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

Buddy Kofoid scored his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory Saturday night at Missouri's Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
(Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Sweet Springs, Missouri (September 5, 2020).........After pounding on the door all throughout his Rookie USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget campaign, Buddy Kofoid finally bust through that door for his first career feature victory with the series on Saturday night at Missouri's Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.

With four second-place finishes to his name in USAC National Midget competition this year, the time seemed nigh for the Penngrove, Calif. native to reach the top of the totem pole. Patience is a virtue, and the 18-year-old displayed it in droves, and was primed to strike when the opportunity arose, leading the final 12 laps en route to becoming the initial first-time series winner of the 2020 season.

"We've been working on this one for a long time," an elated Kofoid stated. "To finally be able to put a USAC win on my resume, quite a few people have done it, but not very many people have, at the same time. To finally do it, especially for this team, the most prestigious midget team in the world, is really special."

Kofoid's triumph came just one night following a rough-and-tumble opening lap that saw him barrel-roll three times down the back straightaway during the first night at Sweet Springs. After walking away dejected and dour, Kofoid looked on as his teammate, Cannon McIntosh, won KKM's first USAC race of the year, adding fuel to Kofoid's yearning for his next shot just 24 hours later.

"I knew we were fast enough last night, and we were starting in a really good position," Kofoid recalled. "It's kind of hard to say now, but yesterday, I felt like I was good enough to maybe contend for a win. I kind of got crashed on the first half-lap, which really hurt us for points, but also my pride a little bit. To come back and get redemption is really cool."

To win is to beat the best, and Kofoid endured and dodged every single arrow shot his way from the likes of his teammates to the defending series champ, all while having to start from the seventh position on the grid at the 1/6-mile dirt bullring.

As it turned out, indeed it was the defending champ, Tyler Courtney, who slung himself out to the early race lead from his outside front row starting position.

The first stoppage of the night arrived on the sixth lap and involved 14th running Andrew Felker who bounced his way through turn one before flipping over, an incident which also collected Robert Dalby and Thomas Meseraull. Meseraull was the only of the three who resumed and raced back to a 9th place result.

By lap 10, Kofoid had worked his way to 3rd and began waging war with Justin Grant for the runner-up position. The two swapped sliders for the next three circuits until the two made contact on lap 12 in turn four, which sent Grant sideways and dropped him through the pack. Meanwhile, Friday night's Sweet Springs winner Cannon McIntosh slipped by both Grant and Kofoid to take 2nd.

On the restart following Kaylee Bryson's turn one flip on the 15th lap, McIntosh surged to the lead by the time the pair hit the back straightaway, utilizing the bottom of the surface to ride past Courtney, then proceeded to open up a two second advantage out front as the race reached its halfway point.

Kofoid caught Courtney on the 28th lap through the thick of the traffic and slid by Courtney for 2nd at the exit of turn four. A moment and one lap later, 11th running Tanner Thorson was stopped backwards in turn one, bringing out the caution, thus clearing the traffic away from the leader, McIntosh, but put Kofoid right on his tail for the restart.

The chase Kofoid put on McIntosh didn't last long as Kofoid hit the bottom of turn three on the ensuing lap 29 restart and slid past McIntosh, clearing him for the number one spot at the exit of turn four.

A resurgent McIntosh returned to pose a threat to Kofoid once again for the lead on the 34th lap, setting up his slider into turn three with a full head of steam. However, instead, McIntosh clipped the turn three infield berm with left front tire, sending him sliding to a stop on the topside of turns three and four. With his bid for a repeat victory vanished, McIntosh restarted and finished 12th.

Kofoid then had to withstand multiple restarts down the stretch, the final one coming with three laps remaining with Courtney now assuming the role of the shadow in 2nd. Courtney followed Kofoid the first circuit, then found a run off of turn two coming to the white flag that allowed him to close rapidly on Kofoid, thus setting up what turned out to be his one and only, final haymaker.

