KOFOID’S UPS & DOWNS LEAD HIM TO THE MOUNTAINTOP OF USAC MIDGETS IN 2021
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 1, 2021)………When posed the question prior to the start of his 2021 season of whether anything less than a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship would be a disappointment, Buddy Kofoid showed no hesitation in unequivocally acknowledging that fact.
After capturing Rookie of the Year honors in 2020, the Penngrove, Calif. driver elevated his game even more the following year, scoring the series title in his second full season of competition on the strength of six victories in a campaign that saw its share of triumphs and tribulations, including an injury that very easily could’ve derailed what became the 19-year-old driver’s destiny.
The pressure, whether it’s produced by Kofoid himself or thrust upon him, is what he thrives upon. An outlook of “championship and nothing less” gave the uber-talented Kofoid the chip on his shoulder that provided an unwavering edge needed to succeed at the national level.
“I bring that pressure on myself; I guess that’s kind of how I work,” Kofoid acknowledged. “To me, my job was to win the championship and that’s what I was brought on to do. I knew that, and I knew I wouldn’t accept anything less anyway. For me, personally, winning races and winning championships is what keeps you going. I like the pressure and, to me, if you don’t get nervous, that’s not a good thing. You get nervous because you care, and you want to do good, and you put that kind of pressure on yourself when you want to achieve something.”
Returning to the fold with the same crew chief as the previous year – Jarrett Martin – the same venerable Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team and high expectations from himself, his peers and the public, Kofoid came flying right out the box with victories in two of the first three events, including February’s daytime opener at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. followed by the biggest charge by any driver during the season, a 16th to 1st performance to win at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway in April.
Adding victories at Bloomington Speedway and Gas City I-69 Speedway in June propelled Kofoid to the Indiana Midget Week title. A solid July saw three more top-ten finishes in four additional starts, which provided Kofoid a sturdy 37-point lead over defending series champion Chris Windom entering the second half of the season. But that’s where things took an unexpected excursion.
A late model crash at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway on July 24 resulted in a broken right wrist and a broken left foot for Kofoid. With an arm cast grooved to fit the curvature of his steering wheel, ala Jim Hurtubise, Kofoid finished 10th his first time out in the body armor at Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway. Coupled with Windom’s victory that same night, Kofoid’s point lead was in jeopardy after being sliced down to 13.
Kofoid was forced to acclimate to his new clime inside the racecar, firstly merely discovering a new comfort level in the car. Since he couldn’t close his right hand all the way, the team beefed up the steering wheel with extra padding on one side to make it fatter and easier to grip. Furthermore, the body on the right side of the car was spaced out a bit more in order for him to lift his arm up higher since he had no wrist movement.
“It was frustrating; It was a nuisance; and it hurt,” Kofoid explained. “I made sure that I could race because I wanted that championship, and I accepted the challenges that it was going to bring. I made sure to get a custom, form-fitted cast and tried to take all the right steps to make myself as comfortable as I could. When your wrist movement is taken away, it forces you to chicken wing. With little stuff like that, we did as much as we could to help. It was definitely tough, and I feel like I float my right hand a lot. But when you take it away completely, you realize how much you actually use it.”
While Kofoid didn’t win with the cast, coming as close as second on two occasions at Pennsylvania’s Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway and at South Dakota’s Huset’s Speedway, he continued to perform at a high level with 12 top-tens in 12 starts with the cast, including eight top-five results.
The spectacular run of consistency gave Kofoid the confidence that if he could run halfway decent with the cast, once he returned to normal, he felt like he would perform even better. Akin to running with ankle weights or swinging a fungo bat before going to the real deal, theoretically, everything would seemingly become easier once the medical shackles were released.
Despite that, Kofoid did lose his grip on the point lead following the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, falling behind Windom. However, that marked the final race Kofoid had to endure with the cast.
From that point forward, the season took on a new look for Kofoid beginning with the ensuing event in October at Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, which returned his full confidence despite a less-than-stellar finish that resulted in a dip further back in the point standings behind Windom. While battling for the race lead that night, Kofoid was involved in a kerfuffle that caused him to flip but managed to save face by returning to finish ninth in the final rundown.
At that juncture, Kofoid and team discovered something else that had been shackling their performance.
“We found out in October, after the cast came off, that the car that we had run during the summer months was built with a different kind of chromoly and it ended up not working really well for us,” Kofoid detailed. “We really struggled with it, and once we got rid of that car and back to what all the other cars were like, and what my older car was like, that fixed some of those problems we were having. That started to help get our speed back and getting the cast off helped even more.”
With knowledge of the car issue and now free of pain as he headed out west for the final nine events of the season, Kofoid felt a flip of the switch was coming soon in the Golden State.
“There’s something about home state racing; it does something to you; I don’t know what it is,” Kofoid comprehended. “The start of the western swing was really where it started to click again like it had been the rest of the year.”
Kofoid shot back ahead of Windom and into the point lead with his first victory in five months at Bakersfield Speedway on Nov. 16. However, a rough go in the Hangtown 100 opener at Placerville Speedway demoted Kofoid back to second in the standings, down 13 to Windom. The tables were turned the following night at Placerville as Kofoid took fifth and Windom uncharacteristically spun out on his own while leading the feature.
Kofoid never relinquished the point lead from that point forward, finishing on the podium in each of the final three races, starting with a second on the first night at Merced Speedway. His first career fast qualifying time with the series followed the next night, which was punctuated by a feature victory.
At the finale in Ventura, Calif., Kofoid wrapped up the championship by gaining four points in qualifying after timing in third quick. With house money, he took second place in the Turkey Night Grand Prix feature and celebrated an 89-point advantage in the final standings.
Kofoid became the sixth teenager to win the USAC National Midget driving title, joining Jeff Gordon (1990), Bobby East (2004), Christopher Bell (2013), Spencer Bayston (2017) and Cole Whitt (2008), who was the youngest to win it at age 17.
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports’ 11th entrant title is a new record, breaking the tie it held with Steve Lewis. Kunz’s previous series entrant championships came in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The 40 races run in 2021 were the most contested by the USAC National Midget division since 49 were held in 1988, 33 years ago.
Kofoid became the sixth driver, and the first in seven seasons, to score the Indiana Midget Week title and the USAC National Midget championship in the same season. He joins Jerry Coons Jr. (2007), Bryan Clauson (2011), Darren Hagen (2012), Christopher Bell (2013) and Rico Abreu (2014) in that category.
For the first time since 1977, three drivers reached six wins or more during a USAC National Midget season: Tanner Thorson (7), Chris Windom (7) and Buddy Kofoid (6). Forty-four years ago, it was Johnny Parsons (10), Rich Vogler (6) and Sleepy Tripp (6).
Kofoid’s mark of 37 top-tens during the 2021 USAC National Midget season was the most since Danny Caruthers in 1971. Kofoid’s mark of 28 top-fives was also historic, with it being the most since Mel Kenyon 1977. All three drivers captured the championship during those respective seasons.
There were five first-time USAC National Midget winners in 2021, tied for the most over the last 13 seasons. Among them were Emerson Axsom, Daison Pursley, Kyle Cummins, Corey Day and Ryan Timms who, at just 15 years, 3 months and 12 days old, became the youngest feature winner in the history of the series with a victory at California’s Placerville Speedway in November.
Chris Windom and Justin Grant each scored the most lucrative victories of the 2021 USAC National Midget season. Windom collected $20,000 at South Dakota’s Huset’s Speedway in September while Grant notched $20 Grand for himself with a victory in November at Placerville. Both races were 100-lappers, the two longest races on the schedule.
Waco, Texas native Chase Randall became the first Texan to capture USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year honors since James McElreath in 1976.
Kyle Larson became the first driver ever to win a USAC National Midget feature on dirt and the NASCAR Cup Series championship in the same season. The Elk Grove, Calif. driver won twice in 2021 with USAC, first at the BC39 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August then again at his home track of Placerville in November.
