Ocala, FL – After snagging the opening night of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s inaugural Sunshine State Midget Challenge at Bubba Raceway Park, Kevin Thomas, Jr. picked up where he left off, leading all 30 laps of the main event. This was Thomas, Jr.’s third victory with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League.
On the opening lap, Thomas, Jr. immediately took command. With one lap complete, the red was displayed for Sam Johnson who made contact with the wall exiting turn four and got upside down. Johnson was alright, but done for the night. Returning to racing, Thomas, Jr. checked out as Tanner Thorson worked to keep up.
On lap 20 the action slowed as Presley Truedson came to a stop. With plenty of lap traffic between himself and the rest of the field, Thomas, Jr. had a moment of breathing room before the caution came back out on lap 21 for Michelle Decker with front-end damage in turn two. With nine laps to go, Thomas, Jr. checked out and never gave Thorson a chance to challenge him. Zach Daum rounded out the podium, while Chad Boat took fourth, followed by Ryan Robinson.
“For us to be able to do what we did is pretty remarkable for our team,” commented Kevin Thomas, Jr. “This is basically the first two races I’ve ran for them. I ran Turkey Night last year, but different package all together. Like I said yesterday, for these midget motors to hold up as fast as were going around here, hat’s off to Toyota and Speedway Engines Development. This is pretty cool. I haven’t won that many midget races, but it looks like we’re turning into a pretty good team.”
“We just started off a little too loose there,” stated second place finisher Tanner Thorson. “By the time I got to my shocks and start working them, KT was long gone. They had a phenomenal weekend, they were fast both nights, so hat’s off to that team. I just wish we were a little bit better, but we’ll keep working on it.”
“Last night we blew a power steering line and I hung in there for about 15 laps with no power steering,” said third place finisher Zach Daum. “So tonight we worked on this thing, it’s a new car, we built a four bar midget. We’re experimenting with it and its got potential, so I’m happy with that. We’ll run it at I-44 in a couple of weeks and hopefully keep improving on it.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 5D – ZACH DAUM, Heat 2: 25 – KEVIN THOMAS, JR., Heat 3: 51B – JOE B MILLER
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. 63 – TANNER THORSON 3. 5D – ZACH DAUM 4. 84 – CHAD BOAT 5. 71 – RYAN ROBINSON 6. 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER 7. 3N – JAKE NEUMAN 8. 9 – MATT MOORE 9. 27X – ZANE HENDRICKS 10. 51B – JOE B MILLER 11. 21KS – KARTER SARFF 12. 5T – PRESLEY TRUEDSON 13. 7A – AIDAN ROOSEVANS 14. 7JR – HOLLEY HOLLAN 15. WEE3 – OTTO SCRAPE 16. 4M – MICHELLE DECKER 17. 7F – ANDREW FELKER 18. 72 – SAM JOHNSON
Lap Leaders: 1-30: KEVIN THOMAS, JR.
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