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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Tanner Thorson captured the victory in a photo finish Sunday in the Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway.
(Mike Roth Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (June 21, 2020).........Two nights, two blown engines. Those were the cards Tanner Thorson and his Hayward Motorsports team were dealt in the two races leading up to Sunday's Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway.

Out of powerplants and out of options, the team received a lifeline in the 11th hour from none other than a fellow competitor. A middle-of-the-night scramble ensued, and a borrowed Toyota engine was installed under the OilFire - FK - Walker Filtration - Smith Titanium/Spike 4-Coil car.

Despite the lack of sleep, the thrashing and the unknowns that were unloaded from their trailer Sunday night, Thorson still believed that all signs pointed to victory.

"For some reason, I felt like it was going to be the day to win. I don't know why," Thorson admitted. "I went to bed about 4:30 or 5 this morning and got back up at 8. Dave McIntosh, Cannon Mcintosh's father, is the reason why were able to race tonight - he and Cody Cordell, who takes care of all of Cannon's personal equipment. I can't thank them enough for allowing us to borrow a motor and be able to race."

Thorson (Minden, Nev.) and Team Hayward defied all the odds that were stacked against them to claim their third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory of the season with a slip underneath on a late-race restart with three laps remaining, then outlasting 2020 Indiana Midget Week champion Kyle Larson to beat him to the line in a photo finish by half a car length - 0.065 of a second.

Thorson's 16th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory moved him into the top-40 all-time alongside Rico Abreu, George Amick, Billy Cantrell, Lee Kunzman, Bobby Olivero and Henry Pens.

Thorson started seventh in the 22-car field for the 30-lap feature event, but instead of a instantaneous charge, Thorson dropped back to ninth and then to 10th in the early stages of the race. In fact, Thorson was still right where he started (7th) at the halfway point.

On a lap 19 restart, race-long leader Tyler Courtney bounced through turn one and flipped in an incident in which 3rd running Thomas Meseraull also spun. Courtney walked away from the accident, which sent him to a disappointing 21st place finish. Meseraull restarted and raced his way back to 9th.

Thorson was elevated to fourth on the restart, and although Thorson didn't appear to be a challenger for victory early on, this just happened to be the point where Thorson decided to turn up the wick. He now knew he mustn't be impatient or overzealous in his pursuit for victory because he also knew that, at this point with 12 laps remaining, his car was just beginning to come to him.

"My whole race started off kind of slow," Thorson explained. "The last few nights, I've been backing up at the start of the race, but my car comes in so good at the end of the race, I knew just to stay patient and not get too crazy cranking on the shocks and just let my car come to me."

"I kept seeing everyone blow the exit off of two, and a little bit off of four, and I knew that was going to be my speed because I was stuck with what we have going on right now," Thorson continued. "So stuck and being able to drive off so straight and so fast, and keeping my momentum up even though I was kind of chocking the car up, I knew that was going to be my time to get there."

The two-car Tucker-Boat Motorsports juggernaut of teammates Chris Windom and Larson now occupied the top-two positions. Those two drivers aimed to provide the Tucker-Boat team a complete sweep of the entirety of Indiana Midget Week feature wins, a feat that had only been accomplished once before in 2016 by Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.

But with Windom a one-time victor at 2020 IMW and Larson already claiming a record four wins and already having this year's IMW title in hand, the two appeared to be odds-on favorites to dominate the top-two spots down the stretch. However, Thorson, the 2016 USAC National Midget champ, had other plans in the hopper, as he tracked down Larson and made his move for second with an inside turn two pass of him with five laps to go to move to second.

"Once I got to Larson on that restart, I kept seeing his left front tire locking up and pushing out, pushing out, and I knew I needed to get in there hard and be able to beat him at the exit because he was blowing his exit way too much," Thorson recalled. "I was able to watch both of them. They weren't getting as close to the infield tires as I was. A couple times, I actually even brushed it and felt it barely tap the wheels. It's crazy how precise you have to be to be able to run down there."

Now with only Windom standing between he and victory, Thorson still had nearly a full second of ground to make up in less than five laps around the half-mile, but received another lifeline when 19th running Ethan Mitchell clipped an infield tire in turn two, which then proceeded to roll into the middle of the racing surface, forcing a yellow flag and a restart with three to go.

It was just what Thorson needed and, as the green flag dropped, Thorson ducked to the inside of Windom exiting turn two and moved to the lead as third-running Larson headed topside and got the groove working just in time to make one last patented charge that saw him pass a series-high total of 41 cars in features throughout Indiana Midget week, including his emergence ahead of Windom on the white flag lap.

On the final lap, Windom attempted to return to the fray up front a car length back of Thorson midway down the back straightaway while Larson held the same social distance length at the top, with Thorson occupying the middle. Thorson closed the lane on the bottom of turns three and four from Windom and came off the final corner to defeat a rocketing Larson on the high line to the stripe by a half-car length in the closest finish of 2020 Indiana Midget Week.

Kyle Larson's first time running the full Indiana Midget Week schedule since 2011 was a major success, winning four of the six events, and finishing second-place in the other two, including Kokomo, to claim his first IMW title by a 73-point margin, trouncing the previous record 44-point margin set by Darren Hagen in 2012.
(Rich Forman Photo)

Behind Thorson and Larson, Windom took third while Clinton Boyles secured a career-best 4th place finish and Kyle Cummins was an impressive 5th after starting 15th.