Courtney threw his machine hard to the bottom of three before sliding up toward Kofoid up against the cushion. With no sense of rattle or hesitation, Kofoid never blinked, kept his foot on the throttle and denied Courtney the lead by racing back around on the outside of turn four. Courtney, meanwhile, banked off the turn four cushion and lost too much ground to make another run for the win on the final lap as Kofoid raced away and edged Courtney by two car lengths at the line.

After a 27-race winless drought in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports was ended on Friday night by McIntosh, it took just one more night for the next victory to arrive for the Columbus, Ind. based team who made it an undefeated 4-for-4 in terms of USAC Midget feature victories at Sweet Springs after previous triumphs by Logan Seavey (2018) and Tanner Carrick (2019), and Kofoid was going to give everything and do whatever the task required to continue the winning streak.

"When we were taking the white, he threw a slider and when I saw him, I pretty much said 'I'm not lifting,'" Kofoid remembered. "I was already committed and just squeaked by. (Courtney) even said, 'I don't know how you got by.' At the end of the day, I just wanted it badly and I was going to do anything it took to do that."

Earlier, in Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying, Kofoid's KKM teammate, Kaylee Bryson, became the first female to set fast time during a USAC National Midget event since Holly Shelton in 2018 at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kans., also driving for KKM. Bryson later established the 12-lap USAC National Midget track record at Sweet Springs during the Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing semi-feature at 2:31.066.

Furthermore, Spencer Bayston, the 2017 USAC National Midget champion, set a new 10-lap USAC National Midget track record at Sweet Springs with a time of 2:03.300 during Simpson Race Products heat race one.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 5, 2020 - \Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex - Sweet Springs, Missouri - 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.159; 2. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-12.174; 3. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.237; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.238; 5. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.242; 6. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.250; 7. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.255; 8. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.264; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.270; 10. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-12.279; 11. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.325; 12. Jesse Love, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.325; 13. Spencer Bayston, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.342; 14. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.345; 15. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-12.347; 16. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.388; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.392; 18. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-12.519; 19. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-12.528; 20. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.536; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-12.618; 22. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.631; 23. Andrew Felker, 44s, Shields-12.675; 24. Chad Winfrey, 321, Winfrey-12.802; 25. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-12.830; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.867; 27. Joe Boyles, 98B, Boyles-12.977; 28. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-NT; 29. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-(Time of 12.371 disallowed due to minimum weight requirements).

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Andrew Felker, 10. Hayden Reinbold. 2:03.300 (New Track Record)

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Noah Gass, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Chad Winfrey, 8. Joe Boyles, 9. Tanner Thorson. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Johnson, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Ace McCarthy, 9. Gage Rucker. 2:03.884

INDY RACE PARTS / INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Andrew Felker, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Ace McCarthy, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Gage Rucker, 9. Ethan Mitchell, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Chad Winfrey, 12. Joe Boyles. 2:31.066 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (7), 2. Tyler Courtney (2), 3. Chris Windom (6), 4. Tanner Carrick (11), 5. Spencer Bayston (8), 6. Daison Pursley (4), 7. Andrew Layser (19), 8. Clinton Boyles (3), 9. Thomas Meseraull (16), 10. Tanner Thorson (23), 11. Jesse Love (13), 12. Cannon McIntosh (5), 13. Trey Marcham (14), 14. Chase Johnson (9), 15. Emerson Axsom (15), 16. Kaylee Bryson (10), 17. Ethan Mitchell (24), 18. Noah Gass (18), 19. Justin Grant (1), 20. Trey Gropp (22), 21. Cole Bodine (17), 22. Ace McCarthy (21), 23. Andrew Felker (20), 24. Robert Dalby (12). NT

**Andrew Felker flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 15 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Tyler Courtney, Laps 15-28 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 29-40 Buddy Kofoid.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,268, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,234, 3-Buddy Kofoid-1,167, 4-Tanner Thorson-1,163, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,069, 6-Tanner Carrick-956, 7-Daison Pursley-901, 8-Cole Bodine-779, 9-Andrew Layser-764, 10-Justin Grant-680.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-129, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-74, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Cannon McIntosh-69, 6-Shane Cottle-68, 7-Andrew Layser-65, 8-Kyle Larson-62, 9-Logan Seavey-62, 10-Daison Pursley-54.