Logan Seavey, meanwhile, became the first driver to win the season finales on dirt for all three of USAC’s National divisions. In September, he etched his name as the winner of the final USAC Silver Crown race of the year on dirt at Eldora. In mid-November, he shut down the Arizona Speedway dirt oval for the final time with a triumph in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season finale, then finished off with a midget win in the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura in late-November. He also captured a score in June during Indiana Midget Week at Lawrenceburg.
Returning to victory lane during the 2021 season were Thomas Meseraull who scored four wins in four different months throughout the year as well as Tyler Courtney who moved into the top-five all-time in terms of USAC National feature victories at Eldora Speedway with his win in the race held the night before the 4-Crown Nationals.
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2021 USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET STAT LEADERS
Driver Champion: Buddy Kofoid
Entrant Champion: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67
Rookie of the Year: Chase Randall (11th)
Most Feature Wins: 7-Tanner Thorson & Chris Windom
Laps Led: 217-Buddy Kofoid
Top-Fives: 28-Buddy Kofoid
Top-Tens: 37-Buddy Kofoid
Fast Qualifying Times: 6-Tanner Thorson
Heat Race Wins: 11-Thomas Meseraull
Feature Starts: 40-Emerson Axsom, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh, Thomas Meseraull, Logan Seavey, Tanner Thorson & Chris Windom
Most Positions Gained in a Feature: Apr 10: Port City Raceway – Buddy Kofoid (16th to 1st) & Jun 9: Circle City Raceway – Logan Seavey (22nd to 7th)
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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Feb 6: Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, FL
WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
Feb 8: Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, FL
WINNER: Thomas Meseraull (RMS Racing #7x)
Apr 10: Port City Raceway – Tulsa, OK
WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
Apr 11: Port City Raceway – Tulsa, OK
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Apr 30: Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, IN
WINNER: Emerson Axsom (Petry Motorsports #15)
May 1: Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, IN
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Jun 3: (I) Paragon Speedway – Paragon, IN
WINNER: Thomas Meseraull (RMS Racing #7x)
Jun 4: (I) Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, IN
WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
Jun 5: (I) Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, IN
WINNER: Logan Seavey (Tom Malloy #25)
Jun 6: (I) Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, IN
WINNER: Kyle Cummins (Glenn Styres Racing #3G)
Jun 9: (I) Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, IN
WINNER: Corey Day (Clauson Marshall Racing #47BC)
Jun 10: (I) Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, IN
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Jun 11: (I) Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, IN
WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
Jun 12: (I) Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, IN
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Jul 13: (M) Red Dirt Raceway – Meeker, OK
WINNER: Daison Pursley (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71K)
Jul 15: (M) Solomon Valley Raceway – Beloit, KS
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Jul 16: (M) Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, NE
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Jul 17: (M) (F) Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, NE
WINNER: Emerson Axsom (Petry Motorsports #15)
Aug 3: (E) Grandview Speedway – Bechtelsville, PA
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Aug 4: (E) Action Track USA – Kutztown, PA
WINNER: Daison Pursley (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71K)
Aug 5: (E) Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Swedesboro, NJ
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Aug 6: (E) Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Bloomsburg, PA
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Aug 7: (E) Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Newmanstown, PA
WINNER: Justin Grant (RMS Racing #2J)
Aug. 19: (F) The Dirt Track at IMS – Indianapolis, IN
WINNER: Kyle Larson (CB Industries #86x)
Sep 5: Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, WI
WINNER: Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T)
Sep 10: (F) Huset's Speedway – Brandon, SD
WINNER: Thomas Meseraull (RMS Racing #7x)
Sep 11: (F) Huset's Speedway – Brandon, SD
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Sep 12: (F) Huset's Speedway – Brandon, SD
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Sep 24: Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH
WINNER: Tyler Courtney (Clauson Marshall Racing #7BC)
Sep 25: (F) Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Oct 9: Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, IN
WINNER: Thomas Meseraull (RMS Racing #7x)
Nov 12: Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, AZ
WINNER: Justin Grant (RMS Racing #2J)
Nov 13: Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, AZ
WINNER: Chris Windom (CB Industries #89)
Nov 16: Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, CA
WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
Nov 18: Placerville Speedway – Placerville, CA
WINNER: Ryan Timms (CB Industries #85T)
Nov 19: Placerville Speedway – Placerville, CA
WINNER: Kyle Larson (Kyle Larson Racing #1K)
Nov 20: Placerville Speedway – Placerville, CA
WINNER: Justin Grant (RMS Racing #2J)
Nov 23: Merced Speedway – Merced, CA
WINNER: Justin Grant (RMS Racing #2J)
Nov 24: Merced Speedway – Merced, CA
WINNER: Buddy Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
Nov 27: Ventura Raceway – Ventura, CA
WINNER: Logan Seavey (Tom Malloy #25)
------------------------ KEY DEFINITIONS -------------------------
(I) represents an Indiana Midget Week event
(M) represents a Mid-America Midget Week event
(E) represents an Eastern Midget Week event
(F) represents a race awarding feature points only
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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER POINT STANDINGS
POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN
1 2586 Buddy Kofoid, Penngrove, Calif.
2 2497 Chris Windom, Canton, Ill.
3 2372 Justin Grant, Ione, Calif.
4 2322 Emerson Axsom, Franklin, Ind.
5 2293 Tanner Thorson, Minden, Nev.
6 2214 Logan Seavey, Sutter, Calif.
7 1984 Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, Calif.
8 1972 Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, Ala.
9 1892 Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, Okla.
10 1852 Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, Okla.
11 1488 Chase Randall (R), Waco, Texas
12 1281 Bryant Wiedeman (R), Colby, Kan.
13 1221 Brenham Crouch (R), Lubbock, Texas
14 1124 Ethan Mitchell, Mooresville, N.C.
15 1108 Jason McDougal, Broken Arrow, Okla.
16 909 Kaylee Bryson, Muskogee, Okla.
17 777 Hayden Reinbold (R), Gilbert, Ariz.
18 690 Ryan Timms (R), Oklahoma City, Okla.
19 598 Hayden Williams (R), Auckland, N.Z.
20 581 Chance Crum (R), Snohomish, Wash.
21 529 Taylor Reimer (R), Bixby, Okla.
22 524 Kyle Cummins, Princeton, Ind.
23 485 Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, Calif.
24 481 Trey Gropp (R), Lincoln, Neb.
25 469 Corey Day (R), Clovis, Calif.
26 349 Sam Johnson, St. Peters, Mo.
27 313 Brian Carber (R), Pipersville, Pa.
28 294 Austin Barnhill (R), Wilmington, N.C.
29 278 Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Okla.
30 264 Jade Avedisian (R), Clovis, Calif.
31 241 Cole Bodine, Rossville, Ind.
32 196 Travis Buckley (R), Auckland, N.Z.
33 176 Jonathan Shafer (R), Ashland, Ohio
34 144 Jake Neuman, New Berlin, Ill.
35 137 Tyler Thomas, Collinsville, Okla.
36 90 Blake Brannon (R), Morgan Hill, Calif.
37 90 Oliver Akard (R), Fort Myers, Fla.
38 77 Clinton Boyles, Greenwood, Mo.
39 72 Kenney Johnson (R), Bethany, Conn.
40 62 Jacob Denney (R), Galloway, Ohio
41 50 Emilio Hoover (R), Broken Arrow, Okla.
42 48 Jace Park (R), Overland Park, Kan.
43 40 Blake Spicer (R), Marysville, Kan.
44 40 J.R. Ewing (R), Phillipsburg, Kan.
45 30 Tyler Nelson, Olathe, Kan.
46 30 Mariah Ede (R), Fresno, Calif.
47 20 Ryan Bickett (R), Ramona, S.D.
