Ryan Timms met his most formidable opponent on the race track on Thursday night in the kickoff race of the 68th Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California.
In a few instances, it looked like the young gun might have tamed the giant beast, but instead it was Kyle Larson making yet another trip to victory lane in the iconic white No. 57.
“It feels great,” Larson said on DirtVision. “It was a fun track there – really technical and tricky there up top. My car felt really good out front when I would hit it right. Like I said, it was tricky.”
Larson was restarting behind Timms on numerous occasions throughout the 30-lap race, after earning the second spot about a third of the way through.
He was banking on Timms making a mistake.
“I knew my opportunity was if Ryan didn’t get a good jump on the restart,” Larson said.
Luckily for Larson, Timms had a lot to overcome with the type of race track the drivers were facing.
The surface was glossy on the top until the right rear tires found the cushion that would propel them down the straightaways.
Timms had a small misstep, but got back by Larson after being passed – the second instance of that happening Thursday night. Larson got by on an ensuing restart caused by a caution from defending event champion Logan Schuchart spinning out.
“He’s obviously really good, especially at tracks like that,” Larson said of Timms. “I knew with him on the front row, he was going to be tough to beat. I looked at him on the front row as the guy that was going to be tough to beat.”
Timms thought he would be in the clear, but settles for a runner-up spot in the first night of action at Chico.
“On one of those restarts, he slid me and I got around him,” Timms said. “I thought that was my break there. It definitely stings, but good job to Kyle. It’s definitely a lot better than I expected, but right now, I’d be less butthurt about running 13th than running second.”
Thursday marked the preliminary night for half of the near-60 driver field that would be competing to win the Gold Cup. Friday will see the other half of drivers set to compete on the weekend.
Larson and Timms are first and second in Gold Cup points. Each will lock into Saturday’s dash and Friday will take two more. Points will be updated in this story when they become available.
Gold Cup Prelim Night 1 results
Silver Dollar Speedway
Chico, California
Thurs. September 8, 2022
1. Kyle Larson
2. Ryan Timms
3. James McFadden
4. Brad Sweet
5. Kalib Henry
6. Sheldon Haudenschild
7. Andy Forsberg
8. Sean Becker
9. Mitchell Faccinto
10. Tanner Carrick
11. Willie Croft
12. Brock Zearfoss
13. Corey Day
14. Logan Schuchart
15. Jessie Attard
16. Kaleb Montgomery
17. Dylan Bloomfield
18. John Clark
19. Noah Gass
20. Landon Brooks
21. Dawson Hammers
22. Tanner Holmes
23. Colby Thornhill
24. Justin Sanders
