Kennedy Records Podium Finish with NOSA at Buffalo River
WINNIPEG, MB (May 30, 2018) – Thomas Kennedy was back in action last weekend with three events scheduled over the holiday weekend. Friday night’s race at Jackson Motorplex was canceled due to rain, leaving Knoxville Raceway and Buffalo River Race Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday at Knoxville, Thomas started the night by timing in 12th quick out of the 27-car field. A third place finish in his heat put the driver of the Kennedy Floorings / Buffalo Wild Wings No. 21K in the 13th starting position for the feature.
Kennedy moved forward throughout the 18-lap race, breaking the top 10 with five laps to go. In the final laps Kennedy drove from 10th to eighth, which is where he went on to take the checkers.
On Sunday, the Kennedy Racing Team made the eight hour haul to Buffalo River Race Park in Glyndon, Minn. to compete with the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints. Kennedy has two 410 Sprint Car wins at Buffalo River in his career. One came in 2013 with the All Star Circuit of Champions and one in 2014 with the NOSA Sprints.
Kennedy cruised from fourth to win his third heat race of the season. The redraw put Kennedy back in eighth for the 25-lap main event.
Kennedy passed three cars in the first two laps to move into fifth as he followed Mark Dobmeier to the front of the field. By lap nine, Kennedy had moved into third but his charge forward stalled there until the leaders hit lapped traffic.
With six laps to go, both Dobmeier and Kennedy got by the leader, Chris Ranten. Kennedy was within two car lengths of Dobmeier and looked to have a run on him when the caution flag flew. The line up was reverted to the last completed lap, which relegated Kennedy back to third.
On the restart, Kennedy wasn’t able to get around Ranten before things got strung out. Kennedy went on to finish in the third spot to collect his 10th top 10 of the season.
This weekend, Kennedy will head back to Jackson Motorplex to race with the MSTS / UMSS 360s on Friday night. On Saturday night, he will look for his second consecutive UMSS win at Cedar Lake Speedway.
2018 Stats:
Races: 13
Wins: 3
Top Fives: 9