All the work and time that comes into preparing cars to win USAC National Midget races can be taxing, but for Thorson, he considers his role on this team as one that has helped his resurgence in the 2020 season in becoming already a three-time series winner through the first 11 events.

"I think there's a lot to say about being able to do your own car," Thorson said. "Nothing against Keith Kunz and his whole team, but there's something about that, for my satisfaction, to be able to do my car. I get to build it throughout the week and set it up and there's nothing that means more to me than being able to do that, and I think it drives me even harder. I want to win more than anybody out here and I think a lot of that is because I kind of need to. I make a living off what I make here whether I blow up or not. I might walk out with 5 bucks or I might walk out with 3-grand. It's just a matter of pushing myself as hard as I can. We've been one of the fastest cars all week but just haven't been in the right situations. (We've been) sitting ducks, kind of like those two were tonight. I was able to finally take advantage of that tonight and pull off the win."

For Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), his first time running the full Indiana Midget Week schedule since 2011 was a major success, winning four of the six events, and finishing second-place in the other two, including Kokomo, to claim his first IMW title by a 73-point margin, trouncing the previous record 44-point margin set by Darren Hagen in 2012.

But, on Sunday night at Kokomo, Larson very narrowly missed the equivalent of a walk-off home run by winning the final race and the Indiana Midget Week title in one fell swoop such as Bryan Clauson in 2009, Brad Kuhn in 2010, Christopher Bell in 2013 and Rico Abreu in 2015.

"The last restart was really exciting," Larson recalled. I wish I would've got the top going a little sooner. I felt like we were running an okay pace around the bottom where the top wouldn't keep up. There, we got to that last caution, and I said 'screw it,' I got to try something else."

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 21, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-13.027; 2. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.224; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.226; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.232; 5. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.238; 6. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.242; 7. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.256; 8. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.284; 9. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.338; 10. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.347; 11. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.355; 12. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.367; 13. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.395; 14. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-13.405; 15. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-13.412; 16. Spencer Bayston, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.421; 17. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.423; 18. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.437; 19. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-13.454; 20. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.465; 21. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-13.482; 22. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.485; 23. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.491; 24. Landon Simon, 2, Bush-13.503; 25. Jerry Coons Jr., 5, Petry-13.510; 26. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.526; 27. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.571; 28. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.591; 29. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-13.630; 30. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-13.631; 31. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-13.636; 32. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.647; 33. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-13.729; 34. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.812; 35. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.954; 36. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.059; 37. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Matt Sherrell, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Noah Gass. 2:15.155

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Jake Neuman, 9. Ace McCarthy. 2:18.087

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Carson Garrett, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Robert Dalby, 8. Ronnie Gardner, 9. Tyler Nelson. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Rico Abreu, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Landon Simon, 7. Brody Roa, 8. Justin Dickerson, 9. Spencer Bayston. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Spencer Bayston, 6. Jake Neuman, 7. Landon Simon, 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Chase Johnson, 11. Matt Sherrell, 12. Brody Roa, 13. Maria Cofer, 14. Tyler Nelson, 15. Carson Garrett, 16. Ace McCarthy, 17. Noah Gass, 18. Ronnie Gardner, 19. Hayden Reinbold, 20. Justin Dickerson. 2:51.405

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (7), 2. Kyle Larson (5), 3. Chris Windom (2), 4. Clinton Boyles (3), 5. Kyle Cummins (15), 6. Rico Abreu (1), 7. Shane Golobic (13), 8. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 9. Thomas Meseraull (9), 10. Buddy Kofoid (22), 11. Justin Grant (19), 12. Cannon McIntosh (8), 13. Spencer Bayston (17), 14. Jake Neuman (21), 15. Daison Pursley (10), 16. Andrew Layser (12), 17. Kaylee Bryson (18), 18. Cole Bodine (11), 19. Ethan Mitchell (14), 20. Jason McDougal (16), 21. Tyler Courtney (4), 22. Tanner Carrick (6). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Tyler Courtney, Laps 19-27 Chris Windom, Laps 28-30 Tanner Thorson.

**Tyler Courtney flipped on lap 19 of the feature.

NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-738, 2-Buddy Kofoid-674, 3-Tyler Courtney-667, 4-Tanner Thorson-664, 5-Cannon McIntosh-580, 6-Tanner Carrick-545, 7-Justin Grant-489, 8-Cole Bodine-462, 9-Daison Pursley-455, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-441.

FINAL INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-468, 2-Chris Windom-395, 3-Buddy Kofoid-379, 4-Tanner Thorson-370, 5-Tyler Courtney-318, 6-Tanner Carrick-305, 7-Justin Grant-302, 8-Cannon McIntosh-299, 9-Thomas Meseraull-275, 10-Shane Golobic-260.

FINAL INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-41, 2-Justin Grant-28, 3-Thomas Meseraull-24, 4-Cannon McIntosh-23, 5-Chris Windom-22, 6-Shane Golobic-19, 7-Jake Neuman-19, 8-Tanner Carrick-14, 9-Logan Seavey-14, 10-Tanner Thorson-11.

NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Logan Seavey-43, 3-Justin Grant-35, 4-Tanner Thorson-34, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Tanner Carrick-27, 8-Daison Pursley-27, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 17, 2020 - Jefferson County Speedway - Fairbury, Nebraska - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Midwest Midget Championship

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Cole Bodine

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Landon Simon

KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Jerry Coons Jr. (20th to 8th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Spencer Bayston

ProSource Hard Work: Buddy Kofoid

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Kyle Larson (#86) battles Thomas Meseraull for the lead late in Saturday's Indiana Midget Week event at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Lawrenceburg, Indiana (June 20, 2020).........A one-race "losing" streak was more than enough for Kyle Larson to endure as he got back on the winning track and returned to victory lane Saturday night in the penultimate round of Indiana Midget Week at Lawrenceburg Speedway.

The Elk Grove, Calif. native had won eight features in a row across USAC, World of Outlaws and All Star competition over the past couple of weeks prior to finishing as the runner-up on Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway's Indiana Midget Week event.

Larson's impressive victory at "The Burg" came on a late-race restart with four laps remaining as he slid by leader Thomas Meseraull for the pinnacle position to earn his fourth Indiana Midget Week score in the last five nights and his ninth career victory at IMW, tying him atop the all-time list for most IMW wins with Bryan Clauson.

The triumph was also Larson's 23rd in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget division, moving him into the top-20 all-time alongside Christopher Bell, Tom Bigelow, Pancho Carter, Tommy Copp, Kevin Olson and Billy Vukovich.

Though Larson's personal win streak was interrupted just once this week, the roll continued for Tucker-Boat Motorsports who now stands an unblemished five-for-five in the IMW series this year, and is just one win away from becoming the second team ever to sweep the entire slate of Indiana Midget Week races in a single year (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports in 2016).

"That was a fun race," Larson exclaimed. "You had to work for that one and, once again, (we had) a good enough car to keep us in contention. Chad Boat and everybody there, they prepare such nice cars, probably the nicest midgets in the pits."

Larson's workload began from the third position for the 30-lap feature, his best starting position thus far in this 2020 Indiana Midget Week. Meanwhile, pole sitter Tyler Courtney encountered a bit of trouble on the first turn of the opening lap as he bounced up the racetrack, losing three positions and dropping to fourth as series Rookie Buddy Kofoid took advantage to shoot out to the front from the outside of the front row and built an early 1.5 second lead.

The action came to a halt on the sixth lap as last year's series Rookie of the Year Andrew Layser barrel-rolled on the high side between turns three and four. The night's first heat race winner escaped unscathed.

On the ensuing restart, second running Thomas Meseraull was on the loudpedal as he sprinted to the inside of Kofoid for the race lead entering the first turn. A half lap later, Larson used the high line to drive around Kofoid for second and was an instant challenger to Meseraull up front, taking a few swings for the race lead, albeit unsuccessfully, as Meseraull rode the wave of momentum up top.

The trio went three-wide on a lap 11 restart following the stoppage of 2017 Indiana Midget Week champion Shane Golobic in turn two. Larson was able to get wheel-to-wheel to the inside of Meseraull in turns one and two directly following the restart while Kofoid reemerged as a contender, doing likewise on the bottom to the inside of Larson as he made a bid to get to the front.

Meseraull held serve at the head of the pack with both Larson and Kofoid falling into line over the next 11 laps until a yellow flag flew for Jason McDougal, who lost a right rear tire before coming to a stop at the top of turn one. McDougal was making his debut in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team's No. 97 driven earlier in the week by Zeb Wise and had worked his way up to fifth by the time of the caution. He'd restart from the tail and finish ninth with new rubber.

On the lap 22 restart, Larson made his move, sliding underneath Meseraull entering turn one. Meseraull answered the bell and drove downhill off the turn two banking to the inside of Larson to retake the position. The following lap, second-running Larson and quickly approaching, third-running Kofoid served up a double slider on Meseraull with both scooting past in turn one, yet Meseraull took on both of them simultaneously, and outpaced them into turn three as he drag raced and bested both as the first to reach turn three just before 16th place running Justin Grant stopped at the top of turn four to bring out the yellow.

Kofoid, now scored in second on the restart with nine to go, took a couple shots at Meseraull to no avail and was soon challenged by Larson for the second position with Larson ultimately prevailing using a turn one slider with six laps remaining. Larson immediately clamped down on Meseraull for the lead but was unable to get by each time he stuck a nose to the inside of Meseraull at each end of the 3/8-mile. Meseraull utilized the topside "mo" to pull away to a six car length lead.

Suddenly, with four to go, contact at the back half of the top-ten sent ninth-running Clinton Boyles into a 360-spin exiting the second turn. By rule, the yellow flag is automatically displayed following a 360-degree spin, resetting the deck for the final four-lap stanza.

Larson, in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway, knew that time was running out and was fully aware that his time was now or never and he had to throw the kitchen sink at Meseraull on the final restart if he was going to win this deal.

"I couldn't really run the top like I wanted to because I'd bounce a lot, then I'd get in the cushion and I'd be bogging," Larson explained. "I knew I had to try and make something else work. I slid T-Mez there one time and I felt there was a lot of grip at the entry of one. Once I got clear of Buddy there after he got by me on the one restart, I was able to just run that line to protect any sliders that might get thrown at me. At the same time, I could make up a little ground on him and I knew that, on that next caution I got, I had to do everything I could because we only had like four laps to go."

