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

Tyler Courtney won the 2020 Eastern Midget Week finale on Saturday night at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (DB3, Inc. Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Newmanstown, Pennsylvania (August 8, 2020).........Sometimes, in the ups and downs of life, you just need a bump in the right direction to get you going where you need to go.

In Saturday night's Eastern Midget Week finale at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, Tyler Courtney received just that early on while running 4th in the 40-lap feature when he encountered a bit of a bumpy road entering turn one.

As Courtney slowly coasted, the trailing car of Justin Grant smacked into the back of Courtney's car, which then fired back up and Courtney drove away before he ultimately took the lead from Tanner Carrick on the 14th lap, then thwarted off several challenges from Buddy Kofoid to win the event.

Courtney's fourth win in his last five USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget starts came aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.

"I ended up hitting the kill switch and it killed the car," Courtney revealed of the incident. "When I bounced, I hit the switch, then Grant hit me, and I was looking down to figure out what happened. I flipped the switch back on and kept going, and he stopped there. I got lucky there, but sometimes you've got to be more lucky than good and I'll take it anyway I can get it."

Courtney started 6th in the 22-car field after earlier setting the fastest time in both hot laps and qualifying. Tanner Carrick, meanwhile, raced from his pole starting position to the lead at the start while outside front row starter Chris Windom bounced off the turn two guardrail and slipped to 4th behind Chase Johnson and Courtney.

Shortly after his boost from Grant, Courtney nearly saw positional disaster strike again, nearly spinning out in turn four, as the competition raced by, slipping back from 4th in no time flat. However, a timely stoppage just a tick of the second hand later helped him at just the right time as Kenney Johnson, making his season debut with the series, flipped in turn one. He was okay.

Shortly thereafter, once racing resumed, Courtney pulled off a two-for-one special in turn four on the sixth lap, racing first by Windom then Chase Johnson in one fell swoop to surge from 4th to 2nd. Johnson spun three laps later on lap nine to halt what would've been a career-best run, yet he still charged back to finish a respectable 8th in the final rundown.

On the 11th lap, Courtney slid his way past Carrick for the race lead in between turns three and four. Carrick countered back underneath Courtney with Carrick's right rear and Courtney's left front brushing sidewalls. Courtney took a couple steps back from Carrick and reloaded for another shot on the 13th lap.

Instead of sliding Carrick, this time, Courtney shadowed Carrick on the topside between turns three and four. Down the front straightaway, Carrick and Courtney were rear bumper to chrome horn. Courtney hopped and skipped off the bottom of turns one and two and launched to the race lead on the 14th circuit past Carrick.

Nearing midway, the top-two of Courtney, and now Buddy Kofoid, separated themselves from the rest of the field by nearly a half-lap as Courtney fished through the back end of the field utilizing the top shelf to work his way around lapped traffic.

On the 31st lap however, series point leader Windom glanced off the turn two wall, ending his evening after running 6th. He'd finish 16th and see his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point lead of 74 dwindle to just 31 at night's end.

Following a yellow for 7th running Dillon Welch's turn four spin with seven laps remaining, Kofoid took a major run at Courtney for the number one spot, sliding into turn three with a full head of steam right up into Courtney's lane up against the outer guardrail in turn four. However, Courtney never blinked, never backed off, and kept his foot on the loudpedal to race his way back around Kofoid to retain the lead for good.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't flinch," Courtney admitted. "At this point in the season, you've got to go for everything when you're running for the championship. If we would've crashed there, it is what it is; we're going for the win. Once I squeaked by Buddy there, I knew that was going to kill his momentum. So, I knew if I could squeak by him there, he'd be all chocked up getting off four there. There weren't many laps left there, so I just needed to make those perfect and not make any mistakes and get ourselves to the finish line first."

Tyler Courtney, (Indianapolis, Ind.), earned his 18th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win, which moved him past Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson & J.J. Yeley on the all-time series win list & into a tie for 37th with Dave Steele.
(DB3, Inc. Photo)

The same driver that was 4.5 tenths quicker than everybody else in hot laps and 2.5 tenths quicker in qualifying was 1.074 seconds better than his closest competition Saturday night at Lanco, turning the best lap of the race just three laps from the end to defeat Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh (from 15th), Carrick and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tanner Thorson (from 19th).

The Indianapolis, Indiana native's 18th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory moved him past Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on the all-time series win list and into a tie for 37th all-time with Dave Steele.

After a rough patch in June and mid-July that saw Courtney tally finishes of 21st and 22nd in consecutive races and fall back to 4th in the series standings, he's now won four of five, with the only non-winning performance in that stretch being a 2nd place finish, putting him directly in the hunt for another USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship after winning the title last year.

"Coming off two championship, you kind of have a different mindset," Courtney explained. "During those championships, I've had ups and downs like I've had this year. You have to take yourself and reset, bring your team together and let them know, 'hey, this isn't the end.' You've got to dig down deep and find out how bad you really want it. I think we have."

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 8, 2020 - Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway - Newmanstown, Pennsylvania - 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.662; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.927; 3. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-10.958; 4. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-10.966; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-11.059; 6. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.103; 7. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.245; 8. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.248; 9. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.325; 10. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.419; 11. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.429; 12. Jeff Champagne, 46x, O'Rourke-11.439; 13. Alex Bright, 29, Seymour-11.495; 14. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.501; 15. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.509; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 72, Heffner-11.509; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-11.564; 18. Steve Buckwalter, 12, Heckman-11.609; 19. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.615; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.656; 21. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-11.809; 22. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-11.956; 23. Jimmy Glenn, 07, Glenn-12.235; 24. Shannon Mausteller, 5A, Mausteller-12.302; 25. Steve Craig, 55, Craig-12.586; 26. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Dillon Welch, 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Kevin Woody Jr., 9. Steve Craig. 1:56.414

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Jimmy Glenn, 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Kyle Cummins. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Kenney Johnson, 6. Jeff Champagne, 7. Shannon Mausteller. NT

INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Dillon Welch, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Jimmy Glenn, 7. Jeff Champagne, 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Shannon Mausteller, 10. Steve Craig. 2:21.355

