Jason Meyers from Eight Rows Deep in Trophy Cup Opener

Jason Meyers from Eight Rows Deep in Trophy Cup Opener

TULARE, Cal. (October 20, 2016) – Just when Shane Golobic and Kyle Hirst thought they were battling it out for the win on the opening night of the 23rd Annual Trophy Cup, two-time event champ Jason Meyers slipped by both of them with just four laps to go to win Thursday night’s 30-lap feature at Thunderbowl Raceway.

A late caution for past Trophy Cup winner Willie Croft set up the dramatic finish that capped Meyers’ rally from the 16th starting position aboard the Tommy Tarlton No. 21 with Hirst slipping around Golobic for runner-up honors.

“I don’t get to do this a lot, so just to come here and do this, this is fun,” the two-time World of Outlaws champion said after besting the 59-car field from eight rows deep in the feature event.

With Meyers mired as the green flag flew, front row outside starter D.J. Netto outgunned pole starter Golobic and paced the opening circuits that were interrupted after seven laps when Steven Tiner and Jason Solwold got together and flipped going into turn one.

Golobic turned up the heat on Netto when action resumed and after swapping the point several times before Golobic established command on the tenth round, Netto was a part of the next red falg when he landed upside down against the turn four fence after contact with defending Trophy Cup champ Bud Kaeding while dicing for second on the 11th circuit.

Golobic checked out on the restart with the Roth Motorsports duo of Tim Kaeding and Kyle Hirst working past 14-year-old Buddy Kofoid and Justyn Cox to hold down second and third soon after midway as Meyers worked his way up to fourth by the 23rd lap.

Meyers took third from T. Kaeding on the 24th lap and when the final caution flew with just four laps to go, thus erasing Golobic’s healthy lead, both Hirst and Meyers were ready to pounce.

Hirst slid past Golobic entering turns one and two, only to have Golobic return the favor in three and four. As the lead duo mixed it up, Meyers snuck by both of them on the low side to take command coming to the stipe to complete lap 27 and raced on to the $3,000 triumph.

Hirst got around Golobic for second, commenting that, “Hopefully we can get one spot better tomorrow night.”

Settling for third after leading 18 of 30 circuits, Golobic said, “I didn’t need that caution, I knew the 83 (Hirst) and 21 (Meyers) were behind me and they’re two of the best at this place.”

Jonathan Allard climbed to fourth in the closing laps in the other Tarlton entry with T. Kaeding slipping to fifth in the closing laps. Mitchell Faccinto was sixth while Cory Eliason rallied from 20th to seventh. Kofoid crossed in eighth with Sean Becker and Terry McCarl completing the top ten.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Sublett – www.mmracingphotos.com)

Results:

Fast Qualifiers: Justyn Cox (Group A) and Willie Croft (Group B)

Group A Heat Winners: Kyle Hirst, Robbie Price, Kyler Shaw, Bobby Ray Butler.

Group B Heat Winners: Ryan Bernal, Tim Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, D.J. Netto.

First “B” Main (20 Laps): 1. 19-Cory Eliason (2), 2. 21x-Jason Meyers (3), 3. 33v-Henry Van Dam (4), 4. 20-Colby Copeland (13), 5. 18-Justin Sanders (5), 6. 9J-Dustin Golobic (16), 7. 41-Gio Scelzi (14), 8. 96-Luca Romanazzi (7), 9. 10m-Matthew Moles (12), 10. 8-Jeremy Chisum (17), 11. 7-Steven Kent (18), 12. 86J-Jesse Colwell (21), 13. 82J-Steven Jacquith (22), 14. 33s-Lance Sargent (20), 15. 3-Kaleb Montgomery (1), 16. 15x-Blake Robertson (6), 17. P37-Matt Peterson (9), 18. 10L-Brock Lemley (11), 19. 5-Collin Markle (15), 20. 9s-Landon Hurst (8), 21. 74-Colton Hardy (10-DNS), 22. 42-Devin Madonia (19-DNS).

Second “B” Main (20 Laps): 1. 22-Shane Golobic (6), 2. 94-Steven Tiner (5), 3. 1T-Billy Butler (1), 4. 88-Terry McCarl (4), 5. X1-Mason Moore (12), 6. 21r-Aaron Reutzel (14), 7. 73-Parker Price-Miller (2), 8. 63-Geoff Ensign (10), 9. 72w-Kurt Nelson (16), 10. 12p-Scott Parker (8), 11. 00-Jason Statler (7), 12. 88v-Jace Vander Weerd (13), 13. 9a-Luke Didiuk (20), 14. 4-Burt Foland, Jr. (18), 15. 15-Pat Harvey (21), 16. 43-Bradley Terrell (11), 17. 9r-Reece Goetz (19), 18. 6n-Gary Nelson, Jr. (17), 19. 88k-Koen Shaw (9), 20. 9L-Cody Lamar (15), 21. 73x-Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3).

“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 21x-Jason Meyers (16), 2. 83jr-Kyle Hirst (9), 3. 22-Shane Golobic (1), 4. 21-Jonathan Allard (7), 5. 83-Tim Kaeding (8), 6. 37-Mitchell Faccinto (5), 7. 19-Cory Eliason (20), 8. 4s-Buddy Kofoid (3), 9. X1jr-Sean Becker (11), 10. 88-Terry McCarl (15), 11. 56-Ryan Bernal (17), 12. 31c-Justyn Cox (4), 13. 18x-Jason Solwold (10), 14. 20-Colby Copeland (24), 15. 33v-Henry Van Dam (14), 16. 21p-Robbie Price (18), 17. 5v-Dominic Scelzi (19), 18. 26-Willie Croft (12), 19. 0-Bud Kaeding (6), 20. 94-Steven Tiner (13), 21. 1T-Billy Butler (21), 22. 57b-Bobby Ray Butler (23), 23. 92-Kyler Shaw (22), 24. 3c-D.J. Netto (2).

Lap Leaders: D.J. Netto 1-7, Shane Golobic 8, Netto 9, Golobic 10-26, Jason Meyers 27-30.

Top 25 in Trophy Cup Points after Night One:

  1. 83jr-Kyle Hirst 280
  2. 21-Jonathan Allard 274
  3. 83-Tim Kaeding 273
  4. 21x-Jason Meyers 270
  5. 22-Shane Golobic 269
  6. 37-Mitchell Faccinto 268
  7. x1jr-Sean Becker 266
  8. 4s-Buddy Kofoid 263
  9. 18x-Jason Solwold 258
  10. 31c-Justyn Cox 255
  11. 19-Cory Eliason 255
  12. 88-Terry McCarl 252
  13. 56-Ryan Bernal 250
  14. 26-Willie Croft 249
  15. 0-Bud Kaeding 244
  16. 33v-Henry Van Dam 243
  17. 21p-Robbie Price 239
  18. 5v-Dominic Scelzi 236
  19. 94-Steven Tiner 233
  20. 20-Colby Copeland 230
  21. 3c-D.J. Netto 229
  22. 1T-Billy Butler 225
  23. 18-Justin Sanders 222
  24. 57b-Bobby Ray Butler 221
  25. 92-Kyler Shaw 220

← SprintCarMania.com home