October 20, 2012

By Ken Wagner

The 19th and next to final Trophy Cup under Trophy Dave Pusateri’s leadership commenced on October 18th with the very first non-wing event under his banner. The 55 cars who signed up turned into 37 who showed and about a dozen or so were not known to this wag. Only 8 of the CRA regulars chose to come up and only 3 of the top ten. I guess they have no 360’s? With a $21,000 purse, it makes me wonder if they aren’t really interested in racing for money, or just running closer to home, and they have already proved that fact with the rush to Calistoga by the CRA runners (8) this season. I understand these are hobby racers who don’t have th money, that’s a fact. Next year’s version promises to be over $31,000, so think on that.

Trophy Cup Non Wing Friday Click here to view. Trophy Cup Click here to view. For the Bakersfield drags Click here to view. For Doug Allen's work Click here to view those.

Ryan Bernal had a great night and he really almost swept the place, if not for Bud Kaeding. He was the fast timer at 15.298, then he won his heat from the inverted 7 and started 10th in the first feature of 30 laps. The winner of that one, “Bullish” Bud Kaeding, started on the front row and held off a fast closing Ryan at the end. The second feature, the totally inverted by points 50 lapper, was also won by Bud, this time coming from 18th starting spot. Unfortunately for him, young Bernal had the edge in points with his fast time and his last place starting spot due to having earned the most points. When Ryan finished second in the big one, it got him the $8000 overall bonus money and the title of Trophy Cup Non-Wing Champion for 2012. The whole point of Trophy Dave’s idea is to have racing with passing, and there was plenty. I wonder if the CRA could take a shot at running this format at one of our races next year? Ha Ha!

Besides the top two dominating cars, there were three others who followed right behind them and swapped spots to the end of both features putting on their own show to watch. Kyle Hirst was 3rd and 4th in the two features, < B>Peter Murphy was 5th and 3rd and Danny Faria was 6th and 5th to show you the hot dogs starting in the back, didn’t stay there and it was racing all night long. As Trophy Dave sez.” You can’t just watch the leader, you have to look in the back to see the real racing coming thru the pack!”

Beginning with the 6 inverted heats, it was run all out to get the big prize. The top 3 finishers went directly to the main, the next 3 to the semi and the rest to the D main. The D sent the top 4 finishers to the C main. There the top 3 transferred to the Semi where they tagged the field. The top 6 in the Semi were inverted by total points with the heat 4 thru 6 finishers next and when that ended, only the top 5 transferred to the main. There everyone in the feature was lined up by total points inverted. Aaaaahhhhhmmmm, got it?

Considering the extra money up, there was a lot of action and the keyword “passing” thruout the night. There were a few crashes that delayed it some, but not as many as on Friday and Saturday’s features. The fuel stop was done on lap 11 after a nasty looking flip took out Richard Vander Weerd. The night started with one of the lowest (height wise) end over end crashes I have seen in a while when Billy Butler braved it without a wing for his first wingless rodeo. In qualifying he came into turn one a little too fast and tilted the car up slowly to the right until it went past Oh No and he was a rolling missile, but he landed on all four wheels and was not hurt. He didn’t come back until the next night with his wing firmly back on top.

There was the usual dip going into turn one, a familiar sight since I have been coming here. It is probably due to the way they get off the track (pulling far left and cutting back hard right) thus leaving little cut marks. The racers are all aware of it and try to miss, but not Adam Frith-Smith who seemed to bounce into it and then sprang up into a hard crash that sent his wheel flying out of the track into the pits where it missed everyone? His car was junked up. Several drivers had a hard time with the dip, but most made it thru unscathed by going up or below it. Richard Vander Weerd had two crashes on the night, the second sent him to the showers in the main and I didn’t see either.

Kyle Hirst has really impressed me lately. I really don’t know much about him, but he beat the CRA at Calistoga handily and then was 3rd on Thursday running wingless, 4th on Friday and won Saturday night’s finale with the rain guard above him. Pretty impressive and I need to meet this guy with big ones!

