GAS CITY, Ind. – In his first sprint car appearance of USAC Indiana Midget Week, Kevin Thomas Jr. broke into victory lane Friday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Wheeling his No. 9k Dr. Pepper-sponsored sprint car, Thomas took the lead from Scotty Weir on lap 13 of 25, just before a caution waved when Max Adams hit the turn four guardrail in Paul Hazen’s No. 57.
From there, Thomas never relinquished the top spot again en route to a 5.221-second victory over Weir, taking the checkered flag in front by a straightaway over Weir in the end.
While Thomas has been sitting out most of the sprint car events during Indiana Midget Week to conserve his equipment for the upcoming USAC Eastern Storm tour, he was pleased to come back to Gas City and leave with the winner’s check Friday night.
“That was a little hairy at times, getting into turn one, but it was a lot of fun out there,” said Thomas. “This is a car that we haven’t run all year, and we wanted to run it before Eastern Storm. It turned out to be pretty good, so we may stick with it.
“This gives us some good momentum; it’s been a long week of midget racing, but it’s good to come back to the sprint car side and know we can be fast coming right out of the box.”
Friday night marked Thomas’ fourth overall win of the season. He boasts a pair of USAC victories and a local score at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway in addition to his Gas City victory.
Behind Thomas and Weir, Thomas Meseraull filled out the podium. Cannon McIntosh crossed fourth and Brady Bacon was fifth.
Jadon Rogers, Charles Davis Jr., Tye Mihocko, Matt Westfall and Brayden Fox closed the top 10.
The finish:
1. 9k-Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. 4p-Scotty Weir, 3. 47-Thomas Meseraull, 4. 71p-Cannon McIntosh, 5. 98-Brady Bacon, 6. 14-Jadon Rogers, 7. 47d-Charles Davis Jr., 8. 5t-Tye Mihocko, 9. 33m-Matt Westfall, 10. 53-Brayden Fox, 11. 23s-Kyle Simon, 12. 78-Adam Byrkett, 13. 39-Matt Goodnight, 14. 97-Tyler Hewitt, 15. 33-Jake Scott, 16. 38-Chet Williams, 17. 42-Brayden Clark, 18. 4-Braydon Cromwell, 19. 20-Tyler Kendall, 20. 57-Max Adams.