BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Kevin Thomas Jr. kept right on rolling in his No. 19 Grainger-sponsored sprint car for Hayward Thomas Motorsports on Friday night at Bloomington Speedway.
Thomas took down his fourth sprint car victory in as many nights by mastering the high-banked, quarter-mile dirt oval, starting from the outside pole and leading every one of the 25 laps in the main event.
The Cullman, Ala., native withstood several restarts before eventually pulling away to win by .563 seconds over Dave Darland, utilizing the top shelf virtually the entire distance.
“This feels good,” Thomas told SPEED SPORT. “There at the end, the track laid rubber (up top) and we had to move down a little bit, but whenever you can run the top like you can here at Bloomington … it’s just a lot of fun. We made some small adjustments and had to free it up a bit when the top took rubber, but other than that, it was a blast to drive.”
Thomas’ impressive win streak is a potential harbinger of things to come, as he’ll be headed off to Pennsylvania to contest the week-long USAC Eastern Storm mini-series next week in Pennsylvania.
“Momentum is huge; it’s everything, really,” Thomas noted. “This week, that’s what we use it for, is to get ready for Eastern Storm and try out things that we hopefully can use when we get out east there. It’s just a momentum-building week, especially when you have all these days in a row.
“Usually during Indiana Midget Week, you get a pretty used-up race track … which is similar to what we get out in Pennsylvania,” he added. “Those places are notorious for being pretty slick.”
Behind Thomas and Darland, Thomas Meseraull completed the podium, despite an off-track excursion coming to the flagstand on lap three which dropped him from second down to fifth at the time.
Polesitter Josh Hodges finished fourth and Sterling Cling, another driver doing double duty in both sprint cars and midgets this week, crossed the line in fifth.
Jake Bland, Tye Mihocko, Gary Rooke, Shelby VanGlider and Anthony D’Alessio closed the top 10.
The finish:
Kevin Thomas Jr., Dave Darland, Thomas Meseraull, Josh Hodges, Sterling Cling, Jake Bland, Tye Mihocko, Gary Rooke, Shelby VanGlider, Anthony D’Alessio, Lee Underwood, Brayden Fox, Bobby Griffitts, Andy Bradley.