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Buddy Kofoid (5), 3. Cannon McIntosh (15), 4. Tanner Carrick (1), 5. Tanner Thorson (19), 6. Daison Pursley (9), 7. Justin Grant (3), 8. Chase Johnson (4), 9. Cole Bodine (11), 10. Robert Dalby (10), 11. Dillon Welch (8), 12. Kyle Cummins (17), 13. Ethan Mitchell (20), 14. Emerson Axsom (16), 15. Jeff Champagne (13), 16. Chris Windom (2), 17. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 18. Steve Buckwalter (18), 19. Andrew Layser (12), 20. Jimmy Glenn (22), 21. Kenney Johnson (21), 22. Alex Bright (14). NT

**Kenney Johnson flipped on lap 5 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Tanner Carrick, Laps 14-40 Tyler Courtney.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,119, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,088, 3-Buddy Kofoid-1,056, 4-Tanner Thorson-1,047, 5-Cannon McIntosh-944, 6-Tanner Carrick-838, 7-Daison Pursley-783, 8-Cole Bodine-725, 9-Andrew Layser-663, 10-Justin Grant-619.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Cannon McIntosh-57, 5-Justin Grant-52, 6-Daison Pursley-48, 7-Robert Ballou-45, 8-Andrew Layser-44, 9-Kyle Cummins-41, 10-Chase Stockon-39.

NEXT USAC MIDGET RACE: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - 70th Night Before the 500 (Non-Points Special Event)

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Glenn Waterland

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (19th to 5th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell

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

Tyler Courtney captured Wednesday's Eastern Midget Week opener at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kutztown, Pennsylvania (August 5, 2020).........Tyler Courtney and Clauson-Marshall Racing turned around a little bit of misfortune from earlier in the night into good fortune in Wednesday night's Eastern Midget Week opener at Kutztown, Pa.'s Action Track USA.

Following Courtney's first qualifying lap, a coil went south, preventing him from recording a second lap. However, that first lap and Courtney's subsequent third-place finish in his heat, provided him a view from the outside of the front row for the 30-lap feature where the Indianapolis, Ind. native led wire-to-wire for his third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory in his last four starts.

The victory was the second consecutive triumph in as many starts for CMR at Action Track USA quarter-mile following Zeb Wise's triumph in the 2019 debut.

"We had a rough couple of months there on the midget side of things," Courtney admitted. "But here in the last couple of weeks, we've kind of turned things back on and found some things that I think we can keep building onto and, hopefully, keep getting these wins and knocking them off."

"I just reset mentally, I think we all did as a team," Courtney continued. "We just hit the reset button and put the first couple of months of the midget season behind us and focused on the second half of the season. We've got a really good racecar now and we just got to ride this high as long as we can."

Not that there was anything he needed to be ashamed of prior to his recent streak of success, but following 21st and 22nd place finishes at Kokomo, Ind. and Fairbury, Neb. in late June/mid-July, the defending series champ stood fourth in the standings, 124 points behind point leader Chris Windom. Now with three wins and a runner-up finish in his last four races, Courtney's chopped 50 points off his deficit and is now second in the standings.

After seeing his one-year-old Action Track USA one-lap record fall by the wayside to Tanner Thorson in Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying earlier in the night, Courtney found salvage by instantly racing to the lead on the opening lap past pole sitter Robert Dalby. Courtney constructed his advantage to over a second as a scramble for the second position behind him consumed the likes of Dalby, Buddy Kofoid, Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson and others.

Kevin Woody Jr., who has served in a role as an armed government bodyguard, spun in turn one just in front of the head of the pack to bring out the race's first caution on the ninth lap. Courtney drifted high to avoid the spinning Woody and avoided contact between he and the outside wall.

With the caution resetting track position just prior to encroaching lapped traffic, Courtney resumed his prowess at the front, jumping away from the field at the drop of the green. Second-running Robert Dalby clipped the turn four wall nearly a lap following the lap nine restart, allowing a succession of Kofoid, Grant and Thorson to freight-train under Dalby for the second position, relegating Dalby, the reigning USAC Western States Midget champion, to 5th.

A lap 14 stoppage for a turn two tangle between series point leader Chris Windom (13th), Dillon Welch (15th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (17th), brought out the following caution just as Courtney was within shouting distance of the tail end of the field, thus keeping him out of the throes of traffic for a just a little while longer.

Windom restarted after repairs in the work area under caution while Welch restarted as well and Kevin Thomas Jr., in his debut for Heffner Racing Enterprises, endured the ending to a trying night with heavy right front damage putting an end to his race. In the final tally, Windom finished 13th, Welch 17th and Thomas 21st.

Courtney was once again gonzo on the restart of lap 14, leaving the most ferocious battle to those in his distant past as Thorson went 4th to 3rd shortly thereafter, then waged in a back and forth battle of sliders with Kofoid before securing the second position on the 19th circuit.

Christopher Bell, the 2013 USAC National Midget champion, momentarily pulled off a double slider of both Thorson and Kofoid in turn one on the 20th lap before slotting into third behind Thorson. Two laps later, Kofoid was out of the picture of contention when contact between he and Grant for the fourth position sent Kofoid through an agricultural racing experience through the infield, staying on the gas and rejoining the action midway down the front straightaway, now slotted in 7th.

Though Courtney finally did find himself amidst traffic throughout the final five laps, he expertly navigated through with relative ease to pick up a commanding 3.385 second victory over Thorson, Bell, Grant and Cannon McIntosh. For Courtney, the win marked the 17th of his career, tying himself with Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on USAC's all-time National Midget win list aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.

Thorson (Minden, Nev.) recorded a solid runner-up finish in his Hayward Motorsports/Oilfire - Factory Kahne - Walker Filtration/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. Although he didn't quite have enough at the end to make a run on Courtney on this particular night, he acknowledged what a solid run it was despite having a minor setback.

"Once I got into second, I tried to run (Courtney) back down but I had nothing," Thorson recalled. "I hate excuses, but I had no front shock cables there. The steering wheel hit the clips out of them so I couldn't really turn them. My guys did an awesome job getting this car ready for me."

Christopher Bell made his one-stop of the Eastern Midget Week tour a good one, finishing 3rd in his first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start of 2020 in a four-car team effort for Tucker-Boat Motorsports alongside Windom, Welch and Andrew Layser, his being the Pristine Auction - Toyota - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.

