PETERSEN MEDIA: Over the weekend in Chico, CA, Joel Myers took place in the 68th Gold Cup Race of Champions. After running sixth with the SCCT during Wednesday night’s opener, Myers would be hindered with tough luck during his Friday night prelim but did bounce back and transfer into Saturday’s ‘B’.
“Our week started off really well on Wednesday night and I had a lot of confidence heading into the Outlaw portion of the event,’ Joel Myers Jr said. “Unfortunately, our hood broke during our heat race, and tough we were able to get it fixed we had some more bad luck in the feature as a dirt clod got into a nozzle line and created a fuel leak and our night was ultimate over.”
During Wednesday night’s opening night event, Myers Jr timed the All About Fire Protection/Hi-Plains Budling Division/DirtDudes Excavating backed No. 46jr in second fastest in his qualifying group.
Hard racing in his heat race as he chased a spot in the High Sierra Industries Dash saw ‘Jr’ run some impressive laps as he raced to a win and successfully put his mount inside the Dash and also locked into the 30-lap feature event.
Running sixth in the Dash, Myers Jr then lined up sixth in the 30-lap feature event on a racing surface that had a lot of moisture and speed in it still despite extremely high temperatures that scorched the area all week long.
Settling into sixth when the ‘A’ came to life, Myers would spend much of his race looking for a way to race into the Top-Five as he battled with some regional ‘heavy hitters’. Getting into fifth on the 18th lap, a surging Kyle Larson would take the spot from his two laps later as ‘Jr’ slipped back to seventh during the closing stages of the race.
A late move on the 24th lap saw him power into sixth which is where the Sebastopol, CA driver would go on to finish.
Taking Thursday night off with his scheduled Gold Cup prelim night being Friday, Myers Jr timed in 17th fastest in time trials which did line him up on the front row of his heat race with the format that was in place.
Rolling out for his heat race, Myers Jr bad luck would strike during a quick hot lap as his hood would come loose and force him to pull into the work area where his team did all they could to fasten the broken hood to the car before he tagged the back of the field.
Finishing sixth in his heat, Myers Jr would switch hoods for the ‘B’ and take the green flag from the second row as he started the race inside a transfer position into the ‘A’.
As Myers settled into fourth when the race went green, he looked very sporty as he ran in the fourth and final transfer position. Looking to be well on his way into the ‘A’, an issue on lap nine saw debris get into the engine compartment and nock a nozzle line loose that led to a fuel leak. Feeling the cold fuel get on his fire suit, Myers Jr made the quick call to half spin and get his machine turned off.
Scored with an eighth-place finish, the 16-year-old was set to take the green flag from the 11th starting position in his Saturday night heat race.
On a very wet racing surface early in the night on Saturday, Myers Jr would do all he could from the last row of his heat race as he picked up a few positions and finished eighth.
With each position gained he improved his starting position in his next race as he found himself on the front row of the ‘C’.
Maintaining the second position in the ‘C’, Myers Jr kept his night alive as he transferred into the ‘B’ where he rolled off the starting grid from the 15th starting position.
Getting into the semi, Myers Jr was chasing after one of four transfer positions into the 40-lap feature events as lined up in the back of a very strong semi-main. With the elbows up, Myers Jr gave it his all as he looked for a way through the field but just simply couldn’t get going.
When the 12-lap race came to a close, Myer Jr ended his Gold Cup with an 11th place finish in the ‘B’.
“We had really good speed I feel like, but you can’t start in the back with the Outlaws and expect to have good nights,” Myers Jr said. “It was a tough hand we got dealt, but my guys worked hard and nobody gave up.”
Joel Myers Jr Racing would like to thank All About Fire Protection, Hi-Plains Building Division, DirtDudes Excavating, PitStopUSA, System 1 Ignition, Weld, Smith Ti, Y2K Gaming, Shark Racing Engines, Lucas Oil, Vaider, L Delo Designs, Walker Performance Filtration, ShopRico.Com, Tiner Hirst Enterprise, Kaeding Performance, Triple X Race Co., and Ogio, for their continued support.
BY THE NUMBERS: Starts- 48, Wins-0, Top-5’s- 12, Top-10’s-20
ON TAP: Myers Jr will be back in action with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on Friday night in Hanford, CA.
STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with ‘Jr’ by following him on Twitter @Racing46Jr, Instagram @Racing46jr, or by ‘Liking’ him on facebook at www.facebook.com/JoelMyersJr.
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