Kyle Larson's victory at Lawrenceburg was his record fourth Indiana Midget Week score in the last five nights and his ninth career victory at IMW, tying him atop the all-time list for most IMW wins with Bryan Clauson.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

With that opportunity, Larson capitalized on the chance, sticking the turn one slide job past Meseraull for the lead. Meseraull remained in Larson's shadow and the duo went toe-to-toe into turn three, but "T-Mez" was unable to slide past, falling into line behind Larson at the exit of turn four where he was then subsequently challenged and, ultimately, overtaken for second by Kofoid in turn one with two laps remaining.

Up front, however, Larson had checked out, finishing off his fourth victory of the week by 1.704 sec. over Kofoid, Meseraull, and series point leader Chris Windom with Courtney rounding out the top-five.

It was another sterling performance from Kofoid, the series Rookie out of Penngrove, Calif., who equaled his best career finish of second in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 - JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"I couldn't really get my car to take off that good," Kofoid admitted. "As the race went on, it actually got better. I was hoping that yellow where we were going three-wide was going to stick, but then Kyle got back by me. I knew that cushion was getting a little treacherous getting into one and really to the center. Sliding yourself, you can make speed and kind of catch it off, and I started doing that at the end. I was really good at the top of three and four and could carry a lot of speed through the center."

It was a heartbreaker for San Jose, California's Meseraull who led a race-high 21 laps as the popular veteran driver sought his first career USAC National Midget points-paying victory, but wound up finishing third in his Response Management Services/EnviroFab - Guess Performance Parts/Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"At the end there, on the starts, I was just struggling on the starts," Meseraull lamented. "If I could get the momentum rolling, the thing was just bad to the bone. Hats off to these guys. They've really stuck behind me. I've torn up a bunch of stuff this week. We've had a tough time, but we've got the speed. We were quick time tonight, battling it out with two of the best guys out here. It's a little disheartening sitting here after leading a bunch of the laps. My guys needed that. We needed that win. But you know what, we'll go to Kokomo tomorrow, hang it to the floor and try to rip the lip."

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 20, 2020 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.095; 2. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.120; 3. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-15.182; 4. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-15.204; 5. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-15.276; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.288; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.296; 8. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-15.343; 9. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-15.376; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.391; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-15.408; 12. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-15.419; 13. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-15.451; 14. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.465; 15. Jason McDougal, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.559; 16. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-15.586; 17. Landon Simon, 2, Bush-15.598; 18. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-15.603; 19. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-15.638; 20. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-15.653; 21. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-15.666; 22. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.689; 23. Terry Babb, 37, Felker-15.698; 24. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-15.705; 25. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-15.713; 26. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-15.779; 27. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.784; 28. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.817; 29. Jake Swanson, 73, Ford-15.823; 30. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-15.989; 31. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.075; 32. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-16.082; 33. Greg Mitchell, 001, Mitchell-16.896; 34. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-NT; 35. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Andrew Layser, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Noah Gass, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Landon Simon, 7. Greg Mitchell, 8. Tanner Thorson.

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Ace McCarthy, 8. Carson Garrett. 2:03.892

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Jake Neuman, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Terry Babb, 8. Ronnie Gardner. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Matt Sherrell, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Robert Dalby. 2:08.229

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Ronnie Gardner, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Landon Simon, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 8. Zach Daum, 9. Ace McCarthy, 10. Matt Sherrell, 11. Terry Babb, 12. Carson Garrett, 13. Hayden Reinbold, 14. Greg Mitchell, 15. Robert Dalby. 3:16.373

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (3), 2. Buddy Kofoid (2), 3. Thomas Meseraull (6), 4. Chris Windom (12), 5. Tyler Courtney (1), 6. Cannon McIntosh (22), 7. Kaylee Bryson (5), 8. Cole Bodine (15), 9. Jason McDougal (8), 10. Tanner Carrick (16), 11. Jake Neuman (18), 12. Noah Gass (19), 13. Zach Daum (23), 14. Clinton Boyles (9), 15. Daison Pursley (20), 16. Ronnie Gardner (13), 17. Brady Bacon (10), 18. Maria Cofer (4), 19. Justin Grant (11), 20. Brody Roa (21), 21. Landon Simon (17), 22. Shane Golobic (14), 23. Andrew Layser (7). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 6-26 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 27-30 Kyle Larson.

**Andrew Layser flipped on lap 6 of the feature.

NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-666, 2-Tyler Courtney-633, 3-Buddy Kofoid-626, 4-Tanner Thorson-586, 5-Cannon McIntosh-532, 6-Tanner Carrick-514, 7-Justin Grant-442, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-441, 9-Cole Bodine-429, 10-Daison Pursley-414.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-388, 2-Buddy Kofoid-331, 3-Chris Windom-323, 4-Tanner Thorson-292, 5-Tyler Courtney-284, 6-Tanner Carrick-274, 7-Justin Grant-255, 8-Cannon McIntosh-251, 9-Jake Neuman-223, 10-Thomas Meseraull-221.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-38, 2-Thomas Meseraull-24, 3-Cannon McIntosh-23, 4-Chris Windom-22, 5-Justin Grant-20, 6-Tanner Carrick-14, 7-Logan Seavey-14, 8-Shane Golobic-13, 9-Jake Neuman-12, 10-Zach Daum-10.

NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Logan Seavey-43, 3-Cannon McIntosh-32, 4-Andrew Layser-31, 5-Tanner Thorson-28, 6-Justin Grant-27, 7-Tanner Carrick-27, 8-Daison Pursley-27, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 21, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Andrew Layser

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Jason McDougal

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chris Windom

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Kevin Thomas Jr.

KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh (22nd to 6th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Zach Daum

ProSource Hard Work: Cannon McIntosh

7th Place Feature Finisher in Memory of Sandra Farris: Kaylee Bryson

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Chris Windom (#89) collected the victory during the fourth round of Indiana Midget Week Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Putnamville, Indiana (June 19, 2020).........On a night where a throng of watchful eyes were affixed on whether Kyle Larson could continue his unbeaten streak at Indiana Midget Week, it wound up as the continuation of another ongoing streak – the dominance of Tucker-Boat Motorsports, as Chris Windom captured the team’s fourth-straight USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory of the week with a one-two Tucker-Boat sweep led by Windom and Larson on Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway.

Windom stole the show, dominating the final half of Friday night’s 30-lap feature event to become the third multi-time winner of the season with the series after earlier winning in February at Ocala, Fla. during Winter Dirt Games, joining two-time victor Tanner Thorson and three-time winner Larson, each of whom would play a starring role up front on this night at LPS.

Larson was aiming to become the first driver to win four consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races since he, himself, did it in 2012-2013. However, Windom (Canton, Ill.) had his own plan to abide by, winning his second career Indiana Midget Week race after capturing his first IMW win just a little over a year ago.

In doing so, Windom collected an extra $1,000 by claiming the bounty set forth by Priority Aviation throughout Indiana Midget Week for anybody who could defeat Larson, something that hadn’t been accomplished by anybody between USAC, the World of Outlaws, the All Stars over the past couple of weeks.

“It’s pretty cool to dethrone him because he’s probably the best racecar driver maybe to ever live,” Windom said. “It’s pretty awesome to come here with this Tucker-Boat team, and every single night, we’ve had a win. I just can’t thank all these guys enough on this team for all the hard work they do running three or four cars every night.”

Larson had earlier recorded his second Fatheadz Eyewear fast qualifying time of 2020 IMW, then proceeded to win his heat race and was vying to sweep the night’s program from the sixth starting spot in the feature with the inversion.

With the average starting spot for a feature winner with the series this year being 9.25 throughout the first eight races to begin the year, no driver had yet to win a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature from the front row in this season.

Starting on the outside of the front row in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - Pristine Auction - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, Windom fought for the lead in a hardcore feud with polesitter Buddy Kofoid. After Windom led the first two, Kofoid crossed Windom over exiting turn four on the third lap, leading Windom to the stripe a single car length up front.

Windom immediately came back at Kofoid with a barrage of haymakers on each end of the racetrack, sliding past Kofoid on entry three consecutive times, but Kofoid ultimately closed the path of the slider line on Windom in turn three to secure the position on lap four.

On the seventh lap, fourth-running Tyler Courtney spun sideways at the top of turn one and into the path of Larson, who promptly T-boned Courtney in close proximity. Appearing to briefly remain connected to Courtney, Larson stayed on the gas and was able to untangle himself from the web and continue onward with seemingly little in the way of wear and tear.

Meanwhile, Courtney stopped on the top of the banking, and was forced to restart from the tail where he drove back to a 14th place finish, dropping from first to third in the season-long USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget standings of which he is a defending champion.

On the 13th lap, Windom returned the favor on Kofoid, ducking to the bottom of turn one and sliding up in front of Kofoid for the lead. Kofoid came right back after Windom in turn three a half-lap later, sliding past the two-time USAC National champ who turned down and drove right past the top-performing series Rookie thus far to snare the position and the race lead with 17 laps remaining.

With eight to go, Larson was still mired in fourth, but a late charge saw him lunge past Kofoid for third on the bottom, then by Thorson for second in quick succession. However, thwarted in traffic with the lapped cars of Robert Dalby and Maria Cofer, Thorson surged back past Larson for the position, first high, then low, as needed. to reclaim the spot, seemingly for good.

Meanwhile, the coast was clear for Windom as he closed out his fourth career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory by a 1.825 second margin of victory.

Thorson, who appeared headed for a solid second-place finish, had an engine failure coming out of turn four, dropping him back to seventh at the finish line. Larson collected a second-place finish with Kofoid, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tanner Carrick rounding out the top-five.

Chris Windom collected an extra $1,000 by claiming the bounty set forth by Priority Aviation throughout Indiana Midget Week for anybody who could defeat Kyle Larson, something that hadn't been accomplished by anybody between USAC, the World of Outlaws, the All Stars over the past couple of weeks.
(Rich Forman Photo)

Windom became the new overall USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point leader by 27 markers over Courtney and admitted that it was a physical 30 laps, but he knew he had to do everything he could to beat Larson, Kofoid and a host of others just a little over a year following his first career series win during IMW.

