MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Kevin Thomas Jr.’s last trip to Williams Grove Speedway saw him lead just one lap on the way to a dramatic victory in June of 2024.
The Cullman, Ala., racer’s latest triumph at the half-mile dirt oval didn’t require as much of the late-race dramatics as it did last time, but all in all, the thrill of victory remained just as satisfying.
Thomas led all 30 laps to score the victory in Friday night’s USAC Eastern Storm Presented by Levan Machine & Truck Equipment round three in his Rock Steady Racing/Inferno Armor – Lucas Oil Center – Creative Finishing/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
The second victory of the 2025 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season for Thomas was also the 46th of his career with the series, moving him into a tie with Jack Hewitt for sixth place on the all-time USAC National Sprint Car win list.
“That’s pretty cool,” Thomas remarked. “When you start out, you look at all the guys on the list. I looked at (Jon) Stanbrough and Jerry Coons Jr. and Dave Darland, and I was like, ‘Damn, if I could ever just get one win, that would be pretty cool,’ and just to say I raced with these guys and got a win. Jack is the coolest damn dude ever. He’ll whoop your ass and then pray with you.”
However, at first, it was the race that seemingly didn’t want to begin. Just as the 30-lap feature was set to roll off, the track lights went completely dark due to a nearby car accident that knocked out the power to the surrounding area.
When on track action was able to resume, the madness mounted. On the first try at the start, 18th-starting J.T. Ferry took a tumble in turn three that also collected Abby Hohlbein and first-time USAC National Sprint Car starter Dirk Rimrott. Ferry’s night was over and he was able to walk away while Hohlbein and Rimrott restarted and continued on.
But as it turned out, that didn’t last long. On take two of the start, Daison Pursley lost control in between tuns three and four on his own and spun completely sideways in the middle of the track. Moments later, Joey Amantea clipped Pursley’s left front wheel with his right rear tire and slid to a stop while C.J. Leary also collided with Pursley, knocking all three out of the contest.
Further on back, at the very same moment, Hohlbein and Mike Haggenbottom collided, sending both drivers flipping wildly through turns three and four in a spectacular looking ride that both were able to walk away from.
The third attempt at a start proved to be the charm as Thomas stepped out to the opening lap lead over Jake Swanson who slotted into second. By lap seven, Thomas’ lead stood at a full second while Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier Mitchel Moles was draped all over the back of Kyle Cummins for third.
For Thomas, restarts were a must to avoid any missteps. After nearly stuffing it in the fence on his initial try at the start, Thomas took notes and made certain that it didn’t happen again.
“It’s hard here, especially with the way the corners are shaped and change up your approach to it,” Thomas explained. “If you do it wrong, you can really open yourself up to failure down there in turn one. I overcooked the first one. I thought I had just a little more grip than what I did and wound up there in the marbles and stuff. I got another shot at it and I felt good there. I just had to be patient. It’s such a long ass straightaway for a non-wing car. You lift before you think you have to and you’re pretty hard on brakes. Even when you’re running the top, you’re pretty hard on the equipment.”
Moles squeezed between the turn one inside guardrail and Cummins to his outside for the third spot on lap 13. Moments later on lap 14, trouble hit two past USAC national and Eastern Storm champions as Robert Ballou slowed to a stop with a radius rod issue. Simultaneously, Logan Seavey slowed with a flat left rear tire. Both were able to return with Ballou crossing the stripe 11th and Seavey one spot behind in 12th.
Just as Moles had emerged as a prime contender while running third and challenging for second, he spun backwards into the turn three outside guardrail with a light tap on the 16th lap. Restarting at the back, Moles managed to hustle his way back to 8th at the finish.
Cummins caught his second wind as he slid past Jake Swanson for second in turn one on the 22nd go around. Thomas’ lead remained at nearly a full second over Cummins and now Briggs Danner who scooted under Swanson for third in turns one and two with five circuits remaining on lap 26.
Thomas was mostly by his lonesome and was two turns away from victory on the final lap when the yellow lights surrounding the track flashed, signaling caution for ninth running Kayla Roell who slowed to a stop on the front straight, just missing out on becoming the first woman in series history to record a top-10 finish in USAC National Sprint Car competition.
Staring at a green-white-checkered finish, Thomas wasn’t keen on experiencing any late-race heroics play out in reverse from one year ago.
“I was just hoping I didn’t run out of fuel like Briggs did last year,” Thomas said, referring to Danner’s last lap trouble at the 2024 Williams Grove USAC Eastern Storm round. “Last year, we got lucky, but we were in position to win. We’ll take those, but I felt that, this year, we put ourselves in position to control the race. As tough as this place is to pass and to get around in general, it’s very oddball for a non-wing car. Being that it’s super-fast and also extremely technical, you can overshoot the corners and miss the bottom and get out into no man’s land. By being able to process those into one on each straightaway, having a clean track in front of you is important.”
It all worked out in Thomas’ plan as he went undenied on the final restart to keep his challengers at bay, crossing under Warren Alston’s checkered flag 0.397 seconds ahead of runner-up Cummins who was followed by Danner in third, Swanson in fourth and Justin Grant rounding out the top five.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, Pa., June 20. 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-19.246; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.305; 3. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-19.321; 4. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-19.354; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-19.374; 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-19.386; 7. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-19.418; 8. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-19.448; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.531; 10. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-19.571; 11. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-19.646; 12. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-19.719; 13. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-19.803; 14. Steven Drevicki, 19s, DeGre-19.913; 15. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-19.992; 16. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-20.221; 17. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Boyd-20.310; 18. J.T. Ferry, 18, Ferry-20.352; 19. Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 83, Buckwalter-20.922; 20. Mike Haggenbottom, 51, Kelly-21.298; 21. Olivia Thayer, 39T, Thayer-21.478; 22. Abby Hohlbein, 2A, 2B Racing-21.615; 23. Dirk Rimrott, 27, Rimrott-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Abby Hohlbein, 8. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. 2:38.818 (New Track Record)
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Steven Drevicki, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Braydon Cromwell, 7. Mike Haggenbottom, 8. Dirk Rimrott. 2:41.114
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Joey Amantea, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. J.T. Ferry, 7. Olivia Thayer. 2:43.074
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 2. Kyle Cummins (2), 3. Briggs Danner (10), 4. Jake Swanson (3), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Steven Drevicki (14), 7. Hayden Reinbold (12), 8. Mitchel Moles (6), 9. Gunnar Setser (11), 10. Kale Drake (13), 11. Robert Ballou (8), 12. Logan Seavey (9), 13. Braydon Cromwell (17), 14. Kayla Roell (16), 15. Olivia Thayer (21), 16. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. (19), 17. Dirk Rimrott (23), 18. Daison Pursley (7), 19. Joey Amantea (15), 20. Mike Haggenbottom (20), 21. C.J. Leary (4), 22. Abby Hohlbein (22), 23. J.T. Ferry (18).