(R) = USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Rookie of the Year Contender
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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRANT POINT STANDINGS
POS. PTS. ENTRANT, TEAM LOCATION
1 2586 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#67)
2 2497 CB Industries, Mooresville, N.C. (#89)
3 2372 RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#2J)
4 2322 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#15)
5 2214 Tom Malloy, El Monte, Calif. (#25)
6 2144 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#71K)
7 2138 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19T)
8 1984 RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#7x)
9 1972 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#5)
10 1852 Dave Mac Motorsports, Bixby, Okla. (#08)
11 1488 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19A)
12 1281 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#01)
13 1221 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#97)
14 1124 Bundy Built Motorsports, Mooresville, N.C. (#19m)
15 909 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#71)
16 777 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19AZ)
17 730 Rudeen Racing, Liberty Lake, Wash. (#26)
18 636 CB Industries, Mooresville, N.C. (#85T)
19 634 Robert Dalby Motorsports, Chino, Calif. (#4)
20 598 BSL Racing, Auckland, N.Z. (#1NZ)
21 558 Mounce-Stout Motorsports, Collinsville, Okla. (#00)
22 529 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#25K)
23 524 Glenn Styres Racing, Ohsweken, Ont. (#3G)
24 469 Clauson Marshall Racing, Fishers, Ind. (#47BC)
25 442 Hayward Motorsports, Morrison, Ill. (#19)
26 410 CB Industries, Mooresville, N.C. (#84)
27 349 Sam Johnson Racing, O’Fallon, Mo. (#72J)
28 298 BSL Racing, Auckland, N.Z. (#7NZ)
29 278 TKH Motorsports, Sweet Springs, Mo. (#21H)
30 241 Clauson Marshall Racing, Fishers, Ind. (#39BC)
31 203 Dave Mac Motorsports, Bixby, Okla. (#17B)
32 176 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#67K)
33 155 Dave Mac Motorsports, Bixby, Okla. (#88)
34 144 Jim Neuman, New Berlin, Ill. (#3N)
35 137 Tyler Thomas Motorsports, Catoosa, Okla. (#91T)
36 111 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#98K)
37 107 Chris Lewis, Jackson, Mo. (#49)
38 97 Klatt Enterprises, Hastings, Neb. (#4x)
39 90 Brannon Corporation, Morgan Hill, Calif. (#40)
40 90 OMR Motorsports, Fort Myers, Fla. (#41)
41 77 RAMS Racing, Lees Summit, Mo. (#14s)
42 72 Jeff Johnson, Bethany, Conn. (#46)
43 70 RAMS Racing, Lees Summit, Mo. (#4A)
44 69 Team Ripper, Springfield, Ill. (#21KS)
45 62 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#35)
46 50 Team Ripper, Springfield, Ill. (#21K)
47 40 Terry John, Marysville, Kan. (#4s)
48 40 J.R. Ewing, Phillipsburg, Kan. (#2c)
49 30 Tyler Nelson Racing, Indianapolis, Ind. (#88x)
50 20 Mounce-Stout Motorsports, Collinsville, Okla. (#14H)
51 20 Ryan Bickett, Ramona, S.D. (#17H)
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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROOKIE DRIVER POINT STANDINGS
POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN
1 1488 Chase Randall (R), Waco, Texas
2 1281 Bryant Wiedeman (R), Colby, Kan.
3 1221 Brenham Crouch (R), Lubbock, Texas
4 777 Hayden Reinbold (R), Gilbert, Ariz.
5 690 Ryan Timms (R), Oklahoma City, Okla.
6 598 Hayden Williams (R), Auckland, N.Z.
7 581 Chance Crum (R), Snohomish, Wash.
8 529 Taylor Reimer (R), Bixby, Okla.
9 481 Trey Gropp (R), Lincoln, Neb.
10 469 Corey Day (R), Clovis, Calif.
11 313 Brian Carber (R), Pipersville, Pa.
12 294 Austin Barnhill (R), Wilmington, N.C.
13 264 Jade Avedisian (R), Clovis, Calif.
14 196 Travis Buckley (R), Auckland, N.Z.
15 176 Jonathan Shafer (R), Ashland, Ohio
16 90 Blake Brannon (R), Morgan Hill, Calif.
17 90 Oliver Akard (R), Fort Myers, Fla.
18 72 Kenney Johnson (R), Bethany, Conn.
19 62 Jacob Denney (R), Galloway, Ohio
20 50 Emilio Hoover (R), Broken Arrow, Okla.
21 48 Jace Park (R), Overland Park, Kan.
22 40 Blake Spicer (R), Marysville, Kan.
23 40 J.R. Ewing (R), Phillipsburg, Kan.
24 30 Mariah Ede (R), Fresno, Calif.
25 20 Ryan Bickett (R), Ramona, S.D.
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2021 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STATISTICS
FEATURE WINS
7-Tanner Thorson (Apr 11 at Port City Raceway, Jun 10 at Lincoln Park Speedway, Jul 15 at Solomon Valley Raceway, Jul 16 at Jefferson County Speedway, Aug 5 at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Aug 6 at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway & Sep 5 at Angell Park Speedway)
7-Chris Windom (May 1 at Kokomo Speedway, Jun 12 at Kokomo Speedway, Aug 3 at Grandview Speedway, Sep 11 at Huset’s Speedway, Sep 12 Huset’s Speedway, Sep 25 at Eldora Speedway & Nov 13 at Arizona Speedway)
6-Buddy Kofoid (Feb 6 at Bubba Raceway Park, Apr 10 at Port City Raceway, Jun 4 at Bloomington Speedway, Jun 11 at Gas City I-69 Speedway, Nov 16 at Bakersfield Speedway & Nov 24 at Merced Speedway)
4-Justin Grant (Aug 7 at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, Nov 12 at Arizona Speedway, Nov 20 at Placerville Speedway & Nov 23 at Merced Speedway)
4-Thomas Meseraull (Feb 8 at Bubba Raceway Park, Jun 3 at Paragon Speedway, Sep 10 at Huset’s Speedway & Oct 9 at Tri-State Speedway)
2-Emerson Axsom (Apr 30 at Kokomo Speedway & Jul 17 at Jefferson County Speedway)
2-Kyle Larson (Aug 19 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway & Nov 19 at Placerville Speedway)
2-Daison Pursley (Jul 13 at Red Dirt Raceway & Aug 4 at Action Track USA)
2-Logan Seavey (Jun 5 at Lawrenceburg Speedway & Nov 27 at Ventura Raceway)
1-Tyler Courtney (Sept 24 at Eldora Speedway)
1-Kyle Cummins (Jun 6 at Tri-State Speedway)
1-Corey Day (Jun 9 at Circle City Raceway)
1-Ryan Timms (Nov 18 at Placerville Speedway)
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FEATURE LAPS LED
217-Buddy Kofoid
204-Chris Windom
163-Logan Seavey
134-Tanner Thorson
103-Emerson Axsom
90-Thomas Meseraull
78-Justin Grant
77-Daison Pursley
63-Kevin Thomas Jr.
55-Chase Randall
50-Cannon McIntosh
30-Corey Day & Ryan Timms
29-Kyle Cummins
26-Kaylee Bryson
23-Cory Eliason
20-Zeb Wise
16-Kyle Larson
14-Tyler Courtney
9-Sam Johnson
7-Alex Bright & Jason McDougal
2-Bryant Wiedeman
1-Jonathan Beason
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TOP-5 FEATURE FINISHES
28-Buddy Kofoid
26-Chris Windom
22-Justin Grant
20-Emerson Axsom
14-Daison Pursley & Tanner Thorson
11-Logan Seavey
10-Thomas Meseraull & Kevin Thomas Jr.
