SALISBURY, N.C. – Photo and recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman –

After having roughly “30 minutes of sleep the last two days” and making a last-minute, eight hour drive south from Indianapolis to race, USAC National Midget star Tanner Thorson made the odds pay off with a victory in Wednesday night’s headlining 500cc Open Class mini-outlaw feature at Millbridge Speedway.

Thorson led the final five circuits of the 20-lap A-main, passing Karsyn Elledge in turn one on a late-race restart and powering away to victory by three-quarters of a second over week two winner Tom Hubert after two more cautions gave the field one more chance at him.

“Man, we didn’t necessarily have the best car tonight,” said Thorson, who started fourth but methodically worked his way forward as the laps ticked off. “Ethan (Mitchell) is one hell of a shoe and he definitely walked away from us. I hated to see him get caught up in (a late-race crash with) lapped traffic there, but that’s racing.”

“We took the lead (with five to go) and our car was great after that. This kart has been solid the last few times we’ve had it out on track, and I can’t thank Bernie and Betsy (Stuebgen) at Indy Race Parts for allowing us to take these karts out without them and put them in victory lane.”

Elledge and opening night winner Mitchell led the field to the green flag at the start, and it was Mitchell who escaped from the outside lane to lead early on. By lap five, he had opened up an eight kart-length lead over Elledge as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Larson climbed from row four into the top five by the seventh round.

Less than two minutes were gone by the time the field reached the halfway point, and the green flag conditions were enough for Mitchell to build a three-second gap that it appeared he would never relinquish – until the five to go mark, when Zach Wolfe and Brandon Knupp tangled in turn four right in front of the leader, collecting Mitchell and ending his hopes at victory in the process.

“We were good right off the start, we were digging and I felt great, even though I’ve been sick all day,” Mitchell would say after the race. “Just … the lappers, man … they wrecked right in front of me and I had nowhere to go. We’re racing for points, so it’s about salvaging the bad days. We’ll get them next time.”

In light of the crash, Thorson was able to take advantage. He blitzed to the inside of Elledge on the restart, and as Elledge dropped back off turn two, she got sideways and spun into the pack. The ensuing calamity collected Nick Hoffman, Dylan Smith and Chaz Woodward on the backstretch and set up another restart with Thorson out front ahead of week two winner Tom Hubert and Larson.

Larson’s night would end two laps later, as he blew the motor in his No. 1K ParkerStore entry with three laps to go, drawing the night’s final caution flag.

Though Hubert set up on Thorson’s tail tank for the final dash to the finish, he was unable to capitalize and had to settle for a runner up finish.

Kevin Thomas Jr., running as a teammate to Thorson and making his first ever start in a mini-outlaw kart, rounded out the podium in third ahead of Buddy Wise and Clark Houston. NASCAR on NBC and SPEED SPORT TV personality Derek Pernesiglio was sixth.

Hoffman kicked off the night by setting quick time in two-lap qualifying around the one-sixth mile dirt oval, with a lap of 10.0806 seconds that was nearly two tenths faster than the rest of the 25 car field.

The Millbridge veteran followed that up with a win in the first heat, and was joined by Hubert and Thorson as heat race winners in their respective eight-lap runs. Chaz Woodward wired the 12-lap B-main to lead the trasfers into the “Big Show”.

Carson Kvapil wired a non-stop feature for the 250cc Intermediate class, surging to the lead from the inside on the opening lap and pulling out to a whopping 6.149 second advantage by the time the twin checkers flew over the field.

Alex Bodine was second, followed by Gage Painter, Ryan Israel and Ty Gibbs – the grandson of three-time Super Bowl winning coach and four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion owner Joe Gibbs.

In the Box Stock class, Brent Crews took the lead away from Wyatt Underwood just before the halfway point of the 20-lap A-main and ultimately held off week two winner Hunter Kohn to collect his first win of the 2016 Wednesday weekly series.

Caden Kvapil, Zac Israel and Tyler Letarte were the balance of the top five, while Underwood ended up in the outside wall after late-race contact with Gavin Boschele and dropped to 14th in the final rundown.

Nathan Meendering passed polesitter Jacob Monsour on the second lap of the 15-lap Beginner Box Stock main event, but when the pair came together and crashed in turn two with four laps complete, it opened the door for Tyler Dolack to take advantage.

Though Meendering charged from the back of the field with the aid of two caution flags inside the final five laps, Dolack was able to hang on for his first win of the 2016 season and first career feature win at Millbridge Speedway.

Meendering finished second after contact with Kynser Flynn in the final corner, with Danny Dyszelski, Monsour and Ethan Burdett rounding out the top five. Flynn was relegated to ninth.

Millbridge Speedway returns to action on April 9 for their first Saturday show of the 2016 season, featuring the rising stars of short track racing in the fast and fearless winged mini-outlaw karts.