Archive for Midgets
Thorson Closes USAC Midget Season the Same Way He Started it: In Victory Lane
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
THORSON CLOSES USAC MIDGET SEASON THE SAME WAY HE STARTED IT: IN VICTORY LANE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Merced, California (November 21, 2020).........From Ocala, Fla. to Merced, Calif., the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season concluded in the same manner it began - with Tanner Thorson's presence in victory lane.
Of all his great performances in 2020, Thorson very well may have saved his best for last, going tit for tat in a racelong clash between he, Tyler Courtney and Buddy Kofoid that saw each driver rotate their turns as the race leader in the final six laps of Saturday night's season finale at California's Merced Speedway.
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) led the final four to earn his season-leading seventh win, etching his name into the record books as just the sixth driver, and the first in 20 years, to win both the first and last race during a USAC National Midget season. Thorson won the season opener in February at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.
Parnelli Jones (1964), Rich Vogler (1984), Billy Boat (1996), Jason Leffler (1999), Tony Stewart (2000) and now Thorson (2020) all share the distinction while Thorson also equaled the legendary A.J. Foyt with his 20th career series triumph, placing him 33rd all-time.
The victory for Thorson aboard his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring - Ed Pink Racing Engines - Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota was worth $5,000 after sponsor Elk Grove Ford elevated the winner's share by an extra $2,000 earlier in the evening. To earn the accolades, the "w" and the money, Thorson affixed his focus on the basics, the mental aspect of racing, that he felt he had strayed from in recent outings.
"I just tried to keep my composure and hit my marks," Thorson explained. "It's something that I feel like, over the last couple of races, I've lacked - hitting my marks perfectly and making sure I get through the turn right. I feel like my car has been so fast here lately, I kind of went away from concentrating on hitting my lines and making it manageable. It's something I knew I needed to focus on and make work."
Thorson went to work on his 30-lap mission from the outside of the second row, but trouble ensued mid-pack just as the wheels were set in motion with Chase Johnson taking a lap one, turn one tumble that also collected Zeb Wise. Johnson's first ride in the Bundy Built Honda, normally piloted by Ethan Mitchell, came about due to extensive damage received in a Friday night crash at Merced in his regular ride, the Tom Malloy-owned No. 25c. Johnson was credited with the 24th finishing position while Wise restarted and finished 19th.
Pole sitter Kofoid grabbed the top spot on the complete restart, a lead which he held for the first 14 laps despite repeated shots fired from outside front row starter Courtney while Thorson would soon enter the fray, finding his rhythm right around the inside berm.
As Kofoid ringed the topside as smooth as silk, the bottom-feeding Thorson found a sudden surge exiting the fourth turn to close within a wheel of Kofoid at the stripe on the 14th lap, then completed his overtake of the position off turn two moments later on the 15th trip.
A bump of the turn two bottom berm on the 18th circuit allowed Kofoid to break free of Thorson for the time being and open up a five car length lead while Thorson briefly ventured away from the bottom, tucked in behind Kofoid on the curb.
Meanwhile, Courtney, who had been lying in the weeds in third behind Kofoid and Thorson for the past 15 laps, suddenly decided it was "go time" in this non-stop 30-lapper that went green to checker without a yellow following the complete restart, splitting between Thorson to his left and Kofoid to his right in turn three, with Kofoid ultimately edging Courtney by roughly the thickness of the chrome on his front bumper at the line.
Kofoid's reign at the front was in constant peril, and when Courtney got to the inside of Kofoid midway down the back straightaway, Kofoid attempted to slam the door on Courtney entering turn three with both banging their wheels off one another and Courtney leveraging his way past Kofoid off the fourth corner to position himself into the lead.
Kofoid slid past Courtney a tick later in turn one to regain the position and lead the path on lap 26, then once again, maneuvered his way back to the bottom to prevent the retaliation slider.
As eyes were peeled on Kofoid and Courtney nose-to-tail at the top of turn three on lap 27, Thorson casually snuck by both on the bottom, leading a three-wide formation at the start/finish line with Courtney to his inside and Kofoid to his outside all separated by within a half-car length.
Kofoid tried with all his might to grapple his way back into contention with Thorson while utilizing the top, but Thorson ably obtained a little bit of ground on Kofoid when he disposed of the lapped car of Bryant Wiedeman in turns one and two coming to the white flag.
However, Kofoid tried to one-up Thorson by double-dipping with a slider of both Wiedeman and Thorson in a single turn three slide job, successfully discarding Wiedeman but coming up just short of Thorson, opting to fall in line to regroup and give 'er her one more try.
On the final lap, Kofoid was unable to get close enough to make another attempt at a slider, only enough to nestle right to the rear bumper of Thorson as he raced to the finish line 0.130 sec. ahead of Kofoid with Courtney third, fast qualifier and new one-lap track record holder Kyle Larson fourth and Spencer Bayston fifth for the third consecutive race.
The fast-paced race, which lasted a total time of 7:18.810, was the first and only uninterrupted feature that went green to checkered, from laps 1-30, with the series this season. The five total lead changes were the most in any USAC National Midget feature this season as well.
In the end, it was Thorson, who led three laps midway but settled in and found a sense of serenity to battle his way back to the front, and ultimately, prevail.
"When I started hitting my lines, I was able to run down Buddy (Kofoid) pretty fast," Thorson recalled. "I got mixed up with some lapped cars and kind of messed up on the berm one time, but once I regained my composure, it all fell into place."
It was a 2020 season unlike any other for Thorson, and a season unlike most for any driver in the course of USAC National Midget racing history over the past 65 years. His first four victories this year came for Hayward Motorsports, and since joining Tom Malloy's team in late September, Thorson has reeled off three more wins, making him one of just five drivers to win at least three races for two different teams in a single season in USAC National Midget history.
Parnelli Jones was the first to do the deed in 1963 for Marv Edwards and Howard Linne. Mike McGreevy is the only driver to accomplish the feat twice, first in 1965 for both Jack London and the Kenyon Brothers, then again in 1969 for owners Howard Linne and Ed Lark. Rich Vogler's 1988 championship season include 11 wins for Wilke Racers and five for Jonathan Byrd. Jay Drake had been the most recent with three each for Ralph Potter, then Keith Kunz in 2000.
"At the end of this year, we've been really strong and it all comes down to the people that surround you and who works on the car as well as the shocks and motors," Thorson said. "Having fun and enjoying what you do, that's what drives me harder more than anything, even more than even having the baddest car on the racetrack. It's just the people around you and what you can do with such a great mindset. I've got the best mindset out there as far as winning and having fun at the same time."
Of course, when you're winning, it's much easier to have fun, and in what was Thorson's first ever weekend competing at the 1/4-mile Merced Speedway, his fun included joining several notable lists of achievements while also ending the season on the highest of notes, which gave Thorson an opportunity to think back on those who helped him get to this point.
"I've raced with some pretty awesome people," Thorson reminisced. "I got the majority of my USAC wins with Keith Kunz and that's where I learned the ropes of midget racing. And then, Darren Hagen, I lived with him when I grew up, and he showed me the way around about just how racing was and what I needed to do, and it's all helped pay off in the end."
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) finished a highly-impressive Rookie season with the series fourth in the standings in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 - JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, earning three total victories, two of which came on the November western swing, and rounding up the season with a second-place result. The Healing Tree added a $1,000 for the runner-up, bumping Kofoid's total earnings to $2,500 for the night.
