PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. – Kevin Thomas Jr. rolled to his third non-winged sprint car victory in three nights on Thursday at Lincoln Park Speedway.
Thomas, who started third, came out on top of a heavyweight bout at the quarter-mile dirt oval which included Dave Darland, Brady Short and Thomas Meseraull to complete the hat trick.
The Cullman, Ala., native won his heat race as well aboard the No. 19 Grainger-sponsored sprinter.
“Wednesday night at Gas City, I started in the dominant line and it felt pretty good, but in this one I started in third on the bottom and it just took us a bit to get going,” noted Thomas. “Brady Short biked it up and it gave T-Mez the lane, and with Dave being good at running the top too … you’ve got three people who would prefer to run the top right there in a row. That’s when it gets a bit hard to maneuver.
“The top was pretty thin, so starting third wasn’t that great, because you couldn’t see the cushion very well,” he added. “Visually from the race car, it was just a little bit tough, so I wasn’t running as hard as what I probably needed to. I was just trying to keep from doing anything stupid and work with it until I could find a little bit of a different line that worked for me. We finally got to where I could hit my marks … and in the end, everything just worked out. We’ve got a good car and that’s really all you can ask for.”
After being denied a victory by Thomas on Tuesday night at Montpelier Motor Speedway, Meseraull again fell just short, crossing the finish line in second ahead of Shane Cockrum, Darland and Short.
Lee Underwood, Brandon Mattox, Sterling Cling, Nate McMillin and Jadon Rogers completed the top 10.
The finish:
Kevin Thomas Jr., Thomas Meseraull, Shane Cockrum, Dave Darland, Brady Short, Lee Underwood, Brandon Mattox, Sterling Cling, Nate McMillin, Jadon Rogers, Brayden Fox, Blake Vermillion, Shelby VanGilder, Jesse Vermillion, Gary Rooke, Kyle Hathaway, Ray Seach, Harley Burns, Travis Berryhill, Korbyn Hayslett.