TULARE, Calif. — Colby Thornhill won his first Kings of Thunder sprint car feature at the Tulare Thunderbowl on Saturday night.
The 25-lap feature served as the support class of the NOS Energy World of Outlaw night two of the weekend. The 15-year-old driver from Enumclaw, Washington, held off veteran Dominic Scelzi for the triumph.
Early contender Chase Majdic had to settle for third while Joey Ancona passed Chase Johnson late in the race to claim the fourth spot.
The feature failed to complete one lap as Connor Danell stopped his No. 5d in the first turn forcing a complete restart. Thornhill and Majdic traded the top spot until fifth running Tucker Worth bicycled in the fourth turn and hit the wall, damaging the front suspension bringing out the yellow flag.
Thornhill led Majdic, Cole Danell and Chase Johnson for a single-file restart. The leader would quickly catch slower traffic while allowing Majdic to slowly inched his way to the back bumper of the white and blue No. 19.
The leader would give up his well-earned margin when the red would come out for a Jared Faria flip in the first turn. Second-place Majdic was a little slow on the restart which allowed Thornhill to pull away, Fourth-place-running Scelzi made a bold pass getting around both Johnson and Majdic to take second spot.
Thornhill would build up a one turn lead over Scelzi as the two would once again have to deal with slower cars with just six laps to go. A determined Thornhill mastered the traffic like a pro not allowing Scelzi to make up any ground as both drivers had to contend with sometimes two-wide traffic.
Thornhill would win after starting in the second row while Scelzi had started just one row behind him.
The finish:
Colby Thornhill, Dominic Scelzi, Chase Majdic, Joey Ancona, Chase Johnson, Craig Stidham, Brooklyn Holland, Tanner Carrick, Grant Duinkerken, Joel Myers Jr., Steven Kent, Jake Andreotti, Caeden Steele, Gauge Garcia, Daniel Whitley, Connor Danell, Zane Blanchard, Michael Pombo, Brandon Stidham, Travis Coelho, Cole Danell, Jared Faria, Tucker Worth, Brendan Warmerdam