8-Cannon McIntosh
3-Brady Bacon, Shane Golobic, Kyle Larson, Jason McDougal & Bryant Wiedeman
2-Spencer Bayston, Tyler Courtney, Brenham Crouch & Corey Day
1-Jade Avedisian, Alex Bright, Kaylee Bryson, Brian Carber, Tanner Carrick, Kyle Cummins, Zach Daum, Cory Eliason, Carson Macedo, Ethan Mitchell, Mitchel Moles, Chase Randall, Ryan Timms & Hayden Williams
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TOP-10 FEATURE FINISHES
37-Buddy Kofoid
32-Justin Grant & Chris Windom
30-Tanner Thorson
29-Logan Seavey
28-Emerson Axsom
25-Daison Pursley
23-Kevin Thomas Jr.
20-Thomas Meseraull
17-Cannon McIntosh
12-Jason McDougal & Chase Randall
8-Bryant Wiedeman
7-Shane Golobic
5-Tanner Carrick, Brenham Crouch, Corey Day & Ryan Timms
4-Jerry Coons Jr., Kyle Cummins, Cory Eliason, Kyle Larson, Ethan Mitchell, Taylor Reimer & Hayden Williams
3-Brady Bacon, Alex Bright, Kaylee Bryson, Tyler Courtney, Zach Daum, Carson Macedo, Mitchel Moles & Zeb Wise
2-Spencer Bayston, Brian Carber, Chance Crum, Kyle Jones & Joe B. Miller
1-Jade Avedisian, Jonathan Beason, Ryan Bernal, Trey Gropp, Jake Neuman & Hayden Reinbold
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FATHEADZ EYEWEAR FAST QUALIFYING TIMES
6-Tanner Thorson
4-Cannon McIntosh
3-Logan Seavey
2-Corey Day, Thomas Meseraull, Daison Pursley, Kevin Thomas Jr. & Chris Windom
1-Emerson Axsom, Brady Bacon, Spencer Bayston, Alex Bright, Kaylee Bryson, Shane Golobic, Buddy Kofoid, Carson Macedo, Ethan Mitchell, Mitchel Moles, Chase Randall, Taylor Reimer & Bryan Wiedeman
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HEAT RACE WINS: (Presented by Simpson Race Products, Competition Suspension, Inc., Indy Metal Finishing & Indy Race Parts)
9-Emerson Axsom, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid & Tanner Thorson
7-Cannon McIntosh, Daison Pursley, Kevin Thomas Jr. & Chris Windom
5-Ethan Mitchell & Chase Randall
4-Tanner Carrick, Brenham Crouch, Jason McDougal & Bryant Wiedeman
3-Kaylee Bryson & Logan Seavey
2-Cole Bodine, Corey Day, Cory Eliason, Shane Golobic, Carson Macedo, Taylor Reimer, Tyler Thomas, Ryan Timms & Hayden Williams
1-Austin Barnhill, Jonathan Beason, Alex Bright, Jake Bubak, Jerry Coons Jr., Tyler Courtney, Chance Crum, Kyle Cummins, Zach Daum, Chase Elliott, Michael Faccinto, Trey Gropp, Chase Johnson, Colby Johnson, Sam Johnson, Kyle Jones, Max McLaughlin, Aiden Purdue, Caden Sarale & Zac Taylor
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QUALIFYING RACE WINS
1-Emerson Axsom, Brady Bacon, Tyler Courtney, Brenham Crouch, Justin Grant, Cannon McIntosh, Kevin Thomas Jr., Bryant Wiedeman & Chris Windom
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ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI-FEATURE WINS
3-Chase Randall & Kevin Thomas Jr.
2-Emerson Axsom, Brenham Crouch, Shane Golobic, Justin Grant, Daison Pursley & Logan Seavey
1-Chance Crum, Michael Faccinto, Trey Gropp, Carson Macedo, Jason McDougal, Thomas Meseraull, Jace Park, Karter Sarff, Jonathan Shafer, Tanner Thorson, Ryan Timms, Hayden Williams & Zeb Wise
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C-MAIN WINS
1-Jacob Denney, Dylan Ito, Chance Morton & Logan Seavey
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D-MAIN WINS
1-Jacob Denney & Tanner Thorson
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FEATURE STARTS
40-Emerson Axsom, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh, Thomas Meseraull, Logan Seavey, Tanner Thorson & Chris Windom
39-Kevin Thomas Jr.
35-Chase Randall
32-Brenham Crouch & Daison Pursley
29-Bryant Wiedeman
28-Ethan Mitchell
23-Kaylee Bryson
22-Jason McDougal
17-Hayden Reinbold & Ryan Timms
15-Taylor Reimer & Hayden Williams
13-Chance Crum
12-Kyle Cummins & Trey Gropp
11-Tanner Carrick
9-Corey Day & Sam Johnson
8-Brian Carber, Jerry Coons Jr., Zach Daum & Shane Golobic
7-Jade Avedisian, Maria Cofer, Cory Eliason & Carson Macedo
6-Cole Bodine, Kyle Jones, Kyle Larson, Mitchel Moles, Zeb Wise & Kevin Woody Jr.
5-Brady Bacon, Austin Barnhill & Alex Bright
4-Colby Copeland, Chase Elliott, Michael Faccinto, Jonathan Shafer, Tyler Thomas & Glenn Waterland
3-Spencer Bayston, Jonathan Beason, Ryan Bernal, Travis Buckley, Tyler Courtney, Chad Frewaldt, Jimmy Glenn, Chase Johnson, Jake Neuman, Bryan Stanfill & Brandon Waelti
2-Lance Bennett, Clinton Boyles, Jake Bubak, Steve Buckwalter, Trevor Casey, Eric Heydenreich, Casey Hicks, Kenney Johnson, Michael Markey, Shannon McQueen, Joe B. Miller, Greg Mitchell, Kade Morton, Brant O'Banion, Daniel Robinson, Alex Sewell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jim Vanzant & Aaron Werner
1-Jake Andreotti, Blaze Bennett, Tanner Berryhill, Chase Briscoe, Jacob Denney, Carson Garrett, Tony Gomes, Colby Johnson, Tommy Kunsman, Trey Marcham, Shannon Mausteller, Ace McCarthy, Chase McDermand, Max McLaughlin, Jace Park, Keith Rauch, Matt Rechek, Jack Routson, Tyler Rust, Caden Sarale, Karter Sarff, Stephen Schnapf, Mark Sokol, Carson Sousa, Zac Taylor, Brett Wanner & Jeff Zelinski
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GSP QUALITY DRIVING PERFORMANCE OF THE RACE:
Apr 10: Port City Raceway – Trey Marcham
Apr 11: Port City Raceway – Ace McCarthy
Apr 30: Kokomo Speedway – Daison Pursley
May 1: Kokomo Speedway – Logan Seavey
Jun 3: Paragon Speedway – Logan Seavey
Jun 4: Bloomington Speedway – Chris Windom
Jun 5: Lawrenceburg Speedway – Hayden Williams
Jun 6: Tri-State Speedway – Daison Pursley
Jun 9: Circle City Raceway – Corey Day
Jun 10: Lincoln Park Speedway – Chase Randall
Jun 11: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Cannon McIntosh
Jun 12: Kokomo Speedway – Jason McDougal
Jul 13: Red Dirt Raceway – Kaylee Bryson
Jul 15: Solomon Valley Raceway – Emerson Axsom
Jul 16: Jefferson County Speedway – Daison Pursley
Jul 17: Jefferson County Speedway – Jake Bubak
Aug 3: Grandview Speedway – Emerson Axsom
Aug 4: Action Track USA – Thomas Meseraull
Aug 5: Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Cannon McIntosh
Aug 6: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Kevin Thomas Jr.
