Gas City,In Sept 28th 2018- Kevin Thomas Jr. took the 30 lap USAC feature winning the inaugural “James Dean Classic” at Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday night in front of a big crowd.
Issac Chapple started outside of the front row and quickly grabbed the lead and was setting a torrid pace on the tacky fast track with Thomas in hot pursuit. Thomas dogged Chapple for 25 laps and was finally able to make the pass.
Chapple wasn’t about to throw in the towel and kept up the fight. CJ Leary made a late race charge passing several cars in the closing stages and came up one spot short in second place with Chapple, Chris Windom and Chase Stockon following.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 28, 2018 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – “James Dean Classic”
QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-11.988; 2. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.016; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.078; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.144; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.242; 6. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.251; 7. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.263; 8. Tyler Thomas, 2E, Epperson-12.272; 9. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-12.293; 10. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Meseraull-12.297; 11. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.302; 12. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-12.327; 13. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.346; 14. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-12.347; 15. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-12.382; 16. Carson Short, 5B, Briscoe-12.422; 17. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.427; 18. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-12.442; 19. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-12.453; 20. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-12.493; 21. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-12.495; 22. Dallas Hewitt, 18H, Keen-12.553; 23. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-12.603; 24. Garrett Abrams, 32A, Abrams-12.603; 25. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-12.731; 26. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-12.748; 27. Billy Cribbs, 16, Cribbs-12.782; 28. Shane Cockrum, 24p, Paul-12.900; 29. Luke Harbison, 40, Harbison-13.261; 30. Frank Rodgers, 11, Rodgers-13.312; 31. Jack James, 99J, James-13.353; 32. Bob McMillin, 5m, McMillin-13.358; 33. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Boyles, 3. Windom, 4. Cottle, 5. Grant, 6. Westfall, 7. T. Hewitt, 8. Harbison. 2:03.21
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chapple, 2. D. Hewitt, 3. Bacon, 4. Leary, 5. Hery, 6. Meseraull, 7. Rodgers, 8. VanMeveren. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cummins, 2. K. Thomas, 3. McDougal, 4. DiMattia, 5. Goodnight, 6. Hodges, 7. Cribbs, 8. James. 2:03.79
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ingle, 2. Darland, 3. Short, 4. Stockon, 5. T. Thomas, 6. Cockrum, 7. Abrams, 8. McMillin. 2:05.02
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Grant, 2. Hodges, 3. T. Thomas, 4. Westfall, 5. Meseraull, 6. T. Hewitt, 7. Abrams, 8. Cockrum, 9. Cribbs, 10. Hery, 11. Rodgers, 12. Harbison, 13. McMillin, 14. James, 15. VanMeveren, 16. Goodnight. 2:30.38
FEATURE: (30 laps – starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 2. C.J. Leary (5), 3. Isaac Chapple (2), 4. Chris Windom (6), 5. Chase Stockon (3), 6. Dave Darland (12), 7. Kyle Cummins (18), 8. Justin Grant (7), 9. Tyler Thomas (8), 10. Clinton Boyles (20), 11. Shane Cottle (9), 12. Matt Westfall (13), 13. Brady Bacon (14), 14. Carson Short (16), 15. Tyler Hewitt (22), 16. Tony DiMattia (15), 17. Tyler Courtney (17), 18. Jason McDougal (1), 19. Josh Hodges (11), 20. Dallas Hewitt (21), 21. Dustin Ingle (19), 22. Thomas Meseraull (10). NT
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**D. Hewitt flipped on lap 30 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Chapple, Laps 26-30 K. Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Kyle Cummins (18th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Brady Bacon
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Matt Westfall
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Garrett Abrams
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-K. Thomas-2330, 2-Courtney-2293, 3-Windom-2271, 4-Leary-2006, 5-Darland-2003, 6-Bacon-2002, 7-Stockon-1982, 8-Grant-1871, 9-Robert Ballou-1771, 10-Chapple-1334.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 29 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – “Fall Nationals”