“Damn, I’m worn out after that,” Windom said with a laugh in victory lane. “The track was giddy up. Once we got to the lead there, I knew I could maintain speed as long as I didn’t make any mistakes through three and four.”

For Larson, it was a magical run that lasted nearly two weeks and encompassed a string of eight victories across three series, a performance that won’t soon be forgotten. However, the streak came to an end Friday at Lincoln Park, although it did help him enhance his IMW point lead to 28.

“I didn’t do a great job there,” Larson admitted. “Everybody was kind of going places and I felt like maybe I spent too long trying to hit the bottom of three and four. Every streak comes to an end eventually. It was nice to get eight. I’ve got seven in a row before, so to beat that was pretty special.”

“We were trying to run above the cushion (in turns one and two) and exit low,” Larson continued. “It was kind of hard to cross over the cushion and keep your rear tires underneath you. To run the bottom, I felt like that was coming in, and I was trying to get myself lower and lower and got myself into the grease and I think that allowed Tanner (Thorson) to get by me. Then, I didn’t do a great job in traffic, so I felt like if I would’ve cleared those two cars when I got to them, I would’ve had a really good shot at Chris, but he ran a great race and didn’t make any mistakes.”

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 19, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-13.039; 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson/Marshall-13.102; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.138; 4. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.194; 5. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-13.212; 6. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.272; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.279; 8. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.279; 9. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-13.362; 10. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.368; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.381; 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-13.394; 13. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.400; 14. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.400; 15. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-13.440; 16. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.487; 17. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.519; 18. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.531; 19. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.536; 20. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.545; 21. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.562; 22. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.571; 23. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.592; 24. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-13.598; 25. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-13.620; 26. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-13.684; 27. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.690; 28. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.699; 29. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.712; 30. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-13.724; 31. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.731; 32. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.771; 33. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.778; 34. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.787; 35. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-13.788; 36. Jake Swanson, 73T, Ford-13.805; 37. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.833; 38. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-13.964; 39. Ryan Hall, 2, Bush-14.034; 40. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-14.065; 41. Kameron Gladish, 20, Nolen-14.131; 42. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-14.168; 43. Jadon Rogers, 4J, 4J-14.190; 44. Kendall Ruble, 11m, Martin-14.338; 45. Terry Babb, 37, Felker-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Karter Sarff, 7. Kameron Gladish, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Thomas Meseraull, 10. Ace McCarthy, 11. Dylan Ito.

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Matt Sherrell, 8. Brody Roa, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Brady Bacon. 2:19.039

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Steve Buckwalter, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Ryan Hall, 11. Justin Dickerson. 2:19.488

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Jake Neuman, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Robert Dalby, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Noah Gass, 11. Kendall Ruble. 2:19.184

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Brody Roa, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Kendall Ruble, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Ace McCarthy, 10. Ryan Hall, 11. Justin Dickerson, 12. Oliver Akard, 13. Kameron Gladish. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Johnson, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Ronnie Gardner, 8. Brody Roa, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Steve Buckwalter, 11. Matt Sherrell, 12. Robert Dalby, 13. Jake Swanson, 14. Andrew Layser, 15. Karter Sarff, 16. Ethan Mitchell. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (2), 2. Kyle Larson (6), 3. Buddy Kofoid (1), 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5), 5. Tanner Carrick (9), 6. Cannon McIntosh (13), 7. Tanner Thorson (3), 8. Clinton Boyles (17), 9. Justin Grant (7), 10. Thomas Meseraull (21), 11. Shane Golobic (10), 12. Zach Daum (16), 13. Chase Johnson (8), 14. Tyler Courtney (4), 15. Jason McDougal (22), 16. Jake Neuman (15), 17. Daison Pursley (11), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 19. Cole Bodine (18), 20. Kaylee Bryson (19), 21. Robert Dalby (23), 22. Maria Cofer (20), 23. Kyle Cummins (14). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Chris Windom, Laps 3-12 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 13-30 Chris Windom.

**Chase Johnson flipped during qualifying.

NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-601, 2-Tanner Thorson-574, 3-Tyler Courtney-570, 4-Buddy Kofoid-553, 5-Cannon McIntosh-474, 6-Tanner Carrick-465, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-431, 8-Justin Grant-410, 9-Cole Bodine-378, 10-Daison Pursley-374.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-308, 2-Tanner Thorson-280, 3-Chris Windom-258, 4-Buddy Kofoid-258, 5-Tanner Carrick-225, 6-Justin Grant-223, 7-Tyler Courtney-221, 8-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-198, 9-Cannon McIntosh-193, 10-Zach Daum-180.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-36, 2-Thomas Meseraull-21, 3-Justin Grant-20, 4-Chris Windom-14, 5-Logan Seavey-14, 6-Shane Golobic-13, 7-Zach Daum-10, 8-Clinton Boyles-9, 9-Tanner Carrick-8, 10-Cannon McIntosh-7.

NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-43, 2-Chris Windom-37, 3-Andrew Layser-31, 4-Tanner Thorson-28, 5-Justin Grant-27, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 7-Daison Pursley-22, 8-Tanner Carrick-21, 9-Thomas Meseraull-21, 10-Brady Bacon-20.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 20, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kyle Larson

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chase Johnson

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Ronnie Gardner

KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (21st to 10th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chase Johnson

ProSource Hard Work: Thomas Meseraull

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Kyle Larson celebrates with his son, Owen, after winning his third consecutive Indiana Midget Week feature Thursday at Lincoln Park Speedway.
(Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Putnamville, Indiana (June 18, 2020).........Just when a little doubt crept in that maybe a 15th place starting spot just might be too much to overcome, Kyle Larson was there to prove that notion wrong. Again.

The Elk Grove, Calif. native is now 3-for-3 at Indiana Midget Week following Thursday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget triumph in round three of the series at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.

It was Larson's third consecutive Indiana Midget Week victory in as many nights and was his eighth consecutive feature win across USAC, World of Outlaws and All Star competition in less than a two-week span.

Furthermore, Larson became the series' first driver to win three consecutive feature events since, well, himself. He won the final three races of the 2019 season and has now won six USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races in his last six starts.

Two nights after winning the opener at Paragon Speedway and one night after charging from 14th to the win at Gas City I-69 Speedway, Larson did it again, already becoming the first driver to win three races in a single Indiana Midget Week, but this one in particular made him most proud.

"To come from 15th like that on a super technical racetrack is very special to me," Larson said. "I had a good line working in three and four. People would enter in and turn across, and I felt like I could run above the cushion the whole way and be good. It got some holes developing over there. It was a little tricky."

Relatively speaking, of course, Larson dug himself a hole he would have to drive himself out of, much as he did one night prior at Gas City. He qualified 9th, then missed the transfer in the heat race, and finished a ho-hum 3rd in the semi-feature, which placed him inside of row eight for the start of the feature.

Cannon McIntosh led the first third of the 30-lapper, repealing repeated challenges from fourth-starting Tanner Thorson who slid past McIntosh on multiple occasions throughout the first nine laps, with McIntosh denying him the position each time, for the time being.

That is, until the 10th lap, when Thorson found grip on the bottom of turns one and two to pull even with McIntosh exiting turn two. Thorson out-drag raced McIntosh into the third corner, slid up and ripped away the position for the race lead. McIntosh brought the heat to in retaliation, sliding his way past from bottom to top in three and four, but Thorson dipped low and nipped McIntosh by a single strand of hair at the line before pulling away on the back straight as McIntosh hiccupped at the exit of two.

By the 14th circuit, a familiar name had popped up on the radar with Larson occupying 6th and now closing in on a gaggle in a close-knit battle for 3rd. Larson took matters into his own hands, splitting between Buddy Kofoid and fast qualifier Chris Windom midway down the back straightaway of the 5/16-mile dirt oval before utilizing the bottom to slide up in front of Zach Daum for third-place at the exit of turn four.

Moments later, on the 16th lap, 11th running Jason McDougal got upside down atop the banking in turns three and four, from which he emerged unscathed, but saw his race end.
All that did was help close the gap for Larson between his 3rd position and the leaders. A spectacular high/low pass of McIntosh for 2nd was negated by a yellow for a Kevin Thomas Jr. spin in the second turn on lap 17. But, on the following restart, it didn't long for Larson to resume his craftwork, submitting a 2-for-1 slide job in turn three that sent him past both McIntosh and Thorson for the lead momentarily as Thorson ducked back under to nip Larson at the line and retain the lead.

Larson fired another shot on the 21st lap, powering past Thorson on the bottom of turn three, only to slide up at the exit of four as Thorson shot back under to beat Larson at the stripe by a wheel.

With 9 to go, Thorson's car hopped off the bottom of turn two, opening a clear lane on the bottom for Larson to skate on by and snag the race lead. Thorson promptly came back at Larson in turn three on consecutive laps, trying to slide on by but was not able to get enough mustard on the fastball to slide in front of him, only to pull side-by-side before Larson scooched away.

Kyle Larson (#86) won Thursday's Lincoln Park Speedway round of Indiana Midget Week after starting 15th. Second-place finisher Tanner Thorson (#19) won the same race in 2019, also after starting 15th.
(Lonnie Wheatley Photo)

A clear lane to victory for Larson was interrupted by the stopped car of 12th running Carson Macedo, who came to a halt on the back straight with smoke pouring out from under the hood. Under the caution, Thomas Meseraull, who had worked his way to 4th, pulled off and into the work area due to a flat right rear tire. That sequence of events orchestrated a final three-lap shootout where Larson was not to be denied.

"I felt like, when I slid Tanner and Cannon a couple times in three and four, I could actually make up ground, and they would only get to my inside. I felt like if I just ran that line the last few laps, I could carry enough speed to the exit that they wouldn't have a run to get to my back bumper inside down the front stretch."

From there, Larson closed out a masterpiece performance with a 1.285 second margin of victory over Thorson, McIntosh, Windom and Shane Golobic.

The victory was Larson's 8th of his Indiana Midget Week career, putting him just one victory shy of Bryan Clauson's all-time mark of nine wins with the series. Furthermore, the win was the 22nd of Larson's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, equaling him with past series champions Bobby East and Shorty Templeman for 26th all-time.

"(I had) just a really great car once again," Larson said of his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway. "(It's) cool to be the first to win three Indiana Midget Week races (in a week), and in a row too, that's special. Hopefully, there's many more the rest of the week. It's been a lot of fun."

