Kofoid Takes Trophy Cup Opener

Thunderbowl Raceway

By Bill W
10/21/21

Thunderbowl Raceway

Tulare, CA

Trophy Cup Night #1

85 cars

Drivers were divided into two groups for qualifying and heats. Everything was worth points, and the driver’s higher point night between Thursday and Friday is used for lineups on Saturday. The drivers qualifying draw will be completely inverted for Friday’s program. 150 points were awarded for quick time, 149 for 2nd quick, 148 for 3rd quick and so on. The top 40 times in each group qualified for heats. The remainder went to the D.

Cory Eliason (1st car out to time) set quick time in Group A at 13.644 seconds on the quarter-mile. Kyle Hirst (24th car out) was second quick, followed by Kaleb Montgomery (15th), Dominic Scelzi (35th), Tyler Courtney (29th), Willie Croft (27th), Tucker Worth (36th), Tim Kaeding (31st), Devon Borden (26th) and Shane Golobic (16th). Steven Kent did not get a time in, and scratched for the night. Kurt Nelson had engine woes on his second lap.

Group B was led by DJ Netto (9th car out) at 13.707 seconds. Cole Macedo (1st car out) was second quick, followed by Anthony Macri (12th), Colby Copeland (13th), Rico Abreu (32nd), Tanner Carrick (21st), Austin McCarl (26th), Ryan Robinson (27th), Justin Peck (23rd) and Ryan Timms (14th). Kalib Henry failed to get a time in, and Dylan Bloomfield flipped on his attempt.

Group A Heat one (started): 1. Bud Kaeding 69 (2) 2. Justyn Cox 7c (1) 3. Eliason 26 (6) 4. Borden 8 (4) 5. Colton Heath 33c (8) 6. Courtney 83 (5) 7. Grant Duinkerken 67G (3) 8. Kurt Nelson 72w (10) 9. Michael Ing 21m (7) 10. Brooklyn Holland 2 (9)

8-lap heats took the winners and the high point getter in each group to the A. The invert was six in the heats. Heat wins were worth 36 points, second was 33, third 30 and so on. B. Kaeding led the distance in this one. The best battle was for third between Eliason and Borden. Eliason finally gained the spot for good at the halfway point. Eliason was the high point getter.

Group B Heat one (started): 1. Tony Gomes 73 (1) 2. Carson Short 7Y (2) 3. Peck x1 (4) 4. Shane Hopkins 8. 21s (3) 5. Netto 88N (6) 6. Colby Johnson 38 (7) 7. Max Mittry 2xm (9) 8. Grant Champlin 18 (8) 9. Conner Danell 5D (10) 10. Abreu 24 (5)

Contact with Hopkins left Abreu with a broken front end and a DNF. Gomes led the distance in a mostly single-file affair. Netto was the high point getter.

Group A Heat two (started): 1. Golobic 17w (4) 2. Colby Thornhill 19 (2) 3. Hirst 0 (6) 4. Blake Carrick 38B (3) 5. Croft 29 (5) 6. Ryan Rocha 5R (1) 7. Tyler Driever 33T (7) 8. Bobby Butler 57B (9) 9. Travis Coelho 6c (10) 10. Mitchel Moles 83JR (8)

Moles flipped before a lap was in the books. He was unhurt. Coelho caught a piece of the action and had top wing damage. Thornhill led early over Golobic, Rocha and B. Carrick. On lap two, Hirst jumped from fifth to third. Golobic hounded the leader before getting by for the win on the last lap. Hirst was the high point getter.

Group B Heat two (started): 1. Timms 5T (4) 2. Corey Day 14 (3) 3. Craig Stidham 36 (1) 4. Macedo 20 (6) 5. Joey Ancona 88A (2) 6. T. Carrick 83T (5) 7. Joel Myers Jr. 46JR (7) 8. Michael Faccinto 5H (8) 9. Michael Pombo 98 (9) 10. Ryan Lippincott 77 (10)

Ancona was penalized a row for jumping, handing a front row starting spot to Timms, who never looked back after the green was thrown. Macedo was the high point getter.

Group A Heat three (started): 1. JJ Ringo 2K (1) 2. Chase Majdic 2x (3) 3. Dustin Freitas 9 (2) 4. Colton Hardy 41c (4) 5. Montgomery 3 (6) 6. Ryan Bernal 21 (8) 7. Worth 33 (5) 8. Jeremy Chisum 8x (7) 9. Danny Faria Jr. 17v (9) 10. Bret Barney 78 (10)

Ringo led the distance. Majdic was living up to his name, passing Hardy for third on lap two and taking second from the Hawaiian Freitas with three to go. Montgomery was the high point getter.