The official payoff for the non-wing portion top ten went something like this: 1st “A” main plus 2nd “A” main plus Overall bonus.

1) Ryan Bernal $650 and $800 for runner-up in the two mains and $1500 for overall winner for a total of $2950.

2) Bud Kaeding $750 and $1000 for winning both mains plus $750 for runner-up in the points for a total of $2500.

3) Kyle Hirst $550 and $600 plus $600 for a total of $ 1750

4) Peter Murphy $400 and $700 plus $525 for a total of $ 1625

5) Danny Faria $350 and $400 plus $500 for a total of $1250

6) Danny Sheridan $450 and $400 plus $475 for a total of $ 1325

7) Ricky Kirkbride $300 and $250 plus 450 for a total of $1000

8) D J Netto $100 and $350 plus 425 for a total of $875

9) Mike Martin $200 and $225 plus 400 for a total of $825

10) Austin Liggett $100 and $175 plus $ 350 for a total of $625

and it went on down to the last place guy who got at least $325, not bad for an open show.

TIME TRIALS: 1. Ryan Bernal, 73-15.298; 2. Richard Vander Weerd, 10-15.303; 3. Kyle Hirst, 83JR-15.550; 4. Mike Spencer, 18K-15.575; 5. Austin Liggett , 83-15.599; 6. Danny Sheridan, 73X-15.622; 7. Ricky Kirkbride, 87-15.674; 8. Markus Niemela, 81-15.695; 9. Danny Faria Jr., 17V-15.707; 10. Darren Clayton, 14-15.738; 11. Andy Forsberg, 92-15.747; 12. D.J. Netto, 7N-15.768; 13. Jace Vander Weerd, 88-15.795; 14. Bud Kaeding, 29-15.841; 15. Geoff Ensign, 5V-15.930; 16. Chris Ennis, 86-15.945; 17. Jeff Sibley, 18-15.954; 18. Peter Murphy, 11-15.976; 19. Mike Martin, 16-15.988; 20. Kyle Miller, 10K-16.118; 21. Terry Nichols, 33-16.150; 22. Rusty Carlile, 51-16.155; 23. Geoffrey Strole, 09S-16.166; 24. Shawn Kautz, 27-16.180; 25. Cory Kruseman, 14K-16.190; 26. Andy Ferris, 4J-16.211; 27. Kevin Barnes, 36B-16.232; 28. Adam Frith-Smith, 62-16.271; 29. Kyle Evans, 84-16.407; 30. Matt Day, 97-16.569; 31. James Sweeney, 11X-16.572; 32. Koen Shaw, 92JR-16.679; 33. Kenny Perkins, 29X-17.046; 34. Mark Herz, 28-17.929; 35. Mike Collins, 35-18.288; 36. Billy Butler, 57-NT; 37. Ray Knight, 6K-NT.

HEAT RACE #1: (10 laps) 1. Bernal, 2. Forsberg, 3. Sheridan, 4. Ennis, 5. Ferris, 6. Sweeney, 7. Nichols.

HEAT RACE #2: (10 laps) 1. Carlile, 2. R. Vander Weerd, 3. Netto, 4. Barnes, 5. Kirkbride, 6. Shaw, 7. Sibley.

HEAT RACE #3: (10 laps) 1. Murphy, 2. Hirst, 3. Perkins, 4. Strole, 5. Frith-Smith, 6. Niemela, 7. J. Vander Weerd.

HEAT RACE #4: (10 laps) 1. Faria, 2. Kaeding, 3. Martin, 4. Spencer, 5. Evans, 6. Kautz, 7. Herz.

HEAT RACE #5: (10 laps) 1. Kruseman, 2. Miller, 3. Ensign, 4. Liggett, 5. Clayton, 6. Day, 7. Collins.