Aug 7: Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Daison Pursley
Aug 19: The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Tanner Thorson
Sep 5: Angell Park Speedway – Brandon Waelti
Sep 10: Huset’s Speedway – Thomas Meseraull
Sep 11: Huset’s Speedway – Shane Golobic
Sep 12: Huset’s Speedway – Chase Randall
Sep 24: Eldora Speedway – Logan Seavey
Sep 25: Eldora Speedway – Spencer Bayston
Oct 9: Tri-State Speedway – Tyler Rust
Nov 12: Arizona Speedway – Justin Grant
Nov 13: Arizona Speedway – Chase Randall
Nov 16: Bakersfield Speedway – Thomas Meseraull
Nov 18: Placerville Speedway – Carson Macedo
Nov 19: Placerville Speedway – Justin Grant
Nov 20: Placerville Speedway – Cory Eliason
Nov 23: Merced Speedway – Jade Avedisian
Nov 24: Merced Speedway – Thomas Meseraull
Nov 27: Ventura Raceway – Kevin Thomas Jr.
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KSE RACING PRODUCTS “HARD CHARGER” OF THE RACE
Feb 6: Bubba Raceway Park – Tanner Carrick (14th to 8th)
Feb 8: Bubba Raceway Park – Daison Pursley (10th to 5th)
Apr 10: Port City Raceway – Buddy Kofoid (16th to 1st)
Apr 11: Port City Raceway – Chris Windom (13th to 4th)
Apr 30: Kokomo Speedway – Tanner Thorson (17th to 7th)
May 1: Kokomo Speedway – Kevin Thomas Jr. (13rd to 3rd)
Jun 3: Paragon Speedway – Thomas Meseraull (12th to 1st)
Jun 4: Bloomington Speedway – Emerson Axsom (22nd to 11th)
Jun 5: Lawrenceburg Speedway – Brian Carber (22nd to 10th)
Jun 6: Tri-State Speedway – Justin Grant (19th to 8th)
Jun 9: Circle City Raceway – Logan Seavey (22nd to 7th)
Jun 10: Lincoln Park Speedway – Corey Day (12th to 5th)
Jun 11: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Tanner Thorson (20th to 8th)
Jun 12: Kokomo Speedway – Kevin Thomas Jr. (18th to 9th)
Jul 13: Red Dirt Raceway – Justin Grant (13th to 2nd)
Jul 15: Solomon Valley Raceway – Logan Seavey (17th to 7th)
Jul 16: Jefferson County Speedway – Brenham Crouch (22nd to 11th)
Jul 17: Jefferson County Speedway – Buddy Kofoid (15th to 2nd)
Aug 3: Grandview Speedway – Thomas Meseraull (15th to 8th)
Aug 4: Action Track USA – Alex Bright (16th to 6th)
Aug 5: Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Kevin Thomas Jr. (14th to 6th)
Aug 6: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Kevin Woody Jr. (21st to 15th)
Aug 7: Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Kevin Woody Jr. (20th to 11th)
Aug 19: The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Emerson Axsom (19th to 5th)
Sep 5: Angell Park Speedway – Brandon Waelti (22nd to 11th)
Sep 10: Huset’s Speedway – Maria Cofer (20th to 12th)
Sep 11: Huset’s Speedway – Thomas Meseraull (16th to 8th)
Sep 12: Huset’s Speedway – Tanner Thorson (18th to 4th)
Sep 24: Eldora Speedway – Hayden Reinbold (20th to 15th)
Sep 25: Eldora Speedway – Kevin Thomas Jr. (20th to 10th)
Oct 9: Tri-State Speedway – Justin Grant (17th to 3rd)
Nov 12: Arizona Speedway – Chance Crum (23rd to 14th)
Nov 13: Arizona Speedway – Chase Randall (23rd to 9th)
Nov 16: Bakersfield Speedway – Thomas Meseraull (22nd to 11th)
Nov 18: Placerville Speedway – Thomas Meseraull (17th to 9th)
Nov 19: Placerville Speedway – Justin Grant (24th to 11th)
Nov 20: Placerville Speedway – Tanner Carrick (22nd to 9th)
Nov 23: Merced Speedway – Jason McDougal (14th to 10th)
Nov 24: Merced Speedway – Justin Grant (17th to 3rd)
Nov 27: Ventura Raceway – Chase Randall (26th to 12th)
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WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHERS
Feb 6: Bubba Raceway Park – Bryant Wiedeman
Feb 8: Bubba Raceway Park – Logan Seavey
Apr 10: Port City Raceway – Daison Pursley
Apr 11: Port City Raceway – Emerson Axsom
Apr 30: Kokomo Speedway – Logan Seavey
May 1: Kokomo Speedway – Bryant Wiedeman
Jun 3: Paragon Speedway – Tanner Thorson
Jun 4: Bloomington Speedway – Thomas Meseraull
Jun 5: Lawrenceburg Speedway – Tanner Thorson
Jun 6: Tri-State Speedway – Logan Seavey
Jun 9: Circle City Raceway – Chase Randall
Jun 10: Lincoln Park Speedway – Chris Windom
Jun 11: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Cole Bodine
Jun 12: Kokomo Speedway – Daison Pursley
Jul 13: Red Dirt Raceway – Emerson Axsom
Jul 15: Solomon Valley Raceway – Kevin Thomas Jr.
Jul 16: Jefferson County Speedway – Bryant Wiedeman
Jul 17: Jefferson County Speedway – Chase Randall
Aug 3: Grandview Speedway – Taylor Reimer
Aug 4: Action Track USA – Hayden Reinbold
Aug 5: Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Logan Seavey
Aug 6: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Ethan Mitchell
Aug 7: Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Ethan Mitchell
Aug 19: The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Kevin Thomas Jr.
Sep 5: Angell Park Speedway – Jack Routson
Sep 10: Huset’s Speedway – Ethan Mitchell
Sep 11: Huset’s Speedway – Tanner Thorson
Sep 12: Huset’s Speedway – Brant O’Banion
Sep 24: Eldora Speedway – Chance Crum
Sep 25: Eldora Speedway – Thomas Meseraull
Oct 9: Tri-State Speedway – Carson Garrett
Nov 12: Arizona Speedway – Thomas Meseraull
Nov 13: Arizona Speedway – Kaylee Bryson
Nov 16: Bakersfield Speedway – Brenham Crouch
Nov 18: Placerville Speedway – Tanner Carrick
Nov 19: Placerville Speedway – Brenham Crouch
Nov 20: Placerville Speedway – Colby Copeland
Nov 23: Merced Speedway – Tanner Carrick
Nov 24: Merced Speedway – Maria Cofer
Nov 27: Ventura Raceway – Maria Cofer
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SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFERS
Feb 6: Bubba Raceway Park – Andrew Felker
Feb 8: Bubba Raceway Park – Emilio Hoover
Apr 10: Port City Raceway – Brenham Crouch
Apr 11: Port City Raceway – Noah Harris
Jun 3: Paragon Speedway – Cole Bodine
Jun 4: Bloomington Speedway – Kaylee Bryson
Jun 5: Lawrenceburg Speedway – Chett Gehrke
Jun 6: Tri-State Speedway – Travis Buckley
Jun 9: Circle City Raceway – Bryant Wiedeman
Jun 10: Lincoln Park Speedway – Brian Carber
Jun 11: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Chase Randall
Jun 12: Kokomo Speedway – Trey Gropp
Jul 13: Red Dirt Raceway – Jason McDougal
Jul 15: Solomon Valley Raceway – Sam Johnson
Jul 16: Jefferson County Speedway – Jake Bubak
Jul 17: Jefferson County Speedway – Hayden Reinbold
Aug 3: Grandview Speedway – Michael Markey
Aug 4: Action Track USA – Dan Bennett
Aug 6: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – J.R. Booth
Aug 19: The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Tanner Thorson
Sep 10: Huset’s Speedway – Casey Hicks
Oct 9: Tri-State Speedway – Bryan Stanfill
Nov 16: Bakersfield Speedway – Chance Crum
Nov 18: Placerville Speedway – Maria Cofer & Ethan Mitchell
Nov 19: Placerville Speedway – Ryan Robinson & Mitchel Moles
