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Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway hosts 16th annual Trophy Cup this Friday and Saturday with talent-loaded field set to be on hand
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – October 20, 2009…After being dark since late-June the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will light back up in a big way this weekend with the always exciting Trophy Cup set for action at the 1/3 mile clay oval this Friday and Saturday night's October 23 and 24.
A year after switching to a three-night format the 16th annual Trophy Cup this season is back to the traditional two-night program and has been welcomed with open arms by teams as a maximum total of 72-cars have entered the race. The prestigious winged 360 sprint car event, which benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation, has a total purse of $80,000 and with its unique format the Trophy Cup regularly produces some of the best racing seen all season. Each time a driver hits the raceway for competitive racing action there are points awarded and everything is a lead-up to the 50-lap feature on Saturday night, which is completely inverted based on points accumulated up to that part of the event.
Always a favorite at the Trophy Cup San Jose's Tim Kaeding will return to the Thunderbowl Raceway as the most recent winner entered and is in search of his third career victory at the event. The driver of the locally based Roth Motorsports, DTR Transport No. 83 has spent much of this year on the road gaining more valuable experience and picked up a World of Outlaws win in April at West Memphis, Arkansas, as well as an impressive fourth place finish at the prestigious Knoxville Nationals in Iowa. "TK" won a GSC main event at the Thunderbowl on April 11 and recently captured the final two GLR 360 Series races of the season at Ocean Speedway. The former King of California also finished runner-up in the Trophy Cup standings in 2003 and scored third last year.
Bixby, Oklahoma's Shane Stewart has been right in the thick of things at the Trophy Cup during the past two seasons and this year will look to breakthrough for his first win in the event as he competes in the always potent Paul Silva Motorsports, ProBilt Construction No. 57. The 32-year-old former World of Outlaw competitor took over the Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Car Series point lead last weekend at the Devils Bowl Speedway in Texas and so far this season has captured 10 main event victories, in addition to scoring a fifth place finish at the Knoxville Nationals. Stewart's career best finish at the Trophy Cup was in 2007 when he finished third overall behind winner Jason Meyers and runner-up Joey Saldana.
2009 King of California Tyler Walker has been a dominant force at the Thunderbowl Raceway over the last couple seasons and will look for his first Trophy Cup title this weekend at the helm of the SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors No. 24. "T-dub" this year won a Golden State Challenge Series main event at the track on May 16 and also finished fourth during the World of Outlaws feature on March 20. Last season the 30-year-old driver won the first two nights of the Trophy Cup and went into the 50-lap finale third in overall points, but a flip in the feature took away his chances at a first Cup title. Walker this season has tallied 11 overall victories and will be looking for redemption after tire issues took him out of the lead at Chico's $6,000 to win Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals just a few weeks back.
Now two-time California Sprint Car Civil War Series champion Sean Becker comes into the 16th annual Trophy Cup with momentum on his side following his first career victory at the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals, in which he led the final 17-circuits of the 40-lap feature for the big win. The $6,000 victory for the "Shark" was his 11th overall win of the season, which also includes big triumphs at Chico's Pacific Sprint Cup Invitational and the $5,000 to win Mark Forni Classic at the Placerville Speedway in July. The Oroville driver claimed five wins with the Civil War Series this year to lock up the title by an amazing 95-points and he'll look to continue his strong season this weekend behind the wheel of the Robinson Engineering, Cherry St. Mini Storage No. 2sb.
Recently crowned GLR Investments 360 Series champion Tommy Tarlton of Easton comes into the Trophy Cup having one of the very best seasons of his career at the helm of the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton and Son Inc. No. 21 mount. The 2000 Trophy Cup winner scored four victories at the Ocean Speedway en route to the GLR title this year and the biggest of those came on August 29 when he claimed the Johnny Key Classic for the first time in his career. Tarlton, a former two-time Thunderbowl Raceway champion has also had success at the 1/3 mile clay oval this season by scoring a pair of runner-up finishes at the track in GSC competition.
The winningest driver in Trophy Cup history is Campbell's Brent Kaeding, who will be looking for his fifth win in the event this weekend. The 13-time King of California won the Trophy Cup during the first season it was held at Thunderbowl Raceway in 2005 and recently finished runner-up in the final GLR Investments Series standings at the Ocean Speedway aboard his Al's Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69. In June at the Thunderbowl "BK" also won the Pombo/Sargent Classic for the 11th time in his career and it marked one of four overall victories that he tallied with the traveling Golden State Challenge 410 Series this season.
The BK Motorsports team will also feature a pair of the brightest young stars in all of sprint car racing as Elk Grove's Kyle Larson and Red Lion, Pennsylvania's Cody Darrah will also be aboard cars in the stable for the Trophy Cup.
