BY: Chris Santos
10/24/22…Tulare California: Thursday Night, Nick Parker and his team would make the trip to Tulare California for the 28th annual Trophy Cup. An amazing field of 86 Winged 360 Sprint Cars would pack the pit area ready to roll for the biggest Winged 360 Sprint Car race in the country.
Starting the night off, Nick would roll out for qualifying in the 2nd group as he would be the 40th of 43 cars out in the group. Going out late, he would lay down a pretty good lap that would end up putting him 17th quick out of the 43 Winged 360 Sprint Cars that were in the pit area that night.
That would roll Nick off from a front row outside starting position for the heat as he would need to win it to make the feature. Unfortunately he would battle hard with Chase Randall and Shane Golobic but would come home in the 3rd position and send him to one of two B-main events.
Nick would roll off from the 7th position in the B-main needing to finish top-4 to make the feature. Unfortunately he would spin early on in the B-main and that would put him to the back. He would drive back up to 11th but his night would end there.
Friday Night, Nick and the ProRacingAZ team would return to action ready to roll for the second night of the 2022 Trophy Cup. 84 Winged 360 Sprint Cars would return on Friday Night, looking to set themselves up nicely in the points going into Saturday Night.
This time Nick’s group would go out first on a very tricky track. He would go out early and would put down a very good lap. His lap would end up putting him 3rd quick out of the 42 Winged 360 Sprint Cars in his group.
He would need to move forward in his heat race to lock himself into the feature. Starting 6th, Nick would look good in his heat race. Early on he would fall back however he would start to move forward and got himself into the 5th spot. However he would need to move up one more spot to make the feature. He would finish 5th and go into the B-main.
In the B-main Nick would start in the 5th spot, needing to finish top-4 to make the feature. Starting 5th, Nick would fight hard but would ultimately fall back in the B-main. When the checkered flag fell he would finish in the 14th spot and end his night there.
Saturday Night, Nick would come into the night 40th in points and in the 48 car heat race inverts. Another great field of 75 Winged 360 Sprint Cars would return to Tulare. They would not do qualifying on Saturday and jump straight into heat races and main events.
Nick would start heat race number 3 on the outside of row 1 in the 2nd position. On one of the opening laps, he would climb the wall and fall back through the field. Nick would try and fight back but ultimately was too far back to make any moves. He would finish the heat race in 8th.
In the C-main, he would roll off from the 7th position needing to finish top-4 to transfer. Nick would be pretty fast in the C-main. However he would run out of time as he would finish in the 5th spot and that would end his night and his Trophy Cup.
Overall it was a pretty solid weekend for Nick and his team. If a few more things go his way, Nick could have been locked into the feature on Saturday or closer. He had some good speed and qualified well both night.
Nick would like to thank his sponsors; PARKER AUTOMOTIVE, ROCK KNOCKER, METAL TEC, BG OIL & LUBE , SBS SHOCKS, MAXIM CHASSIS, AND ASI MOTORS.
Next Race: TBA