For Courtney, the win marked the 17th of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, tying himself with Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on the all-time list.
(Rich Forman Photo)

"It was a lot of fun to be able to come back and run one race. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some more throughout the year," Bell said. "(Car owner Chad Boat) made a lot of changes to all the cars after hot laps. These guys busted their tails for sure. It was a long hard night for them and hopefully for the next couple nights with three cars, it'll be a little easier."

An off-night in qualifying sure didn't deter Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) to performing exquisitely in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD - Mobil1 - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, earning KSE Racing Products/Irvin King Hard Charger honors for his advancement from 18th to 5th in Wednesday's feature event.

"I had a really good car tonight," McIntosh relayed. "It really killed us in the qualifying run. I got a little loose off (turn) four and it cost us both our laps. That really buried us, but we made a good run through the heat race. We started 18th in the feature and we're just able to get through the field really good, making moves just when we needed to. Glad I could salvage the night with a 5th place finish."

A pair of new USAC National Midget track records were set during the evening at Action Track USA with Thorson lowering the one-lap mark to 11.146 during Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying. Meanwhile, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) put his name in the record books as the winner of the fastest 10-lap race in series history at the track with a completed event in 1:58.10.

Adam Pierson (East Corinth, Vt.), making his first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget appearance since the beginning of the 2019 season in Ocala, Fla., flipped into the turn four catchfence during the third heat race following contact between he and Tyler Courtney. Pierson escaped without injury.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2020 - Action Track USA - Kutztown, Pennsylvania - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.146 (New Track Record); 2. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.259; 3. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-11.261; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.274; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-11.310; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.320; 7. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.370; 8. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.396; 9. Christopher Bell, 84x, Tucker/Boat-11.404; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.404; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.414; 12. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.455; 13. Alex Bright, 29, Seymour-11.466; 14. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.477; 15. Adam Pierson, 74m, Mancini-11.484; 16. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-11.546; 17. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.561; 18. Alex Yankowski, 19G, Hayward-11.585; 19. Steven Drevicki, 12, Heckman-11.659; 20. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.682; 21. Kevin Thomas Jr., 72, Heffner-11.799; 22. Jeff Champagne, 46x, O'Rourke-11.841; 23. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-12.051; 24. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-12.121; 25. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-12.389.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Alex Bright, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Jeff Champagne, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Steven Drevicki, 9. Dillon Welch. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Cole Bodine, 8. Eric Heydenreich. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Alex Yankowski, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Kevin Woody Jr., 8. Adam Pierson. NT

INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Dillon Welch, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Jeff Champagne, 6. Kevin Woody Jr., 7. Eric Heydenreich, 8. Glenn Waterland. 1:58.010 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (6), 3. Christopher Bell (7), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Cannon McIntosh (18), 6. Chase Johnson (5), 7. Buddy Kofoid (4), 8. Tanner Carrick (14), 9. Robert Dalby (1), 10. Daison Pursley (13), 11. Alex Bright (8), 12. Cole Bodine (10), 13. Chris Windom (12), 14. Alex Yankowski (17), 15. Andrew Layser (11), 16. Emerson Axsom (9), 17. Dillon Welch (15), 18. Eric Heydenreich (21), 19. Jeff Champagne (20), 20. Kevin Woody Jr. (22), 21. Kevin Thomas Jr. (19), 22. Ethan Mitchell (16). NT

**Adam Pierson flipped during the third heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Tyler Courtney.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,079, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,005, 3-Tanner Thorson-985, 4-Buddy Kofoid-979, 5-Cannon McIntosh-873, 6-Tanner Carrick-769, 7-Daison Pursley-724, 8-Cole Bodine-674, 9-Andrew Layser-636, 10-Justin Grant-559.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-62, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Justin Grant-52, 5-Robert Ballou-45, 6-Cannon McIntosh-45, 7-Daison Pursley-45, 8-Andrew Layser-44, 9-Chase Stockon-39, 10-Thomas Meseraull-38.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 6, 2020 - Bridgeport Speedway - Bridgeport, New Jersey - 4/10-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Alex Bright

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Christopher Bell (18th to 5th)

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Glenn Waterland

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chris Windom

Thunder on the Hill

CONTACT: BOB MILLER 443 513 4456

THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES

KEN BRENN MIDGET MASTERS & 358 MODIFIEDS GEAR UP FOR THUNDER ON THE HILL DOUBLE HEADER. . . .

FOUR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONS EXPECTED TO BE IN THE FIELD TUESDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 4 AT GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY

BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. -- Four past USAC National Champions – Christopher Bell, Tanner Thorson, Chris Windom, and Tyler Courtney - are among the USAC Midget stars expected to compete at Grandview Speedway on Tuesday, August 4, when the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship makes the trip to 1/3-mile dirt oval in Bechtelsville, PA. This event is part of the NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series. Gates open at 5 PM with race time set for 7:30 PM.

This special night is dedicated to Ken Brenn, an individual with a reputation rich in midget history and someone who once promoted midget racing at Grandview. Ken Brenn is an absolute "class act" and has been part of the local racing fabric for many years, enjoying much success as a modified car owner and a former promoter of the Bridgeport Speedway. Some other surprises are being arranged as we honor Ken -- who plans to be at this event and drop the first green flag of the night!

It took 102 starts for Chris Windom to reach USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory lane for the first time in his career in June of 2019. It took just six more for the Canton, Illinois native to get there for the second time in the 2019 Eastern Midget Week opener at Grandview Speedway.

In last year's Grandview tilt, Windom fought Tyler Courtney for the win on the final lap, losing the lead via a Courtney slider, in turn, one, then outdueled him into turn three to retake the position before sealing the deal to win in the series' first visit to the 1/3-mile dirt oval in three decades.

Kevin Thomas Jr. will be wheeling a midget for Pennsylvania's Heffner Racing throughout Eastern Midget Week. Thomas (Cullman, Ala.) holds the one-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record at Grandview, set in 2012. He finished 3rd in last year's midget feature event at Grandview.

No Pennsylvania driver has won a USAC National Midget feature since Royersford's Steve Buckwalter in 2010. Buckwalter, the 2010 ARDC Midget champ, won that year during the Indiana Midget Week round at Gas City and will join the Grandview field on Tuesday after finishing 18th there a year ago. Fellow Pennsylvanian Andrew Layser (Collegeville, Pa.) finished 13th at Grandview in 2019 during his USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year campaign and is 9th in the standings this year as a Tucker-Boat Motorsports teammate to 2019 Grandview winner Windom.

