Thursday Thunder competitors raced to the halfway point of the 2024 season in a night filled with unpredictable twists and turns in Round 4 Thursday night.
The Associates Group Young Lions division featured one of the most dramatic moments of the night’s action. Championship leader Cole Denton (Pascagoula, Miss.) scored the pole and jumped out to a sizeable lead for the second straight night, but everything changed just before halfway when a wheel came loose on his No. 46 car. The mechanical failure sent Denton spinning out of control and out of the race.
“The axle blew out coming out of (turn) 4,” Denton said after climbing from his car. “I’m alright and the car will be fine.”
Denton’s misfortune opened the door for Ola’s Bryce Sanders, who was running right behind Denton before the incident and took over the race lead when the race resumed. Despite a fierce challenge from Farmington, Mo.’s Aiden King when the race resumed, Sanders held a steady wheel all the way to the checkered flag.
“We keep progressing every week and we finally got us one this week,” said a triumphant Sanders in victory lane. “I’m just proud of the crew.”
The Masters division feature saw another championship favorite have their pursuit of victory dashed in dramatic fashion. Locust Grove’s Bill Plemons, Jr. started on pole and dominated the feature, but lapped traffic came into play in the closing laps.
Plemons successfully navigated the traffic while managing his gap over second place Mark Swan until the final set of turns; Plemons got tangled up with a lapped car entering turn 3 on the final lap, taking him out of the race and handing Swan (Athens, Ga.) a surprise ticket to victory lane and his first victory since 2021.
The WJP Investments Pro division race saw a rematch of Wednesday night’s action, as Jensen Jorgensen (Stockbridge, Ga.) reeled in leader Garrett Gumm (Brooks, Ga.) late in the race once again. Despite a valiant effort, Gumm was able to hold off the champion a second time, earning another victory just one day after his first. Gumm was one of only two drivers to sweep their division in the doubleheader. The other was Wyatt Coffey (Waynesboro, Va.), who dominated the Bandits feature from pole position to earn his third consecutive victory.
In the Semi-Pro Division feature race, Kyle Bacon (Buchanan, Ga.) took his No. 48 car to victory lane in another dominant performance, his third win in four races. Rylee Hutchins (Mount Pleasant, N.C.) had to work a bit harder in the Adrenalin Powersports Outlaws division, as she methodically made her way to the lead, eventually taking home her first career victory.
The Rookie Bandolero and Chargers racing experiences both featured first time winners: the No. 47 of Daylen Pennington and the No. 29x of Javier Soto (Marietta, Ga.), respectively.
Four rounds are complete and four more remain in the 2024 Thursday Thunder season with season championship battles on the horizon. Round 5 will kick off the second half of the season on Thursday, June 27th, with more thrilling racing set take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Here are the complete results from Round 4 of Thursday Thunder 2024:
Chargers
1. Soto, Javier (Marietta, GA)
2. Johnson, Abi (Ft. Myers, FL)
3. Mayhue, Bowen
4. Lee, Billy (Ruskin, FL)
5. Franklin, Will (Covington, GA)
6. Young, Luke (Dallas, GA)
7. Johnson, Allee (Ft. Myers, FL)
8. Stevens, Kendall (Griffin, GA)
DNS. McMurry, Zack (Lawndale, NC)
Rookie Bandoleros
1. Pennington, Daylen (Stapleton, GA)
2. Tate, Casen (Zebulon, GA)
3. Parsons, Sadie (Winterhaven, FL)
4. Glass, Cam (Juliet, GA)
5. Shirley, Reese (Rainbow City, AL)
6. Treschl, Ava (Hogansville, GA)
Adrenalin Powersports Outlaws
1. Hutchins, Rhylee (Mount Pleasant, NC)
2. Sherman, Carson (Loganville, GA)
3. Moon, TJ (Taylorsville, NC)
4. Cauble, Carson (Salisbury, NC)
5. Zacharias, Owen (Myrtle Beach, SC)
6. Impellizzeri, Lilly (Munroe Falls, OH)
7. Erickson, Carter (Cumming, GA)
8. Tatum, Kinsley (Cordele, GA)
9. Young, Luke (Dallas, GA)
10. Nichols, Bryson (Hampton, VA)
Bandits
1. Coffey, Wyatt (Waynesboro, VA)
2. Burnett, Jaxon (Snohomish, WA)
3. Behnke, James (Canton, GA)
4. Rudolph, Briella (Griffin, GA)
5. Crooms, Blake (Winter Haven, FL)
6. Glass, Colton (Juliette, GA)
7. Johnson, Evan (Vancleave, MS)
Masters
1. Swan, Mark (Athens, GA)
2. Young, Phillip (Dallas, GA)
3. Chambers, Mike (Griffin, GA)
4. Plemons, Bill Jr (Locust Grove, GA)
5. Pierce, Dwight (Griffin, GA)
6. Young, Lisa (Dallas, GA)
7. Welfel, Joseph (Hampton, GA)
8. Chappell, Chris (Griffin, GA)
DNS. Chambers, Lamar (Griffin, GA)
The Associates Group Young Lions
1. Sanders, Bryce (Ola, GA)
2. Christensen, Lane
3. Laprade, Matthew (New Smyrna Beach, FL)
4. Haire, Will (Savannah, GA)
5. Lamarre, Jack (Hoschton, GA)
6. Youngblood, Carson (Flowery Branch, GA)
7. Flater, Mitchell (Conyers, GA)
8. King, Aiden (Farmington, MO)
9. Bongiovanni, Dylan (Cumming, GA)
10. O'Neil, Baylor (Grantville, GA)
11. King, Addyson (Mooresville, NC)
12. Denton, Cole (Pascagoula, MS)
13. Warner, Austin (Dallas, GA)
DNS. Zima, Ryan (Cleveland, NC)
Semi-Pro
1. Bacon, Kyle (Buchanan, GA)
2. Martinez, Jesse (West Palm Beach, FL)
3. Tadrzak, Trey (Stockbridge, GA)
4. Reynolds, Jackson (Marietta, GA)
5. Ryan, Noah (Griffin, GA)
6. Gaul, Cooper (Seminole, FL)
7. Hicks, Kaitlyn (Hampton, GA)
8. Britt, Emma (Hampton, GA)
9. Woodall, Amanda (Canton, GA)
10. Arenas, Emily (Social Circle, GA)
11. Allen, J.R. (Auburn, AL)
12. Cosier, Brian (Marietta, GA)
WJP Investments Pro
1. Gumm, Garrett (Brooks, GA)
2. Jorgensen, Jensen (Stockbridge, GA)
3. Taylor, Jonathan (Roswell, GA)
4. Woodall, Nick (Canton, GA)
5. Pierce, Currie (Griffin, GA)
6. Watson, Timothy (Panama City, FL)
7. Gannon, Michael (Canton, GA)
8. Crane, Madeline (Meansville, GA)