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kaylee Bryson

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Spencer Bayston

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chase Johnson

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Kaylee Bryson

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Gage Rucker

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Andrew Layser (19th to 7th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Trey Marcham

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

Cannon McIntosh captured his second career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory Friday night at Sweet Springs (Mo.) Motorsports Complex with a last lap, last corner pass. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Sweet Springs, Missouri (September 4, 2020).........In the moments leading up to the final lap, Cannon McIntosh figured a chance at victory was just out of the realm of possibility in Friday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature at Missouri's Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.

Yet, all it takes to win is to lead just one inch, a foot, a yard. A valiant effort by the 17-year-old Bixby, Okla. native saw McIntosh erase a late-race one-second lead held by Chris Windom as Windom dealt with a throng of traffic on the final lap. McIntosh ripped around the outside of turn four to nip Windom at the stripe by a half-car length for the victory - the only corner, the only lap McIntosh led throughout the evening.

"I thought when he got to traffic, I was too far out of reach," McIntosh admitted. "We got the white flag and I went into one as hard as I possibly could and kind of gained on him. He went to the bottom and followed the lapped car and I just sailed it off into three and four through the middle as hard as I could, and it was just enough to get him."

McIntosh's triumph was the second of his USAC National Midget career, and first outdoors, after winning his first contest 18 months earlier indoors at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.

Moreover, since joining the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports juggernaut at the beginning season, the team as a whole had yet to win a USAC race, last doing so with the series in July of 2019, 14 months ago. The victory made it three wins for the KKM team in three tries, keeping their winning tradition alive at the 1/6-mile dirt oval after previous victories with Logan Seavey in 2018 and Tanner Carrick in 2019.

"We've been winless all year with USAC, and I saw that stat today, and I was like, 'well, that's some pressure,'" McIntosh noted. "It motivated me to keep the streak going for the team. We were all wondering if we were going to get one this year. It's finally here, but I'm hoping that just opened the lid for a ton more to come. I've been striving as hard as I can to get that win and everyone on this team has been working hard to make that happen. Tonight, the cards finally laid into place."

Starting 13th in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD - Mobil1 - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota was McIntosh, who made his way into ninth on the opening lap, then gained one additional position per lap until reaching the top-five on lap five and the top-three on the seventh circuit.

However, in the midst of McIntosh's surge was a bit of mayhem, particularly on an opening lap tangle when contact on the back straightaway between Buddy Kofoid and Thomas Meseraull sent 6th starting Kofoid sideways in front of 9th starting Justin Grant. Grant dug in the nose and somersaulted twice before landing hard on the tail tank as Chris Windom drove underneath the airborne Grant. Meanwhile, Kofoid barrel-rolled three times after the contact. Both Grant and Kofoid were okay, but out of the race as a result.

Local talent, Clinton Boyles of Greenwood, Mo., led the opening lap from his outside front row position as he aimed to become the first Missouri-born winner with the USAC National Midgets since Steve Gennetten in 1989. Yet, reigning Sweet Springs winner Tanner Carrick rode the bottom past pole sitter Emerson Axsom and Carrick to lead the second lap.

On lap four, Boyles' bid for victory fell to the wayside as he slowed to a stop with mechanical trouble. He'd return to the lineup briefly but dropped out by lap eight after a turn four incident with Ethan Mitchell, ultimately finishing 21st.

Carrick led for much of the first half, displaying resiliency in holding off 7th starting Windom for many of those laps before Windom snagged the position with a turn one slider on the 17th lap. Carrick dropped back to 9th at the checkered but remained the only driver to lead laps and finish inside the top-ten during all three previous USAC National Midget features at Sweet Springs dating back to 2018.

The driver mimicking Windom's moves was McIntosh who repeated Windom's same turn one slider and turn three door close a lap later on the 18th go-around to slot into second and give chase to Windom.

Moments later, the second red flag of the feature occurred when series Rookie Chase Johnson, running 10th at the time, flipped at the entrance of turn three. He was okay.