After parting ways with his former team recently there was some doubt as to whether or not Larson would be able to compete at the Trophy Cup, but he has found a ride with BK Motorsports and should be considered a strong favorite at event. The 17-year-old spent this year running with the Golden State Challenge 410 Series, finishing fifth in the standings with one victory. Larson has also been extremely impressive in some of the special Northern California post-season events this year and in his most recent start made a thrilling charge to finish third at Chico's Fall Nationals. Last season Larson brought home a sixth place finish in the final Trophy Cup points and this year has scored a best finish of third at the Thunderbowl, with that coming at a GSC event on April 11.
At just 20-years-old Darrah has been making waves in the Pennsylvania sprint car scene and earlier this month won his first career World of Outlaws main event during the completion of the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals at the Williams Grove Speedway, which was worth $20,000. He recently also made his first start behind the wheel of the Kasey Kahne Racing, DirecTV No. 19 machine and picked-up a sixth place finish in it with the Outlaws in New York. Last season saw Darrah claim the prestigious Williams Grove National Open at only 19-years of age and this weekend will make his first career Thunderbowl Raceway start at the helm of the Alviso Rock, K&N Filters No. 29 sprinter.
After winning the past two Saturday night main events at the Trophy Cup San Jose's Randy Hannagan will return this season looking for his first career overall victory in the event. "The Hurricane" has put together one of his best seasons in recent memory and picked-up a World of Outlaws win at the Thunderbowl in February at the helm of his Terry Hannagan Racing, Pocket Shot No. 1x. Chico's Jonathan Allard has scored a pair of podiums at the Thunderbowl this season and will be in search of his first Trophy Cup victory this weekend aboard the Williams Motorsports, Sharp Insurance No. 0. The former two-time King of California finished runner-up in the Golden State Challenge standings this season and also scored a fourth place finish at the World of Outlaws sanctioned Gold Cup Race of Champions in September.
Around the country there are few more versatile sprint car drivers than Warsaw, Missouri's Jesse Hockett, who will travel to Tulare to compete in the H.A.M. Construction No. 35b machine. Hockett has captured 19 main events this season and very nearly had another one while driving for the Main Family at the Vermeil Classic in Calistoga, until he got upside down with just a handful of laps remaining in the feature as he sat out front with a commanding lead. "The Rocket" also scored a runner-up finish in Civil War Series competition aboard the Main 35 sprinter at Placerville in July and will look to put his name towards the front at the Trophy Cup.
Nashville, Tennessee's Paul McMahan will also be a threat this weekend as he competes at the Trophy Cup in the potent Rod Tiner Racing No. 83t sprinter, which is the car that has won two of the last three Trophy Cups. The former World of Outlaw driver has spent this season running the ASCS National tour and currently ranks fifth in the series standings. Loomis driver Kyle Hirst has had a strong year in 2009 and comes into the Trophy Cup following a career best fifth place finish in the event last season. The driver of the GP Development, A.R.T. Enterprise No. 6 has picked-up eight overall victories this year and will look for more success this weekend.
Other drivers set to hit the Thunderbowl Raceway this Friday and Saturday will be former Trophy Cup champions Ronnie Day of Salinas and Craig Stidham of Fresno; as well as Grand Forks, ND's Mark Dobmeier; Knoxville, Iowa's Wayne Johnson; Campbell's Bud Kaeding; Medford, Oregon's Roger Crockett; Grass Valley's Jason Statler; Clovis' Peter Murphy; Sacramento's Mike Henry; Pleasanton's Brad Furr; Visalia's Steven Tiner; Chico's Brett Miller; Auburn's Andy Forsberg; Princeton's Mason Moore; Placerville's Andy Gregg; Fremont's Shane Golobic; Bellingham, WA's Brock Lemley and many more.
The state mandated maximum noise level of 95dB at 100 feet will also be enforced at the Trophy Cup. A state employee will be at the track to measure noise level and any car exceeding the maximum will be penalized due to the track receiving noise complaints this year.
The Tulare Microtel near Properity and Highway 99, located at 1500 Cherry Ct. is also offering a racer's rate for the nights of October 22, 23 and 24. The rate is available by mentioning Thunderbowl Raceway, Trophy Cup or Racer's Rate. The rates are, single $60, double $65, and suite $75. Call 559-685-8900 to make a reservation.
The racing program is scheduled to get underway around 6pm each night with the drivers meeting set for 3:30pm on Friday and hot laps scheduled at 4. Reserved grandstand tickets for Friday night will be $30 for adults and $15 for kids with general admission bleacher seats costing $25 for adults and $13 for kids. Saturday night reserved grandstands will be $35 for adults and $18 for kids with general admission bleacher tickets being $30 for adults and $15 for kids. To order tickets contact 559-688-0909 and for more info on the 16th annual Trophy Cup log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com and http://www.trophycup.org/
The Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare.
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