Tyler Courtney came up one point short in the USAC National Midget championship battle to Chris Windom this season, earning five total victories. On Saturday at Merced, the Indianapolis, Ind. native led one lap late and finished third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
By pushing off for hot laps earlier in the night, Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) officially, officially clinched the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget driving title in his NOS Energy Drink - Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota while Tucker-Boat Motorsports, likewise, collected its first entrant championship. The achievement made Windom just the seventh driver to join the USAC Triple Crown club by capturing a Silver Crown (2016), AMSOIL National Sprint Car (2017) and National Midget (2020) championship in his career.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 21, 2020 - Merced Speedway - Merced, California - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Merced Midget Madness
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR / WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-11.838 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.859; 3. Tanner Thorson, 25, Malloy-11.976; 4. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-11.980; 5. Chase Johnson, 19m, Bundy Built-12.009; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.022; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.024; 8. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.049; 9. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-12.073; 10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17JR, Clauson/Marshall-12.077; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.078; 12. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.084; 13. Colby Copeland, 27w, Wood-12.137; 14. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.148; 15. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.190; 16. Dillon Welch, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.198; 17. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.212; 18. Ben Worth, 5G, Alexander-12.215; 19. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-12.226; 20. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-12.229; 21. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.239; 22. Zeb Wise, 97w, Wood-12.275; 23. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.282; 24. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.297; 25. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.298; 26. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.327; 27. Chance Crum, 39, Clauson/Marshall-12.345; 28. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.416; 29. Chase Randall, 35, Petry-12.417; 30. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-12.437; 31. Ethan Mitchell, 98, RMS-12.452; 32. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.460; 33. Colby Johnson, 27D, Morris-12.466; 34. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.487; 35. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.488; 36. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.587; 37. Ryan Robinson, 71R, Morris-12.598; 38. Jonathan Beason, 31K, Beilman-12.673; 39. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.745; 40. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-12.758; 41. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-12.766; 42. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.779; 43. Kyle Beilman, 31B, Beilman-12.944; 44. Matt Streeter, 14JR, Streeter-12.944; 45. Jarrett Soares, 12, Soares-12.997; 46. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-13.240; 47. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.337; 48. Kevin Woody Jr., 1x, LKK-13.419; 49. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, DBR-13.443; 50. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-(Time of 12.411 disallowed); 51. Robert Carson, 99, Segur-(Time of 13.482 disallowed); 52. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-NT
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS / EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Colby Copeland, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Colby Johnson, 9. Cole Bodine, 10. Ryan Robinson, 11. Blake Brannon, 12. Jarrett Soares, 13. Bryan Drollinger. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Ben Worth, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Jesse Love, 8. Jonathan Beason, 9. Michael Faccinto, 10. Brody Fuson, 11. Lance Bennett, 12. Maria Cofer, 13. Thomas Meseraull. NT
AUTOMETER / ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Kyle Beilman, 10. Jake Andreotti, 11. Randi Pankratz, 12. Robert Carson, 13. Ryan Bernal. NT
INDY RACE PARTS / ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Dillon Welch, 8. Frankie Guerrini, 9. Robert Dalby, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Matt Streeter, 12. Kevin Woody Jr. 2:10.950
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Frankie Guerrini, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Jonathan Beason, 5. Colby Johnson, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Michael Faccinto, 8. Jake Andreotti, 9. Kyle Beilman, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Matt Streeter, 12. Jarrett Soares, 13. Brody Fuson, 14. Bryan Drollinger, 15. Kevin Woody Jr., 16. Blake Brannon, 17. Robert Carson, 18. Ryan Robinson, 19. Randi Pankratz. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING / ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Colby Copeland, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Jonathan Beason, 8. Ryan Bernal, 9. Cole Bodine, 10. Jesse Love, 11. Andrew Layser, 12. Dillon Welch, 13. Frankie Guerrini, 14. Brenham Crouch, 15. Maria Cofer, 16. Ethan Mitchell, 17. Robert Dalby, 18. Chase Randall. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (4), 2. Buddy Kofoid (1), 3. Tyler Courtney (2), 4. Kyle Larson (6), 5. Spencer Bayston (3), 6. Logan Seavey (5), 7. Carson Macedo (8), 8. Cannon McIntosh (10), 9. Justin Grant (7), 10. Mitchel Moles (11), 11. Shane Golobic (14), 12. Daison Pursley (13), 13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (12), 14. Colby Copeland (15), 15. Emerson Axsom (16), 16. Tanner Carrick (21), 17. Chris Windom (18), 18. Kaylee Bryson* (23), 19. Zeb Wise (19), 20. Bryan Wiedeman (20), 21. Robert Dalby* (24), 22. Ben Worth (17), 23. Chance Crum (22), 24. Chase Johnson (9). 7:18.810 (New Track Record)
* represents a provisional starter
**Thomas Meseraull flipped during the second heat. Chase Johnson flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 15-17 Tanner Thorson, Laps 18-24 Buddy Kofoid, Lap 25 Tyler Courtney, Lap 26 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 27-30 Tanner Thorson.
FINAL USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,779, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,778, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,751, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,707, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,532, 6-Daison Pursley-1,348, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,271, 8-Justin Grant-1,179, 9-Andrew Layser-1,133, 10-Cole Bodine-1,128.
FINAL OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-226, 2-Tanner Thorson-125, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Logan Seavey-102, 5-Robert Ballou-101, 6-Cannon McIntosh-97, 7-Justin Grant-96, 8-Shane Cottle-96, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Race Parts/Rod End Supply Fourth Heat Winner: Carson Macedo
Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Tanner Carrick (21st to 16th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jonathan Beason
It’s All Meseraull in Merced’s USAC Midget Debut
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
IT'S ALL MESERAULL IN MERCED'S USAC MIDGET DEBUT
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Merced, California (November 20, 2020).........For Thomas Meseraull, that coveted first points-paying race victory with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets was two decades in the making when he notched win number one in October.
Just a month and change later, Meseraull was celebrating victory number two on Friday night following the series' first ever event at California's Merced Speedway. It was the San Jose, Calif. native's first career USAC National points feature triumph that occurred in his home state.
Meseraull led the final 21 laps of the 30-lap feature, then endured a green-white-checkered finish to put the finishing touches on a winning performance in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab - Guess Performance Parts/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
His inauspicious beginnings to the west coast swing over the past week had resulted in finishes of 16th, 12th and 23rd in his three most recent outings entering Merced, but it was certainly not due to a lack of effort.
"I'm super stoked, especially with all the time and energy and money that gets spent to come out here to the west coast," Meseraull said. "We haven't even broken the top-10 in the last three nights, and we've been really fast. Racing circumstances just haven't really played out."
In his first night out in the team's new coil car, which was inspired in part by Tanner Thorson's recent success with the set up, Meseraull's night began with a middling qualifying run of 18th against a 54-car field, which was the largest of the series' 2020 season. Meseraull responded with a heat race victory, which by virtue of a new rule implemented during the offseason, as a heat winner, he earned a feature starting position directly behind the six-car invert.
Slated to start seventh, Meseraull was elevated another position up the grid prior to the green flag due to fourth-starting Carson Macedo and team being late to staging, one of four teams that were docked two rows due to the penalty. Now starting sixth, Meseraull was entrenched in the top-three battle along with Tanner Carrick and Daison Pursley by the conclusion of the first lap.
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammates Pursley and Carrick went toe-to-toe throughout the early stages, racing side-by-side and exchanging sliders right on cue, Carrick leading the way to the line on eight of the first nine circuits with Pursley edging ahead on the fifth lap.
On the ninth lap, Meseraull upped the urgency level to 11 as he split his way between Carrick and Pursley to slot into second in turn three, then glided underneath Carrick between turns one and two to occupy the lead.
Not only was it the series' first trip to Merced, the visit was also Meseraull's racing debut at the 1/4-mile dirt oval. His guide was his extensive experience and natural feel of the racetrack, while also having a weapon behind the wrenches that set the blueprint.
"Sometimes when running a new track, which I've never ran here before, you don't necessarily know where to run or where not to run, so you're just kind of winging it," Meseraull explained. "Hats off to (crew chief) Donnie Gentry for making the 7x good all night because the setup is so important in this along with our Speedway Toyota engine. If your motor is not geared right, you're just off. It was just a great night where we got our package together."
By the halfway point, Meseraull had launched to a 1.3 second advantage over Pursley, who had cleared Carrick a few moments later on the 18th lap for the runner-up position. Now clear, Pursley began to peddle back into contention as Meseraull now negotiated a maze of cars at the tail end of the lead lap.
Five to go, four to go, three to go, tick...tick, tick, tick, the hands of time began to recoil as the interval shrank to a half second between Meseraull and Pursley with three laps remaining. In that moment in time, Meseraull encountered Kaylee Bryson as he sought the proper path, low to middle to high, to overtake her and close it out while Pursley stayed the course up top.
With the white flag in sight coming out of turn four, Pursley lay just a handful of car lengths behind Meseraull. However, just as quickly as it seemed Pursley might be able to set up a possible bid for victory, it all came to a crashing halt when Pursley banged his right rear tire off the turn four cushion, then slapped the right rear against the outside front straightaway guardrail, causing him to barrel roll twice over before landing on all four wheels.
Pursley was uninjured, but his attempt at a first career USAC National Midget victory ended in an unsavory, crumpled heap along the main straightaway.
During the red flag period, Meseraull had time to ponder. He was fully cognizant of the fact that mistakes are forbidden during "winning time," but remained undoubtedly confident that what he'd been doing thus far to that point was being executed with precision.
