TULARE, Calif. — Last October, Ryan Timms dazzled when he topped the Trophy Cup finale feature in his debut at the Thunderbowl Raceway event.
Thursday night he picked up right where he left off as the 28th Trophy Cup got underway.
The Oklahoma City, Okla., native started on the pole of Thursday’s opening prelim and led all 30 laps on his way to a second straight Thunderbowl Raceway victory.
“It’s just exactly how I like it,” Timms said of the Thunderbowl. “Hats off to the track crew. It did rubber at the end there, but up until then it was a really good track, and I’m really happy we could get it done. Hopefully, we can get it done tomorrow and maybe even Saturday.”
While he won the race, Timms has some room for improvement on Friday considering how the event’s format works. The 16-year-old efforts slotted him fifth in the standings based on points accumulated in qualifying, heat race and the feature.
It’s all about the points on championship night at Trophy Cup, so Timms hopes for an even stronger Friday showing to better position himself.
Hirst Atop Points
Kyle Hirst has won just about everything there is to win in California except for Trophy Cup, but the Chico, Calif., native took a big step toward crossing the coveted event off his list.
Hirst is presently a part-time racer, but he always makes sure to appear at Trophy Cup equipped with his A-game.
A third-place effort in the feature capped off the best performance of any driver on Thursday as Hirst tallied a total of 278 points. For some context, the last six champions have an average total of 275.33 points on their best prelim, so Hirst has situated himself more than nicely.
The night left Hirst feeling confident in himself and the Tiner-Hirst Enterprise team.
“I had a great car,” Hirst said. “Steven (Tiner) put in a lot of effort this week on these cars, and I feel great in it… It’s cool to be here and have a lot of speed with a lot of good cars here. I’m having a blast. I love this place.”
Golobic And Courtney Tied
Just one point behind Hirst is a tie between a pair of team NOS Energy Drink drivers in Shane Golobic and Tyler Courtney.
Golobic is an annual contender at Trophy Cup and the 2016 and ’17 champion. The pilot of the Matt Wood Racing No. 17w continued to prove his calculated style is a perfect match for the format as he’s once again put himself in a great spot for Saturday.
“I think our mindset going into this race kind of suits it as far as limiting mistakes, getting a good qualifying lap in, making the right moves in the heat race, being smart through the feature and pick cars off one at a time and just position yourself,” Golobic explained. “Tonight is not necessarily about winning. Obviously, we all want to win. I would’ve loved to win the race, but with the way the ending went there with rubber we weren’t going to have a shot, so at that point you just screw your head on straight and don’t make mistakes.”
Courtney is making his second Trophy Cup appearance after competing with Roth Motorsports last year. This year “Sunshine” is aboard the Works Limited No. 57, the car he drove to a $76,000 victory at Dirt Cup in June.
“This is a tough event,” Courtney commented. “It’s all about points and putting yourself in the best position every time you’re on the racetrack is important.”
Macedo Returns
Ever since he became a full-time driver with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars, Carson Macedo hasn’t been able to compete in one of his home state’s favorite events, but he returned on Thursday night.
With the rescheduled National Open only occupying Saturday on this weekend’s calendar, the Lemoore, Calif., native took on the opening night of Trophy Cup, his first appearance at the event since 2018.
This year’s winningest Outlaw noted how different driving with the 360 engine can be compared to the 410 power he’s become accustomed to.
“The 360 under the hood is the biggest difference for me,” Macedo explained. “It’s hard to know how tight to get my race car without getting it too tight. You just don’t have the motor to pull yourself out of those bad situations. I felt like that was probably the most challenging think for me all night. Me and Drew (Warner) got our car pretty tight there for the feature, and then I’d get stuck in the cushion and couldn’t get back out of it. I just didn’t have the motor I felt like early on.
“Then it the middle point of the race there I’d say 10 laps before the rubber came out, I was kind of behind a few guys,” Macedo continued. “I just couldn’t shake them and get clear. Then I was able to get clear of them and really start ripping off some good laps, and then the rubber laid down.”
Macedo’s efforts put him fourth in points, but his services are required with Jason Johnson Racing Saturday, so his 2022 Trophy Cup is complete.
“It sucks because we’re sitting really good in points,” Macedo said with a laugh of having to leave. “I had a pretty solid night overall, but ultimately, I’m done for the weekend here now. I’ll jump on the plane tomorrow, head to Williams Grove Saturday and, hopefully, win the National Open in the 41 car.”
Henry Charges
As of late it seems that whenever the biggest racing stages are set in California, the best is brought out in Kalib Henry.
He impressed many across the nation with some strong Gold Cup runs last month, and on Thursday night he lined up 18th for the feature and drove to eighth, tying for the most cars passed in main event and slotting him solidly 10th in points.
Considering the fact that Henry rarely races at the Thunderbowl, his performance is all the more noteworthy. On top of his lack of Tulare laps, he and his team had to overcome a mechanical issue.
“We found out that the U-joint took a crap while hot lapping,” Henry said. “We thrashed and didn’t realize that’s what it was before the heat, so we didn’t have time to change it. I just motored through the vibration, and we ended up changing it after the heat race. I picked up the win there (in the heat), which was huge for us because if I would’ve pulled off, we would’ve been at the back of the D (main), so to be able to win with a broken U-joint is huge. We got that changed, started 18th and motored our way forward. We were really, really good.”
Contenders Struggle
A handful of drivers expected to be in contention come championship night struggled through Thursday and will have some work to do Friday. Justin Sanders appeared headed toward a top-five-point night until tagging the wall and getting upside down in the feature. The incident dropped him to 16th in the standings.
Dominic Scelzi was widely considered a favorite entering the weekend, but Scelzi couldn’t quite find the speed he needed, ultimately finishing 43rd in points.
Some other notable drivers looking for much better Friday results include 2015 Trophy Cup champion Bud Kaeding (30th in points), Willie Croft (34th) and Mitchel Moles (39th).
Fortunately for all of them, the slates are wiped clean for the second prelim.