen when Tommy Tarlton flipped in turn four running eighth place. Crockett led the way on the restart as Wolfe, Starks, Jason Johnson and Jason Allard trailed. Behind them was Brent Kaeding who was charging his way through the field running thirteenth. Kaeding had to make his way into the night’s feature coming from the “C” main and started twenty-third in the feature. Also on the move was the Trophy Bowl’s defending champion, Tim “T.K.” Kaeding who started twentieth and made his way up to eleventh. In front of both of them was last weekend’s twenty-fifth annual Cotton Classic winner, Kyle Larson. Coming from seventeenth place on the starting grid Larson was running in ninth place.

Tarlton was able to make repairs and rejoin the back of the field without going a lap down. On the restart Jason Johnson passed Starks with Jason Allard diving below both of them in turns one and two taking over third place on lap fifteen. The following lap Allard was making a move to pass Wolfe when a caution was brought out for seventeen year old Justin Sanders as he spun in turn four.

Following the restart Allard was able to make a pass underneath Wolfe coming out of turn four on lap seventeen. Matt Sargent brought out the yellow flag on lap nineteen with Crockett, Allard, Wolfe, Johnson and Suggs running in the top five. Kyle Larson had moved his way into seventh place behind rookie Trey Starks. Johnson moved past Wolfe following the restart with Suggs and Larson following him. Running fifth Larson pulled in on lap twenty-one with mechanical issues. Suggs spun in turn four on lap twenty two bringing out yet another yellow flag. With Larson pulling off the track and Suggs spinning out Tim Kaeding made his way into the top five running forth on the restart.

Following the restart Peter Murphy brought out the yellow flag again spinning in turn two running twelfth place. When racing resumed Allard tried to dive below Crockett with a red flag coming out bringing his efforts to a halt. Gregg, Kyle Hurst and Brady Bacon got together on the backstretch – all drivers were ok. When Crockett brought the field back to green Allard tried again down low coming out of turn two with no luck and would continue doing so with the same result. With three laps to go the leaders began to hit lapped traffic with Allard still running the low line.

On the final lap the leaders diced through lapped traffic with Allard making a move past Johnson in turns one and two for the lead but allowed Johnson to make a move past him for the win in turns three and four. Crossing the line behind them was Johnson, Tim Kaeding, Wolfe, Brent Kaeding, Trey Starks, Mark Dobmeier, Jayme Barnes and Mike Henry.

Qualifying

1. 7n Jayme Barnes 13.381 (NEW TRACK RECORD)
2. 33e Evan Suggs 13.503
3. 21 Tommy Tarlton 13.514
4. 0 Jonathan Allard 13.564
5. 121 Shane Golobac 13.580
6. 83t Daryn Pittman 13.596
7. 3 Randy Hannagan 13.602
8. 29 Willie Croft 13.616
9. 5x Geoff Ensign 13.638
10. 83x Brady Bacon 13.648
11. X1 Mason Moore 13.649
12. 22 Ronnie Day 13.652
13. 13 Peter Murphy 13.653
14. 77 Jason Johnson 13.679
15. 91 Herman Klein 13.731
16. 57x Shaen Stewart 13.742
17. 55 Trey Starks 13772
18. 21a Chad Hillier 13.773
19. 00x Cory Eliason 13.789
20. 7k Kenny Allen 13.790
21. 11c Roger Crockett 13.814
22. 99 Kyle Larson 13.818
23. 28x Billy Strange 13.818
24. 94 Steve Tiner 13.829
25. 5h Lucas Wolfe 13.837
26. 6 Kyle Hurst 13.847
27. 18 Mike Henry 13.860
28. 8r Mike Dobmeier 13.862
29. 14s Steven Allard 13.876
30. 14 Matt Sargent 13.881
31. 19 Bud Kaeding 13.885
32. 83 Tim Kaeding 13.888
33. 11a Mark Dupperon 13.897
34. 69c Chad Compton 13.901
35. 8 T.J. Smith 13.901
36. 17 Justin Sanders 13.913
37. 69 Brent Kaeding 13.918
38. 23 Ken Fredenburg 13.922
39. 25m Bobby McMahan 13.938
40. 21 Logan Forler 13.962
41. 7 Stan Yockey 13.966
42. 17v Danny Faria Jr. 13.967
43. 92 Andy Forsberg 13.974
44. 20j James Sweeny 13.985
45. 10x Anthony Simone 13.997
46. 43 Bradley Terrell 13.998
47. 53 Andy Gregg 14.017
48. 3c Cody Lamar 14.023
49. 35a Johnny Herrera 17.038
50. 7b Brent Bjork 14.048
51. 33v Henry Van Dam 14.057
52. 20 Nicole Miller 14.059
53. 88 Brad Baumgarner 17.097
54. 2b Jeremy Burt 14.098
55. 57 Jimmy Butler 14.103
56. 8x Jim Richardson 14.112
57. 71g Garrett Ishii 14.113
58. 72w Kurt Nelson 14.144
59. 25k Scott Kinney 14.173
60. 32 Jonathan Logan 14.219
61. 1m Josh Fisher 14.270
62. 10x Roberto Kirby 14.274
63. 35 Jason Statler 14.296
64. 99k Wayne Kayten 14.303
65. 96 Todd Miller 14.238
66. 5 Devon Ostheimer 14.439
67. 15 Eric Humphries 14.465
68. 99x Shawn Wright 14.469
69. 4 Burt Folland Jr. 14.493
70. 88k Koen Shaw 14.773
71. 82j Steve Jaquith 14.984
72. 09s Geoffrey Strole 15.279
73. 28 Billy Chester 15.453
74. 55 Ryan Gomes 17.563
75. 24 Chase Johnson 17.479

