PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. — Cale Thomas took advantage of the opportunities presented to him to pick up the win at Lincoln Park Speedway in the inaugural event for the Honest Abe’s Roofing Winged Mavericks Sprint Car Series on Friday night.
Thomas started third in the 22-car field but moved up to second on the first lap behind polesitter Bill Balog. Balog led the opening 12 laps until Thomas saw his chance to grab the lead, taking advantage of the high groove in turn one on lap 13 to snatch the top spot from the Alaska native.
“Once we got to lapped traffic, the dirty air helped me be able to try different lines out,” Thomas said. “[Balog] was switching there right before I was getting by him and he just kind of messed up. He just didn’t stick as well as me through the middle split between him and a lapped car there.”
A red flag for Carson Short’s flipped car on lap 21 set up a nine lap dash to the checkered flag, but Thomas kept the rest of the field at arms length to win by 2.324 seconds over Balog with Brenham Crouch, Zane DeVault and Skylar Gee rounding out the top five.
The Fairland, Ind., native at one point jokingly wondered if he should show up to Lincoln Park Speedway because his strengths have been at the longer tracks.
“Small tracks aren’t really my strong suit unless they get slick like this and wide,” Thomas said. “I was kind of making fun about we shouldn’t even show up, but I’m kind of glad we did to support the Maverick Series.”
The victory is the highest-paying of Thomas’s career with $6,000 going to the driver of the No. 23 machine. It also is Thomas’s first sprint car win in the state of Indiana.
Thomas may be back for the upcoming High Limit Racing sprint car race at Lincoln Park Speedway on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Logan Seavey and Danny Smith, respectively, finished ninth and 11th, each finishing 11 positions higher than where they started.