Gorham Sets Fast Time in Bigley Memorial Qualifying, Brinson Inherits Pole After 12-Car Invert

George Gorham Jr. turned heads on Saturday afternoon as he turned the fastest lap in qualifying for Saturday night's 10th Annual Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128. The driver of the No. 10 machine topped Jonathan Guy by a margin of 0.015 seconds to score the quick lap in the session for the UARA National Tour.

For his efforts, Gorham nabbed a $2,000 bonus for his fast lap time, courtesy of Apache Rental Group.

However, Gorham will have to rally through the field after he drew the No. 12 pill in the qualifying invert drawing. After the invert, Cody Brinson will start from the pole position, and he'll be joined on the front row by NASCAR star Carson Hocevar, who will compete in the Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128 for the first time.

Despite seeing his starting position sink 11 spots before the race even went green, Gorham held no ill feelings toward the invert.

"That's okay, that's what Ricky [Brooks] does. He puts on shows for all these people here, and that's what we're here to do," Gorham said. "You know, it's a great program to be a part of, and I can't thank Ricky and his staff enough."

Michael Goddard, Cody Strickler, and Ty Majeski rounded out the top-five starters for the Bigley Memorial following the 12-car invert draw.

The winner of Saturday night's main event will take home a substantial payday of $30,000.

The top-20 drivers in the qualifying session were able to lock their positions into the starting lineup for Saturday night's event. The remainder of the 42 entries had to battle through the B-Mains on Saturday evening for a chance to wrap up their starting positions for the Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128 at Freedom Factory.

14 cars will have to head home after Saturday night's pair of B-Main races, which determined the 21st through 26th starting positions.

Travis Cope, who came one spot shy of getting it done in qualifying, worked his way into the Main Event after taking the victory in the opening B-Main. The 37-year-old Cope is a former winner of several major short track events, including the Florida Governor's Cup, Florida Super Late Model Championship, Pete Orr Memorial, and the Red Eye 100.

Joining Cope in advancing from B-Main No. 1 were Cody Krucker, and Daniel Webster.

Robert Jones took the win in B-Main No. 2, which allowed him to advance into the Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128. Along with Jones, Grant Griesbach, and Kendrick Kreyer also advanced into the starting lineup from the second B-Main.

The final two positions on the starting grid (27th and 28th) will go to two provisional starters.

The prestigious race was expected to break the all-time record for most entries with 43, but fate intervened on Saturday.

Stephen Nasse encountered issues with his No. 51 entry in practice, which his team was unable to overcome to compete in qualifying. As a result, Nasse had to scratch his entry in the event. With Nasse not making a qualifying attempt, the race officially had 42 entries, which ties the record for most entries in the Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128.

Fans can watch the Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128 live on RacingAmerica.TV on November 29. Click here to become a RacingAmerica.TV subscriber today and watch all of the action from the Freedom Factory.

Starting Lineup for the 10th Annual Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial 128:

-Photo: Racing America Broadcast Screengrab