From the restart onward, McIntosh's pursuit of Windom proved futile as Windom opened up his lead to over a second at the drop of a hat once racing resumed with a clear track ahead, running the cushion between turns one and two and on the bottom in turns three and four.

With five to go, McIntosh had managed to knock a tenth off Windom's one second lead, but time was running short. However, lapped traffic loomed, forcing Windom to have to untangle himself from a web in order to find victory for a fourth time with the series in 2020.

On the final lap, McIntosh quickly ate up the ground between he and Windom and was just three car lengths back in turn three when Windom went to the bottom at the entry to the third turn, slotting in between the cars of Mitchell and Cole Bodine running at the tail.

McIntosh staked his car in the middle groove, unfettered without any obstruction, and admitted that he was "pretty much swinging for the fences" at that moment, gassing his machine around Windom on the outside of turn four, beating Windom to the stripe to earn the victory over Windom, Tyler Courtney, Tanner Thorson and Thomas Meseraull.

Cannon McIntosh's victory made it three wins for the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team in three tries, keeping their winning tradition alive at the 1/6-mile dirt oval in Sweet Springs, Mo. after previous victories with Logan Seavey in 2018 and Tanner Carrick in 2019.
(Rich Forman Photo)

What it takes to win is to be there in the end, and ultimately lead the most important lap, the final one, even it takes 29 and three-quarters of a lap to get there. That's what counts the most in the stat sheet and in the wallet.

"I was making a run there; I made mistakes down there in one and two, then he'd pull away, I'd get him back, then he'd pull away again," McIntosh remembered. "I didn't think there was going to be a chance; the bottom was the preferred line and he moved down there and got stuck. I didn't think the middle was going to hold me, but I think it threw enough (dirt) up there to where I could get enough momentum to get around him."

Windom gained three points to up his lead to 34 in his pursuit of the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, finishing in the runner-up position in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota. However, points were not of the utmost concern to the Canton, Ill. driver in the immediate moments following the race.

"I don't even think about points after leading the whole race like that and not getting the win," Windom admitted. "I felt like we were good the whole time. I got to lapped traffic there late and wasn't really sure where to go. I hadn't run the top in three and four the whole race. I kind of got forced up there and started missing my marks in one and two. I went to the bottom on the last corner to protect and he just ran a really good lap around the top and got by us clean there. There's not much to say other than he outran me in three and four. I just kept it low and too slow just thinking we had it wrapped up there, but obviously you never do until the end."

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 4, 2020 - Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex - Sweet Springs, Missouri - 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.863 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.941; 3. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-11.955; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.964; 5. Spencer Bayston, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.028; 6. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.043; 7. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.050; 8. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.051; 9. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-12.061; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.082; 11. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.093; 12. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.101; 13. Jesse Love, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.102; 14. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-12.138; 15. Andrew Felker, 44s, Shields-12.184; 16. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.220; 17. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.263; 18. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.286; 19. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.340; 20. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-12.400; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-12.400; 22. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-12.403; 23. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-12.436; 24. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.478; 25. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.487; 26. Riley Kreisel, 56AP, Young-12.491; 27. Chad Winfrey, 321, Winfrey-12.649; 28. Andy Bishop, 11, Harris-12.658; 29. Joe Boyles, 98B, Boyles-12.755; 30. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-12.779; 31. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.954; 32. Branigan Roark, 4c, Shields-12.976; 33. Mark Billings, 60E, Billings-13.136.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Trey Marcham, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Joe Boyles, 9. Mark Billings. 2:03.358 (New Track Record)

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Ace McCarthy, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Gage Rucker, 8. Riley Kreisel. 2:04.393

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Dalby, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Andrew Felker, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Chad Winfrey, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Trey Gropp. 2:03.745

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Noah Gass, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Andy Bishop. 2:07.145