"Honestly, we were really good, and I was kind of cheating the curb, I guess you could say, off turns two and four because it was so ledgy," Meseraull recalled. "You can't make mistakes while you're leading, or guys will get by you. I knew I could've maybe been running a faster spot, but we were pretty good where we were."
With a green-white-checkered finish in play to conclude the race, slide jobs are a foregone conclusion at this juncture in this sect of auto racing. However, Meseraull devised a plan win which he could still run his own race, but also prevent the inevitable slider from being issued by second-running Tanner Carrick on the final two-lap sprint.
"On the restart, I moved down and just ran two clean laps through the middle," Meseraull explained. "I didn't think anybody had anything to drive around the outside of us. This California air was really nice because that Toyota was ripping."
Carrick looked topside, and he looked low once the green dropped, but there was no avenue to pursue a path past him as Meseraull owned the middle line and flexed his muscle as he crossed under the checkered flag 0.452 sec. ahead of a season-best performance turned in by Carrick, with Cannon McIntosh, Carson Macedo and hard charger, Tanner Thorson (from 15th), rounding out the top-five.
While Friday night's Merced score was Meseraull's first USAC National Midget points win of his career in the state of California, it was not his first rodeo in victory lane with USAC Midgets in the Golden State. Previously, Meseraull had been victorious in three USAC Western States Midgets events between 2000-01 at Bakersfield, Stockton 99 and Perris. He also tallied a win in a 2004 USAC Midget special event at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway.
For the November western swing, Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, Calif.) made his return to KKM with whom he competed full-time for on the USAC National Midget trail between 2017-19. Carrick rewarded the team with a second-place finish Friday night at Merced, his best result of the 2020 season in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/BBS Wheels - TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Carrick's KKM teammate, Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) returned to the podium for the first-time since his victory at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway on Sept. 25 by earning a third-place result at Merced in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD - Mobil1 - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 20, 2020 - Merced Speedway - Merced, California - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Merced Midget Madness
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-12.051 (New Track Record); 2. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.064; 3. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.071; 4. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-12.087; 5. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-12.134; 6. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.139; 7. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.169; 8. Zeb Wise, 97w, Wood-12.181; 9. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.185; 10. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.201; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.242; 12. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.245; 13. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-12.255; 14. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.258; 15. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.265; 16. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.266; 17. Colby Copeland, 27w, Wood-12.268; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.300; 19. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-12.309; 20. Chase Randall, 35, Petry-12.317; 21. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-12.340; 22. Colby Johnson, 27D, Morris-12.367; 23. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.370; 24. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-12.376; 25. Dillon Welch, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.422; 26. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.427; 27. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.435; 28. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-12.447; 29. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.470; 30. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-12.482; 31. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.511; 32. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.531; 33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17JR, Clauson/Marshall-12.541; 34. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.558; 35. Jonathan Beason, 31K, Beilman-12.571; 36. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.580; 37. Matt Streeter, 14JR, Streeter-12.600; 38. Chance Crum, 39, Clauson/Marshall-12.614; 39. Blake Bower, 10x, Boscacci-12.615; 40. Ryan Robinson, 71R, Morris-12.633; 41. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.693; 42. Ben Worth, 5G, Alexander-12.707; 43. Kyle Beilman, 31B, Beilman-12.746; 44. Jake Morgan, 19w, Sala-12.800; 45. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-12.845; 46. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.936; 47. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.984; 48. Jarrett Soares, 12, Soares-13.030; 49. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-13.130; 50. Robert Carson, 99, Segur-13.236; 51. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-13.380; 52. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.425; 53. Kevin Woody Jr., 1x, LKK-13.776; 54. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.811.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Colby Copeland, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Dillon Welch, 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 8. Brody Fuson, 9. Matt Streeter, 10. Robert Carson, 11. Randi Pankratz, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Jake Andreotti, 14. Spencer Bayston. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 11. Ben Worth, 12. Lance Bennett, 13. Colby Johnson. 2:06.569 (New Track Record)
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Jonathan Beason, 8. Blake Bower, 9. Kyle Beilman, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Blake Brannon, 12. Jarrett Soares, 13. Tyler Courtney. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Michael Faccinto, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Zeb Wise, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Ryan Robinson, 8. Frankie Guerrini, 9. Jake Morgan, 10. Kevin Woody Jr., 11. Blaze Bennett, 12. Chase Johnson. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Hayden Reinbold, 2. Andrew Layser, 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Jonathan Beason, 6. Ryan Robinson, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Matt Streeter, 10. Brody Fuson, 11. Jake Morgan, 12. Ben Worth, 13. Kyle Beilman, 14. Jake Andreotti, 15. Jarrett Soares, 16. Blake Brannon, 17. Kevin Woody Jr., 18. Randi Pankratz, 19. Robert Carson, 20. Lance Bennett, 21. Blake Bower. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Dillon Welch, 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 11. Brenham Crouch, 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 13. Cole Bodine, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Maria Cofer, 16. Chase Johnson, 17. Colby Johnson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (6), 2. Tanner Carrick (2), 3. Cannon McIntosh (5), 4. Carson Macedo (8), 5. Tanner Thorson (15), 6. Shane Golobic (3), 7. Ryan Bernal (9), 8. Spencer Bayston (11), 9. Kyle Larson (19), 10. Emerson Axsom (14), 11. Mitchel Moles (7), 12. Buddy Kofoid (21), 13. Logan Seavey (16), 14. Tyler Courtney* (23), 15. Chris Windom (22), 16. Justin Grant (17), 17. Colby Copeland (18), 18. Kaylee Bryson (13), 19. Chase Randall (20), 20. Daison Pursley (1), 21. Zeb Wise (12), 22. Michael Faccinto (10), 23. Cole Bodine* (24), 24. Jesse Love (4). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Dylan Ito flipped during qualifying. Jake Andreotti flipped during the first heat. Chase Johnson flipped during the fourth heat. Daison Pursley flipped on lap 28 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Tanner Carrick, Lap 5 Daison Pursley, Laps 6-9 Tanner Carrick, Laps 10-30 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,729, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,728, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,701, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,657, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,482, 6-Daison Pursley-1,298, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,221, 8-Justin Grant-1,129, 9-Andrew Layser-1,083, 10-Cole Bodine-1,078.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-225, 2-Tanner Thorson-122, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Logan Seavey-102, 5-Robert Ballou-101, 6-Justin Grant-96, 7-Shane Cottle-96, 8-Cannon McIntosh-95, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: November 21, 2020 - Merced Speedway - Merced, California - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Merced Midget Madness
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Spencer Bayston
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Ryan Bernal
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
Indy Race Parts/Rod End Supply Fourth Heat Winner: Michael Faccinto
Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Spencer Bayston
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (15th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Tyler Courtney
Kofoid Outduels Larson at Bako; Windom Leads Points by 1
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
KOFOID OUTDUELS LARSON FOR BAKO WIN; WINDOM LEADS STANDINGS BY 1
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bakersfield, California (November 17, 2020).........Coming up through the ranks in the earliest years of his racing career, Buddy Kofoid idolized Kyle Larson. In recent years, Kofoid has gotten the opportunity to compete head-to-head with Larson on occasion in midgets and sprint cars.
In Tuesday night's NOS Energy Drink November Classic at California's Bakersfield Speedway, the two competed as teammates for the first time on the venerable Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team.
The fact that Larson was someone he looked up to and was also his teammate was no deterrent in Kofoid's desire to go toe-to-toe with Larson and defeat him. That he did, ultimately prevailing in a spirited duel that lasted the entire duration of the second half of the 30-lap event, with the winning move made just four laps from the finish.
"I can't believe we just beat Kyle," Kofoid exclaimed. "Kyle is one of the best in the world and really good in midgets. As a younger kid coming out of California and racing Outlaw Karts, I always looked up to him. Everyone already knows how good he is, and racing with the best helps you become better."
For Kofoid, it was his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory, and third overall of his career, after reigning victorious in last Saturday night's Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway.
Meanwhile, behind the race for the win was the race for the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship point lead. Chris Windom emerged ahead of Tyler Courtney in the standings by one single point at the checkered after charging from 20th to a 6th place finish following a wildly contentious final lap.
Kofoid lined up 5th in the 24-car field while Larson was slotted outside the front row, making it a fairly tall task for the Penngrove, Calif. Rookie who was, nonetheless, game for the challenge. Larson withstood a pair of uppercuts served his way via polesitter Chase Johnson who slid his way to the lead briefly on the opening two laps in turn one before Larson cut back under to grab the lead each time off turn two.