Reading, Pennsylvania's Steven Drevicki is a perennial winner on the USAC Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Car circuit, winning the last two year's titles, and has already tallied two victories this season and is the leader once again in the standings. He is equally successful in the Midgets as well, capturing ARDC championships in both 2014 and 2015. The recent non-sanctioned midget winner at Abbottstown, Pa.'s Lincoln Speedway, finished 17th with the USAC Midgets at Grandview in 2019.

Among the competition expected are 2013 USAC National Midget champion and NASCAR Cup Series regular Christopher Bell (Norman, Okla.), who'll be teamed up with Windom, Layser, and Kokomo/Placerville USAC Midget track record holder, Dillon Welch (Carmel, Ind.). Three drivers from the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports stable are also expected to make their Grandview Midget debuts, including top series Rookie, Penngrove, California's Buddy Kofoid (3rd in points), Bixby, Oklahoma's Cannon McIntosh (5th in points) and Locust Grove, Oklahoma's Daison Pursley (7th in points.)

USAC National Midget racing has occurred only three times at Grandview. The debut in 1988 was won by Rich Vogler while the follow up in 1989 was captured by Russ Gamester. Both drivers also won the USAC National Midget championship in those same years. Chris Windom won the series' return to Grandview in 2019.

The 358 Modifieds will play an equally important part of this event with qualifying and a 30 lap feature that will $3,000 to the winner. Ryan Watt is hot off a Thunder on the Hill victory Tuesday night when he thrilled fans taking the win over a four-car race for the top spot. Jeff Strunk, Duane Howard, Craig VonDohren, Rick Lukach, Doug Manmiller, Brett Kressley, Kevin Hirthler, to name a few.

The Tuesday night, August 4, Ken Brenn Midget Masters and 358 NASCAR Modified doubleheader will get underway at 7:30 PM with gates opening at 5 PM. Low, Down & Dirty is already hard at work planning the pre-race Meet and Greet. Some expected USAC Midget entries in addition to Chris Windom, Tyler Courtney, and Buddy Kofoid include Tanner Thorson, Cannon McIntosh, Tanner Carrick, Justin Grant, and Cole Bodine just to name a few.

Adult admission tickets are $28, Children 6 to 11 are $10, Children 5 and under will be admitted free. The pit fee is $40, and a license is not required. Advance tickets are available by calling 443 513 4456. Please speak clearly and provide your first and last name and the number of tickets you need. Tickets may be paid for and picked up at the WILL CALL window on race night. We ask that you please bring exact change. Advance ticket holders may enter the grandstands at 4:30 PM. Advance tickets orders can be processed up to the day before the race. We apologize, but advance tickets will NOT be available on race day.

The conditions and requirements under the COVID-19 situation are ever-changing, and we will provide updates as we approach race night. To offer the safest possible conditions for our fans, competitors, officials, safety crew, and track employees, we are making the following requests.

Please bring exact change when purchasing general admission tickets or pit passes.

Also, as much as we want you to join us if you are not feeling well, please do not attend.

2020 Thunder on the Hill Race Dates:

Tuesday, August 4 THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES 7:30 PM

USAC National Midgets Ken Brenn Midget Masters & 358 Modifieds*

Thursday, August 27 THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES 7:30 PM

Tony Stewart's All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprints & 358 Modifieds"

Saturday, October 17 THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES 6 PM

MODS AT THE MADHOUSE Trick or Treat Triple 20's & Sportsman

Grandview Speedway Contact Information

GPS USERS: 43 Passmore Road, Bechtelsville, PA 19505

Located less than a mile off Route 100, 10 miles north of Pottstown, PA

Speedway Phone: 610-754-7688

Thunder on the Hill Racing Series Phone: 443-513-4456

Series Website: www.thunderonthehillracingseries.com

Track Website: www.grandviewspeedway.com

Twitter/Instagram: @TOTHRACING

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thunderonthehill

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

Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) raced to the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory during Tuesday Night Thunder at Red Dirt Raceway.
(Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Meeker, Oklahoma (July 21, 2020).........Tanner Thorson faced a strikingly familiar scenario during Tuesday Night Thunder at Oklahoma's Red Dirt Raceway.

On Sunday at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas, a caution with four laps remaining saw Tyler Courtney positioned directly behind Thorson for a late-race restart. The end result had Courtney sliding past Thorson for the lead and the eventual win, while a disgruntled Thorson fell to a 15th place finish after spinning to a stop as he tried to challenge Courtney for the lead.

On Tuesday night's Mid-America Midget Week finale, though the scene began in the same manner, Thorson made sure his ultimate fate was going to play out differently, this time in his favor.

This time, a late caution stifled Thorson's near five-second advantage with just three laps remaining. By rule, lapped cars were moved to the tail, and that put, yet again, Courtney, right on his rear bumper for the final restart.

As it turned out, Thorson had to endure three shots at a final restart due to a succession of yellows that halted his quest. On the third and final try, which went clean and green, Thorson wasn't to be denied on this night, ridding himself of the recent plague of unfavorable fortune to win by 0.598 of a second for the 17th victory of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, tying him with Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley for 38th all-time.

The reversal of fortunes was a welcome change for the 2016 series champion from Minden, Nev. who had finished outside the top-12 in two of his past three starts. Yet, despite a mid-stream change in approach during the night, it was back to normal for Thorson, who earned his fourth feature victory of the year, equaling him with Kyle Larson for most in the series.

"Racing is a headgame in itself. It's about whoever can stay out of their own heads the most in the car and in the pits. We all know in this sport, you can't win every night," Thorson reiterated. "We've definitely had one of the fastest, if not the fastest car every night (this week). The last few nights, I've just been second guessing myself as far as setup. I second guessed myself to start tonight. I changed a little bit of the spring package I was running; it wasn't working. Then, I got off the coils and went to bars in the rear and I realized why I switched to coils and why I'm going to stay on coils."

Thorson began his 30-lap race from the pole and led the opening two circuits just before 16th running Kaylee Bryson flipped hard over the banking in between turns one and two. She was shaken up a bit but ultimately exited the car under her own power.

