Fifteen-year-old Cale Thomas of Fairland, Ind., has put together four straight top-four finishes to climb into the lead of the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series heading into the Ford EcoBoost Challenge Weekend at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway on Friday (June 28) and Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., on Saturday (June 29).
Thomas became the champion of POWRi’s inaugural Speed Week in the Micro division by finishing fourth at Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway, second at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway and taking his first POWRi victory at Macon (Ill.) Speedway from June 6-8. He began is climb with a second at Macon on May 18.
Thomas leads Nathan Benson of Concordia, Mo., 890-850, going into Bloomington, the seventh of 21 events this season. Jeremy Camp of Blue Mound, Ill., is third with 830.
It’s the first time Thomas has led the POWRi Micro championship. He finished third in it and was the Rookie of the Year in 2012.
“We feel pretty good about where we’re at,” Thomas said. “We came back after kind of a rough start and had a few good finishes. It’s still early and anything can happen in the championship and we just want to get good finishes and run up front.
“Winning the POWRi Speed Week Micro championship was very cool. We ran well all three nights. It was all you could ask for.”
Thomas was 21st in the season opener at Jacksonville, falling out after a left-rear tire was cut down when he passed for third place. He was eighth in the second race at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill.
Bloomington and Tri-State are both home races for Thomas. He’s never raced at Bloomington, but watched an event there a month ago and believes he’ll like it. Thomas was third at Tri-State last year before a large group of family and friends. His parents, Jason and Heather, were born and raised in Princeton. Plus, Engler injection is a sponsor of Thomas and it’s also based in Princeton.
“Bloomington is the closest track to Fairland and we’ll have a lot of friends and family there,” Cale Thomas said. “Haubstadt will be the biggest following of the year because my parents are from Princeton and one of our sponsors, Engler, will be there.
“Bloomington is racy from top to bottom and I like Haubstadt, it’s very fun. I think it’s going to be fun this weekend.”
Former NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series driver Erin Crocker will make her debut the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series at Bloomington and Tri-State. Andrew Felker, the 2012 POWRi National Midget champion, is this season’s point leader over Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill., 1,280-920, and Tyler Thomas of Collinsville, Okla, is third with 820.
MAVTV American Real will broadcast the Bloomington and Tri-State events, including the Sprint Car races at both tracks, on a date in July to be determined.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series top-10 points standings (after six of 21 events: 1. Cale Thomas 890, 2. Nathan Benson 850, 3. Jeremy Camp 830 4. Max Pozsgai 750, 5. Jason Harms 740, 6. Dereck King 690, 7. Joe B. Miller 660, 8. Jake Neuman 625, 9. Aaron Andruskevitch 580, 10. Jeremy Zumwalt 570.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series feature winners: Jacksonville, Ill.—Dereck King; Belleville, Ill.—Joe B. Miller; Macon, Ill.—Dereck King; Jacksonville, Ill.—Mike Dicely; Lincoln, Ill.—Nathan Benson; Macon, Ill.—Cale Thomas.
For more information, go to www.POWRi.com.