Kofoid raced to third by the second circuit, then traveled high and low around the 1/3-mile dirt oval to reach his way to the second position past Johnson on the 15th lap.
In the thick of the race through traffic, Larson held the upper hand over Kofoid by a two-plus second margin when KKM teammate Daison Pursley flipped in turn two on the 19th lap. He was uninjured.
The tide began to turn when racing resumed and Kofoid went on the offensive, slide jobbing Larson right off the bat in turn one. Larson answered by crossing over and trekking back under Kofoid as the two headed side-by-side into turn three. Larson muscled Kofoid off the low line, but Kofoid returned to the front with a cutback underneath Larson exiting turn four.
The slider swapping continued between the two on the ensuing lap, with Larson able to get back by with a down and under maneuver past Kofoid in turns one and two, then closed the door at the entry on the bottom of turn three. However, with the red flag displayed for a Kaylee Bryson turn two flip on the 21st lap before the lap was scored, Kofoid reassumed his position at the head of the field with Larson just behind.
Twelfth-running Thomas Meseraull found trouble on the first lap 21 restart when his mount received heavy front-end damage, forcing him to a stop near the turn three outside wall, and out of the race.
Back and forth they went with Larson able to find an answer for every strike Kofoid delivered. But with four laps to go, leading man Larson beelined to the bottom of turn three where he made a rare error, which scooched him up to the middle of no man's land and losing momentum, while Kofoid raced around the outside to put his name atop the leader board.
Larson made one final run at Kofoid on the final lap in turn four but Kofoid was unfettered in closing out his 0.552 second victory over Larson.
"We've been really strong as of late and the team gave me a hell of a car," Kofoid stated of his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 - JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota. "I had an issue with that last restart when he got the lead back and I kind of stumbled. I figured out what I needed to do and, man, that was a lot of fun."
For Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), his first event driving for KKM since Pennsylvania Midget Week in 2019 was a reunion of a combination that has won 15 times together in USAC National Midget competition between 2011-19. The first time back resulted in Larson leading a race high 24 laps and nearly pulling off the victory in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/IWX - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Larson, however, did continue his incredible streak of top-two finishes with the series that has now endured for 10 consecutive series starts dating to the west coast swing of 2019, a streak which includes seven wins and three seconds in that span.
"It was a lot of fun to get back with this team and Keith Kunz," Larson said. "It's been a year and half since I've raced with them. It was fun to get back in the seat and thanks to all of them for allowing me to run their car."
"Whenever you have an exciting race like that, it's hard to be disappointed about a second," Larson continued. "I just made a mistake. I thought I could go to the bottom there and just try to change up the rhythm the run and the race there, but I just got in, got to the brakes and stalled, and that cost me. I just hate that I made a mistake there, but I had a lot of fun racing with Buddy."
The other storyline throughout was Windom's 11-point lead was in severe jeopardy with him starting 20th in the feature while championship nemeses Tyler Courtney (-11) and Tanner Thorson (-32) started 3rd and 6th, respectively.
While Courtney and Thorson remained stalwarts inside the top-five, Windom was mired in 13th prior to the final restart with 10 laps remaining when he turned up the wick and elevated himself to seventh by the final lap. With Courtney running third at that moment in time, Windom needed to move up one more spot in order to move himself into the point lead, a final two-lap tussle between he and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
"At that point in time, I don't know anyone in the pit area is going to sit there and run 11th in the last race of the year knowing what's at stake and what everyone has worked for all year," Windom continued. "I turned it up, and it was so hard to get by guys. Restarts were crucial. You could slide one or two guys in one corner on the restart and you could hold those spots and that's what I kept doing restart after restart. I was trying to see how far Tyler was ahead of us, I saw it was two, it was three, it was four, then back to three, and I just raced as hard as I possibly could until the end."
That's when Windom encountered a seesaw, all-out war between he and Stenhouse - Courtney's Clauson-Marshall Racing teammate - for the coveted 6th spot on the final lap in turn four.
"I slid Ricky on the white flag lap, and he crossed me over and dove to the bottom," Windom recalled. "(On the last lap), I was going to the bottom as hard as I could and drove into the back of him and he spun around. I got into him there, but I saw the position, and that was what I needed, one more spot to secure a triple crown. It was a split-second decision and that's what happened."
While Windom hasn't exactly clinched the title, there are but two races remaining in the 2020 season this Friday and Saturday night, November 20-21 at Merced (Calif.) Speedway, both of which will pay 50 appearance points to all licensed USAC National Midget drivers and teams, regardless of performance, all but ensuring Windom's series crown.
That places Windom in the enviable position as the point leader entering the Merced events, putting him in the driver's seat of becoming the seventh member of the Triple Crown club of drivers who've won USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint and National Midget driving championships in their career along with Pancho Carter, Tony Stewart, Dave Darland, J.J. Yeley, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines.
"This is what I've worked my whole career for," Windom said. "The way the racetrack was tonight, we buried ourselves by not qualifying well. It was so hard to pass in the feature without throwing huge slide jobs on guys, and that's what I had to do to get to the front and get us back into contention."
Tyler Courtney, who now trails Windom by one point entering Merced, was a man of few words. The 2019 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ has been on the other side in USAC National championship point battles, winning the 2018 Sprint Car title based a tiebreaker after he and Kevin Thomas Jr. ended the season deadlocked with the same amount of points. This year, it appears the Indianapolis, Ind. native will come up just short, equaling the narrowest margin between first and second in a championship, one, set by Cole Whitt over Tracy Hines in 2008.
"I think we just came up one spot short, not even a spot, a point. That's frustrating, and it sucks, it really does," a deflated Courtney stated after finishing third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 17, 2020 - Bakersfield Speedway - Bakersfield, California - NOS Energy Drink November Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.701; 2. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.794; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.899; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.946; 5. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-12.958; 6. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.982; 7. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-13.010; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.034; 9. Kyle Larson, 71w, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.035; 10. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-13.035; 11. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.046; 12. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.050; 13. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.064; 14. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.075; 15. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.086; 16. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.090; 17. Blake Bower, 10x, Boscacci-13.104; 18. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.110; 19. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.128; 20. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.172; 21. Jonathan Beason, 31K, Beilman-13.186; 22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17JR, Clauson/Marshall-13.196; 23. Jake Swanson, 73x, Ford-13.214; 24. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.242; 25. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.250; 26. Ben Worth, 5G, Alexander-13.258; 27. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-13.270; 28. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.275; 29. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.286; 30. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-13.309; 31. Chance Crum, 31B, Beilman-13.316; 32. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.320; 33. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.342; 34. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-13.388; 35. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.432; 36. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-13.462; 37. David Prickett, 15DJ, Neverlift-13.477; 38. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.564; 39. D.J. Netto, 88N, Newman-13.585; 40. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-13.589; 41. Troy Morris III, 07x, Morris-13.767; 42. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-13.972; 43. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger-14.086; 44. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-14.271; 45. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-NT; 46. Ashlyn Rodriguez, 37, Mitchell-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jonathan Beason, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Michael Faccinto, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Jesse Love, 8. Blake Bower, 9. David Prickett, 10. Brenham Crouch. 2:03.059 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Frankie Guerrini, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Ben Worth, 7. Dillon Welch, 8. Blaze Bennett, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Dylan Ito, 11. Robert Dalby. NT
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Chance Crum, 9. D.J. Netto, 10. Bryan Drollinger, 11. Carson Macedo. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Bryant Weideman, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Brody Fuson, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Andrew Layser, 10. Maria Cofer, 11. Jake Andreotti. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jesse Love, 2. Chance Crum, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Dillon Welch, 5. Troy Morris III, 6. David Prickett, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Jake Andreotti, 9. Blaze Bennett, 10. Blake Brannon, 11. D.J. Netto, 12. Bryan Drollinger, 13. Brody Fuson, 14. Dylan Ito, 15. Lance Bennett. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Michael Faccinto, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Carson Macedo, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Brenham Crouch, 10. Blake Bower, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Cole Bodine, 13. Jesse Love, 14. Ben Worth, 15. Maria Cofer, 16. Chance Crum, 17. Robert Dalby, 18. Dillon Welch. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (5), 2. Kyle Larson (2), 3. Tyler Courtney (3), 4. Chase Johnson (1), 5. Spencer Bayston (4), 6. Chris Windom (20), 7. Tanner Thorson (6), 8. Cannon McIntosh (16), 9. Justin Grant (14), 10. Carson Macedo (21), 11. Jonathan Beason (8), 12. Emerson Axsom (12), 13. Clinton Boyles (10), 14. Ethan Mitchell (11), 15. Kaylee Bryson (7), 16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (9), 17. Andrew Layser* (24), 18. Michael Faccinto (13), 19. Tanner Carrick (15), 20. Cole Bodine* (23), 21. Bryant Wiedeman (19), 22. Frankie Guerrini (22), 23. Thomas Meseraull (18), 24. Daison Pursley (17). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Ashlyn Rodriguez flipped during practice. Jake Andreotti flipped in the fourth heat. D.J. Netto flipped during the C-Main. Dillon Welch flipped during the semi. Daison Pursley flipped on lap 19 of the feature. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Kyle Larson, Laps 19-20 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 21-26 Kyle Larson, Laps 27-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,679, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,678, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,651, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,607, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,432, 6-Daison Pursley-1,248, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,171, 8-Justin Grant-1,079, 9-Andrew Layser-1,033, 10-Cole Bodine-1,028.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-218, 2-Tanner Thorson-112, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Logan Seavey-99, 6-Shane Cottle-96, 7-Justin Grant-95, 8-Cannon McIntosh-93, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACES: November 20-21, 2020 - Merced Speedway - Merced, California - Merced Midget Madness
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Ethan Mitchell
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Jonathan Beason
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Clinton Boyles
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Chris Windom (20th to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Clinton Boyles
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Logan Seavey
Kofoid Conquers Western World Midgets
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
KOFOID CONQUERS WESTERN WORLD MIDGETS
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 14, 2020).........Three-hundred-sixty-four nights earlier, Buddy Kofoid arrived at Arizona Speedway's Western World Championships as a newcomer to the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget wars when he made his first series start in the event, finishing 22nd.