On the ensuing restart, Windom took a run at Thorson for the race lead with a slider in turn three. Thorson ducked back underneath off turn four to snag the lead. However, the driver who was most "on the charge" in the early stages was Cannon McIntosh who used the bottom groove to race past both Windom and Thorson to lead at the stripe on the fourth lap.

Thorson regained the lead from McIntosh a lap later and continuously stretched his lead out over the competition throughout the remainder of the contest. Meanwhile, a tussle behind him waged as Windom and McIntosh exchanged sliders, allowing fourth-place Courtney to gain ground on both, rolling the bottom to make it three-wide at the line on lap 10.

Through the middle stages, leading series Rookie Buddy Kofoid made a surge toward the front all while the numerals on the left side of his car's tail tank were flapping in the breeze, passing Courtney for third on the 18th lap, then by Windom with an inside move on the following lap for second.

With 11 laps left to go, Windom, Courtney and Kofoid ran bottom to top, three-wide for the runner-up position. Windom slid past Kofoid entering turn three; Kofoid biked the left rear on the cushion simultaneously and the two locked together briefly above the turn four cushion with Kofoid's front bumper interlocked with Windom's left nerf bar.

Courtney promptly sped underneath both to grab second while fifth-running McIntosh plowed into the left front of Windom's car, knocking Windom's car straight and sending McIntosh's ride airborne before landing on all fours and continuing onward with a slightly askew right front wheel while dropping to seventh at the checkered.

Now the race was a simple cat and mouse chase between Thorson and Courtney. However, Thorson was serving as the ultimate hide-and-seek champion for the time being with him being out of sight and more than a straightaway ahead of Courtney as he navigated traffic in the closing stages.

Only a caution could disrupt Thorson's yellow brick road path to a stress-free, dominant triumph. And that radiant yellow piece of cloth became visible just three laps from the end when sixth running Tanner Carrick stopped on the back straightaway, forcing his car to be towed back to the pits.

"When that yellow came out, I was like 'oh great, here we go again,'" Thorson admitted. "Sunday night, I had a good little lead. We had a bunch of yellows there at the end of that race that cost me. I got in too hard and looped it. I just talked to myself a little bit trying to amp myself up and try not to lose what I had going because I knew I had such a fast racecar."

The first attempt at a restart saw Courtney briefly slide ahead of Thorson between turns one and two before Thorson shot down off the high side of the turn two banking to re-snag the lead. Moments later, Trey Gropp, running 15th at the time, slowed on the front straight to necessitate a yellow. The following restart too was thwarted after a single lap when 11th running Sam Johnson jumped the curb and landed outside turns one and two on the adjacent go-kart track.

Thorson wasn't to be denied on this night, ridding himself of the recent plague of unfavorable fortune to win by 0.598 of a second for the 17th victory of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, tying him with Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley for 38th all-time.
(Rich Forman Photos)

Thorson anticipated Courtney was going to throw the kitchen sink, the kit and kaboodle, and everything else at him on each restart, so he altered his starts to throw a figurative banana peel into the equation.

"I knew Courtney was going to the bottom or slide me or do something," Thorson predicted. "I tried to screw my starts up a little bit and kind of get the guys off their feet a little bit to get the advantage that I had before, and it worked. Then I saw Tyler (Courtney) there at the bottom on the first restart. The second restart, he went back again, and I knew from running up there early in the race that momentum was going to be the key there at the exit of turn two. I just kept it up there and thought about sliding myself a bunch, but I knew I'd lose ground. I just kept doing what I was doing, and it paid off."

Paid off it did as Thorson distanced himself from Courtney in the final two-lap shootout, launching himself around on the top shelf of two to race on to the victory in his Hayward Motorsports/Oilfire - Factory Kahne - Walker Filtration/Spike/Stanton SR-11x over Courtney and a hard-charging Jerry Coons Jr. who rolled the bottom to third. Kofoid took fourth while series point leader Chris Windom rounded out the top-five utilizing a backup car following mechanical troubles with his primary during hot laps.

In Fatheadz Qualifying, Jenks, Oklahoma's Kyle Wilson, making his USAC debut, biked in turn three and flipped over the turn four wall. He continued flipping end-over-end after exiting the racetrack before landing in a pile of brush. He was uninjured.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 21, 2020 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Tuesday Night Thunder - Mid-America Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.108 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.168; 3. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.189; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.197; 5. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.239; 6. Steven Shebester, 22x, Williams-13.288; 7. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.292; 8. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.293; 9. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.320; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.351; 11. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-13.403; 12. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.431; 13. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.439; 14. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.450; 15. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-13.548; 16. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.556; 17. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-13.610; 18. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.645; 19. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.656; 20. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-13.656; 21. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.684; 22. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.732; 23. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.781; 24. Noah Gass, 08, Dave Mac-13.820; 25. Mike Goodman, 11G, Jenkins/Gariss-13.883; 26. Austin Wood, 27, Wood-13.989; 27. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-14.248; 28. Dustin Dixon, 7x, Gariss-14.357; 29. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-14.438; 30. Cole Scott, 2s, Scott-14.532; 31. Zac Millikin, 3, Hunt-14.730; 32. Kyle Wilson, 07, Gariss-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Emilio Hoover, 7. Mike Goodman, 8. Cade Cowles. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Steven Shebester, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Austin Wood, 8. Cole Scott. 1:49.816

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Jonathan Beason, 4. Trey Gropp, 5. Shannon McQueen, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Zac Millikin, 8. Curtis Spicer. 1:49.580 (New Track Record)

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Ace McCarthy, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Noah Gass, 6. Chance Morton, 7. Dustin Dixon. 1:51.380

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Andrew Layser, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Steven Shebester, 5. Shannon McQueen, 6. Chance Morton, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Cade Cowles, 9. Curtis Spicer, 10. Dustin Dixon, 11. Zac Millikin, 12. Austin Wood, 13. Noah Gass, 14. Cole Scott. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (1), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (8), 4. Buddy Kofoid (5), 5. Chris Windom (3), 6. Emerson Axsom (11), 7. Cannon McIntosh (4), 8. Jonathan Beason (18), 9. Tyler Thomas (9), 10. Andrew Layser (10), 11. Robert Dalby (20), 12. Daison Pursley (13), 13. Ethan Mitchell (2), 14. Sam Johnson (7), 15. Cole Bodine (17), 16. Tanner Carrick (15), 17. Trey Gropp (14), 18. Steven Shebester (12), 19. Shannon McQueen (22), 20. Chance Morton (21), 21. Kaylee Bryson (16), 22. Ace McCarthy (19). NT