For Thorson, it was his second runner-up finish to Larson in a three-night span after finishing 2nd at the Paragon opener. Ironically, it was he who started 15th and won at the Lincoln Park round of IMW in 2019. Thorson made no bones about his motivation in the upcoming final three rounds of Indiana Midget Week, to find an answer on how to stop Larson.

"It just sucks being a sitting duck," Thorson exclaimed regarding leading a restart. "That's what happened at Paragon (too). He's (Larson) the best there is. There's no two ways about it. To run second to him, I guess it's saying something, but damn, I want to win. I need to stop this guy."

Meanwhile, a turn four flip involving defending Indiana Midget Week champion Logan Seavey was the most serious accident of the night. Seavey climbed out of his crashed ride with assistance from the medical crew, but was later transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Ind. for observation.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 18, 2020 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.982, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.177, 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.181, 4. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-13.208, 5. Carson Macedo, 21T, Tarlton-13.212, 6. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.233, 7. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.234, 8. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.254, 9. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-13.257, 10. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.274, 11. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.292, 12. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.302, 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-13.324, 14. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.344, 15. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.346, 16. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.393, 17. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.405, 18. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.430, 19. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.491, 20. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-13.503, 21. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.504, 22. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-13.505, 23. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.509, 24. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.518, 25. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.522, 26. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.528, 27. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-13.552, 28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson/Marshall-13.554, 29. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.572, 30. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.577, 31. Ryan Hall, 2, Bush-13.608, 32. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-13.636, 33. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.659, 34. Terry Babb, 37, Felker-13.659, 35. Jadon Rogers, 4J, 4J-13.661, 36. Jake Swanson, 73T, Ford-13.704, 37. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.708, 38. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-13.728, 39. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.746, 40. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.889, 41. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-13.923, 42. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.968, 43. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-13.972, 44. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.995, 45. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-14.375, 46. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-14.416.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Carson Macedo, 6. Kyle Larson, 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Ace McCarthy, 10. Carson Garrett. 2:16.860

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Jake Neuman, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Ethan Mitchell, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Logan Seavey, 12. Hayden Reinbold. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Jadon Rogers, 9. Noah Gass, 10. Ryan Hall, 11. Steve Buckwalter. 2:16.244

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Maria Cofer, 5. Rico Abreu, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Jake Swanson, 9. Karter Sarff, 10. Dylan Ito, 11. Ronnie Gardner. 2:17.260

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Karter Sarff, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Terry Babb, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Dylan Ito, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Justin Dickerson, 12. Carson Garrett, 13. Ace McCarthy. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Carson Macedo, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. Andrew Layser, 8. Daison Pursley, 9. Kyle Cummins, 10. Brody Roa, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 13. Dave Darland, 14. Robert Dalby, 15. Sam Johnson, 16. Karter Sarff, 17. Ryan Hall, 18. Ethan Mitchell. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (15), 2. Tanner Thorson (4), 3. Cannon McIntosh (1), 4. Chris Windom (6), 5. Shane Golobic (13), 6. Zach Daum (2), 7. Justin Grant (18), 8. Chase Johnson (11), 9. Buddy Kofoid (5), 10. Clinton Boyles (8), 11. Rico Abreu (14), 12. Tyler Courtney (10), 13. Tanner Carrick (17), 14. Jake Neuman (3), 15. Daison Pursley (23), 16. Kaylee Bryson (20), 17. Cole Bodine (19), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 19. Maria Cofer (22), 20. Thomas Meseraull (7), 21. Carson Macedo (12), 22. Jason McDougal (9), 23. Brady Bacon (21). NT

**Logan Seavey flipped during the second heat and was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for observation. Jason McDougal flipped on lap 16 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 10-21 Tanner Thorson, Laps 22-30 Kyle Larson.

NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-525, 2-Chris Windom-522, 3-Tanner Thorson-511, 4-Buddy Kofoid-482, 5-Cannon McIntosh-412, 6-Tanner Carrick-400, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-399, 8-Justin Grant-356, 9-Cole Bodine-348, 10-Logan Seavey-342.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-227, 2-Tanner Thorson-217, 3-Buddy Kofoid-187, 4-Chris Windom-179, 5-Tyler Courtney-176, 6-Justin Grant-169, 7-Tanner Carrick-160, 8-Jake Neuman-138, 9-Zach Daum-134, 10-Rico Abreu-134.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-32, 2-Justin Grant-20, 3-Logan Seavey-14, 4-Chris Windom-13, 5-Shane Golobic-13, 6-Thomas Meseraull-10, 7-Zach Daum-6, 8-Tanner Thorson-5, 9-Jake Neuman-5, 10-Rico Abreu-5.

NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-43, 2-Chris Windom-36, 3-Andrew Layser-31, 4-Tanner Thorson-28, 5-Justin Grant-27, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 7-Daison Pursley-22, 8-Brady Bacon-20, 9-Mario Clouser-19, 10-Tyler Courtney-18.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 19, 2020 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Chris Windom

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Jason McDougal

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tyler Courtney

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Andrew Layser

KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Kyle Larson (15th to 1st)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Carrick

ProSource Hard Work: Maria Cofer