TULARE, Calif. – Buddy Kofoid won the opener of the Abreu Vineyards 27th Trophy Cup Presented by Rudeen Racing Thursday evening at Thunderbowl Raceway.
Pennsylvania invader Anthony Macri was second, with D.J. Netto finishing third. An 85-car field of winged 360 sprints packed the pit area for the first of two preliminary nights.
Kaleb Montgomery led initially with Kofoid and Bud Kaeding following. Montgomery ran the bottom and Kofoid was up top for several laps until Kofoid was able to use the momentum off turn four on lap 10 to take the lead.
Shane Golobic took third and used the bottom of turn four to gain second, but spun later racing for the lead. Montgomery dropped out with mechanical problems moving Netto and Macri up to podium finishes.
Macri closed on Netto and used the upper line in turn four to claim second with two laps remaining. Macri closed on Kofoid but needed more laps to think about first.
Following the top-three at the finish were Corey Day in fourth and Kyle Hirst in fifth.
Cars were split into two groups with each having their own quick qualifier and four heats. Qualifying offered 150 points for the quickest lap with a one point drop, while heats awarded 36 points to the winner with a three point drop per position.
Cory Eliason led group A in qualifying with a 13.644-second lap, earning him 150 points. Following Eliason were Kyle Hirst, Kaleb Montgomery, Dominic Scelzi and Tyler Courtney. Netto was fastest in group B at 13.707 seconds ahead of Cole Macedo, Macri, Colby Copeland and Rico Abreu.
Eight heats moved the winners plus the highest point car to the night’s A main. The top 40 in points that didn’t make the A main raced in a pair of B mains with a six-car inversion by points, and C main transfers were added.
The top four from each B main were added to the 16 cars from heats and the 30-lap A main inverted 12 by points.
Friday’s show will repeat Thursday’s format with group B qualifying first and the order within the group’s reversed. Whichever point night is better from the two prelim nights will be used for Saturday’s lineups.
The finish:
Buddy Kofoid, Anthony Macri, D.J. Netto, Corey Day, Kyle Hirst, Dominic Scelzi, Tyler Courtney, Corey Sanders, Cory Eliason, Colby Copeland, Zane Blanchard, Bradley Terrell, Shane Golobic, Cole Macedo, J.J. Ringo, Chase Madjic, Tanner Carrick, Kaleb Montgomery, Bud Kaeding, Tony Gomes, Brock Lemley, Robbie Price, Ryan Timms, Willie Croft.