Three-hundred-sixty-four nights later, Buddy Kofoid became a Western World champion.
That accomplishment was realized Saturday night when the Penngrove, Californian led wire-to-wire from his outside front row starting spot, then withstood a steady challenge from previous night's winner Tanner Thorson, as well as a late-race restart, to capture his second career series victory in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 - JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota at the event presented by San Tan Ford.
"It's a good feather in my cap," Kofoid stated. "For Western World, this is the 53rd annual, and a lot of big names have won here, so I'm glad to add mine to that. Nothing beats winning."
Kofoid got the jump on the opening lap to rip past pole sitter Robert Dalby while KKM teammate Tanner Carrick followed in his wake on the high side just behind to procure second.
As Kofoid extended his lead to three-quarters of a second during the first third of the 30-lap feature, Clauson-Marshall Racing's pair of machines each found their share of hardship, with 17th running Cole Bodine dropping out on lap 10 with a cloud of smoke surrounding his ride while, two laps later, fourth-running and point leading Tyler Courtney dropped off the pace and pulled into the infield with mechanical problems of his own, which wreaked havoc in his quest for a second consecutive series championship, dropping him to second in the standings.
As Kofoid carved his way through lapped traffic, one instance nearly spelled disaster with 13 laps remaining. Kofoid attempted to slide past teammate, 17th place Brenham Crouch, in turn four when the two made contact, sending Crouch backwards into the outside retaining wall, closing the curtains on his night, while Kofoid continued unscathed.
Shortly after the resumption of the event, Carrick, who had run in the second position for the first 17 laps, began to fade then slow to a sudden halt when his left rear tire went flat on the 20th lap, forcing those behind him to take evasive action to avoid getting caught up in the ordeal. The 2019 USAC National Most Improved Driver returned to the fray after replacing the rubber in the work area, ultimately finishing 10th.
Thorson was able to mount a challenge to Kofoid in the first couple of laps following the lap 20 restart, creeping to within a single car length of the leader on the bottom in turn two, but unable to edge ahead for the time being while Daison Pursley, showing no ill effects from his flapping right side panel, was hustling in third and ferociously shrinking the gap.
The first red flag of the weekend for the midgets occurred on the 24th go-around when 16th running Noah Gass took a vicious high flyer into the turn two catch fence before landing upside down on the surface of the 1/3-mile dirt oval. The Mounds, Okla. driver walked away from the scene under his own power.
When the green flag dropped, Kofoid drew his car low into turn one while Thorson took to sweeping the top, then angling a slider into turn three, drawing closer to the lead on the 24th and 25th laps before dropping to the bottom in turn one on the 26th where he lost a parcel of real estate to Kofoid that added up to around a half-second when the second red flag of the night was displayed for 9th running Chase Randall who barrel rolled in turn four, ending his evening.
The incident set up Thorson in a fairly familiar spot. Rewind to 24 hours prior when Thorson raced from third to the lead on the first lap of the restart during a green-white-checkered finish, one of whom he passed was Kofoid. On this night, Thorson had one more lap and one less car to pass. However, once Kofoid got rolling, he never allowed Thorson a chance at that opportunity as he blitzed away over the final three laps to finish out a 0.566 sec. victory.
Kofoid was followed to the line by Thorson, Pursley, Chris Windom and Spencer Bayston.
While Kofoid lamented the missed opportunity from the night before, he took that as a learning experience for he and the crew to find that little extra oomph to push them to the top.
"I was in a position to win last night," Kofoid recalled. "I knew we had good speed yesterday and we kept working on it. I knew our slick track and main event set up was really good and we just improved on it a little bit."
Kofoid had competed previously at Arizona Speedway over the years, one of which was an ASCS Southwest Region winged sprint car race where a couple years earlier in 2018, Kofoid battled a familiar foe who was on his side guiding him to victory this night in 2020.
"My crew chief, Jarrett Martin, is from 40 minutes away from here, so to get him kind of a home track win with USAC is really cool," Kofoid said. "It's kind of funny, two years ago, him and I ran the Copper Classic together at this track, and then it wasn't until this year, we realized we raced against each other. I can't thank the crew enough for all their hard work and Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Mobil 1 and Toyota for a really great opportunity to drive fast racecars."
Since Thorson (Minden, Nev.) joined Tom Malloy's team in late September, the combination has clicked matter-of-factly with six top-five finishes in six tries with two wins and two seconds, which has brought him right back into the thick of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship hunt aboard his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring - Ed Pink Racing Engines - Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota.
"It just shows how strong these cars are and the group of people that I have behind me," Thorson said. "With Reliable, Factory Kahne Shocks, Trench Shoring and Ed Pink Engines, I've got a pretty awesome piece behind me. Everybody that is backing me and allowing me to do this, I can't thank them enough. We'll take our speed over to Bakersfield (Speedway on Tuesday) and try to pick off one."
Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.), who, like Kofoid, made his very first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start one year ago during Western World. One year later, Pursley was standing among tall cotton after equaling his best career series finish with a 3rd place result in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Craftsman - JBL Audio - Mobil 1/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
"To come home third to Buddy and Tanner is nothing to hang your head about," Pursley admitted. "It was my first time on a big track here and it's a cool place. I wish I could've have had a few more laps coming in. I'm thankful for third and I can't thank the entire Keith Kunz Motorsports team enough. They put a good car together and I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to drive it."
With Courtney's troubles, a runner-up finish by Thorson and a 4th place run for Chris Windom, the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget points race has taken a drastic turn after Western World, and with now just three events remaining. Courtney went from a 32-point lead to an 11-point deficit behind new leader Windom. Thorson, who trailed by a distant 71 points entering Saturday, is now just 32 points out of the lead coming into the Tuesday, November 17 round at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway, the NOS Energy Drink November Classic.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 14, 2020 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - 53rd Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-15.201; 2. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.341; 3. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.491; 4. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.513; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.564; 6. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-15.610; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.615; 8. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-15.631; 9. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.675; 10. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-15.686; 11. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.709; 12. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-15.716; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.750; 14. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.751; 15. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.751; 16. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-15.758; 17. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.781; 18. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.803; 19. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-15.868; 20. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-15.874; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-15.880; 22. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-15.913; 23. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.951; 24. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.032; 25. Jerry Coons Jr., 28, Dave Mac-16.045; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.050; 27. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-16.389; 28. Ryan Oerter, 43, Oerter-17.293; 29. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-NT; 30. Casey Schmitz, 00, MSW-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Robert Dalby, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Cannon McIntosh, 9. Jerry Coons Jr. 2:10.252
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Brenham Crouch, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Ethan Mitchell. 2:09.586
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Jesse Love, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Casey Schmitz, 10. C.J. Sarna. 2:08.584
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Chase Randall, 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Noah Gass, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Jesse Love, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Carson Garrett, 12. Casey Schmitz, 13. C.J. Sarna, 14. Ryan Oerter, 15. Ethan Mitchell. 3:13.982
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (6), 3. Daison Pursley (16), 4. Chris Windom (5), 5. Spencer Bayston (8), 6. Justin Grant (7), 7. Andrew Layser (13), 8. Logan Seavey (10), 9. Chase Johnson (19), 10. Tanner Carrick (4), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (14), 12. Thomas Meseraull (15), 13. Emerson Axsom (9), 14. Cannon McIntosh (12), 15. Robert Dalby (1), 16. Kaylee Bryson (18), 17. Hayden Reinbold* (23), 18. Chase Randall (11), 19. Noah Gass (20), 20. Brenham Crouch (22), 21. Clinton Boyles (21), 22. Tyler Courtney (3), 23. Cole Bodine (17). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Noah Gass flipped on lap 24 of the feature. Chase Randall flipped on lap 28 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,619, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,608, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,587, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,528, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,376, 6-Daison Pursley-1,218, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,145, 8-Justin Grant-1,030, 9-Cole Bodine-1,005, 10-Andrew Layser-1,004.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-204, 2-Tanner Thorson-112, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Logan Seavey-99, 6-Shane Cottle-96, 7-Justin Grant-90, 8-Cannon McIntosh-85, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: November 17, 2020 - Bakersfield Speedway - Bakersfield, California - NOS Energy Drink November Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Spencer Bayston
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner:
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Daison Pursley (16th to 3rd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Emerson Axsom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jerry Coons Jr.
