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Inside Line Promotions – BELLEVILLE, Ill. (May 14, 2014) – Tyler Thomas is ready to tackle his pavement racing debut this weekend.
Thomas will pilot a pro late model for Tim Russell during seven races at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., this season beginning this Saturday.
“It’s pretty exciting for sure,” he said. “It’ll be a good opportunity for me to experience the pavement deal. That’s where Kyle Larson made his first pavement stock car starts.”
Thomas will practice on Friday prior to Saturday’s 50-lap main event on the high-banked, half-mile track that has hosted some of NASCAR’s greats since its development in 1964.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “Hopefully there’s some further opportunity out of it.”
Thomas is coming off another efficient performance during the Honda USAC National Dirt Midget Series and POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series co-sanctioned Belleville Bash last Saturday at Belle-Clair Speedway.
“I actually had a really good night,” he said. “I think there were 49 cars. We went out really late in qualifying and qualified 11th, which I was really pleased with.”
Thomas then advanced from fourth to second place in his heat race to lock himself into the 40-lap main event. He started on the inside of the sixth row.
“We were a little tight at the beginning,” he said. “I spent the first five or 10 laps searching the track to see what was going to be best for how we were set up. I think I fell back to 14th at one point. I got to the bottom and started passing cars. We had some racing luck go our way and I missed a couple of accidents.”
Thomas climbed into the top five near the midpoint of the main event. Unfortunately, his right rear tire went down soon after. The team replaced it during a caution and Thomas restarted at the back of the field.
“I tried going to the top once I got back there,” he said. “The cushion was so treacherous. We were pretty much set up for the bottom. We were just as good or better than anybody at the bottom. We got in line and capitalized on other people’s mistakes.”
Thomas rallied to record a 12th-place result.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 10 – Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill. – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 12 (11).
SEASON STATS –
10 races, 0 wins, 3 top fives, 4 top 10s, 8 top 15s, 9 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TylerThomasMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://Twitter.com/TylerThomas91
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyler-Thomas-Motorsports/154971717863656
APPAREL –
Thomas has t-shirts for sale at his race trailer during every event this season. For his schedule, visit http://www.TylerThomasMotorsports.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Triple X Race Co.
Based in Burlington, Wash., Triple X Race Co. offers top-of-the-line sprint car, midget and micro sprint parts and chassis. For more information, visit http://www.xxxraceco.com.
“I’ve always ran the Triple X chassis and I’ve always enjoyed how it has handled,” Thomas said. “They have a great product and I enjoy running with them, and I hope to continue that in the coming years.”
Thomas would also like to thank BT Machine Inc., Quick Racing Products, Haynes Equipment, Thriller Photo, Alpinestars, Factor 1 Racing, Bell Helmets and Esslinger Engineering for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on May 14, 2014
- Article Date: 5/14/2014 by Inside Line Promotions