Kevin Thomas, Jr. Takes Opening Night of Sunshine State Midget Challenge
Ocala, FL – Kevin Thomas, Jr. claimed the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s opening night at Bubba Raceway Park in the inaugural Sunshine State Midget Challenge. Thomas, Jr.’s Florida victory was his second career with POWRi, his first coming back in 2015.
With the initial start called back, the actual start saw Tanner Thorson leading lap one, only to relinquish the lead to Thomas, Jr. down the backstretch. The following lap the action slowed for Holly Hollan spun entering turn three. Returning to green Thorson pressured Thomas, Jr. to no avail. With ten laps down the yellow flew again for Hollan, this time for a flat left rear tire on her machine.
Coming back to green flag racing, Thomas, Jr. checked out and put distance between himself and Thorson. On lap 20, the caution was displayed as Chad Boat came to a stop. Boat returned to the pits and was done for the evening. Retuning to green flag racing with 10 laps to go, Thorson hung right there with Thomas, Jr. But, with 27 laps completed, Thorson suffered a mechanical failure entering turn one, ending his night and leaving a three-lap shootout. In a dash to the finish, Thomas, Jr. led Ryan Robinson and Tucker Klaasmeyer to the checkered.
“Good job to everybody on the track crew,” commented Kevin Thomas, Jr. “They made a pretty good racetrack. Me and Tanner had a pretty good battle there. Once he kind of showed me that the top was coming in, I was just getting too slow there on the bottom in three and four. I’ve got to thank Scott Petry and the whole crew over here. They gave me a great racetrack. That was a fun race. I haven’t won a midget race in quite a while.”
“I just can’t thank Abreu Vineyards, Keith, Pete, Big Al and the whole team that works on these enough,” said Ryan Robinson. “We didn’t have a whole lot for them tonight, but we’re going to work on this and be up front tomorrow night. This is a really cool racetrack to run on. It’s my first time here and I love it already. The difference between one and two and three and four, you’ve got to figure it out as a driver. It’s a real technical track.”
“It took quite a while to figure it out,” stated Tucker Klaasmeyer. “It’s really tricky at both ends. It’s probably one of the trickier tracks I’ve been to. It feels like a small quarter mile at one end and a big three-eighths mile at the other. It was a lot of fun and a good first run in Keith’s car.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 25 – KEVIN THOMAS, JR., 71 – RYAN ROBINSON, 84 – CHAD BOAT
Mesilla Valley Transportation Feature Winner: 25 – KEVIN THOMAS, JR.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 25 – KEVIN THOMAS, JR. 2. 71 – RYAN ROBINSON 3. 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER 4. 9 – MATT MOORE 5. 27X – ZANE HENDRICKS 6. 3N – JAKE NEUMAN 7. 7F – ANDREW FELKER 8. 7A – AIDAN ROOSEVANS 9. 4M – MICHELLE DECKER 10. 5D – ZACH DAUM 11. 21KS – KARTER SARFF 12. 5T – PRESLEY TRUEDSON 13. 72 -SAM JOHNSON 14. 7JR – HOLLEY HOLLAN 15. 63 – TANNER THORSON 16. 21X – CASEY SHUMAN 17. WEE3 – OTTO SCRAPE 18. 84 – CHAD BOAT 19. 51B – JOE B MILLER (DNS)
Lap Leaders: 1: TANNER THORSON, 2-6: KEVIN THOMAS, JR., 7: TANNER THORSON, 8-30: KEVIN THOMAS, JR.
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