**Kyle Wilson flipped over the turn 4 wall during qualifying. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 3 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Tanner Thorson, Lap 4 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 5-30 Tanner Thorson.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,035, 2-Tyler Courtney-928, 3-Buddy Kofoid-919, 4-Tanner Thorson-906, 5-Cannon McIntosh-809, 6-Tanner Carrick-713, 7-Daison Pursley-677, 8-Cole Bodine-629, 9-Andrew Layser-598, 10-Justin Grant-489.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-67, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Andrew Layser-44, 5-Daison Pursley-41, 6-Justin Grant-41, 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-33, 8-Cannon McIntosh-32, 9-Robert Dalby-32, 10-Tanner Carrick-31.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 4, 2020 - Grandview Speedway - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Jerry Coons Jr.

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Thomas

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Sam Johnson

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Andrew Layser

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Emilio Hoover

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Jonathan Beason (18th to 8th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell

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

Tyler Courtney won his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature Sunday in the series debut at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas.
(Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Caney, Kansas (July 19, 2020).........When it rains, it pours. Sometimes that old idiom may involve negative characteristics, but there's also the positive side of the phrase that Tyler Courtney has experienced of late, a far cry from the former which consumed him prior to his back-to-back USAC NOS Energy National Midget victories.

The latest came Sunday night in the series debut at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas where the Indianapolis, Ind. racer nearly parked it on two separate occasions early before regathering, dusting himself off and trying again to roar back through the pack with a winning pass of Tanner Thorson four laps from the finish to score his third series victory of the year aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.

Courtney admitted they had him in the first half, he wasn't going to lie. But the second half of the 30-lapper was all his as he snared his second victory in as many nights, and the 16th of his career to move to 40th all-time past Don Branson and 1973 USAC National Midget champ Larry Rice.

Courtney's consecutive victories are a welcome reprieve from two-straight finishes of 21st or worse that lingered itself into the beginning of Mid-American Midget Week. Now he finds himself and his team back in championship form that won them a series title one season ago.

"This sport is probably the most humbling of any sport you could possibly do," Courtney said. "You have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and you have to ride those highs as long as you can and hopefully not let the lows get you down too badly."

Courtney started third while series Rookie Kaylee Bryson led the opening lap after dicing it up with Thorson off turn four to head the field on lap one. Thorson ducked under Bryson on the bottom of the first turn to secure the lead where he'd remain for much of the duration.

On multiple occasions, Courtney found himself completely sideways between turns one and two, nearly coming to a stop during both instances before continuing onward, but not before dropping like a stone to the latter half of the top-ten running order, giving him little hope that a victory was still in the cards.

"I thought we were done about lap 10 of that race," Courtney professed. "I just couldn't quite get through (turn) one there. Every time I thought I'd do something right, it ended up being the wrong move. Unfortunate for those guys (who contacted his half-spinning car) but it helped me with a couple of guys there to straighten me out. I finally just started slowing down and hitting the bottom of one and two instead of trying to carry my momentum through. That ended up paying huge dividends at the end of the race. I was about the only guy who started doing it and I was able to get a good run off two and down into three and four to slide those guys and put ourselves in a good spot to win that race."

As Courtney found just a little bit of variation on his line than everybody else, Thorson incrementally elongated his lead over Buddy Kofoid in second place throughout the early stages of the second half. Kofoid, the leading series Rookie in the 22-car field, took a run at Thorson for supremacy on a restart with 11 laps remaining. However, Thorson was able to thwart the challenge of Kofoid, who slipped back, while Courtney scooted to second past Kofoid on the 22nd lap.

On a lap 24 restart following a Daison Pursley turn four spin, the top-three of Thorson high, Courtney middle and Kofoid low became entrenched in a three-wide tussle for position in turn four from which Thorson emerged retaining the lead with Courtney and Kofoid slotted just behind.

One lap later, Courtney took his uppercut to Thorson with a turn three slider, ripping past for the lead momentarily as Thorson darted back underneath at the exit of four, with the two banging wheels, which sent Courtney briefly squirrely as both continued onward without too much detriment. Moments later, at the exit of two, Thorson slid up off the bottom all on his own, allowing Courtney to sprint by underneath. However, it was all for naught as Tyler Thomas spun in turn two to bring out the yellow.

Courtney brought his hard hat and went straight back to work on the resumption of lap 27, recreating the same turn three slider he made just before the yellow. This time, the move stuck, with Courtney snagging the lead from Thorson who followed the procession into turn one behind Courtney but got sideways on entry and was plowed into by the next three cars in line driven by Tanner Carrick, Kofoid and Fatheadz Fast Qualifier Cannon McIntosh, running 3rd, 4th and 5th at the time, all of whom stopped.

Sunday's top-three at Caney Valley Speedway: winner Tyler Courtney (middle), 2nd place finisher Chris Windom (right) and 3rd place finisher Kaylee Bryson (left).
(Lonnie Wheatley Photo)

With a little bit of a sigh of relief in the afterglow of the aftermath, Courtney closed out a performance in which he became a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget winner at a first-time series venue for the second time this season following his late-May victory at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Point leader Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) finished 2nd to record his 13th top-five finish in 14 series starts in 2020. Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.) earned a career-best 3rd place finish, the best result by a female driver with the series since Holly Shelton's 3rd place finish at Lawrenceburg during 2017 Indiana Midget Week, and the second best ever behind Sarah McCune's runner-up finish at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in 1999.

USAC Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. (Tuscon, Ariz.) scored his season best of 4th while Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) backed up his runner-up finish from Saturday at Nebraska's Jefferson County Speedway with a 5th in just his fourth series start.