Group B Heat three (started): 1. Brock Lemley 10L (1) 2. Buddy Kofoid 57 (4) 3. Jake Andreotti 7P (2) 4. Macri 94 (6) 5. Mitchell Faccinto 88F (3) 6. A. McCarl 88 (5) 7. Carson McCarl 88w (8) 8. Bailey Sucich 14B (9) 9. Pat Harvey Jr. 15 (10) 10. Jodie Robinson 4 (7)

J. Robinson was forced up the track and got upside down in turn two. She was unhurt. Lemley led the distance, while Kofoid took second right away. Macri was the high point getter in his first trip to California aboard the Steven Tiner entry.

Group A Heat four (started): 1. Robbie Price 21P (2) 2. Scelzi 41 (6) 3. Justin Sanderson 4SA (4) 4. T. Kaeding 42x (5) 5. Keith Day 22 (3) 6. Chase Goetz 91 (1) 7. Chase Randall 9R (8) 8. Cole Danell 5 (10) 9. Tyler Thompson 98H (7) 10. Jared Faria 10F (9)

Goetz was penalized from the pole for jumping. Price shot out to the lead an never looked back. Sanders and Scelzi got by K. Day, when the latter got high in turn two, taking over second and third. T. Kaeding would get by Day for fourth on lap three. Scezli slid under Sanderson with two to go to take second and earn high point honors.

Group B Heat four (started): 1. Bradley Terrell 43 (1) 2. Nick Parker 115 (2) 3. Zane Blanchard 7z (3) 4. Copeland 5V (6) 5. Chase Johnson 28 (4) 6. Robinson 56 (5) 7. Sean Becker 83V (7) 8. Tanner Holmes 18T (9) 9. Tim Estenson 14T (10) 10. Nick Larsen 01 (8)

Robinson spun before a lap was counted, restarting at the tail. Terrell led wire to wire. Copeeland grabbed fourth from Johnson on lap two. Estenson spun with a lap to go, setting up a green, white, checker finish. Robinson was able to climb back to sixth, but Copeland was the high point getter.

D main (started): 1. Estenson (2) 2. Bret Barney 78 (4) 3. Korey Lovell 71L (5) 4. Lippincott (3) / 5. Chris Bullock 17c (6) 6. Harvey Jr. (1) DNS – Dylan Bloomfield 33x, Steven Kent 7, Kalib Henry 5J

The 8-lap D took to the top four to the C. NOSA 410 regular Estenson led flag to flag. Bullock wpun bringing caution after one lap. Lovell gained third from Harvey on lap three, and Lippincott followed him into the final transfer a lap later.

C main (started): 1. Randall (2) 2. Holmes (7) 3. C. McCarl (1) 4. Mic. Faccinto (4) / 5. Mittry (3) 6. Moles (10) 7. Faria (20) 8. Coelho (15) 9. Pombo (9) 10. Sucich (5) 11. Nelson (12) 12. Thompson (6) 13. Champlin (23) 14. Butler (8) 15. Con. Danell (18) 16. Larsen (11) 17. Col. Darnell (13) 18. Barney (22) 19. Estenson (17) 20. D. Faria (14) 21. Lovell (19) 22. Lippincott (21) 23. Holland (16) DNS – J. Robinson

The 10-lapper took first and third to the first B, and second and fourth to the second B. Randall led wire to wire. Mittry passed Thompson for the fourth and final transfer on lap two. Holland slowed bringing caution three laps in. Randall led C. McCarl, Mic. Faccinto, Mittry and Thompson back to green. Holmes was on the move, snagging fifth on the restart, and then fourth from Mittry on the white flag lap. He would gain two more spots on the cushion on the last lap.