C-MAIN: (8 laps) 1. Nichols, 2. Sibley, 3. Collins, 4. Herz.

SEMI-MAIN: (20 laps) 1. Liggett, 2. Spencer, 3. Kirkbride, 4. Ennis, 5. Ferris, 6. Strole, 7. Nichols, 8. Sweeney, 9. Barnes, 10. Day, 11. Shaw, 12. Kautz, 13. Herz, 14. Clayton, 15. Collins, 16. Sibley, 17. Evans.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Bud Kaeding.

FEATURE #2: (50 laps – With Starting Positions) 1. Bud Kaeding (18th), 2. Ryan Bernal (20th), 3. Peter Murphy (15th), 4. Kyle Hirst (19th), 5. Danny Faria Jr. (16th), 6. Danny Sheridan (17th), 7. D.J. Netto (7th), 8. James Sweeney (1st), 9. Ricky Kirkbride (13th), 10. Mike Martin (8th), 11. Kevin Barnes (4th), 12. Austin Liggett (10th), 13. Kenny Perkins (5th), 14. Geoffrey Strole (3rd), 15. Andy Forsberg (9th), 16. Terry Nichols (2nd), 17. Richard Vander Weerd (12th), 18. Andy Ferris (6th), 19. Mike Spencer (20th), 20. Geoff Ensign (11th).

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-11 Terry Nichols, Laps 12-14 James Sweeney, Laps 15-44 Peter Murphy, Laps 45-50 Bud Kaeding.

**Billy Butler flipped during time trials.
**Jace Vander Weerd and Adam Frith-Smith flipped during the third heat.
**Daron Clayton flipped during the semi-main.
**Geoff Ensign and Richard Vander Weerd flipped during the second main event.
**Ryan Bernal Wins Point Championship.

Top 20 in points. Bernal 429, Kaeding 420, Hirst 412, Murphy 401, Faria 398, Sheridan 394, Kirkbride 366, Netto 361, Martin 349, Liggett 344, Forsberg 327, R. Vander Weerd 322, Spencer 320, Ensign 305, Perkins 302, Ferris 294, Sweeney 256, Barnes 251, Strole 240, and Kruseman 240.

The top 20 in points received the $8,100 point purse.

NON-WINGED 360 SPRINT CARS
Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway – Tulare, California
October 18, 2012 – “19th Annual Trophy Cup – Night #1”

TROPHY CUP CAPTURED BY JASON MEYERS FROM LAST TO SECOND ON THE GRID AND AT LEAST $8000 IN HIS HANDS.

RICO ABREU WINS OPENING NIGHT OF TROPHY CUP WITH SOME WILD DRIVING!!

This year’s edition, the 19th annual, had its problems with too many crashes in both Friday and Saturday nights finale’s, but there was still plenty of action for fans. You can’t knock the effort as it was classic wing racing, fast and furious. Friday was really fun watching Rico Abreu nail the field and that was not expected from his 14th starting spot. He was fearless as he rode over the “bump” that many had problems with and rolled em’ all up for a big win. The prelim night was all straight up with some small inversions so it wasn’t like the finale would be. Both night’s the features had way too many stops as the pressure got to some and crashes were the norm, elongating both events past curfew and each over an hour long.

There were many local heroes to battle with the incoming outlaws, and some scrums were expected and seen. Paul McMahon looked like a crash might have broken his arm, but he came back to get 4th in the big one. Kyle Larson had one too many rollovers in the finale and ended up done too early for the fans favorite. Kyle Hirst gets my hat off as he came from 16th Friday to get 4th and from 17th Saturday to win the $3000 bundle! There were many more outstanding efforts!

