May 24, 2015

 Sun Prairie, WI. – Kevin Thomas, Jr. of Cullman, Alabama started on the pole of the 30 lap feature event, leading every lap to take his first career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series victory at the nostalgic 1/3rd mile Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin for night one of the Thiel Memorial. Thomas swept the night by winning his heat race, the trophy dash, and the 30 lap feature event.

Starting on the pole with fellow Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Christopher Bell to the outside, Kevin Thomas, Jr. got the jump at the start of the feature event with Bell and Andrew Felker in tow. On lap four Justin Peck’s Esslinger-powered DRC veered sharply right in turns one and two, sending his machine straight into the wall and flipping hard before coming to a stop. Peck would be alright, but done for the remainder of the event. During the red flag, Andrew Felker would be pushed to the work area with a flat left rear on the Danny Felker-owned, Stanton-powered BOSS Chassis. His crew would be able to get the tire changed and Felker would start at the tail when the field resumed racing.

Thomas would lead the field back to green, with teammate Christopher Bell in second, hounded by a pair of BOSS Chassis driven by Austin Brown and Darren Hagen. As Bell tried to use every inch of the racing surface to make a move on his teammate, Hagen closed in on Brown for third. Hagen would take over the third position on lap seven, just as Christopher Bell’s engine let go, bringing out the caution.

When Kevin Thomas would lead the field back to green, Darren Hagen would power the Austin Brown-Esslinger-powered BOSS Chassis towards Thomas, but would be unable to make a move for the lead, while Ryan Robinson in a Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports Toyota-powered Bullet took over the third position. On lap 12 the yellow flag would fly again as Mark Chisholm and Cody Weisensel would tangle in turns one and two. After the two disabled cars were moved off the track, Thomas would again lead the charge to the green flag. Hagen again tried to mount a charge and would momentarily take the lead off turn two, but would be unable to make it stick as Thomas regained the lead off turn four.

Having to battle his way through lap traffic, Thomas would never totally be challenged for the lead again throughout the remainder of the race as he was able to keep Hagen at least two car lengths away. Crossing the line in third would be Ryan Robinson, followed by Austin Brown in fourth. Alex Bright in the 5ive-6ix Inc., Great Clips Racing, Esslinger-powered Triple-X rounded out the top five.

“This is incredible,” said first place finisher Kevin Thomas, Jr. “I’m just really thankful to get the opportunity to drive these racecars, for one. They make my job a lot easier than it looks. I just want to thank all the fans for coming out. I’m just so happy to finally win a midget race. I just have a lot of great people behind me.”

“I’ve got to thank the Lord Jesus Christ and all these guys beside me, said second place finisher Darren Hagen. “I made a huge mistake in the heat race, hit the [infield] tire. Flea got the racecar pretty good for me. Hats off to the Keith Kunz guys and Kevin Thomas on his first win.”

“I’m ready for night two,” said third place finisher Ryan Robinson. “This place put on a good show tonight. I really liked the track tonight.”

Midgets

Ford Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 67K – Kevin Thomas, Heat 2: 5X – Justin Peck, Heat 3: 71 – Christopher Bell

Trophy Dash Winner: 67K – Kevin Thomas

Great Clips Feature Winner: 67K – Kevin Thomas

POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 67K – Kevin Thomas, 2. 17 – Darren Hagen, 3. 97 – Ryan Robinson, 4. 7 – Austin Brown, 5. 56 – Alex Bright, 6. 11A – Andrew Felker, 7. 31B – David Budres, 8. 27 – Tucker Klaasmeyer, 9. 9K – Kyle Schuett, 10. 3N – Jake Neuman, 11. 57 – Daniel Robinson, 12. 4 – Ray Seach, 13. 82 – Eric Johnson, 14. 4X – Tommy Bigelow, 15. 56X – Mark Chisholm, 16. 20 – Cody Weisensel, 17. 57X – Bob Schliffler, 18. 71 – Christopher Bell, 19. 5X – Justin Peck, 20. 2 – Seth Motsinger, 21. 3X – Allen Devlin

For more information, visit www.powri.com.

Contact:

Derek Schuett

POWRi Media