|
Meyers wins 14th annual Trophy Cup
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - November 18, 2007...Over the last couple seasons during the Trophy Cup at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway there has been no driver faster than Clovis masher Jason Meyers. The World of Outlaw veteran had been in position to take home the Cup title each of the prior two seasons, but for one reason or another, the overall point title had eluded his grasp. Coming into the 14th annual Trophy Cup this year Meyers once again appeared to be one of the favorites and he didn’t disappoint with a charge from 20th to 3rd on Saturday night, which was good enough to make him the 2007 Trophy Cup champion.
Meyers came into the Trophy Cup on the heels of several victories recently, including the $20,000 to win Short Track Nationals in Little Rock, Arkansas. The former Golden State Challenge Series regular came into Saturday night’s Trophy Cup finale as the high point driver, but the night started off with a bit of tough luck as ignition box issues kept Meyers from starting his heat race. Despite the problem, some good luck actually shined down on him when many of the other high point earners also had issues in their heat races.
Brownsburg, Indiana’s Joey Saldana, second place in points coming into the night and the winner of Friday’s 30 lap feature, looked to have taken control of the Trophy Cup with a charge from 8th to win his heat race. However, just as soon as it looked like Saldana could do no wrong, he failed to stop at the scales following the heat, earning an automatic disqualification and zero points for the heat race. Saldana then started 16th in the main event and had a great run to finish fourth, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the penalty in the heat race and is definitely disappointing for the H.A.M. Construction No. 35a team. Saldana ended up finishing second in the final Trophy Cup points and was very impressive all weekend long in the Lee Watson prepared machine.
The weekend belonged to Meyers however and he was able to make quick movement during the 40 lap feature, which proved beneficial as passing opportunities were limited later in the going when rubber began to build up thicker and thicker on the 1/3 mile clay oval. Meyers was up to the top 10 by a lap 13 caution and was all the way up to fifth during a yellow flag period at the halfway point. He continued to run hard the rest of the way and after 40 laps of action he crossed the line in the third position, giving him the Trophy Cup title and the $15,000 top prize.
"This is just awesome, the guys gave me a great car and I’m so happy to finally get a Trophy Cup," the obviously excited Meyers said following the race. He continued, "I have to thank all our sponsors including Primerica Financial, Elite Landscaping, GLR Investments, Ridgeline Framing and everybody that supports this race team. It’s great to be part of this event and I gotta thank all the fans for coming out. It’s great to see a packed house like this and I’m looking forward to next year as we try to bring the World of Outlaw championship back to California."
The totally inverted 40 lap main event on Saturday started out with ‘07 Silver Dollar Speedway track champion Stephen Allard of Chico jumping into the lead aboard the red No. 86 machine. Last season Allard won the Chris Faria Memorial at Thunderbowl Raceway and looked strong early in the going on Saturday. Allard soon had to deal with Fairmont, Indiana’s Brandon Wimmer however, as the ‘07 Dirt Cup champ moved the HR Cattle No. 83jr into the runner up spot on lap two and began to chase after the leader. The pair put on a great show for the lead as they ran nose to tail and side by side for several laps as they navigated their way through traffic. Wimmer was running the ragged edge of the Thunderbowl Raceway and going into turns one and two on a lap 20 restart, it bit him as the 21 year-old got too high and stuck the Dennis Roth owned car into the fence hard to bring out a red flag. With Wimmer out of the race it moved World of Outlaw regular and San Jose native Randy Hannagan into the second spot.
Allard got a good jump on the restart and led for six more laps until another caution came out on lap 26. The next restart however, saw Hannagan cut a great corner to slip by Allard and take the lead of the race in the Walt Bronco Motorsports No. 6x. With the state mandated 11 pm curfew looming ahead, the race wound down with Hannagan leading while running through heavy lap traffic. This gave Allard the opportunity he needed and he closed in on the leader as the white flag was unveiled from starter Willie Williams. Allard had a huge run on Hannagan going into the final set of corners and he gave it hard charge to the high side, but it didn’t stick and he looped a complete 360 as Hannagan took the checkered flag to win the race. Campbell driver Brent Kaeding, Meyers and Saldana were all able to sneak by Allard who did a great job to keep the motor lit and finish the race in fifth.
It was a big win for Hannagan who grew racing at the San Jose Speedway, the same track the Trophy Cup started at. "I have to thank Walt Bronco and the crew for a great race car tonight," the 1998 King of California said into George Hague’s microphone. "We had Brian Sperry helping out this weekend and that’s always a good thing. The Trophy Cup is nostalgia and this race means a lot to me," Hannagan commented.
Kaeding’s second place finish came after starting ninth and it was enough to give himself a top five finish in the final Trophy Cup point standings. This was just his second time behind the wheel of sprint car since the Gold Cup of Race of Champions in early September, but the ‘07 King of California showed no sign of rust on Saturday. "I have to congratulate Jason on the win and all the fans for coming out tonight. We kind of stunk up the joint on Friday, but had a strong car tonight and we’ll be back next year," the veteran driver of the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69 said. The Northern California sprint car scene has missed BK’s presence on the track during the last couple months and it was great to have the 13-time King of California back in action.
Finishing sixth through tenth in Saturday’s main event were the Doyle’s Harley Davidson No. 1 of Shane Stewart from Bixby, Oklahoma; the Island Muffler & Brake No. 7n of Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett; the Werbach Motorsports No. 20 of Bud Kaeding from Campbell; the GT Trends No. 0 of Chico’s Jonathan Allard and the GP Development No. 6 of Brad Sweet from Grass Valley.
The B-main was curfew shortened to eight laps and the five transfers were Brett Rollag, Randy Hannagan, Stephen Allard, Tommy Tarlton and Taylor Malsam. Normally there are four transfers taken from the B-main during Trophy Cup, but Los Angeles driver Tyler Walker, who qualified for the A-main, suffered a possible broken arm during a heat race incident and was unable to start the feature. The C-main was also curfew shortened and it was won by Greg Decaires with Andy Gregg, Jesse Hockett and Mark Barroso transferring to the rear of the B-main. The 10 lap D-main was won by Korey Lovell with Mason Moore, Myles Bishop and Stephen Horner joining him as transfers to the C-main. Heat race winners during the night included Brett Miller, Craig Stidham(after Saldana was dqd), Brandon Wimmer, Stephen Allard and Roger Crockett. A total of 82 cars competed at the 14th annual Trophy Cup.
The final top 10 in Trophy Cup points for 2007 was comprised of Jason Meyers, Joey Saldana, Shane Stewart, Roger Crockett, Brent Kaeding, Brad Sweet, Jonathan Allard, Randy Hannagan, Salinas’ Ronnie Day and San Jose’s Tim Kaeding. Dave Pusateri and the Trophy Cup staff presented the Make-A-Wish Foundation with a check worth $35,000 keeping alive the tradition of the what the Trophy Cup is all about. The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway is proud to host the Trophy Cup and everyone is looking forward to next year.
This will conclude the 2007 racing season at Thunderbowl Raceway. The 1/3 mile clay oval will be back in action next February with a two-day event featuring the World of Outlaws Sprint Series. On behalf of everyone involved with the Tulare Tunderbowl Raceway we’d like to wish everyone a happy and safe Winter and we’ll see you all in February. Log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com for news in the coming months.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
|
