Championship stage set in penultimate round of Thursday Thunder at AMS

HAMPTON, Ga. — The pressure was dialed up in the penultimate week of the 2024 Thursday Thunder season for drivers hoping to stay in the championship hunt. As some contenders solidified their stranglehold on their division’s title, others rallied with clutch performances to keep a championship within reach in next week’s finale.

Four-time feature winner Cole Denton (Pascagoula, Miss.) entered Round 7 with a comfortable lead in The Associates Group Young Lions standings. Still, some adversity in Round 7 opened the door for Bryce Sanders (Ola, Ga.) to take a big bite out of Denton’s lead. An early incident relegated Denton to the tail of the field; while he rallied to finish a solid 5th, Sanders capitalized on the opportunity with his second victory of the 2024 season.

Sanders gained 12 points on Denton Thursday night, bringing him within six points of the title heading into next week’s season finale. Denton can clinch the title by finishing 3rd or better in Round 8.

Several restarts in the Adrenalin Powersports Outlaws Division enabled Bryson Nichols (Hampton, Va.) to steal the win late from division leader Carson Cauble (Salisbury, N.C.). Nichols not only took the win, but also took over the top spot in the division standings, now a narrow three points ahead of Cauble entering the final round.

The closest title fight will be in the Masters division. Bill Plemons Jr. (Locust Grove, Ga.) earned his third victory of 2024 Thursday night; Plemons win, and a 3rd-place effort by Phillip Young (Dallas Ga.), results in a tie at the top of the Masters championship standings entering the finale. With 15 points between the top pair and third place Mark Swan (Athens, Ga.), the 2024 Masters title will in all likelihood be determined by a head-to-head matchup between Young and Plemons.

While those title fights are very much in doubt, they’ve already started engraving Kyle Bacon’s name into the Semi-Pro division trophy. With four wins and solid performances to compliment them, even a pedestrian 7th-place effort Thursday night doesn’t appear to be slowing the Buchanan, Ga., driver’s march to the title; he enters the finale with a whopping 27-point lead.

However, Bacon’s more modest effort opened the door for a first-time winner in a competitive feature that saw five different drivers take the race lead. Griffin, Ga.’s Noah Ryan was the last driver to take the top spot, surging from his 4th-place starting spot to score his first victory of 2024.

A third-straight victory by Stockbridge, Ga.’s Jensen Jorgensen extended his championship lead to 14 points over Jonathan Taylor (Roswell, Ga.) and 16 points over Brooks, Ga.’s Garrett Gumm in the WJP Investments Pro division. While the pro division’s passing points present more opportunities for Taylor or Gumm to close the gap, Jorgensen is in the driver’s seat to win back-to-back titles.

With his fifth win of the 2024 season, Wyatt Coffey (Waynesboro, Va.) enters championship night with a solid 12-point advantage over James Behnke (Canton, Ga.). In the Chargers Racing Experience, Billy Lee (Ruskin, Fla.) rolled into victory lane for the first time this season. Casen Tate (Zebulon, Ga.) came out on top in the Rookie Bandoleros Racing Experience.