Thorson Surges Late to Win Western World USAC Midget Opener
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
THORSON SURGES FROM 3RD TO 1ST TO WIN WESTERN WORLD MIDGET OPENER
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 13, 2020).........For the final push to victory on the green-white-checkered finish of Friday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature at Arizona Speedway, most eyes were affixed on the front two of Logan Seavey and Buddy Kofoid as the pair streamed into turn one.
By the time those two reached the second turn, it was, instead, Tanner Thorson who combed the bottom of turns one and two, driving past both Seavey and Kofoid to secure the lead en route to bringing home a 19th career series victory, tying himself with Jerry Coons Jr., Stan Fox and Jason Leffler for 34th all-time.
"That's what it's all about right there, those last few laps and having a car to win," Thorson exclaimed in victory lane after capturing the opener for the 53rd annual Western World Championships presented by San Tan Ford. "We concentrated really hard to set up for the end of the race. After I got screwed around for quite some time, we had a fast car, but we were too back."
Outside front row starter Kofoid controlled the pace for the first four trips around the 1/3-mile dirt oval until Thorson, of Minden, Nev., took to the top on the fifth circuit, drifting around the outside of Kofoid at the exit of turn four to lead a single lap by a wheel before Kofoid retook over amidst a flurry of sliders that also included Seavey.
The rapidly emerging Seavey, who had earlier set a new one-lap track record for the series at Arizona Speedway in qualifying, which broke his own record from the previous year, diamonded off the third turn to slip under Kofoid on the 10th lap. While Seavey just missed out on winning the race to the start/finish line, he did win the race to turn one where he assumed the lead and established his dominance throughout the final two-thirds of the 30-lap contest.
Kofoid moved back past Thorson for the runner-up position on the 12th lap, then separated himself from Thorson by over a second while still remaining a second-and-a-half behind Seavey who was carving his path through traffic, a half-straightaway ahead of Kofoid.
Seavey appeared headed for surefire victory, taking the white flag with a 1.643 sec. interval over Kofoid when 13th running Brenham Crouch, who started on the pole, stopped in turn two, just ahead of Seavey of the oncoming Seavey, thus setting up a two-lap dash.
As the green flag dropped, Kofoid immediately moved down a lane on the front straightaway, setting up his slide job into turn one, which initially worked until Seavey crossed over and dove back underneath Kofoid for the position. To Seavey's chagrin, the cross over move only brought him back to the second spot as Thorson snuck under both with the lead now in his hands.
Moments later, Kofoid slid Seavey back in turn three with Seavey once again crossing over off the fourth corner and denying Kofoid the spot. However, it was just a little too late with Thorson stretching his lead out to four car lengths by the time they'd hit the back straightaway.
Thorson closed it out with a 0.469 sec. margin of victory in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring - Ed Pink Racing Engines - Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. It was the 2016 USAC National Midget champion's series-leading sixth feature triumph of the season. Logan Seavey, Tyler Courtney, Buddy Kofoid and Daison Pursley rounded out the top-five at the finish.
The first four of Thorson's six 2020 victories came aboard the Hayward Motorsports ride. In five starts with Tom Malloy's machinery, Thorson has finished 4th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 1st, making the pairing the most successful in this stretch that began in late September.
"This car has been fast every time I've been in it," Thorson said as he celebrated via phone with 2014 Western World Midget winner Darren Hagen. "We've run five times and we've been in the top-five every time and won two races. I can't say enough about Jerome (Rodela), Chris (Tramel), Brinton (Marvel), Ed Pink, Tom, and all of Tom's family with Trench Shoring. They've given me the opportunity to come out and run with them and it's paying off. I've got to thank Reliable; he allows me to go out on the road and do this, so it's pretty awesome."
Logan Seavey led a race-high 19 laps but saw victory slip away on the final restart in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical Contracting - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
"Overall, we had a good car, ran a good race and I felt like I did my job," Seavey stated. "Under yellow, the thing just wouldn't take off. I knew it wasn't going to take off. I took off in turn three and it never went until about the flag stand. I didn't have the gear to run the bottom, so I knew I couldn't go to the bottom and I knew I was going to get slid in one. But I thought I had enough to turn down and cross (Kofoid) over, which I did, but it just gave Tanner (Thorson) too good of a run on the bottom."
"It's just frustrating," Seavey continued. "It's November and we can't get these things to take off on restarts. Our car was good under green, but you've just got to be able to get away from those guys on restarts and we couldn't do it, just couldn't put the whole race together."
A third-place run after starting 13th on the grid was as good as gold for two-time Western World Sprint Car champion Tyler Courtney who gained ground in his quest toward a second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget driving title, and now leads Chris Windom by 32 points with four races remaining in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
"It was a great night, going from fifth to third there (on the final restart) is good for the big picture things," Courtney said. "Obviously, you want to win, but it's tough when you start 13th. That just put us behind the eight ball. We haven't qualified bad all year until we got here, but I think we figured out a lot of things to help us out for tomorrow so that we can start our night out better and put ourselves in a spot to be able to contend for the win instead of having to salvage a third.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 13, 2020 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - 53rd Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.137 (New Track Record); 2. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-15.146; 3. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-15.190; 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.217; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.243; 6. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.393; 7. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-15.474; 8. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.505; 9. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.522; 10. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.534; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.587; 12. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-15.595; 13. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.603; 14. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-15.627; 15. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-15.634; 16. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.650; 17. Jerry Coons Jr., 28, Dave Mac-15.654; 18. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-15.665; 19. Stevie Sussex, 1G, Styres-15.671; 20. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.672; 21. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.713; 22. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.728; 23. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.734; 24. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-15.810; 25. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.834; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.878; 27. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-16.080; 28. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-16.250; 29. Casey Schmitz, 00, MSW-16.648; 30. Ryan Oerter, 43, Oerter-18.304.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Emerson Axsom, 7. Bryant Wiedeman, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Stevie Sussex, 10. Andrew Layser. 2:11.674
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Noah Gass, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Cannon McIntosh, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Jesse Love, 9. Casey Schmitz, 10. Hayden Reinbold. 2:10.260
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Clinton Boyles, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Ryan Oerter. 2:11.054
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Jesse Love, 10. Andrew Layser, 11. Casey Schmitz, 12. Stevie Sussex, 13. Carson Garrett, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Ryan Oerter. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (3), 2. Logan Seavey (6), 3. Tyler Courtney (13), 4. Buddy Kofoid (2), 5. Daison Pursley (4), 6. Justin Grant (9), 7. Tanner Carrick (12), 8. Chris Windom (20), 9. Clinton Boyles (21), 10. Cannon McIntosh (11), 11. Spencer Bayston (5), 12. Bryant Wiedeman (10), 13. Jerry Coons Jr. (17), 14. Emerson Axsom (22), 15. Brenham Crouch (1), 16. Thomas Meseraull (19), 17. Noah Gass (7), 18. Andrew Layser* (23), 19. Cole Bodine (15), 20. Robert Dalby (18), 21. Kaylee Bryson (16), 22. Chase Johnson (14), 23. Chase Randall (8). NT
* represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Buddy Kofoid, Lap 5 Tanner Thorson, Laps 6-9 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 10-28 Logan Seavey, Laps 29-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-1,579, 2-Chris Windom-1,547, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,508, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,451, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,338, 6-Daison Pursley-1,147, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,094, 8-Cole Bodine-977, 9-Justin Grant-967, 10-Andrew Layser-951.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-203, 2-Tanner Thorson-108, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Logan Seavey-97, 6-Shane Cottle-96, 7-Justin Grant-89, 8-Cannon McIntosh-85, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: November 14, 2020 - Arizona Speedway - San Tan Valley, Arizona - Western World Championships presented by San Tan Ford
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Noah Gass
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Chase Randall
Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Chris Windom (20th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jerry Coons Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Ethan Mitchell
Windom a Kokomo Midget Winner from 14th!