Nov 20: Placerville Speedway – Chase Randall
Nov 23: Merced Speedway – Jake Andreotti
Nov 24: Merced Speedway – Chase Johnson
Nov 27: Ventura Raceway – Matt Mitchell
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ALL-TIME USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FEATURE WINS
1. [111 wins] Mel Kenyon
2. [95 wins] Rich Vogler
3. [78 wins] Bob Wente
4. [63 wins] Bob Tattersall
5. [59 wins] Sleepy Tripp
6. [48 wins] Jimmy Davies
7. [38 wins] Bryan Clauson
8. [35 wins] Tracy Hines
9. [31 wins] Gene Hartley & Chuck Rodee
11. [30 wins] Dave Darland, Mike McGreevy & Johnny Parsons
14. [27 wins] Gary Bettenhausen, Tony Stewart & Tanner Thorson
17. [25 wins] Darren Hagen, Parnelli Jones, Kyle Larson & Dave Strickland
21. [24 wins] Billy Engelhart
22. [23 wins] Christopher Bell, Pancho Carter, Tommy Copp, Kevin Olson & Billy Vukovich
27. [22 wins] Tom Bigelow, Bobby East & Shorty Templeman
30. [21 wins] Steve Cannon, Jimmy Caruthers, Rex Easton & Ken Schrader
34. [20 wins] A.J. Foyt
35. [19 wins] Jerry Coons Jr., Tyler Courtney, Stan Fox & Jason Leffler
39. [18 wins] Dave Steele
40. [17 wins] Jay Drake & J.J. Yeley
42. [16 wins] Rico Abreu, George Amick, Billy Cantrell, Lee Kunzman, Bobby Olivero & Henry Pens
48. [15 wins] Don Branson & Larry Rice
50. [14 wins] Chuck Arnold, Jack Turner & Leroy Warriner
53. [13 wins] Steve Knepper, Don Meacham, Ryan Newman, Stevie Reeves & Chris Windom
58. [12 wins] Danny Caruthers, Gene Force, Russ Gamester, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Grim & Ron Shuman
64. [11 wins] Kasey Kahne, Jimmy Knight, Bob McLean, Johnny Moorhouse, Bobby Santos & Brad Sweet
70. [10 wins] Allen Heath, Doug Kalitta, Brad Kuhn, Steve Lotshaw, Jerry McClung & Chuck Weyant
76. [9 wins] Billy Boat, Chad Boat, Tony Elliott, Justin Grant, Chuck Gurney & Buddy Kofoid
82. [8 wins] Brady Bacon, Merle Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Hank Butcher, Kevin Doty, Dan Drinan, Ronnie Duman, Brian Gerster, Kenny Irwin Jr, Eddie Johnson, Michael Lewis, Andy Michner, Logan Seavey & Josh Wise
96. [7 wins] Tommy Astone, Jack Hewitt, Don Horvath, Page Jones, Kenneth Nichols, Larry Patton, Les Scott, Len Sutton & Johnnie Tolan
105. [6 wins] Donnie Beechler, George Benson, Dana Carter, Bob Cicconi, Robby Flock, Nick Fornoro Jr., Arnie Knepper, Thomas Meseraull, Ricky Shelton, Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland Jr., Kevin Thomas Jr. & Roger West
118. [5 wins] Spencer Bayston, Mike Bliss, Lonnie Caruthers, Larry Dickson, Mike Fedorcak, Burt Foland, Mack McClellan, Danny McKnight, Cliff Spalding, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. & Jerry Weeks
129. [4 wins] Caleb Armstrong, Teddy Beach, Johnny Boyd, Frank Burany, Russ Congdon, Ray Elliott, Aaron Fike, Danny Frye, Billy Garrett, Mike Gregg, Jim Hettinger, John Heydenreich, Bubby Jones, Levi Jones, Andy Linden, Bobby Marshman, Roger McCluskey, Billy Mehner, Ken Nichols, Jeff Nuckles, Jan Opperman, Michael Pickens, Gary Ponzini, Davey Ray, Eddie Sachs, Don Schilling, Sam Sessions, George Snider, Dale Swaim, Kevin Swindell, Rodger Ward & Zeb Wise
161. [3 wins] John Batts, Gays Biro, Shane Cottle, Allen Crowe, Zach Daum, Bruce Field, A.J. Fike, Drew Fornoro, Gene Gennetten, Rick Goudy, Bob Hare, Bob Hauck, Jeff Heywood, Bill Homeier, Sam Isenhower, Jim Keeker, Jim McClean, Cannon McIntosh, Warren Mockler, Dave Moses, Earl Motter, Jerry Nuckles, Danny Oakes, Johnnie Parsons, Porky Rachwitz, Johnny Riva, Johnny Roberts, Lowell Sachs, Billy Shuman, Tom Steiner, Bobby Unser & Billy Wease
193. [2 wins] Al Alpern, Sonny Ates, Emerson Axsom, Johnny Baldwin, Jim Beckley, Dean Billings, Alan Brown, Jack Calabrase, Johnny Cofer, Mel Cornett, Cotton Farmer, Terry Farrar, Joe Garson, Chuck Gurney Jr., Kyle Hamilton, Bob Hogle, Rick Hood, P.J. Jones, Critter Malone, Jimmy McCune, Jason McDougal, Aaron Pollock, Daison Pursley, Barry Reed, Lloyd Ruby, Joe Saldana, Tom Sellberg, Tony Simon, Danny Stratton, Kody Swanson, Steve Troxell, Don Vogler, Bruce Walkup, Terry Wente, Johnny White, Tommy White & Cole Whitt
230. [1 win] John Andretti, Mario Andretti, Mike Appio, Dick Atkins, Paul Bates, Harry Beck, Bud Bogard, Tony Bonadies, Dan Boorse, Don Boorse, Dwight Brown, Steve Buckwalter, Barry Butterworth, Gary Byers, Larry Cannon, Tyce Carlson, Ed Carpenter, Tanner Carrick, Dane Carter, Billy Cassella, Bill Chennault, Bill Clemons, Roy Cook Jr., Kyle Cummins, Corey Day, Ryan Durst, Edgar Elder, Todd Forbes, Joe Gaerte, Bradley Galedrige, Steve Gennetten, Elmer George, Potsy Goacher, Shane Golobic, David Gough, Ron Gregory, Norm Hall, Bob Harkey, Vern Harriman, Scott Hatton, Al Herman, Jordan Hermansader, Mike Hess, Jim Hines, Ted Hines, Shane Hmiel, Dean Holden, Blake Hollingsworth, Chuck Hulse, Buddy Irwin, Eddie Jackson, Van Johnson, Brent Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, Jimmy Kirk, Kevin Koch, Randy Koch, Bill Kollman, Cory Kruseman, Michael Lang, Greg Leffler, Larry McCloskey, Jim McElreath, Mel McGaughy, John Meyers, J.R. Miller, Travis Miniea, Russ Moynagh, Richard Myhre, Dick Northam, Hank Nykaza, Brian Olson, Danny O'Neill, Jim Packard, Wally Pankratz, Forrest Parker, Gene Pastor, Gary Patterson, Danny Pens, Jiggs Peters, Dick Pole, Richard Powell, Buddy Rackley, Keith Rauch, Dave Ray, Jimmy Reece, Bob Richards, Bruce Robey, Johnny Rodriguez, Gene Roehl, Jack Runyon, Sam Sauer, Gio Scelzi, Dutch Schaefer, Ryan Scott, Frank Secrist, Jimmy Sills, Jigger Sirois, Lee Smith, Ron Smoker, Ned Spath, J.P. Standley, Graham Standring, Jerry Stone, Tanner Swanson, Buddy Taylor, Tyler Thomas, Ryan Timms, Randy Tolsma, Leo Tucker, Bob Veith, Joe Walter, Eric Wilkins, Mauri Wilson, Doug Wolfgang & Billy Wood
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ALL-TIME USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FAST QUALIFYING TIMES
1. (93) Mel Kenyon
2. (84) Rich Vogler
3. (77) Jimmy Davies
4. (72) Bob Wente
5. (43) Mike McGreevy
6. (38) Tracy Hines, Dave Strickland & Bob Tattersall
9. (36) Johnny Parsons
10. (33) Chuck Rodee
11. (29) Jimmy Caruthers
12. (28) Tommy Astone & Kevin Olson
14. (27) Parnelli Jones
15. (26) Jason Leffler
16. (25) Gary Bettenhausen
17. (24) Gene Hartley
18. (23) Tanner Thorson
19. (22) Stan Fox
20. (21) Don Branson, Tony Stewart, Shorty Templeman
23. (20) Bryan Clauson, Dan Drinan, Bobby East & Bobby Grim
27. (19) Jay Drake & Kyle Larson
29. (17) Dave Steele & Mike Streicher
31. (16) Rico Abreu, Billy Engelhart, Darren Hagen, Steve Lotshaw & Bobby Olivero
36. (15) Tom Bigelow, Billy Cantrell, Tyler Courtney, Bob McLean & Les Scott
41. (14) Jerry Coons Jr., Dave Darland, Jeff Gordon & Kenny Irwin Jr.