Trey Gropp (Lincoln, Neb.) rolled from the 22nd and final starting spot on the feature grid to finish a career-best 6th en route to earning the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 19, 2020 - Caney Valley Speedway - Caney, Kansas - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Mid-America Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.285 (New Track Record); 2. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.366; 3. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.392; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.424; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.434; 6. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.445; 7. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.451; 8. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.526; 9. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.551; 10. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.589; 11. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.594; 12. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.599; 13. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.633; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.663; 15. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-13.754; 16. Noah Gass, 08, Dave Mac-13.778; 17. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.782; 18. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.800; 19. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.801; 20. Steven Shebester, 22x, Williams-13.805; 21. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-13.861; 22. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.875; 23. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-13.892; 24. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-13.913; 25. Wesley Smith, 44, Horn-13.980; 26. Kade Morton, 84m, Morton-14.266; 27. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-14.759; 28. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-15.977; 29. Jesse Shapel, 84, Shapel-16.776.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Shannon McQueen, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Tyler Thomas, 8. Wesley Smith, 9. Shaun Shapel, 10. Noah Gass. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Ace McCarthy, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Steven Shebester, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Kade Morton, 10. Jesse Shapel. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Jonathan Beason, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Chance Morton, 8. Curtis Spicer, 9. Emilio Hoover. NT

INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Trey Gropp, 5. Chance Morton, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Noah Gass, 8. Emilio Hoover, 9. Jesse Shapel, 10. Steven Shebester, 11. Curtis Spicer, 12. Shaun Shapel, 13. Jesse Shapel. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (3), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Kaylee Bryson (1), 4. Jerry Coons Jr. (14), 5. Emerson Axsom (11), 6. Trey Gropp (22), 7. Ace McCarthy (17), 8. Robert Dalby (21), 9. Andrew Layser (12), 10. Cole Bodine (9), 11. Daison Pursley (7), 12. Shannon McQueen (19), 13. Ethan Mitchell (8), 14. Sam Johnson (18), 15. Tanner Thorson (2), 16. Tyler Thomas (13), 17. Tanner Carrick (10), 18. Noah Gass (16), 19. Buddy Kofoid (4), 20. Cannon McIntosh (6), 21. Chance Morton (20), 22. Jonathan Beason (15). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kaylee Bryson, Laps 2-26 Tanner Thorson, Laps 27-30 Tyler Courtney.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-970, 2-Tyler Courtney-849, 3-Buddy Kofoid-847, 4-Tanner Thorson-829, 5-Cannon McIntosh-746, 6-Tanner Carrick-675, 7-Daison Pursley-633, 8-Cole Bodine-589, 9-Andrew Layser-547, 10-Justin Grant-489.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-67, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Andrew Layser-44, 5-Justin Grant-41, 6-Daison Pursley-41, 7-Cannon McIntosh-32, 8-Tanner Carrick-31, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 10-Brady Bacon-29.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 21, 2020 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma - Tuesday Night Thunder - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Daison Pursley

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tyler Thomas

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Emilio Hoover

KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Trey Gropp (22nd to 6th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell

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

Tyler Courtney became the first multi-time winner of the Midwest Midget Championship Saturday night at Jefferson Co. Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska.
(Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Fairbury, Nebraska (July 18, 2020).........After 21st and 22nd place finishes in his two most recent USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget outings, Tyler Courtney simply wasn't going to be stopped Saturday night at Jefferson County Speedway.

Literally, he was unable to stop as he drove through victory lane without the aid of brakes.

A late caution following a 35-lap green flag run around the 1/5-mile dirt oval, however, nearly thwarted the team's resilient effort as he withstood a hailstorm of challenges from Buddy Kofoid, then a hard-charging Emerson Axsom, during the final laps to become the first multi-time victor of the Riverside Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Meats & Schmidt's Sanitation.

In becoming a winner of the event in back-to-back years at Jefferson County after notching victory on the final night of the 2019 event, Courtney scored his 15th career series win, tying himself with Don Branson and Larry Rice for 47th all-time.

For Courtney, whose run of luck in the midget of late included flipping while leading in the Indiana Midget Week finale in June at Kokomo as well as an early race wheel hop 24 hours prior at Jefferson County that derailed his evening early on in Friday night's feature, he felt as if this was time to prove a point that are still a force to behold.

Simply put, Courtney felt he and his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x needed this one.

"Not only for myself but as a team, I feel like we needed this to get our mojo back, so to speak," Courtney said. "We've just been struggling. All Indiana Midget Week, we just didn't have any speed. Then, we were leading at Kokomo and had an unfortunate end to our night there. Last night, we made it two laps in the feature before something else happened. Tonight, starting on the pole, we were in a good spot. I feel like we capitalized on that. It's been trying for sure, but that's what this sport is all about. It's not always roses, but you try to make the most out of every night you can."

Courtney, of Indianapolis, Ind., made the most of the night early on as he initially rode the low line to lead lap one before outside front row starter Kofoid crossed over at the stripe and tried to slide by Courtney, now on the top side, into turn one, to no avail, before falling back into line behind Courtney on the high line.

The top-two of Courtney and Kofoid separated themselves from the rest of the field before immersing themselves into traffic by the 10th lap. Courtney expertly executed through traffic as he kept Kofoid at bay through the mid-stages of the 40-lapper.

Kofoid began to dip low to the bottom of turns three and four as he scoured the surface for an avenue past Courtney. Courtney, meanwhile, was in the midst of trying to slide lapped traffic. That briefly bogged down his momentum exiting turns two and four, thus allowing Kofoid a chance to pulley himself back into contention by taking a run at the reigning series champion in turn one on the 25th lap, which came up short of the mark.

Despite the miss, Kofoid simply wouldn't let Courtney escape, and with 11 laps to go, Kofoid was once again able to pull even with Courtney at the exit of turn four, putting him in a position to capitalize on any potential misstep Courtney was to encounter in the forthcoming laps.

Less than a half lap later, at the exit of turn two, Courtney snagged a piece of the turn two cushion as he slid past Ethan Mitchell to put him a lap down. Kofoid closed the gap to Courtney on the back straightaway and appeared to be setting up Courtney for the slide job in turn three, but the bottom lane was occupied by Mitchell, thus forcing Kofoid to drift back behind Courtney on the high line and negating a possible golden nugget of an opportunity.

Courtney then ably gapped Kofoid as he separated himself once again by more than a second with the aid of traffic. However, with five laps remaining, seventh-running Tyler Thomas coasted to a stop over the top of the turn two banking with smoke and a little bit of flame coming from the Oklahoma driver's ride, necessitating a yellow following a lengthy 35-lap caution free run.

