By Richie Murray
Mohave Valley, Arizona (February 28, 2026)………Kevin Thomas Jr. fought off a furious challenge from Ricky Lewis down the stretch to win Saturday night’s Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car feature at Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway.
Thomas (Cullman, Alabama), utilizing a 360 cubic inch engine against a field full of 410s, started fifth on the grid for the 30-lap feature but steadily dug his way to the front past Eddie Tafoya Jr. on the ninth circuit. Tafoya led the first eight laps from the pole.
However, with three laps remaining, 10th starting Lewis used the high side to rip the lead away from Thomas, getting him at the stripe by a single car length. Moments later, Thomas dove back to the bottom of turns one and two and slid back by Lewis for the lead in turn two.
Immediately, Lewis shot back underneath Thomas in turn three and scooted past Thomas’ front bumper and up to the turn four cushion. As Lewis banged his right rear tire off the cushion, Thomas slipped back under to retake the lead with the white flag waving, signifying one lap to go.
On the final go around, Lewis pulled even to the inside of Thomas through turns one and two but slipped over the edge at the top of two. While Lewis fought to regain control, Thomas escaped away for the victory in his Bonneau Motorsports No. 78.
For Thomas, it was ninth career USAC CRA feature victory, moving him to 15th place on the all-time list alongside Brady Bacon, David Cardey and Richard Vander Weerd.
Along with his $3,000 payday, Thomas earned another $720 for the Rolls Scaffold 360 Challenge.
Lewis (Oxnard, California) earned the Steve Lafond Photos Hard Charger award after his 10th to second run. Third place went to Tafoya while Austin Williams (Yorba Linda, California) crossed in fourth and Charles Davis Jr. (Buckeye, Arizona) rounded out the top-five.
Series point leader R.J. Johnson (Laveen, Arizona) finished sixth in the feature after setting fast time in Woodland Auto Display Qualifying at a time of 13.897 seconds.
Heat races presented by Sexton Fire Protection and Roy Miller Freight Lines were won by Braden Chiaramonte (El Cajon, California), A.J. Bender (San Diego, California) and Tafoya. Chiaramonte was the only flip of the night, getting upside down while running in the fifth position on the second lap of the feature.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: February 28, 2026 – Mohave Valley Raceway – Mohave Valley, Arizona
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. R.J. Johnson, 1p, Petty-13.897; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 78, Bonneau-13.931; 3. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-14.055; 4. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-14.070; 5. Connor Lundy, 97, Lundy-14.118; 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.228; 7. Braden Chiaramonte, 73B, OCC-14.243; 8. Connor Speir, 57, Speir-14.274; 9. Ricky Lewis, 8m, May-14.495; 10. Jayme Barnes, 67x, Walker-14.512; 11. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-14.518; 12. Brecken Guerrero, 98B, Guerrero-14.861; 13. Troy DeGaton, 39T, DeGaton-14.867; 14. Logan Calderwood, 4J, Calderwood-14.883; 15. Dayton Shelton, 4D, Shelton-14.977; 16. Racin Silva, 5s, Silva-15.123; 17. Brody Wake, 78x, Wake-15.195; 18. Austin Ervine, 21x, AJ-15.203; 19. Brent Sexton, 44, Sexton-15.237; 20. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-15.298; 21. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-15.374; 22. Jeff Dyer, 39, Cal-Sun-NT.
SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Braden Chiaramonte, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. R.J. Johnson, 4. Jayme Barnes, 5. Brent Sexton, 6. Jeff Dyer, 7. Racin Silva, 8. Troy DeGaton. NT
ROY MILLER FREIGHT LINES SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Bender, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Logan Calderwood, 4. Connor Speir, 5. Connor Lundy, 6. Jim Vanzant, 7. Brody Wake. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 2. Ricky Lewis, 3. Austin Williams, 4. Dayton Shelton, 5. Verne Sweeney, 6. Austin Ervine, 7. Brecken Guerrero. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 2. Ricky Lewis (10), 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (1), 4. Austin Williams (4), 5. Charles Davis Jr. (3), 6. R.J. Johnson (6), 7. A.J. Bender (8), 8. Connor Lundy (2), 9. Logan Calderwood (14), 10. Dayton Shelton (15), 11. Brody Wake (17), 12. Brecken Guerrero (12), 13. Verne Sweeney (20), 14. Jim Vanzant (19), 15. Troy DeGaton (13), 16. Brent Sexton (18), 17. Connor Speir (9), 18. Jeff Dyer (21), 19. Racin Silva (16), 20. Braden Chiaramonte (7), 21. Jayme Barnes (11). NT
**Braden Chiaramonte flipped during lap 2 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Eddie Tafoya Jr., Laps 9-27 Kevin Thomas Jr., Lap 28 Ricky Lewis, Laps 29-30 Kevin Thomas Jr.
STEVE LAFOND PHOTOS HARD CHARGER: Ricky Lewis (10th to 2nd)
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-151, 2-Charles Davis Jr.-148, 3-Austin Williams-141, 4-Connor Lundy-122, 5-A.J. Bender-121, 6-Verne Sweeney-99, 7-Brecken Guerrero-93, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-82, 9-Ricky Lewis-74, 10-Eddie Tafoya Jr.-73.
NEXT AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACES: March 13 & 14, 2026 – Imperial Valley Raceway – Imperial, California – California Mid-Winter Fair