45. (13) George Benson, Jimmy Knight & J.J. Yeley
48. (12) Larry Rice & Josh Wise
50. (11) Brady Bacon, Danny Caruthers, Lonnie Caruthers, Russ Congdon, Tommy Copp, Don Meacham, Ryan Newman, Ken Schrader, Len Sutton, Brad Sweet & Sleepy Tripp
61. (10) George Amick, Pancho Carter, Allen Crowe, Logan Seavey, Billy Vukovich & Leroy Warriner
67. (9) A.J. Foyt, Doug Kalitta, Larry Patton, Stevie Reeves, Dave Strickland Jr. & Jerry Weeks
73. (8) Spencer Bayston, Christopher Bell, Dana Carter, Rex Easton, Russ Gamester, Don Horvath, Kasey Kahne, Sammy Sessions, George Snider & Jack Turner
83. (7) Mike Bliss, Ray Elliott, Allen Heath, Cannon McIntosh, Billy Mehner, Andy Michner, Henry Pens, Lowell Sachs, Kody Swanson & Kevin Thomas Jr.
93. (6) Chad Boat, Burt Foland, Brian Gerster, Mike Gregg, Kyle Hamilton, Lee Kunzman, Jerry McClung, Ron Shuman, Jimmy Sills, Don Vogler, Chris Windom & Billy Wood
105. (5) Merle Bettenhausen, Billy Boat, Steve Cannon, Ray Crawford, Kevin Doty, Ronnie Duman, Aaron Fike, Rick Goudy, Jeff Heywood, Eddie Johnson, Steve Knepper, Brad Kuhn, Andy Linden, Bobby Santos, Chris Shultz, Billy Shuman, Chuck Weyant & Mauri Wilson
123. (4) Johnny Anderson, Caleb Armstrong, Sonny Ates, Gary Byers, Dane Carter, Joe Corrigan, Zach Daum, Mike Fedorcak, Robby Flock, Danny Frye, Joe Garson, Shane Golobic, Chuck Gurney, Jim Hettinger, Arnie Knepper, Chuck Marshall, Danny McKnight, Jeff Nuckles, Danny Oakes, Gary Ponzini, Richard Powell, Porky Rachwitz, Ricky Shelton, Tom Steiner, Bruce Walkup, Rodger Ward, Roger West, & Zeb Wise
151. (3) Bob Cicconi, Cole Carter, Don Anderson, Donnie Beechler, Dwight Brown, Hank Butcher, Harry Beck, Jack Calabrase, Larry Dickson, Mario Clouser, Steve Buckwalter, Tony Bettenhausen, Tony Elliott, Bruce Field, A.J. Fike, Gene Force, Justin Grant, Bob Hare, Ted Hines, P.J. Jones, Greg Leffler, Grier Manning, Mack McClellan, Roger McCluskey, Thomas Meseraull, Ethan Mitchell, Johnny Moorhouse, Kenneth Nichols, Jerry Nuckles, Tim Pangborn, Forrest Parker, Johnnie Parsons, Johnny Roberts, Randy Roberts, Lloyd Ruby, Eddie Sachs, Don Schilling, Tom Sellberg, Dale Swaim, Johnnie Tolan & Dillon Welch
192. (2) Sherman Armstrong Jr., Jack Bates, Gays Biro, Art Bisch, Dan Boorse, Kaylee Bryson, Tanner Carrick, Bill Chennault, Paul Clark, Bob Cortner, Chris Cumberworth, Bob Davison, Corey Day, Edgar Elder, Todd Forbes, Nick Fornoro Jr., Gene Gennetten, Elmer George, Joe Giba, Ron Gregory, Ted Hartley, Mike Hess, Jim Hines, Shane Hmiel, Eddie Jackson, Bubby Jones, Dick Jones, Page Jones, Ronnie Kaplan, Johnny Kay, Walt Kennedy, Michael Lewis, Brad Loyet, Carson Macedo, Jim Mahoney, Jim McClean, Sarah McCune, Warren Mockler, Earl Motter, Ken Nichols, Hank Nykaza, Steve Paden, Danny Pens, Michael Pickens, Parker Price-Miller, Daison Pursley, Levi Roberts, Johnny Rodriguez, Joe Saldana, Sam Sauer, Ryan Scott, Jigger Sirois, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danny Stratton, Russ Sweedler, Buddy Taylor, George Tichenor, Bud Tingelstad, Steve Troxell, Bobby Unser, Billy Wease, Ken Weiland, Cole Whitt & Carl Williams
255. (1) Bobby Allen, Al Alpern, Chuck Amati, John Andretti, Capp Arnold, Chuck Arnold, Dick Atkins, Tony Ave, Emerson Axsom, Steve Barth, Dave Bartlett, Todd Barton, John Batts, Jim Beckley, Daniel Bedford, Dick Betts, Nick Bohanon, Tony Bonadies, Johnny Boyd, Alex Bright, Bob Burbridge, Larry Cannon, Roy Caruthers, Billy Cassella, Steve Chassey, Bud Clemons, Johnny Cofer, Duke Cook, Jay Cornell, A.J. Davis, Duke DeRosa, Danny Ebberts, Bob Ellingham, Dean Erfurth, Russ Faucett, Sarah Fisher, Dan Ford, Josh Ford, Danny Frye Jr., Jim Gates, Johnny Gavin, Roy Gillhamer, Roy Graham, Bob Gregg, Mike Groff, Chuck Gurney Jr., Gene Gurney, Butch Haisman, Davey Hamilton, Garrett Hansen, Bob Harkey, Alex Harris, Scott Hatton, Jac Haudenschild, Jim Hemmings, Al Henderson, Jordan Hermansader, Mike Hill, Larry Hillerud, Bob Hogle, Shane Hollingsworth, Bill Homeier, Rick Hood, Wally Hostettler, Billy Hughes, Jeff Hunt, Tony Hunt, Gary Irvin, Bob Jesser, Ronnie Johncox, Paul Jones, Jack Jordan, Brent Kaeding, Gary Kanawyer, Jim Keeker, Harry Kern, Jimmy Kirk, Danny Kladis, George Kladis, Clay Klepper, Kevin Koch, Randy Koch, Buddy Kofoid, Bill Kojis, Bill Kollman, Jim Lauri IV, Buddy Lee, Donnie Lehmann, Bob Lithgow, Eddie Loomis, Jim Bob Luebbert, Dave Lundy, Jim Malloy, Bobby Marshman, Larry McCloskey, Jimmy McCune, Lealand McSpadden, Al Miller, J.R. Miller, Stephanie Mockler, Mitchel Moles, Davey Moses, Mike Mosley, Brad Noffsinger, Danny O'Neill, Jan Opperman, Junior Parkinson, Gary Patterson, Jiggs Peters, Dick Pole, Bill Puterbaugh, Jon Rahe, Bill Randall, Chase Randall, Norm Rapp, Keith Rauch, Dickie Reese, Taylor Reimer, Bill Renshaw, Bob Richards, Bruce Robey, Jack Runyon, John Sarna, Gio Scelzi, Chase Scott, Shane Scully, Roy Seidenstricker, Holly Shelton, Dean Shirley, Tony Simon, C.L. Smith, Bob Spoo, J.P. Standley, Tanner Swanson, Kevin Swindell, Kevin Thomas, Bob Twitty, Al Unser, Don Weaver, Terry Wente, Gene Weyant, Johnny White, Newt White, Bryant Wiedeman, Eric Wilkins & Don Wilson
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ALL-TIME USAC NATIONAL MIDGET DRIVER CHAMPIONS