Jason Meyers started next to Stewart in the back row 6 points behind when they started the 50 lap big one and patiently moved up thru the pack to finish behind the fast Hirst. He needed to beat Stewart by 2 spots and it turned out to be 4, so that was that. Shane Stewart put on his own show as he ran 2nd on Friday coming up from 11th starting spot. He then came from 24th to 6th and finished 2nd to Meyers by 14 points. Saturday night had it’s usual air of suspense as you had to pay attention to the point leaders coming from the back. There isn’t anything quite like having two races in one like this. The winner is rarely the winner in the Trophy Cup because sometimes the winner doesn’t start with enough points, getting started too far forward in the line-up, and has no chance. For Hirst to win the overall, he would have to have some help with cars ahead of him in points dropping out. There were 7 ahead of him when the night started and 5 did, but you had to pay attention if you wanted to watch it pan out. The announcer Bobby G. did a good job letting people know who was where.

The weekend included a Taco Bravo taco and burrito feed that was so packed that they ran out of food! There was also a spaghetti feed on Saturday aaaaand they didn’t run out of food. The annual auction went on all three nights and all the money collected during the weekend went to the Make a Wish Foundation. Trophy Dave and his crew presented a check for $60,000 to Make a Wish during a break in the action, up $10,000 from last year! So yes, this is the focus of this race, the racers giving us great racing and getting paid well is just a bonus.

Next year is the 20th and final Annual, probably not, for Trophy Dave. He built something really relevant and somehow it will go on! What he has accomplished is amazing and there isn’t any event in the country that can say they have done more! Put it on you calendar for the same weekend next year and see the winner garner $50,000! Oh, you had to have run this event to be eligible!

For the full story see Ron Rodda's column http://www.hoseheads.com/ron.html

Saturday night
D main 1—Jimmy Trulli, James Sweeney, Bobby McMahan, Brad Furr, Jeremy Chism, Geoffrey Strole, Nick Davis, Steve Dyer

D main 2---Jace Vander Weerd, Chase Johnson, D. J. Netto, Billy Butler, Koen Shaw, Roberto Kirby, Randy Price, Pat Harvey Jr., Jake Haulot

D main 3---Brent Kaeding, Kurt Nelson, Chad Hillier, Danielle Simpson, Garrett Netto, Steve Jaquith, Heath Duinkerken, Sam Wright

C main---Stephen Allard, Trevor Turnbull, Matt Peterson, Brent Kaeding, Trulli, Sweeney, B. McMahan, D. J. Netto, Vander Weerd, Nelson, Hillier, Johnson, Butler, Andy Ferris, Nick McColloch, Dylan Black

B main---Jonathan Allard, Dominic Scelzi, Cory Eliason, Greg DeCaires, Bud Kaeding, Jason Statler, S. Allard, Mark Dobmeier, Trey Starks, Kenny Allen, Cole Wood, Zach Zimmerly, Danny Faria Jr., Justyn Cox, Bud Kaeding, Brent Kaeding, Peterson, Turnbull, Mike Faria, Eric Humphries, Mike Henry, Mason Moore, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Andy Gregg

A main with starting position---Winner Kyle Hirst (17), 2. Jason Meyers (23), 3. Rico Abreu (19), 4. Paul McMahan (11), 5. Roger Crockett (20), 6. Shane Stewart (24), 7. Daryn Pittman (5), 8. Henry Van Dam (14), 9. Greg DeCaires (4), 10. Dominic Scelzi (2), 11. Tommy Tarlton (9), 12. Kraig Kinser (6), 13. Craig Stidham (21), 14. Willie Croft (7), 15. Jayme Barnes (10), 16. Jac Haudenschild (22), 17. Tim Kaeding 13), 18. Shane Golobic (8), 19. Terry McCarl (16), 20. Steven Tiner (15), 21. Kyle Larson (12), 22. Jonathan Allard (1), 23. Andy Forsberg (18), 24. Cory Eliason (3)