Non Qualifier Heat One (8 laps): 1. Herrera, 2. Baumgarner, 3. Ishii, 4. Fisher, 5. Folland Jr., 6. Chester, 7. T. Miller (DNS)

Non Qualifier Heat Two (8 laps): 1. Bjork, 2. Burt, 3. Nelson, 4. Kirby, 5. Ostheimer, 6. Shawn, 7. Gomes

Non Qualifer Heat Three (8 laps): 1. Butler, 2. Van Dam, 3. Statler, 4. Kinney, 5. Humphries, 6. Logan, 7 . C. Johnson (DNF)

Non Qualifier Heat Four (8 laps): 1. Richardson, 2. Kayten, 3. N. Miller, 4. Logan, 5. Wright, 6. Strole

Qualifier Heat One (10 laps): 1. Wolfe, 2. Bud Kaeding, 3. Barnes, 4. Murphy, 5. Forsberg, 6. Eliason, 7. Hannigan, 8. Brent Kaeding

Qualifier Heat Two (10 laps): 1. Hurst, 2. T. Kaeding, 3. J. Johnson, 4. Suggs, 5. Kroft, 6. Allen, 7. Fredenburg, 8. Sweeny

Qualifer Heat Three (10 laps): 1. Henry, 2. Crockett, 3. Tarlton, 4. Klein, 5. Dupperon, 6. Kirby, 7. Ensign (DNS)

Qualifier Heat Four (10 laps): 1. Dobmeier, 2. Allard, 3. Bacon, 4. Larson, 5. Terrell, 6. Forler, 7. Stewart, 8. Compton

Qualifier Heat Five (10 laps): 1. Smith, 2. S. Allard, 3. Starks, 4. Golobic, 5. Moore, 6. Strange, 7. Gregg, 8. Yockey

Qualifier Heat Six (10 laps): 1. Sargent, 2. Sanders, 3. Hillier, 4. Tiner, 5. Pittman, 6. Day, 7. Faria Jr., 8. Lamar

D Main One (8 laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. Herrera, 2. Burt, 3. Miller, 4. Nelson, 5. Kayten, 6. Wright, 7. Kirby, 8. Gomes, 9. Shaw

D Main Two (8 laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. Baumgarner, 2. Kinney, 3. Bjork, 4 Richardson, 5. Fisher, 6. Ostheimer, 7. Folland (DNS), 8. Strole (DNS), 9. C. Johnson (DNS)

D Main Three (8 laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. Van Dam, 2. Butler, 3. Statler, 4. Humphries, 5. Ishii, 6. Logan, 7. Jaquith, 8. Chester

C Main (12 laps, Top 6 Transfer): 1. Hannigan, 2. Fredenburg, 3. Ensign, 4. Brent Kaeding, 5. Gregg, 6. Faria Jr., 7. Herrera, 8. Van Dam, 9. Fredenburg, 10. Yockey, 11. Sweeny, 12. Burt, 13. Baumgarner, 14. Lamar, 15. Butler, 16. Kinney, 17. Stewart (DNS), 18. Compton (DNS)

B Main (20 laps. Top 6 Transfer): 1. Larson, 2. Murphy, 3. Moore, 4. Brent Kaeding, 5. Gregg, 6. Suggs, 7. Ensign, 8. Forler, 9. McMahan, 10. Kroft, 11. Duparren, 12. Forsberg, 13. Hannigan, 14. Golobic, 15. Tiner, 16. Strange, 17. Day, 18. Simone, 19. Eliason, 20. Terrell, 21. Pittman, 22. Allan, 23. Klein, 24. Faira Jr.

A Main (30 laps): 1. Crockett, 2. Allard, 3. J. Johnson, 4. T. Kaeding, 5. Wolfe, 6. Brent Kaeding, 7. Starks, 8. Dobmeier, 9. Barnes, 10. Henry, 11. Tarlton, 12. Hillier, 13. Bud Kaeding, 14. Moore, 15. Sargent, 16. Smith, 17. Murphy, 18. Sanders, 19. Suggs, 20. Gregg, 21. Sargent, 22. Hurst, 23. Bacon, 24.