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Riley Kreisel, 9. Chad Winfrey, 10. Gage Rucker, 11. Hayden Reinbold, 12. Joe Boyles, 13. Andy Bishop, 14. Mark Billings. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (13), 2. Chris Windom (7), 3. Tyler Courtney (10), 4. Tanner Thorson (11), 5. Thomas Meseraull (5), 6. Daison Pursley (12), 7. Andrew Felker (17), 8. Robert Dalby (8), 9. Tanner Carrick (3), 10. Kaylee Bryson (14), 11. Spencer Bayston (4), 12. Andrew Layser (21), 13. Emerson Axsom (1), 14. Ace McCarthy (20), 15. Trey Marcham (22), 16. Noah Gass (19), 17. Jesse Love (15), 18. Cole Bodine (18), 19. Ethan Mitchell (23), 20. Chase Johnson (16), 21. Clinton Boyles (2), 22. Buddy Kofoid (6), 23. Justin Grant (9). NT

**Sam Johnson flipped during the fourth heat. Buddy Kofoid & Justin Grant flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Chase Johnson flipped on lap 18 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Clinton Boyles, Laps 2-16 Tanner Carrick, Laps 17-29 Chris Windom, Lap 30 Cannon McIntosh.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,194, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,160, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,115, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,089, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,021, 6-Tanner Carrick-892, 7-Daison Pursley-842, 8-Cole Bodine-753, 9-Andrew Layser-708, 10-Justin Grant-650.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-126, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-74, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Cannon McIntosh-69, 6-Shane Cottle-68, 7-Kyle Larson-62, 8-Logan Seavey-62, 9-Daison Pursley-54, 10-Andrew Layser-53.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 5, 2020 - Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex - Sweet Springs, Missouri - 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Robert Dalby

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Ethan Mitchell

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh (13th to 1st)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Emerson Axsom

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

Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.), collected his second career Night Before the 500 Midget win Saturday night at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
(Al Steinberg Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020).........Bobby Santos admitted that it took him a minute to get reacclimated to midget racing Saturday night at Brownsburg, Indiana's Lucas Oil Raceway.

Yet, when was all said and done, there was no evidence of rust anywhere to be found as Santos stood up in his seat to celebrate his second career Night Before the 500 victory in the USAC non-points special midget event at the .686-mile paved oval.

The victory for Santos came aboard a car prepared by an all East Coast team, one that has a heritage of success at LOR, including two victories with Ken Schrader behind the wheel of the team's Silver Crown car in 1986 and 1989.

This particular evening belonged to Santos, however, as he led the first half of the 30-lap feature, lost the lead, then regained it with 11 laps remaining to secure the monumental victory in the Seymour-West/Indy Performance Composites - DTF Performance - Seaman Mechanical/Beast/Stanton SR-11x.

"These guys are awesome," Santos said of the Seymour-West team. "They put together an unbelievable racecar, Jeff West, IPC, Matt and Bobby Seymour. I drove for them years ago, and it's pretty awesome to get back into one of their racecars, 'The Spirit of Boston.' That means a lot to be driving the 29."

The Franklin, Mass. native's first Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years ago in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the event, surpassing the 12 years that passed between Mel Kenyon's second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.

The win marked Santos' ninth overall USAC-sanctioned victory at LOR, which ranks fourth all-time in that department. Interesting enough, the battle for victory came down between he and the only other past Night Before the 500 winner in the starting field for the midget feature, 2010 victor Tanner Swanson, who owns seven USAC victories of his own at LOR, including the previous night's Silver Crown 100-lapper.

Santos broke away from his outside front row starting position to nip pole sitter Kody Swanson at the line and lead the opening lap by a single car length over the eight-time LOR USAC winner who scored an Indy Pro 2000 Series triumph at the same track just one night prior.

Stretching his lead out to 12 car lengths early on, Santos began to be reeled in ever so slightly by the suddenly surging Tanner Swanson, who cropped Santos' advantage from 1.2 sec. to around six-tenths just prior to the lap 16 yellow for 18th running Nathan Byrd who spun and smacked the turn two wall with the left side of his machine. He was okay.

Continuing his sudden surge, Tanner, wheeling the most recent Night Before the 500 winning car driven to victory by Tracy Hines 2014, dove to the inside of turn one on the ensuing restart, sliding up in front of Santos as he drifted to the outside wall. Meanwhile, Santos cut back under to ride side-by-side with Tanner momentarily before Tanner bested Santos off turn two to secure the lead for the next four circuits while third-starting Californian, Courtney Crone, impressed by moving to third as Kody Swanson began to drop out of contention, and out of the race, with a cut left rear tire, finishing 18th.

