CHICO, Calif. — In case you were curious, Corey Day is still unstoppable at Silver Dollar Speedway.
The 19-year-old native of Clovis, California, won his fourth-straight race at the Chico, California quarter-mile on Thursday night, thanks to an eighth-to-first charge in the opening 18 laps of the opening night in the 71st Mike Curb Gold Cup Race of Champions presented by NOS Energy Drink.
It was a near-perfect night for the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14 with 398 points (of a possible 400) from quick time in qualifying, sixth-to-second in a heat, and then his A-Main charge. He’s almost guaranteed to be on the front row, let alone the pole position, of Saturday’s $100,071-to-win main event in pursuit of his third-consecutive Gold Cup title.
Kubota High Limit Racing championship leader Brad Sweet controlled the first 17 laps of Thursday’s preliminary A-Main before a tricky cushion and lapped traffic allowed Day to sneak past and run off into the night.
The Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49 was able to salvage 387 points and looks to be a shoe-in to lock-in.
Pennsylvanian Brent Marks completed the podium with a signature showing in the state of California, a place where he’s notably struggled before this year. The Murray-Marks Motorsports No. 19 came from sixth-to-third and totaled 388 points, second-best and set to lock-in for Saturday’s big dance.
Wednesday’s 360 winner Dylan Bloomfield and fellow local competitor, Max Mittry, rounded out the top five after both started on the front row.
The finish
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 14-Corey Day[8]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[6]; 4. 18-Dylan Bloomfield[1]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry[2]; 6. 45-Cory Eliason[7]; 7. 88A-Joey Ancona[3]; 8. 83T-Tanner Carrick[11]; 9. 9-Chase Randall[17]; 10. 7B-Sean Becker[15]; 11. 73X-Brady Bacon[19]; 12. 2K-Gauge Garcia[10]; 13. 21L-Landon Brooks[5]; 14. 18T-Tanner Holmes[12]; 15. 21P-Robbie Price[23]; 16. 17W-Shane Golobic[9]; 17. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[18]; 18. 26-Justin Peck[21]; 19. 17-Colby Copeland[22]; 20. 92-Andy Forsberg[24]; 21. 10-Dominic Gorden[13]; 22. 24D-Danny Sams III[20]; 23. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[16]; 24. 5K-Blaine Cory[14]
