SUMNER, Ill. — For California’s Mitchel Moles, Red Hill Raceway officially became a home away from home this weekend.
After winning Friday night’s feature at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval, Moles backed it up on Saturday night to win the inaugural Illinois Sprint Car Championship, co-sanctioned by both the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Car Series.
For the second consecutive night, Moles charged from his sixth place starting position to take over the lead just one lap prior to the halfway point. Moles then paced the final 16 laps, then had to pass and repass Briggs Danner after a restart with two laps remaining to pick up the $10,000 victory.
It was just like déjà vu for Moles, but this time, he stuck the celebratory cage stand in victory lane after losing his balance following Friday’s triumph. After all, he’s gotten accustomed to winning of late in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.
“What a great experience; 10 thousand dollar richer,” Moles beamed. “They always say that when you get one, you can just keep them rolling. Well, I got one and then it kind of just never really happened. I got another one, and it still never really happened. But I can feel the momentum rolling now. I’m very excited for what’s to come.”
Moles became the first multi-time USAC National Sprint Car winner at Red Hill in six tries. It’s a track he likens to a supersized version of another venue in his native California where he cut his teeth racing micro sprints, bringing a little slice of life with him to southeastern Illinois.
“I grew up racing at a place called Plaza Park and it’s like a miniature version of this,” Moles explained. “We used to run a bunch up above the cushion like that all the time. It’s great to finally see something from that. Nothing’s really transferred from California for me out here. I feel like this track just really suits my driving style with the way you have to get above the cushion and turn down and run a bunch of throttle in qualifying.”
Cale Coons got the jump from the outside of the front row and led the opening two laps. But on lap three, disaster struck for the leading Rookie of the Year contender as he biked on the entry into turn one, slammed the outside wall and helicoptered around a few times before coming to a rest on all fours, ending his race and his bid for a first career USAC national victory.
As a consolation prize, Coons was the weekend’s Parallax Group Passing Master titlist, advancing 13 positions throughout the two nights of racing.
Jake Swanson took over as the new leader, but soon thereafter, Moles was already surging. Moles took fifth from Justin Grant midway down the back straightaway on the ninth lap. By lap 13, Moles had his patented Red Hill high-low line working to perfection, and made up significant ground in turn two to rein in Kyle Cummins and Swanson for the lead.
On lap 15, Moles first rocketed by Cummins on the bottom of turn one, then dove low under Swanson in turn three a half lap later to reach the front of the pack. It was a type of line he basically had all to himself.
“It was just kind of the same thing as last night,” Moles acknowledged. “The turn down lane was good for me and none of those guys were using it. Then, I kind of showed it to Kyle (Cummins) and he was just too low on entry. He wasn’t getting up above it like I was.”
Moles grew his lead to three seconds with five laps remaining while Danner went to second a lap later as he throttled around the outside of Swanson at the exit of turn four.
But for the second night in a row, Chase Stockon (5th) slowed with a shredded right rear tire with two laps to go. This time, it occurred on the back straight amid a bevy of traffic. Seventh running Jadon Rogers, a runner-up finisher on Friday, had no place to go and plowed into Stockon’s ride, sending Rogers spinning to a stop and Stockon to the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area.
That set up another duel featuring Moles at the front of the line for a two-lap shootout to decide the win. Danner took his shot with a slider in turn three on the white flag lap, which Moles countered by slicing back under Danner off the exit of turn four to retain the lead.
Moles answered yet again on the final lap when Danner drove it in deep on the bottom of turn one, then slid up in front of Moles to nab the lead ever so briefly. Midway through turns one and two, however, Moles turned and pointed his car to the bottom at the exit of turn two to rip away the lead just like that.
“You don’t want to go do something you haven’t been doing the whole race, especially down in turn one,” Moles said. “It’s so slick on entry and Andy was telling me under yellow that I had a decent lead. But I did go to the top. It was hard to get off two. If he slid me there, I’d have a better shot. But it was definitely harder to get off two than it was off four. I knew if he slid me over there, I could turn down.”
For the final time in turn three, Moles got ahead of the curve, using the same line to bolt from the top to the bottom off turn four to secure the victory to the tune of a 0.530-second margin.
Danner took second with Kevin Thomas Jr. advancing seven positions from his 10th starting spot to finish third and earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors. Swanson led 12 laps and grabbed fourth while Hayden Reinbold was fifth, up seven spots from his 12th starting position.
“That was the lane I’ve been running all night. Especially on the last corner, that’s why I went up there,” Moles stated. “I buried it in there and I said, ‘if Briggs is here, he can have it and take it all.’ Hats off to them. I think he started right behind me. He did a really good job, and those guys are clicking too. I’m so excited to see what’s to come. We’re two of the younger guys. So, I’m excited for what’s to come for the sport.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Red Hill Raceway, Sumner, Ill., June 6,2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.615; 2. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.696; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.698; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.714; 5. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-14.771; 6. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.797; 7. C.J. Leary, 24x, Maddox-14.945; 8. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.981; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.992; 10. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.071; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.134; 12. Wesley Smith, 44, WSR-15.142; 13. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.286; 14. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-15.303; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.322; 16. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-15.452; 17. J.J. Hughes, 76J, Hughes-15.600; 18. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-15.763; 19. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-15.782; 20. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-15.823; 21. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-NT; 22. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Charles Davis Jr. (2), 2. Jadon Rogers (1), 3. Logan Seavey (3), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. C.J. Leary (4), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Aric Gentry (7). 2:07.282
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (4), 2. Cale Coons (5), 3. J.J. Hughes (1), 4. Chase Stockon (6), 5. Hayden Reinbold (3), 6. Troy Carey (7), 7. David Gasper (2). NT
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 3. Jake Swanson (5), 4. Wesley Smith (3), 5. Robert Ballou (2), 6. Kent Schmidt (1). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (6), 2. Briggs Danner (7), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 4. Jake Swanson (1), 5. Hayden Reinbold (12), 6. Justin Grant (3), 7. Robert Ballou (14), 8. Kyle Cummins (4), 9. C.J. Leary (9), 10. Logan Seavey (11), 11. Chase Stockon (5), 12. Charles Davis Jr. (8), 13. Jadon Rogers (15), 14. J.J. Hughes (16), 15. Aric Gentry (19), 16. Wesley Smith (13), 17. Troy Carey (18), 18. Kent Schmidt (17), 19. Steve Thomas (20), 20. Cale Coons (2), 21. Michael Clark (21)