Top 24 in points---Meyers 446, Stewart 432, Hirst 424, Abreu 421, Crockett 412, P. McMahan 393, Stidham 379, Van Dam 379, Haudenschild 370, Pittman 362, Tarlton 351, DeCaires 347, Kinser 338, McCarl 333, Kaeding 332, Barnes 331, Croft 330, Scelzi 329, Tiner 325, Forsberg 318, Golobic 315, Larson 311, Eliason 271, Allard 259

Friday Night

C main—Jonathan Allard (2), Henry Van Dam (1), Kenny Allen (9), Jason Statler (10), Bud Kaeding (18), Mark Dobmeier (17), Mike Henry (5), Stephen Allard (14), Matt Peterson (6), Trevor Turnbull (13), Mason Moore ((3), Chase Johnson (16), Nick McColloch (12), Jimmy Trulli (15), Mike Faria (4), Daron Clayton (7), Andy Ferris (8), Dylan Black (11)

B main---Paul McMahan (6), Van Dam (2), Pittman (18), Kyle Hirst (8), Trey Starks 12), Bud Kaeding (24), Justin Sanders (3), Dominic Scelzi (15), Andy Gregg (17), Kraig Kinser (5), Evan Suggs (13), Dobmeier (23), Cory Eliason (4), Eric Humphries (11), Cole Wood (19), Bobby McMahan (20), Statler (22), Justyn Cox (9), Allen (21), Tyler Wolf (14), Allard (1), Garen Linder (16), Sean Becker (7), Zach Zimmerly (10)

A main 1. Rico Abreu (from 14th) 2. Shane Stewart (11) 3. Jason Meyers (8) 4. Kyle Hirst (16) 5. Daryn Pittman (23) 6. Andy Forsberg (5) 7. Steven Tiner (13) 8. Craig Stidham (9) 9. Terry McCarl (4) 10. Jac Haudenschild (12) 11. Roger Crockett (2) 12. Kyle Larson (17) 13. Henry Van Dam (1) 14. Tommy Tarlton (22) 15. Tim Kaeding (7) 16. Danny Faria Jr. (21) 17. Willie Croft (15) 18. Bradley Terrell (20) 19. Greg DeCaires (18) 20. Bud Kaeding (24) 21. Paul McMahan (10) 22. Trey Starks (19) 23. Shane Golobic (6) 24. Jayme Barnes (3)

Top twenty-four in points: 1. Shane Stewart 277 2. Jason Meyers 271 3. Jac Haudenschild 265 4. Craig Stidham 262 5. Rico Abreu 260 6. Andy Forsberg 258 7. Terry McCarl 252 8. Kyle Hirst 250 9. Steven Tiner 249 10. Roger Crockett 246 11. Tim Kaeding 244 12. Paul McMahan 237 13. Henry Van Dam 237 14. Kyle Larson 234 15. Willie Croft 227 16. Shane Golobic 226 17. Jayme Barnes 221 18. Tommy Tarlton 221 19. Danny Faria Jr. 221 20. Daryn Pittman 221 21. Bradley Terrell 217 22. Kraig Kinser 216 23. Greg DeCaires 216 24. Justin Sanders 214

The official payoff for the Trophy Cup top ten went something like this: 1st “A” main plus 2nd “A” main plus Overall bonus.
1) Jason Meyers $1000 and $1500 plus $8000 for a total of $10,500

2) Shane Syewart $1500 and $800 plus $5000 for a total of $7,300

3) Kyle Hirst $850 and $3000 plus $4000 for a total of $7,850

4) Rico Abreu $2500 and $1250 plus $3000 for a total of $6,750

5) Roger Crockett $325 and $900 plus $2500 for a totaal of $3,725

6) Paul McMahon $255 and $1000 plus $2000 for a total of $3,255

7) Craig Stidham $400 and $340 plus $1750 for a total of $2,490

8) Henry Van Dam $295 and $ $600 plus $1500 for a total of $2,395

9) Jac Haudenschild $ $350 and $750 plus $1200 for a total of $2,300

10) Daryn Pittman $750 and $700 plus $1100 for a total of $2,550