Bobby Santos' second Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years following his most recent in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the history of the event, surpassing the 12 year span between Mel Kenyon's second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.
(Rich Forman Photo)

However, on the 20th lap, Santos flexed his muscle with a resilient comeback that saw him throw his machine to the bottom of turn three under Tanner. The two rode wheel-to-wheel throughout the entirety of the long sweeping corners before Santos ultimately emerged with the race lead off turn four.

Kyle Hamilton made a furious challenge for second on Tanner in the waning laps, with Tanner clamping down to retain the runner-up spot while Santos distanced himself from the herd to snag the 1.382 sec. margin of victory over Tanner Swanson, Kyle Hamilton, Thomas Meseraull and 15-year-old NEMA regular, Jake Trainor. Crone, the 2016 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year, fell back to sixth at race's end.

Utilizing a Stanton SR-11x engine from Hayward Motorsports and raced by Tanner Thorson on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail, Santos added onto his LOR USAC win total with his second midget score to go along with four Silver Crown and three Sprint Car wins.

In the end, it was a complete team effort and the resiliency of Santos to get up, get knocked down, then get back up again two-thirds of the way into the event to earn a race win that both team and driver will forever covet.

"At the end of the race, my guys gave me a rock solid racecar; they gave me what I needed," Santos remarked. "We took off good at the start, but he obviously did a little better job than I did getting going. I just kept my cool and knew if I continued to roll the top, we could attack him again."

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USAC MIDGET SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - 70th Night Before the 500

QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 3, Bohanon/Felker-21.238; 2. Bobby Santos, 29, Seymour/West-21.413; 3. Courtney Crone, 25, Rodela-21.571; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-21.625; 5. Tanner Swanson, 7K, Petry/Irwin-21.643; 6. Jake Trainor, 8, Trainor-21.774; 7. Justin Grant, 66, Sanderson-21.864; 8. Kyle Hamilton, 4, Klatt-21.930; 9. Kyle O'Gara, 1BR, SFHR-22.017; 10. Mario Clouser, 99, Guess-22.031; 11. Cole Carter, 47, Bertrand-22.135; 12. Jim Anderson, 36, Anderson-22.216; 13. Johnny Zych, 9, Zych-22.248; 14. Avery Stoehr, 39, Bertrand-22.282; 15. Todd Bertrand, 48, Bertrand-22.289; 16. Nick Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-22.304; 17. Alby Ovitt, 17, Bertrand-22.309; 18. Nathan Byrd, 33B, RayPro-22.356; 19. Derek Bischak, 31, BCD-22.613; 20. Kevin Studley, 57K, Studley-22.796; 21. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Western Speed-22.807; 22. Maria Cofer, 88, Arata-23.026; 23. Annie Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-24.121; 24. Ryan Shilkuski, 75, Shilkuski-NT; 25. Brandon Maurer, 14, Maurer-NT; 26. Dylan Nobile, 80x, Western Speed-NT.

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bobby Santos (2), 2. Tanner Swanson (5), 3. Kyle Hamilton (8), 4. Thomas Meseraull (4), 5. Jake Trainor (6), 6. Courtney Crone (3), 7. Cole Carter (11), 8. Nick Hamilton (16), 9. Jim Anderson (12), 10. Kyle O'Gara (9), 11. Kevin Studley (20), 12. Mario Clouser (10), 13. Derek Bischak (19), 14. Johnny Zych (13), 15. Todd Bertrand (15), 16. Alby Ovitt (17), 17. Maria Cofer (22), 18. Kody Swanson (1), 19. Avery Stoehr (14), 20. Nathan Byrd (18), 21. Cody Gerhardt (21), 22. Justin Grant (7), 23. Annie Breidinger (23), 24. Ryan Shilkuski (24). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Bobby Santos, Laps 16-19 Tanner Swanson, Laps 20-30 Bobby Santos.