Mohave Valley, Arizona (April 6, 2024)………With this weekend’s pair of Midwest rainouts on the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship tour, an opportunity opened up on Saturday for Kevin Thomas Jr. in the Grand Canyon State.
Thomas (Cullman, Ala.) became the fourth different winning driver in the first four races of the Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Series season on Saturday night at Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway.
The third-starting Thomas emerged up front after a near racelong battle for the lead with Cody Williams (Corona, Calif.). Thomas took over the lead with three laps remaining to earn the Bonneau Motorsports team its first USAC CRA victory.
Pole starting Logan Williams (Yorba Linda, Calif.) led the opening three laps of the 30-lapper but wound up dropping to ninth in the final finishing order. Thereafter, Logan’s brother, Cody, led the next 10 circuits after starting from the outside of the front row.
Thomas led the bulk of the race after grabbing the lead just before the halfway point on lap 14, then patrolled the field for the next 13 laps until just four to go. The lead swapped hands in the tussle for the number one spot as Cody surged ahead on lap 27 before Thomas made the winning move to get back by on the 28th lap, which proved to be the difference.
From there, Thomas prevailed for his seventh career USAC CRA victory, and his first since 2021. Cody Williams took second with new point leader Tommy Malcolm (Corona, Calif.) charging from 12th to third, which moved him to the top of the series standings. David Gasper (Goleta, Calif.) grabbed fourth while Logan Calderwood (Goodyear, Ariz.) rounded out the top-five.
Meanwhile, Grant Sexton (Lakeside, Calif.) was named the Hard Charger of the feature in memory of Jim & Chet Gardner after starting 21st and finishing 11th. Ricky Lewis (Camarillo, Calif.) was the night’s Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier.
Lewis, Austin Williams (Yorba Linda, Calif.), Thomas and Charles Davis Jr (Buckeye, Ariz.) scored heat race wins sponsored by FlowDynamics, Inc., WC Friend Company, BillsJerky.net and Sexton Fire Protection. R.J. Johnson (Laveen, Ariz.) took the victory in the Factory Wraps Semi-Feature.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: April 6, 2024 – Mohave Valley Raceway – Mohave Valley, Arizona
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Ricky Lewis, 41, Stensland-14.491; 2. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.525; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, Bonneau-14.569; 4. Cameron La Rose, 5, Wilson-14.577; 5. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-14.607; 6. Logan Calderwood, 73, Ford-14.613; 7. Logan Williams, 5w, McCarthy-14.667; 8. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-14.750; 9. R.J. Johnson, 51, Johnson-14.770; 10. David Gasper, 73x, Ford-14.781; 11. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-14.833; 12. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-14.856; 13. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-14.862; 14. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-14.953; 15. Brent Owens, 71, Martin-15.109; 16. Mark Henry Jr., 39R, Henry-15.153; 17. Brent Sexton, 44s, Sexton-15.193; 18. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-15.269; 19. Andrew Sweeney, 98A, Guerrero-15.433; 20. Tom Dunkel, 17A, Dunkel-15.486; 21. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-15.506; 22. Grant Sexton, 22, Sexton-15.540; 23. Elexa Herrera, 5E, Herrera-15.618; 24. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-15.854; 25. Jeff Dyer, 39, Cal-Sun-15.863; 26. Camie Bell, 29c, Bell-16.500; 27. Brody Roa, 8m, May-NT; 28. Brody Wake, 78B, Wake-NT.
FLOWDYNAMICS INCORPORATED FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ricky Lewis, 2. J.J. Yeley, 3. Cody Williams, 4. Brent Sexton, 5. Verne Sweeney, 6. Jeff Dyer, 7. R.J. Johnson. NT
WC FRIEND COMPANY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Austin Williams, 2. Austin Grabowski, 3. Grant Sexton, 4. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 5. David Gasper, 6. Logan Calderwood, 7. Camie Bell. NT
BILLSJERKY.NET THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Logan Williams, 3. A.J. Bender, 4. Brent Owens, 5. Andrew Sweeney, 6. Elexa Herrera. NT
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Tommy Malcolm, 3. Cameron La Rose, 4. Mark Henry Jr., 5. Tom Dunkel, 6. Jim Vanzant. NT
FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. R.J. Johnson, 2. Jeff Dyer, 3. David Gasper, 4. Logan Calderwood, 5. Andrew Sweeney, 6. Verne Sweeney, 7. Tom Dunkel, 8. Elexa Herrera, 9. Camie Bell. NT.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 2. Cody Williams (2), 3. Tommy Malcolm (12), 4. David Gasper (10), 5. Logan Calderwood (7), 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (5), 7. Cameron La Rose (3), 8. J.J. Yeley (13), 9. Logan Williams (1), 10. R.J. Johnson (9), 11. Grant Sexton (21), 12. Ricky Lewis (6), 13. A.J. Bender (11), 14. Austin Williams (14), 15. Austin Grabowski (18), 16. Verne Sweeney (20), 17. Mark Henry Jr. (16), 18. Brent Sexton (17), 19. Andrew Sweeney (19), 20. Jeff Dyer (22), 21. Charles Davis Jr. (8), 22. Brent Owens (15). NT
**Brody Roa flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Logan Williams, Laps 4-13 Cody Williams, Laps 14-26 Kevin Thomas Jr., Lap 27 Cody Williams, Laps 28-30 Kevin Thomas Jr.
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER HARD CHARGER: Grant Sexton (21st to 11th)
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Tommy Malcolm-253, 2-David Gasper-252, 3-R.J. Johnson-243, 4-Logan Williams-239, 5-Ricky Lewis-233, 6-Austin Williams-214, 7-Charles Davis Jr.-206, 8-Logan Calderwood-203, 9-A.J. Bender-195, 10-Matt Westfall-186.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: April 27 – Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, California
