PARIS, Texas — He didn’t know for sure where on the track he needed to be but Cody Thompson ended up in the place he wanted to Saturday night.
The Sioux City, Iowa, speedster led the last half of the 40-lap Bryan Mize Memorial main event at Rocket Raceway Park, earning a career-best $10,000 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified payday.
One of 47 IMCA entries at the 10th annual event, Thompson started the big show from sixth, was quickly up to third, snuck under pole starter Jared Maupin for second and then rode in the runner-up spot several circuits before reeling in Matthew Day.
“I kind of wanted to be where he (Day) was at but I didn’t know if I needed to be on the bottom right around the tires or in the middle,” Thompson admitted. “There’d be times when I’d leap out ahead of him and there’d be times he’d leap out ahead of me.”
“I really didn’t know what to expect because I’m not super familiar with that place or with a lot of the race cars down there,” he continued. “When we were racing I studied their cars and where I could try to pick ‘em off at.”
There’d be contact between the front pair but the race ended with a long green flag run and Thompson worked his way through lapped traffic to get to the rich checkers.
Maupin, Colton Keel, Chase Allen and Steve Whiteaker Jr. completed the top five.
Arkansas hotshoes Drake Findley and hard charger Brint Hartwick were next across the stripe.
Thompson had raced a Modified once before at Rocket, which he says reminds him of RPM Speedway in Kansas, only with more banking, and ran an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car and Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod in previous visits to Texas venues Abilene and Waco.
“It was pretty cool. They did a really good job with format and the facility is really nice,” said Thompson, who loaded up after the races in Paris, drove overnight and was just north of Kansas City en route to Boone Speedway. “I’m excited about this win. It helps build momentum for Super Nationals.”