"I like racing in lapped traffic," Courtney admitted. "I feel like I have a little bit of an edge on some guys there. I messed up a couple times, but overall I knew if we could stay in lapped traffic, it would bode better for me rather than if we went yellow because you never know what's going to happen on the restart. Restarts get chaotic, especially when you lose your brakes, it gets a little nerve wracking."

All race long, the expected showdown for the win was presumed to be undertaken by Courtney and Kofoid. However, Axsom, making just his third career series start, quietly minded his own Ps and Qs on the bottom as he restarted fourth on the lap 36 restart. Axsom quickly disposed of Windom for third off turn two, then as Kofoid slid by Courtney for the number one spot in turns three and four, Axsom rolled the bottom on his own path to the lead by a nose with Courtney in the middle and Kofoid up top, three-wide at the line.

Courtney slid past Kofoid into turn one, then moments later, Kofoid skipped along the curb of turn two and dropped to fifth and out of contention, leaving the race for the lead now as a mono y mono duel between Axsom on the bottom and Courtney up top.

"I knew Buddy was going to be coming there on the restart," Courtney recalled. "He slid me, I got back by him, then all of a sudden, there's a guy on the bottom and I couldn't really see who it was. I thought it was (Tanner) Thorson, but it ended up being Emerson there at the end. When I looked up (at the turn one scoreboard) and saw the 15, I thought, 'well, that's not what I was expecting.'"

Tyler Courtney's second USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win of 2020 was the 15th of his career, tying him with Don Branson and Larry Rice for 47th all-time.
(Rich Forman Photo)

Axsom's magnificent drive around the infield tires continued with four to go as tripped the scoring loop two car lengths ahead of Courtney at the line with Thorson now joining the fray just a couple steps behind Axsom on the bottom. Courtney knew his precision on the rail had to be as close to absolutely perfect during the last three lap stretch in order for him to win the deal, as it has to be when taking the long road home.

"I felt like I was getting through one and two pretty good," Courtney said. "Three and four, I was kind of struggling a little bit. I knew I could get through one and two, but just had to maintain over there in three and four and I did. Luckily, we got to the finish line first. It's still nerve wracking; you don't know how good that guy is going to hit the bottom on that last corner, especially if you mess up a little bit. So you just try to be perfect, but it's really hard to be perfect."

It took 39-1/4-laps for Courtney to find that final semblance of separation that was required as he launched off turns one and two on the 40th and final lap to reign victorious by a margin 0.434 seconds over Axsom, Thorson, Windom and Kofoid.

Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) nearly pulled off the miraculous late-race charge to the front of the field in his Petry Motorsports/Keizer Aluminum Wheels - Mobil 1 - FK Rod Ends/Bullet/Speedway Toyota. Yet, the 2nd place finish was his result, the best of the 15-year-old driver's career, as he chose his own distinct path along the way after earlier driving from 7th to 1st in the first heat race.

"I saw everyone else on the top, and I wanted to go up there," Axsom relayed. "We weren't terrible up there in lapped traffic but we weren't falling back on the bottom, so I tightened up the car with the shocks, which definitely helped on that last restart."

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 18, 2020 - Jefferson County Speedway - Fairbury, Nebraska - 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval - Riverside Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Meats & Schmidt's Sanitation

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.037; 2. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.074; 3. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.167; 4. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-11.196; 5. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.198; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.212; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.219; 8. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.266; 9. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.270; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-11.386; 11. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.387; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.395; 13. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.410; 14. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-11.418; 15. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-11.487; 16. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.496; 17. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.512; 18. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-11.528; 19. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.538; 20. Keith Rauch, 27B, Bourke-11.630; 21. Chris Sheil, 91, Mason-11.865; 22. Zac Taylor, 71T, Henry-11.947; 23. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-12.045; 24. Tony Rossi, 14, Rossi-12.049; 25. Collin Rinehart, 6, Rinehart-12.126; 26. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-12.251; 27. A.J. Valim, 4T, Valim-12.272; 28. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-12.304; 29. J.R. Ewing, 2c, Ewing-12.963.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Zac Taylor, 9. Collin Rinehart, 10. Lance Bennett. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Trey Gropp, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Keith Rauch, 8. Curtis Spicer, 9. J.R. Ewing, 10. Kyle Jones. 2:03.331

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Carson Garrett, 7. Chris Sheil, 8. Tony Rossi, 9. A.J. Valim. NT

INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Emilio Hoover, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Keith Rauch, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Curtis Spicer, 7. Tony Rossi, 8. Collin Rinehart, 9. A.J. Valim, 10. Lance Bennett, 11. Zac Taylor, 12. J.R. Ewing, 13. Kyle Jones. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. Emerson Axsom (9), 3. Tanner Thorson (4), 4. Chris Windom (3), 5. Buddy Kofoid (2), 6. Daison Pursley (11), 7. Jerry Coons Jr. (13), 8. Cannon McIntosh (6), 9. Sam Johnson (7), 10. Tanner Carrick (14), 11. Robert Dalby (18), 12. Ethan Mitchell (5), 13. Kaylee Bryson (12), 14. Andrew Layser (16), 15. Cole Bodine (8), 16. Carson Garrett (19), 17. Curtis Spicer (21), 18. Keith Rauch (20), 19. Tyler Thomas (15), 20. Trey Gropp (17), 21. Emilio Hoover (10), 22. Tony Rossi (22). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-35 Tyler Courtney, Laps 36-37 Emerson Axsom, Laps 38-40 Tyler Courtney.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-890, 2-Buddy Kofoid-812, 3-Tanner Thorson-788, 4-Tyler Courtney-773, 5-Cannon McIntosh-709, 6-Tanner Carrick-640, 7-Daison Pursley-584, 8-Cole Bodine-544, 9-Andrew Layser-496, 10-Justin Grant-489.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-64, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-41, 5-Andrew Layser-41, 6-Daison Pursley-41, 7-Cannon McIntosh-32, 8-Tanner Carrick-31, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 10-Brady Bacon-29.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 19, 2020 - Caney Valley Speedway - Caney, Kansas - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cole Bodine

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Sam Johnson

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tanner Carrick

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Collin Rinehart

KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Emerson Axsom (9th to 2nd)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kaylee Bryson