Thomas Wins First MSCS Feature Ever
At Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday Night

GAS CITY, Ind., May 5 - Series point leader Kevin Thomas Jr. put his name in the record books as the winner of the first Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series (MSCS) feature ever held at Gas City I-69 Speedway with a thrilling $3,000 victory during Friday night’s “Friday Night Fury” program.

Thomas, of Avon, Ind., didn’t have it easy in the 30-lap feature for non-wing 410 sprint cars. Brady Bacon, a native of Broken Arrow, Okla., started second and led the first 27 laps. A yellow flag flew with 25 laps down after Chase Stockon of Fort Branch, Ind. and Joe Stornetta Jr. of Napa, Calif., crashed in Turn 4, obliterating Bacon’s 4.76-second lead. Bacon had a good restart and held the lead for two more laps, but Thomas slipped under him in Turn 3 working lap 28 and went on to become the third different sprint car winner in as many races at the quarter-mile dirt track so far this year.

Thomas, driving the Dooling Hayward Motorsports No. 63 DRC chassis sponsored by B & H Contractors, had a 0.574-second advantage over Bacon’s new Triple X chassis at the checkered. Former track champion Shane Cottle of Kansas, Ill., who won the track’s season opener, finished third. Polesitter Clinton Boyles of Greenwood, Mo. placed fourth, and last week’s winner, Thomas Meseraull of Waveland, Ind., rounded out the top five. Carson Short of Marion, Ind. started next to last but finished sixth ahead of Robert Ballou of Tipton, Ind.; Isaac Chapple of Willow Branch, Ind., and C.J. Leary of Greenfield, Ind. Stockon, whose car was on the back of a wrecker with five laps to go, rebounded to finish tenth.

Thomas started third but ran in fourth place behind Bacon, Boyles and Cottle for the first third of the race. Cottle passed Boyles for second on the backstretch with 12 laps down, and Thomas got around Boyles for third place working lap 16. Thomas powered around Cottle for second on the outside in Turn 3 working lap 25 right before the sole yellow waved to set up the dramatic finish.

D.J. Holt extended his point lead in the thunder car division by duplicating his victory in last week’s 15-lap feature. This time he started third, took second on lap three from Ron Flaugh, and then chased Ervin Turner, who led from the start. Holt finally got around Turner by dipping under him on the backstretch working lap 11. Holt made contact with a car he was lapping on the frontstretch on lap 12, but still went on to post the victory with his Holt Auto Body No. 36. Turner held on for second followed by Flaugh, Greg Marlow and Bryce Krider.

Eric Solms won the 15-lap front-wheel drive feature with his Silver Bullet No. 88. He started third and passed polesitter Jacob Beard for second coming off the frontstretch and going into Turn 1 with eight laps down. Two laps later he took the lead from Randy Brommer with a move to the outside on the frontstretch. Brommer held on for second followed by Beard, Robbie White and Alyssa Clark.

Joe Boyll and David Luckey were also on hand and put on an exhibition with their mod lites.

Intermission featured a swarm of enthusiastic kids from the crowd scrambling for $200 in nickels spread out on a tarp on the frontstretch.

Next Friday night, May 11, is the “MAYhem” program of non-wing sprint cars, UMP modifieds, super street stocks, thunder cars and FWD compacts. The intermission entertainment is a “Soccer Moms Gone Mad” race. Adult general admission is only $15, with children 12 and under free. All high school and college students can attend for only $10 each with their school ID cards. A pit pass costs $30.

For more information, see the track’s Web site at GasCityI69Speedway.com and follow it on Facebook at @GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas and on Twitter at @GasCitySpeedway.

The results:

MSCS Group Qualifying: 1. Chase Stockon, 12.888; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 12.917; 3. Isaac Chapple, 12.961, 4. Aric Gentry, 12.993, 5. Brady Bacon, 13.047, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 13.079, 7. Aaron Farney, 13.090, 8. Brandon Mattox, 13.126, 9. Shane Cottle, 13.141, 10. Carson Short, 13.192, 11. Robert Ballou, 13.335, 12. Tony DiMattia, 13.336, 13. Clinton Boyles, 13.442, 14. Donny Bracket, 13.452, 15. Tyler Hewitt, 13.647, 16. Joe Stornetta Jr., 13.655, 17. Garrett Abrams, 13.697, 18. Tony Main, 13.712, 19. C.J. Leary, 13.766, 20. Dave Gross, no time.

MSCS Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Joe Stornetta Jr., 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Garrett Abrams, 7. Carson Short.

MSCS Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Tony DiMattia, 4. Donny Bracket, 5. Tony Main, 6 Tyler Hewitt, 7. David Gross.

MSCS Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Isaac Chapple, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Aric Gentry, 6. Aaron Farney.

MSCS Feature (30 laps; starting positions in parentheses): 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 2. Brady Bacon (2), 3. Shane Cottle (4), 4. Clinton Boyles (1), 5. Thomas Meseraull (7), 6. Carson Short (19), 7. Robert Ballou (9), 8. Isaac Chapple (6), 9. C.J. Leary (13), 10. Chase Stockon (12), 11. Brandon Mattox (5), 12. Aaron Farney (18), 13. Tony DiMattia (8), 14. Tyler Hewitt (17), 15. Tony Main (14), 16. Donny Bracket (11), 17. Joe Stornetta Jr. (10), 18. Garrett Abrams (16), 19. Aric Gentry (15), 20. David Gross (20).

Thunder Car Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Ron Flaugh, 2. D.J. Holt, 3. Greg Marlow, 4. Bryce Krider.

Thunder Car Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Ervin Turner, 2. Braxton Strait, 3. Stevie Clark, 4. Cale Ramey.

Thunder Car Feature (15 laps): 1. D.J. Holt, 2. Ervin Turner, 3. Ron Flaugh, 4. Greg Marlow, 5. Bryce Krider, 6. Cale Ramey, 7. Braxton Strait, 8. Stevie Clark.

FWD Compacts Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Jacob Beard, 2. Eric Solms, 3. Robbie White, 4. Brad Evans, 5. Kolten Sollars.

FWD Compact Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Randy Brommer, 2. Scott Harrington, 3. Alyssa Clark, 4. George Beachum, 5. Dillen Loudy.

FWD Compact Feature (15 laps): 1. Eric Solms, 2. Randy Brommer, 3. Jacob Beard, 4. Robbie White, 5. Alyssa Clark, 6. Scott Harrington, 7. George Beachum, 8. Dillen Loudy, 9. Brad Evans, 10. Kolten Sollars.