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
WINDOM A KOKOMO MIDGET WINNER FROM 14TH
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (September 26, 2020).........Chris Windom had won pretty much everything Kokomo Speedway has had to offer throughout the past decade.
He'd won two Sprint Car track championships in 2010 and 2018, numerous sprint car races on the local level at the quarter-mile dirt oval, three victories the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars, and was even victorious in a USAC Regional Midget feature in 2016.
Nonetheless, that one USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature win at Kokomo had eluded him. He led nine laps late in the going during Indiana Midget Week this past June, ultimately finishing 3rd.
This time around, the Canton, Ill. native sealed the deal and stamped the envelope en route to victory Saturday night, carving his way through the field after starting 14th, during night two of the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double.
In doing so, Windom maintained his point lead of the series by an eight-point margin as the 2016 USAC Silver Crown and 2017 National Sprint champ seeks to conquer the third and final prong of the coveted USAC Triple Crown, of which only six previous drivers have achieved.
Justin Grant led early from his pole starting position, outdueling outside front row starter Brady Bacon for the advantage at the drop of the green. Meanwhile, 2019 series Rookie of the Year, Andrew Layser, slotted into second past Bacon on the third lap and was on the prowl to track down Grant for the race lead.
That notion came to an abrupt halt for Layser on the fifth circuit as he pogo'd at the entry of turn one and collected a broadsliding Thomas Meseraull who was running fifth at the time. Daison Pursley (7th) was also caught up the altercation but was able to restart from the tail and race back to 11th in the end. Layser and Meseraull weren't as fortunate, though, retiring from the race with damage that didn't allow them to continue. Layser finished 20th and Meseraull 21st.
Series Rookie Emerson Axsom slowed to a stop while running fourth to bring out the yellow on the 15th lap, and on that ensuing restart, leader Courtney stuck to the bottom, all while being swarmed high and low behind each shoulder. Second running Bacon went topside and a suddenly surging Windom ventured even lower on the bottom, making his way toward the front after starting 14th.
Windom had gone fifth to third just prior to the yellow, then picked off another position in the pecking order on the 16th lap to roll to second with his vision affixed to Courtney just ahead. Windom had just run ninth in the preceding Sprint Car feature and was determined not to let Sprint feature winner Courtney sweep the night.
"The sprint car race didn't go too well for me, so I had to get something done in that midget race," Windom offered. "The track really wasn't anywhere but around the bottom, and I had to try something. I just got lower than everybody else and made it work."
On the 21st lap, Windom was on the brink of reaching his destination and was able to pull to the inside of Courtney entering the first turn. Courtney responded in kind by racing back by Windom on the outside of turn two, edging ahead midway down the back straightaway before closing the door to take away the bottom lane in turn three, and held the advantage over Windom at the start/finish line by a half-car-length on both laps 21 and 22.
The following lap, however, lap 23, Courtney performed a bounce routine as his right rear tagged the turn three cushion. That allowed Windom to sneak under and assume the lead to beat Courtney to the stripe by a single car length. Windom quickly put the battle to rest by extending his lead to 1.6 sec. down the stretch until a lap 28 yellow for the stopped car of Axsom necessitated a stoppage that ultimately erased Windom's lead, and provided Courtney another shot.
Courtney stepped to the outside of turn two on the final restart with three to go, and momentarily presented a serious threat to Windom's throne. However, that proved short-lived as Windom pasted himself to the bottom and launched away to 1.015 second interval at the checkered to win over Courtney in second and Fatheadz Fast Qualifier Tanner Thorson in third, placing the top-three in the series standings as also the top-three finishers for the night. Cannon McIntosh and Buddy Kofoid rounded out the top-five in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
For Windom, it took everything he had in proverbial tank to race from mid-pack to win and retain his point lead while also making it the sixth time this season that a winner has started 10th or worse with the series and went on to win. It was Windom's fourth victory of the year and one he certainly needed at this juncture of the season in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
"Chad Boat and all these guys at Tucker-Boat have brought me a great racecar all year," Windom expressed. "We've had one of the fastest cars night-in and night-out. The points battle is tight, but we had to come up there and win that race to keep us in the lead, so that's what we did."
For Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), it was an astounding ninth consecutive top-three finish with the series in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x, including his third-straight runner-up finish as he pursues a second-straight series title.
"After that restart, we just weren't as good as we were at the beginning of the race," Courtney said. "I don't know if something happened, but that's how it goes sometimes. It was still a good night; we qualified second, ran third in the heat and second in the feature, another second place in the midget. We've been running top-three a lot here lately with not a lot of wins, but it was a great night for our team. We'll keep putting the pressure on Chris here and see if we can get ourselves another championship."
Thorson (Minden, Nev.), a Kokomo USAC Midget winner this past June, displayed continual improvements throughout the weekend in his new ride, the Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring - Ed Pink Racing Engines - Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. He finished fourth at Gas City, Ind. in his debut with the team on Friday night, then set fast time during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying on Saturday at Kokomo, followed by a third-place feature run.
"I can't thank this team that's behind me enough," Thorson praised. "(Car owner) Tom Malloy and (crew chief) Jerome Rodela gave me a call to come run their stuff. I had a bunch of options and I just felt like these guys were the best ones to pick. I'm happy with (tonight). I wish we could've run a little better, but a single lane on the bottom makes it difficult to pass. Hats off to Chris (Windom) and Tyler (Courtney). They're two of the best out here in the midgets and it's pretty awesome to be able to race with them."
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 26, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval -Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-13.175; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.240; 3. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.256; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.303; 5. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.357; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.385; 7. Brady Bacon, 19, Hayward-13.417; 8. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-13.419; 9. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-13.425; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.431; 11. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.445; 12. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.452; 13. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.461; 14. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.474; 15. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.478; 16. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.496; 17. Logan Seavey, 91L, RMS-13.502; 18. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.535; 19. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.535; 20. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-13.553; 21. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.577; 22. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.583; 23. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-13.591; 24. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.593; 25. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-13.703; 26. David Budres, 31, Manic-13.714; 27. Chris Jagger Jr., 32, Jagger-14.746; 28. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-15.044; 29. Doug Hewitt, 82H, Cordonnier-15.100; 30. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-NT; 31. Ray Seach, 54, Manic-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Chase Randall, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Doug Hewitt. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. David Budres. 2:17.848
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Gage Rucker, 7. Chris Jagger Jr. 2:20.557
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Karter Sarff, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Glenn Waterland, 7. Clinton Boyles. 2:18.992
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Gage Rucker, 8. Chris Jagger Jr., 9. Glenn Waterland, 10. David Budres. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (14), 2. Tyler Courtney (5), 3. Tanner Thorson (6), 4. Cannon McIntosh (16), 5. Buddy Kofoid (9), 6. Brady Bacon (2), 7. Logan Seavey (18), 8. Kyle Cummins (12), 9. Chase Johnson (13), 10. Justin Grant (1), 11. Daison Pursley (8), 12. Brenham Crouch (11), 13. Tanner Carrick (17), 14. Bryant Wiedeman (20), 15. Kaylee Bryson (7), 16. Cole Bodine (15), 17. Emerson Axsom (3), 18. Karter Sarff (21), 19. Chase Randall (22), 20. Andrew Layser (4), 21. Thomas Meseraull (10), 22. Hayden Reinbold (19). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Justin Grant, Laps 10-22 Tyler Courtney, Laps 23-30 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,398, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,390, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,301, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,292, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,211, 6-Tanner Carrick-1,039, 7-Daison Pursley-1,005, 8-Cole Bodine-847, 9-Andrew Layser-844, 10-Justin Grant-793.