B main #1 (started): 1. Croft (4) 2. Kofoid (6) 3. Sanders (3) 4. Courtney (2) / 5. T. Kaeding (5) 6. B. Carrick (9) 7. Cox (10) 8. Mit. Faccinto (13) 9. Stidham (14) 10. Randall (21) 11. Duinkerken (15) 12. Hopkins (8) 13. Mic. Faccinto (22) 14. Bernal (19) 15. Thornhill (7) 16. Parker (11) 17. Co. Johnson (17) 18. Rocha (16) 19. Driever (18) 20. Chisum (20) 21. Short (1) 22. Freitas (12)

20-lap B’s took the top four to the A, and had a point invert of six. Courtney spun before a lap was down, setting up an exciting drive. Croft led early over Short, Kofoid and Sanders. Short would shoot back by Croft to lead lap two. T. Kaeding shot by Sanderson for fourth on, lap three. Kofoid claimed second from Croft on lap five, but Willie would battle back the following lap. Short got into the turn four wall and upside down seven laps in. He was unhurt. Croft assumed the lead, ahead of Kofoid, T. Kaeding, and Sanders. Courtney had battled back to ninth. At the halfway mark, Cox wrestled the final transfer from Sanders, and the leaders entered traffic on lap 15. Driever spun, collected Chisum 17 laps in. The last three laps were a free for all that saw a war fro third and fourth. Courtney would complete his journey from the tail, just getting by T. Kaeding for the final transfer on the last lap.

B main #2 (started): 1. C. Day (5) 2. Majdic (3) 3. T. Carrick (1) 4. Blanchard (8) / 5. Johnson (10) 6. Abreu (15) 7. Ancona (14) 8. Becker (19) 9. Heath (17) 10. Holmes (22) 11. Peck (6) 12. Myers Jr. (18) 13. C. McCarl (21) 14. Goetz (16) 15. Ing (20) 16. A. McCarl (7) 17. Hardy (2) 18. K. Day (13) 19. Andreotti (12) 20. R. Robinson (9) 21. Worth (11) 22. Borden (4)

Things started in disaster when Borden spun, collecting Worth, Robinson, Andreotti, K. Day and Peck. Only Peck would restart at the tail. C. Day led early over T. Carrick, Hardy and Majdic. Majdic gained third and then second in two laps. Blanchard snatch fourth from Hardy on lap three, before Hardy flipped five laps in. A. McCarl used the restart to move into fourth, only to get upside down in turn one on lap seven, collecting Goetz. He was unhurt. The battle after the restart was for the fourth transfer. Johnson took the spot on the caution’s restart, but Blanchard’s persistence on the low side won him the spot for good with two to go.

A main (started): 1. Kofoid (3) 2. Macri (6) 3. Netto (5) 4. C. Day (13) 5. Hirst (10) 6. Scelzi (11) 7. Courtney (17) 8. Sanders (15) 9. Eliason (12) 10. Copeland (4) 11. Blanchard (21) 12. Terrell (24) 13. Golobic (9) 14. Macedo (7) 15. Ringo (22) 16. Majdic (16) 17. T. Carrick (19) 18. Montgomery (2) 19. B. Kaeding (1) 20. Gomes (20) 21. Lemley (23) 22. Price (18) 23. Timms (8) 24. Croft (14)

The 30-lapper saw Montgomery leading Kofoid and B. Kaeding on lap one. Kofoid’s pass for the lead was negated when Price spun on lap two. A 360 spin by Lemley slowed things again a lap later, and Eliason exited to fix a flat. On lap four, Macedo claimed fourth from Copeland, but Golobic was on the move as well, and passed Macedo on lap five. Montgomery ran the low side, while Kofoid banged the cushion in a side-by-side battle. Kofoid would take the point on lap 10. Golobic claimed third from B. Kaeding on the same circuit. T. Carrick suffered suspension damage on lap 13 bringing another caution. Kofoid led Montgomery, Golobic, B. Kaeding and Macedo back to green. Macedo would slow, losing his top five run on lap 14. Timms would spin on that restart. Copeland climbed to fifth on the restart, and Golobic took second from Montgomery. Netto and Hirst both moved by Copeland into the top five by the halfway point. Croft’s flat left front brought yet another caution with nine to go, and Timms spun with seven to go, ending his night. Montgomery shelled a driveline with six to go ending his third place run, and Price and Lemley came together in turn four. Kofoid and Golobic battled for the lead on the restart and made contact, sending Golobic into a spin. He would restart at the tail. B. Kaeding stopped as well. With five to go, Kofoid led Netto, Hirst, Scelzi and Macri back to green. Macri hit the cushion, flying into third. C. Day moved into fourth with four to go. Macri shot around Netto for second, with two to go, but ran out of time and settled for the runner-up spot behind Kofoid aboard Paul Silva’s #57. Terrell was the hard-charger.

Top Ten in Points After Thursday:

1. Macri 273
2. Kofoid 273
3. Hirst 271
4. Netton 270
5. Scelzi 270
6. Eliason 264
7. C. Day 264
8. Copeland 256
9. Courtney 255
10. Sanders 255