USAC: Young driver schools the veterans on night 1 of BC39
Dominic Gorden debuted Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, delivering a flag-to-flag victory in the preliminary event of the Drive2SaveLives BC39 Presented by WeatherTech at The Dirt Track at IMS.
The 16-year-old driver from Clovis, California, schooled NASCAR Cup Series race winner Chase Briscoe to capture a heat race on the last lap, then won the night’s featured event, the 25-lap Stoops Pursuit, from the No. 1 starting position.
Gorden was never seriously challenged in the nightcap, putting his No. 71K Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports machine in the bottom groove as a host of others tried to run him down. The win in USAC’s National Midget Series was the biggest of the young driver’s career.
Not bad for someone who, prior to Wednesday, had never been to IMS and doesn’t have his official driver’s license.
“I was pretty nervous going into (the Stoops Pursuit), but after we got past the first and second yellow, I got a little more comfortable,” Gorden said.
The youngster’s next challenge comes Thursday night when the fourth BC39 is held with an 86-driver field that includes Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion who claimed victory in both nights of last year’s event in honor of the late Bryan Clauson, a Noblesville native who helped inspire the construction of this quarter-mile dirt track inside Turn 3 of the iconic oval.
Night 1 Results
Qualifying : 1. Cannon McIntosh (12.136); 2. Cade Lewis (12.171); 3. Jason McDougal (12.179); 4. Jade Avedisian (12.194); 5. Jacob Denney (12.222); 6. Tyler Courtney; 7. Mitchel Moles; 8. Buddy Kofoid; 9. Jace Park; 10. Brenham Crouch;
11. Emerson Axsom; 12. Taylor Reimer; 13. Thomas Meseraull; 14. Michael Pickens; 15. Kyle Larson; 16. Brady Bacon; 17. CJ Leary; 18. Sheldon Creed; 19. Ryan Timms; 20. Jeff Schindler;
21. Clinton Boyles; 22. Steve Buckwalter; 23. Justin Grant; 24. Kyle Cummins; 25. Bryant Wiedeman; 26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr; 27. Kaylee Bryson; 28. Karter Sarff; 29. Kyle Jones; 30. Chance Crum;
31. Jordan Kinser; 32. Rylan Gray; 33. Zach Daum; 34. AJ Hopkins; 35. Maria Cofer; 36. Chris Windom; 37. Russ Gamester; 38. Jerry Coons Jr; 39. Ethan Mitchell; 40. Chase McDermand;
41. Adam Taylor; 42. Dillon Welch; 43. Shannon McQueen; 44. Michael Faccinto; 45. Hayden Reinbold; 46. Blake Brannon; 47. Logan Seavey; 48. Trey Gropp; 49. Austin Barnhill; 50. Bill Rose;
51. JJ Yeley; 52. Colby Copeland; 53. Chase Briscoe; 54. Dominic Gorden; 55. Isaac Chapple; 56. Braden Chiaramonte; 57. Greyson Springer; 58. Travis Buckley; 59. Nick Drake; 60. Donny Schatz;
61. Anton Hernandez; 62. Kyle Larson; 63. Josh Hodge; 64. Mariah Ede; 65. Jadon Rogers; 66. Riley Kreisel; 67. Ian Creager; 68. Michelle Decker; 69. Zach Boden; 70. Bryan Stanfill;
71. Ryan Newman; 72. Alex Watson; 73. Jimi Quin; 74. Justin Dickerson; 75. John Heydenreich; 76. Casey Burkham; 77. Peter Paulson; 78. Zach Veach; 79. Scott Orr; 80. Barrie Valentino;
81. Chris Baue; 82. Timmy Buckwalter; 83. Ryan Thomas; 84. Alex Nalon; 85. Jim Jones;
Heat Races
Heat 1 : 1. Chris Windom; 2. Trey Gropp; 3. Austin Barnhill; 4. Jerry Coons Jr; 5. Hayden Reinbold; 6. Rylan Gray; 7. Dillon Welch; 8. Travis Buckley;
Heat 2 : 1. Jade Avedisian; 2. Ryan Timms; 3. Michael Pickens; 4. Taylor Reimer; 5. Jacob Denney; 6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr; 7. Chris Baue; 8. Jeff Schindler; 9. Ian Creager;
Heat 3 : 1. Buddy Kofoid; 2. Brenham Crouch; 3. Kyle Larson; 4. Sheldon Creed; 5. Blake Brennon; 6. Kyle Jones; 7. Zach Veach; 8. Jason McDougal; 9. Josh Hodge;
Heat 4 : 1. Chance Crum; 2. Cannon McIntosh; 3. Jace Park; 4. Donny Schatz; 5. Cade Lewis; 6. Greyson Springer; 7. Braden Chiaramonte; 8. Tommy Buckwalter; 9. Zach Boden;
Heat 5 : 1. Michael Faccinto; 2. Emerson Axsom; 3. Adam Taylor; 4. Bill Rose; 5. Steve Buckwalter; 6. AJ Hopkins;
Heat 6 : 1. Mitchel Moles; 2. Brady Bacon; 3. Kaylee Bryson; 4. CJ Leary; 5. Alex Watson; 6. Shannon McQueen; 7. Kyle Keaton; 8. Jim Jones; 9. Jadon Rogers;
Heat 7 : 1. Tyler Courtney; 2. Kyle Cummins; 3. Karter Sarff; 4. Russ Gamester; 5. Colby Copeland; 6. Michelle Decker; 7. Anton Hernandez; 8. Jordan Kinser;
Heat 8 : 1. Ethan Mitchell; 2. Thomas Meseraull; 3. Mariah Ede; 4. Maria Cofer; 5. Bryant Wiedeman; 6. Ryan Newman; 7. Isaac Chapple; 8. Justin Dickerson;
Heat 9 : 1. Dominic Gorden; 2. Chase Briscoe; 3. JJ Yeley; 4. Nick Drake; 5. Barrie Valentino; 6. John Heydenreich; 7. Jimi Quin; 8. Casey Burkham;
Heat 10 : 1. Zach Daum; 2. Justin Grant; 3. Riley Kreisel; 4. Logan Seavey; 5. Chase McDermand; 6. Bryan Stanfill; 7. Scott Orr; 8. Alex Nalon; 9. Ryan Thomas;
Main Event
1. Dominic Gorden
2. Zach Daum
3. Trey Gropp
4. Cannon McIntosh
5. Ethan Mitchell
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
7. CJ Leary
8. Jerry Coons Jr
9. Brady Bacon
10. Jade Avedisian
11. Buddy Kofoid
12. Donny Schatz
13. Karter Sarff
14. Mitchel Moles
15. Tyler Courtney
16. Chase Briscoe
17. JJ Yeley
18. Chris Windom
19. Kyle Larson
20. Michael Faccinto
21. Chance Crum
22. Emerson Axsom
23. Justin Grant
24. Michael Pickens
25. Thomas Meseraull