FINAL INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Tanner Thorson-16, 3-Cannon McIntosh-15, 4-Brady Bacon-15, 5-Buddy Kofoid-15, 6-Clinton Boyles-14, 7-Logan Seavey-13, 8-Robert Ballou-12, 9-Kyle Cummins-12, 10-Tyler Courtney-11.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-184, 2-Tanner Thorson-99, 3-Shane Cottle-95, 4-Kyle Cummins-90, 5-Logan Seavey-89, 6-Robert Ballou-85, 7-Justin Grant-84, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-76, 10-Andrew Layser-65.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Double Double ProSource Passing Master: Chris Windom
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Brenham Crouch
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chris Windom (14th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Carrick
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Gage Rucker
ProSource Hard Work Award: Chase Randall
BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Buddy Kofoid
Smith Titanium "Don't Stop" Midget Weekend Hard Charger: Chris Windom (19)
MPI BCForever Up on the Wheel Highest Finishing Semi-Feature Transfer: Kyle Cummins
McIntosh Marches to USAC Midget Triumph at Gas City
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
McINTOSH MARCHES TO USAC MIDGET TRIUMPH AT GAS CITY
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (September 25, 2020).........For Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, it was only a matter of time before winning returned to team's narrative following a 27-race winless streak that stretched a span of 13 months until earlier this month.
Enter September and the team is now three-for-three with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, and key to the KKM revival has been the surge of Cannon McIntosh, the Bixby, Okla. native who began the team's winning streak on Sept. 4 in Sweet Springs, Mo. and kept it rolling through Friday night's James Dean Classic, night one of the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double at Indiana's Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Friday's theme at the ΒΌ-mile dirt oval was reminiscent of the tests they've endured throughout their 2020 campaign. Though the hurdles were aplenty early on, the stick-to-itiveness the team displayed has allowed them to dig themselves out of their relative early season doldrums to persevere once again, which Keith Kunz cars have done now 113 times with the series, second all-time.
"We weren't that great in the heat race," McIntosh admitted. "We got up to third and it was enough to get us to the feature and put us in a decent spot. Then, (crew chief) Kaz (Townsend) went to work on the car and made some changes. I believe in him, and the car was killer in the feature. I was getting a little tight at the end, just getting behind lapped traffic, but I just hung in there and we pulled off the win."
McIntosh started his 30-lap feature from the fourth position in his TRD - Mobil1 - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, but he wasn't long for staying content with his position for as he blasted to the second spot on the opening lap by splitting between the two front row occupants, teammate Daison Pursley and outside front row starter Chase Johnson.
The pursuit of Pursley by McIntosh came to a head on the second lap when McIntosh showed a nose to Pursley while entering on the bottom of turn one. Pursley slid up just a tad at the exit of turn two and McIntosh powered past to occupy the race lead.
While McIntosh carved out a two second advantage in the opening third of the feature, Tyler Courtney began to emerge as a contender and was challenging Pursley for second on the outside of turn one when Pursley became sideways on the bottom of the racing surface. Fourth running Thomas Meseraull found no place to escape the fray and plowed into the idling Pursley. Pursley kept it running and continued on while Meseraull slid to a stop, prematurely curtailing his opportunity for a victory.
On the 14th lap, Courtney's diligence paid off after having gone toe-to-toe with Pursley to the outside for several laps prior until streaming around the outside of Pursley entering the third turn. Likewise, for Kyle Cummins, who reversed the method by slipping to the inside of Pursley in turn one for third following a tedious battle between the two.
Still up nearly two seconds the race's end approached, McIntosh possessed total control, keeping his car as straight as possible coming off turns two and four on the slightly slickened surface, gliding smoothly through traffic as he raced his way to his third career USAC National Midget feature win by a grand margin of 1.791 seconds over Courtney, Cummins and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tanner Thorson, who made his way from 17th on the grid to finish fourth in his debut aboard the Tom Malloy-owned ride.
Second-place finisher Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) raised his series-leading Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time to five with his qualifying performance in the Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. Courtney's eighth consecutive top-three finish has moved the defending series champion to within nine points of leader Chris Windom, who finished 9th, in his quest for a repeat title.
"You always want to win these races, but we weren't quite there," Courtney explained. "We've just got to get a little better there for the whole feature, but all in all, it was a good night. We haven't finished off the podium in a while, so it's been a good stretch here. We've just got to get the car back in victory lane. I'm tired of second and third. Once I got to second there, I just couldn't really make any ground up on Cannon. I think if the bottom would've slowed up just a little bit more than it did, I think my other line there through the middle would've came into play, but it just never did. Lapped cars played nice tonight; I was kind of banking on them to hold him up a little more than they did."
Sprint Car ace Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) equaled best USAC National Midget run of his career Friday night at Gas City with a third in his Glenn Styres Racing/Oshweken Speedway - Lucas Oil Center/Spike/Stanton SR-11x, a team that gave him a chance to delve into the midget world on a more frequent basis this season, and Cummins hasn't let them down.
"They believed in me to start running the midget a little bit, and to just kind of learn it," Cummins said. "I wasn't very good in the heat race, but in the B-Main we were a little better and there in the end, we weren't so great. I don't know what I'm doing, so we threw a couple things at it, and through the first half, this thing was on kill. Once it got slick there, I probably could've done a couple things, but third place in a midget, that's pretty cool."
Also of note, two drivers made their first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature starts at Gas City on Friday night, Chase Randall (Waco, Texas) and Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Ariz.). Randall finished 20th while Reinbold took 22nd.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 25, 2020 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - James Dean Classic / Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.149; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.164; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.213; 4. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-12.263; 5. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.298; 6. Logan Seavey, 91L, RMS-12.319; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.325; 8. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.349; 9. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-12.363; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.364; 11. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.371; 12. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-12.372; 13. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.400; 14. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.402; 15. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.413; 16. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.421; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.476; 18. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.482; 19. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.485; 20. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-12.504; 21. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.512; 22. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.523; 23. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-12.540; 24. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.541; 25. Brady Bacon, 19, Hayward-12.555; 26. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.598; 27. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.741; 28. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-13.255; 29. Doug Hewitt, 82H, Cordonnier-13.406; 30. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-13.434; 31. Kameron Gladish, 20, Nolen-13.603; 32. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-13.723; 33. Chris Jagger Jr., 32, Jagger-13.770; 34. David Budres, 31, Manic-14.416; 35. Chris Jagger, 27, Jagger-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Doug Hewitt, 9. Chris Jagger Jr.
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Robert Dalby, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Oliver Akard, 9. David Budres.
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Andrew Layser, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. Bryant Wiedeman, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Kameron Gladis.
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Gage Rucker, 6. Tyler Nelson, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Karter Sarff.
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Tyler Nelson, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Bryant Wiedeman, 9. Sam Johnson, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Gage Rucker, 12. Glenn Waterland, 13. Kameron Gladish, 14. David Budres, 15. Doug Hewitt, 16. Chris Jagger Jr., 17. Oliver Akard.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (4), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Kyle Cummins (11), 4. Tanner Thorson (17), 5. Emerson Axsom (5), 6. Justin Grant (8), 7. Buddy Kofoid (18), 8. Daison Pursley (1), 9. Chris Windom (15), 10. Tanner Carrick (13), 11. Brady Bacon (22), 12. Andrew Layser (9), 13. Logan Seavey (14), 14. Clinton Boyles (19), 15. Thomas Meseraull (7), 16. Chase Johnson (2), 17. Cole Bodine (10), 18. Robert Dalby (21), 19. Kaylee Bryson (20), 20. Chase Randall (16), 21. Tyler Nelson (12), 22. Hayden Reinbold (23*), 23. Ethan Mitchell (3). NT
* represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Daison Pursley, Laps 3-30 Cannon McIntosh.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,321, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,312, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,226, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,226, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,145, 6-Tanner Carrick-1,002, 7-Daison Pursley-956, 8-Cole Bodine-816, 9-Andrew Layser-811, 10-Justin Grant-743.
INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-23, 2-Brady Bacon-13, 3-Tanner Thorson-13, 4-Buddy Kofoid-11, 5-Shane Cottle-9, 6-Robert Ballou-9, 7-Justin Grant-8, 8-Kyle Cummins-8, 9-Carson Short-6, 10-Clinton Boyles-5.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-162, 2-Tanner Thorson-96, 3-Shane Cottle-95, 4-Kyle Cummins-86, 5-Justin Grant-84, 6-Robert Ballou-82, 7-Logan Seavey-77, 8-Brady Bacon-74, 9-Cannon McIntosh-72, 10-Andrew Layser-65.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Justin Grant
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Andrew Layser
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (17th to 4th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award:
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Brenham Crouch
ProSource Hard Work Award: Brady Bacon
BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Emerson Axsom