Story By: RICHIE MURRAY / USAC – MOHAVE VALLEY, AZ – Entering Friday night, Kevin Thomas Jr.’s most recent visit to Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway back in April of this year resulted in a victory.
The Cullman, Ala. kept the winning ways rolling during the opening night of the 57th annual Western World Championships Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors.
For KTJ, it was his eighth career Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car feature victory, and his second of the season for the Bonneau Motorsports team.
Thomas was one of three different leaders in the 30-lap feature, and was the final of the bunch, as he raced around the outside of fellow USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship competitor Kyle Cummins in turn two on lap 18, then led the remaining 13 laps en route to victory on the first of two nights of Western World.
USAC CRA point leader R.J. Johnson paced the first eight laps from the pole position before being overtaken by Cummins who started third. Thomas then raced his way into the lead on lap 18 from the sixth starting position after kicking off the night as the Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier.
At the checkered flag, Thomas was followed to the line by R.J. Johnson (Laveen, Ariz.), Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.), C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) and Ricky Lewis (Camarillo, Calif.).
USAC CRA top Rookie David Gasper (Goleta, Calif.) was the feature’s hard charger presented in memory of Jim and Chet Gardner after advancing from 20th to 12th. Gasper also notched a win in the Factory Wraps Semi-Feature.
Verne Sweeney (Lomita, Calif.) won the FlowDynamics Incorporated / In Honor of Wiley Miller Sr and Wiley Miller II First Heat Race. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (Chino Hills, Calif.) captured the WC Friend Company Second Heat Race. R.J. Johnson scored the win of the BillsJerky.net / Silbermann Solar Third Heat Race. Tommy Malcolm (Corona, Calif.) was the victor of the Sexton Fire Protection Fourth Heat Race.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 1, 2024 – Mohave Valley Raceway – Mohave Valley, Arizona – 57th Annual Western World Championships presented by Avanti Windows & Doors
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, Bonneau-14.010; 2. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-14.300; 3. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.421; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.454; 5. Stevie Sussex, 5B, Baldwin-14.482; 6. Jake Swanson, 17x, Dunkel-14.564; 7. R.J. Johnson, 51, Johnson-14.591; 8. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-14.621; 9. Ricky Lewis, 17, Dunkel-14.623; 10. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-14.632; 11. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-14.634; 12. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-14.689; 13. Kaleb Montgomery, 4J, Calderwood-14.691; 14.691; 14. Matt Westfall, 11c, Turner/Wheeler-14.704; 15. Grant Sexton, 22, Sexton-14.750; 16. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-14.751; 17. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-14.754; 18. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.842; 19. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-14.847; 20. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-14.851; 21. David Gasper, 18, Kittle/Gasper-14.862; 22. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-14.895; 23. Cameron La Rose, 13P, Petty-14.940; 24. Dayton Shelton, 9, Shelton-15.048; 25. Colt Treharn, 77, Treharn-15.111; 26. Jeff Dyer, 39, Cal-Sun-15.120; 27. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-15.124; 28. Jordan Hermansader, 71, Martin-15.218; 29. Troy Treharn, 7x, Treharn-15.222; 30. Don Grable, 45x, Budlong-15.226; 31. Logan Williams, 5w, McCarthy-15.262; 32. Braden Chiaramonte, 73B, OCC-15.322; 33. Jayme Barnes, 9, Barnes-15.406; 34. Blake Hendricks, 14, Hendricks-15.406; 35. Stevie Rogers, 11, Rogers-14.479; 36. Shon Deskins, 20, Deskins-15.493; 37. Brent Sexton, 44s, Sexton-15.595; 38. Racin Silva, 5s, Silva-15.696; 39. Mark Henry Jr., 39R, Henry-15.698; 40. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-15.815; 41. Elexa Herrera, 5E, Herrera-16.093; 42. Todd Pratt, 17F, Pratt-16.238; 43. Brody Wake, 78B, Wake-16.430; 44. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger/Sweeney-17.118; 45. Camie Bell, 29c, Bell-17.122.
FLOWDYNAMICS INCORPORATED / IN HONOR OF WILEY MILLER SR. & WILEY MILLER II FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Verne Sweeney, 2. Ricky Lewis, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Colt Treharn, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Kaleb Montgomery, 7. Jayme Barnes, 8. David Gasper, 9. Troy Treharn. NT
WC FRIEND COMPANY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 2. Matt Westfall, 3. J.J. Yeley, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Austin Grabowski, 6. Jeff Dyer, 7. Don Grable, 8. Blake Hendricks, 9. Jake Swanson. NT
BILLSJERKY.NET / SILBERMANN SOLAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. R.J. Johnson, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Logan Calderwood, 5. Cameron La Rose, 6. Logan Williams, 7. Grant Sexton, 8. James Turnbull II, 9. Stevie Rogers. NT
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tommy Malcolm, 2. Austin Williams, 3. A.J. Bender, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Cody Williams, 6. Shon Deskins, 7. Braden Chiaramonte, 8. Jordan Hermansader, 9. Dayton Shelton. NT
FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. David Gasper, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Kaleb Montgomery, 4. Jeff Dyer, 5. Troy Treharn, 6. Jayme Barnes, 7. Jordan Hermansader, 8. Logan Williams, 9. Don Grable, 10. James Turnbull II, 11. Braden Chiaramonte, 12. Dayton Shelton, 13. Shon Deskins, 14. Mark Henry, 15. Racin Silva, 16. Elexa Herrera, 17. Brody Wake, 18. Brent Sexton, 19. Jim Vanzant, 20. Bryan Drollinger, 21. Todd Pratt, 22. Blake Hendricks, 23. Camie Bell, 24. Grant Sexton. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 2. R.J. Johnson (1), 3. Kyle Cummins (3), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Ricky Lewis (9), 6. Stevie Sussex (2), 7. Charles Davis Jr. (11), 8. A.J. Bender (8), 9. Jake Swanson (7), 10. J.J. Yeley (5), 11. Matt Westfall (14), 12. David Gasper (20), 13. Logan Calderwood (18), 14. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (17), 15. Cameron La Rose (22), 16. Cody Williams (12), 17. Tye Mihocko (10), 18. Austin Williams (19), 19. Kaleb Montgomery (13), 20. Verne Sweeney (16), 21. Austin Grabowski (21), 22. Elexa Herrera (26), 23. Tommy Malcolm (15), 24. Jeff Dyer (24), 25. Colt Treharn (23), 26. Grant Sexton (25). NT
**Stevie Rogers flipped on lap 4 of the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 R.J. Johnson, Laps 9-17 Kyle Cummins, Laps 18-30 Kevin Thomas Jr.
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER HARD CHARGER: David Gasper (20th to 12th)
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-1371, 2-Tommy Malcolm-1230, 3-Austin Williams-1193, 4-A.J. Bender-1165, 5-David Gasper-1138, 6-Logan Williams-1060, 7-Cody Williams-1053, 8-Charles Davis Jr.-897, 9-Verne Sweeney-889, 10-Austin Grabowski-858.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 2, 2024 – Mohave Valley Raceway – Mohave Valley, Arizona – 57th Annual Western World Championships presented by Avanti Windows & Doors