American Racing News Vol 1, Issue 2 Issue 6 | Page 31

first National win. It feels like a
monkey off our back and I think
we're going to start rolling from
here. We have some momentum
now and I'm excited to get the rest
of the week going."
Thomas hadn't made an appearance in a USAC Midget National
Championship event since the "Indiana Midget Week" finale at Kokomo Speedway nearly two months
ago, but the Collinsville, Oklahoma
native made his return to the series
a successful one, equaling his career-best USAC finish of second in
his Tyler Thomas Motorsports/BT
Machine
AirGroup/Spike/Esslinger.
"I drove as hard as I could drive,"
Thomas said. "Chad (Boat) drove a
great race and didn't make any
mistakes. I didn't feel like I did either; it's tough to run second again.

We took a two-month break from
midget racing to get our program
right and it paid off. My dad
worked his tail off these last two
months to make sure these engines
were running right. I just really
want to win. It seems like I've had a
lot of seconds, but we'll get our
win. You have to lose some before
you win them, though. Our confidence right now is not even in the
same ballpark. We feel really good
about what we have. (Solomon Valley Raceway in) Beloit (Kansas) is a
good track for us, so we're excited
for tomorrow."
Fellow Oklahoma native Brady Bacon, of Broken Arrow, earned his
fourth consecutive top-five series
finish with his third place run Tuesday night. Although he's yet to pick
up a feature win this season, Bacon's consistency has put him just

15 points out of the point lead behind Spencer Bayston and Bryan
Clauson in the latest standings for
the USAC Midget National Championship on the strength of six topfive finishes in nine series starts in
his FMR Racing/Beast/Toyota.
"We got into lapped traffic and that
was tough tonight," Bacon said.
"We had a car good enough to win,
(we) just needed the cards to fall a
little differently. Chad (Boat) and
Tyler (Thomas) got through the
traffic better at the beginning, but
we were up beside them when that
first yellow came out, so we were
good enough to run with them. It's
great to come to a place, though,
where the fans are really into the
event and everybody who was a
part of it did a fantastic job."