PETERSEN MEDIA: With USAC commitments keeping him from competing in the Trophy Cup in years past, Tanner Carrick showed out during his debut at the famed event as the Lincoln, CA driver ran third in the Saturday night feature event and finishes fifth overall in the standings.
“Heading into Trophy Cup I had only ran one race in Tulare, CA,” Tanner Carrick said. “So, it was nice to log some laps there, and have a ton of speed in a really tough event.”
Carrick’s weekend kicked off last Thursday night when the curtain raised on the 27th Trophy Cup after the 2020 event was postponed due to the pandemic. Carrick hit the ground running as he timed the CVC/Cemex/Interstate Oil backed No. 83T machine in sixth fastest in his qualifying group.
Lining up fifth in his heat race, Carrick would finish in the sixth position, and that would force him into the ‘B’ with only heat race winners and the highest in points of the heat automatically transferring into the opening night feature event.
Able to carve his way into a transfer position in the second of twin ‘B’ Mains, Carrick’s third place finish would move him into the opening night feature event where he rolled off the starting grid from the 19th starting position.
Slipping back to 21st at the start of the race, Carrick would slowly begin working his way forward as he looked to capitalize on his point total. After working his way forward, Carrick when then slip back to 24th before rallying to net a 17th place finish at the stripe.
Looking to better his total on Friday night and wipe away Thursday night, Carrick would get off to another strong start as he would time in 9th fastest in time trials on this night. Heat race action would go Carrick’s way as the Lincoln, CA driver had huge points run as he worked his way to the win and locked himself directly into the 30-lap feature event.
Taking the green flag from the 9th spot on his night as he was fourth in points heading into the feature, Carrick would battle inside the Top-10 much of the night before slowly slipping back in the closing laps. Falling back, Carrick would cap his night with a 14th place finish.
Saturday’s finale would line Carrick up in the sixth starting position of his heat race. Running a solid race that added to his point total as he crossed the stripe in third, officials would rule that he was on the gas early for the race’s initial start and dock him two positions as he would be credited with a fifth-place finish.
Still well inside the Top-20 in points, Carrick was locked into the 50-lap feature event where he took the green flag from the fourth starting position as he sat 17th in Trophy Cup points.
Solely focused on picking up the race win, Carrick would move into second as he chased after Ryan Timms who set a torrid pace after taking the race lead from Kaleb Montgomery.
With Timms leaving the field in his wake, Carrick would ride in second and try to use traffic to his advantage as it would slow Timms at times.
Though strong in second, Carrick would use a late restart to pounce as he would take the race lead on the 41st lap before a caution flag flew on the 43rd lap. The next restart would see Timms repay the favor on Carrick as it dropped Carrick back to second, and then third as Colby Copeland was able to follow Timms by.
Carrick would swap the second position with Copeland a few times before Copeland got away putting him back in third. The final pair of laps saw eventual Trophy Cup Champion, Buddy Kofoid attempt to knock Carrick off the podium, but Carrick would hold strong as he closed his weekend out with a third place finish in the race, and jumped up to fifth in the final point standings.
“We were in contention to win the race, and we ended up with a Top-5 in points, so I would definitely call it a good weekend,” Tanner Carrick said. “I think we will get better at Tulare with more laps, but this was a really nice start for us.”
Tanner Carrick would like to thank CVC, Cemex, Interstate Oil, Conti, Harris and Sloan, Emerald, Timberworks Construction, Kaeding Performance, and Arai for their continued support
BY THE NUMBERS: Starts: 58, Wins: 7, Top 5’s: 26, Top 10’s: 34
ON TAP: Carrick will take this week off before returning to action in two weeks at the Stockton Dirt Track on November 6th.
STAY CONNECTED: Stay up to speed with Tanner Carrick by following him on Twitter @Carrick_Tanner or @CarrickMotorsp1, and by clicking over to www.tannercarrick.com.
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