OCALA, Fla. — After capturing the victory in last year’s Winter Dirt Games finale at Bubba Raceway Park, Thomas Meseraull picked up right where he left off.
The San Jose, Calif., native set the fastest time during Thursday night’s practice session in preparation for the first two events of the 2022 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship season at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval on Friday and Saturday night.
Meseraull took his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota straight to the top of the charts on Thursday with a time of 14.561 mph.
Second was Emerson Axsom, debuting for Clauson Marshall Racing, at 14.682. Third was Logan Seavey for the Tom Malloy-owned team at 14.688.
Cannon McIntosh occupied the fourth and fifth spots in the session in two different Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports cars.
The faster of the two was the No. 08x at 14.703, which will be piloted by Kevin Thomas Jr. for both of this weekend’s races. In his own No. 08, McIntosh laid down a 14.729 to round out the top five.
Twenty-four cars took time during the three-hour session, including defending USAC National Midget driving champion, Buddy Kofoid, who was ninth overall at 14.796, the fastest of six Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports cars in the field.