1956: Shorty Templeman, 1957: Shorty Templeman, 1958: Shorty Templeman, 1959: Gene Hartley, 1960: Jimmy Davies, 1961: Jimmy Davies, 1962: Jimmy Davies, 1963: Bob Wente, 1964: Mel Kenyon, 1965: Mike McGreevy, 1966: Mike McGreevy, 1967: Mel Kenyon, 1968: Mel Kenyon, 1969: Bob Tattersall, 1970: Jimmy Caruthers, 1971: Danny Caruthers, 1972: Pancho Carter, 1973: Larry Rice, 1974: Mel Kenyon, 1975: Sleepy Tripp, 1976: Sleepy Tripp, 1977: Mel Kenyon, 1978: Rich Vogler, 1979: Steve Lotshaw, 1980: Rich Vogler, 1981: Mel Kenyon, 1982: Kevin Olson, 1983: Rich Vogler, 1984: Tom Bigelow, 1985: Mel Kenyon, 1986: Rich Vogler, 1987: Kevin Olson, 1988: Rich Vogler, 1989: Russ Gamester, 1990: Jeff Gordon, 1991: Mike Streicher, 1992: Stevie Reeves, 1993: Stevie Reeves, 1994: Tony Stewart, 1995: Tony Stewart, 1996: Kenny Irwin Jr., 1997: Jason Leffler, 1998: Jason Leffler, 1999: Jason Leffler, 2000: Kasey Kahne, 2001: Dave Darland, 2002: Dave Darland, 2003: J.J. Yeley, 2004: Bobby East, 2005: Josh Wise, 2006: Jerry Coons Jr., 2007: Jerry Coons Jr., 2008: Cole Whitt, 2009: Brad Kuhn, 2010: Bryan Clauson, 2011: Bryan Clauson, 2012: Darren Hagen, 2013: Christopher Bell, 2014: Rico Abreu, 2015: Tracy Hines, 2016: Tanner Thorson, 2017: Spencer Bayston, 2018: Logan Seavey, 2019: Tyler Courtney, 2020: Chris Windom, 2021: Buddy Kofoid
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ALL-TIME USAC NATIONAL MIDGET OWNER CHAMPIONS
1956: Ashley Wright, 1957: Lloyd Rahn, 1958: Lloyd Rahn, 1959: Ray Bolander, 1960: Jimmy Davies, 1961: Howard Linne, 1962: Jimmy Davies, 1963: Robert Shadday, 1964: Willard Coil, 1965: Mel & Don Kenyon, 1966: Don Kenyon, 1967: Mel & Don Kenyon, 1968: Mel & Don Kenyon, 1969: Jack Stroud, 1970: Doug Caruthers, 1971: Doug Caruthers, 1972: Shannon Buick Company, 1973: Doug Caruthers, 1974: Don Kenyon, 1975: Ron Tripp, 1976: Ron Tripp, 1977: Sherman Armstrong, 1978: Doug & Dana Caruthers, 1979: 3-K Racing Enterprises, 1980: Don Kenyon, 1981: 3-K Racing Enterprises, 1982: Nick Gojmeric, 1983: Streicher Racing, 1984: Wilke Racing, 1985: 3-K Racing Enterprises, 1986: Jonathan Byrd, 1987: Jonathan Byrd, 1988: Wilke Racers, 1989: George & Gary Gamester, 1990: Streicher Racing, 1991: Streicher Racing, 1992: Ralph Potter, 1993: Steve Lewis, 1994: Ralph Potter, 1995: Steve Lewis, 1996: Steve Lewis, 1997: Pete Willoughby, 1998: Steve Lewis, 1999: Steve Lewis, 2000: Steve Lewis, 2001: Steve Lewis, 2002: Steve Lewis, 2003: Steve Lewis, 2004: Steve Lewis, 2005: Wilke-Pak Racers, 2006: Keith Kunz Motorsports, 2007: Wilke-Pak Racers, 2008: Keith Kunz Motorsports, 2009: RW Motorsports, 2010: Corey Tucker Racing/Keith Kunz Motorsports/BCI, 2011: Corey Tucker Racing/BCI/Curb-Agajanian, 2012: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2013: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2014: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2015: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2016: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2017: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2018: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, 2019: Clauson-Marshall Racing, 2020: Tucker-Boat Motorsports, 2021: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports
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ALL-TIME USAC NATIONAL MIDGET ROOKIES OF THE YEAR
1969: Billy Engelhart, 1970: Danny Brown, 1971: Danny Caruthers, 1972: Tommy Astone, 1973: Mike Gregg, 1974: Richard Powell, 1975: Larry Patton, 1976: James McElreath, 1977: Lonnie Caruthers, 1978: Tommy Thomas, 1979: Barry Butterworth, 1980: Trevor Boys, 1981: Sherman Armstrong, 1982: Chris Maxson, 1983: John Andretti, 1984: Russ Gamester, 1985: Bobby Allen, 1986: Steve Enlow, 1987: John Meyers, 1988: Jim Keeker, 1989: Jeff Gordon, 1990: Dan Ford, 1991: Doug Kalitta, 1992: Brian Gerster, 1993: Chuck Leary, 1994: David Bridges, 1995: Ryan Newman, 1996: Carl Olsen, 1997: Nick Lundgreen, 1998: Michael Lewis, 1999: A.J. Fike, 2000: Aaron Fike, 2001: Bobby East, 2002: Teddy Beach & Ron Gregory, 2003: Ryan Durst, 2004: Todd Beach, 2005: Darren Hagen, 2006: Bryan Clauson, 2007: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2008: Chad Boat, 2009: Zach Daum, 2010: Daniel Bedford, 2011: Kyle Larson, 2012: Rico Abreu, 2013: Christopher Bell, 2014: Kevin Thomas Jr., 2015: Spencer Bayston, 2016: Carson Macedo, 2017: Tanner Carrick, 2018: Logan Seavey. 2019: Andrew Layser, 2020: Buddy Kofoid, 2021: Chase Randall
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2021 USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER & TEAM ROSTER:
A
MAX ADAMS/Loomis, CA (BSL Racing #7NZ)
®OLIVER AKARD/Fort Myers, FL (OMR Motorsports #41)
JAKE ANDREOTTI/Castro Valley, CA (Pete Davis #00)
JARETT ANDRETTI/Mooresville, NC (RMS Racing #18)
JADE AVEDISIAN/Clovis, CA (CB Industries #84 & CB Industries #86)
EMERSON AXSOM/Franklin, IN (Petry Motorsports #15)
B
BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (TKH Motorsports #21H)
®AUSTIN BARNHILL/Wilmington, NC (Dave Mac Motorsports #17B & Sam Johnson Racing #17B)
KEVIN BAYER/Bixby, OK (Kenny & Kevin Bayer #91K)
SPENCER BAYSTON/Lebanon, IN (CB Industries #84)
JONATHAN BEASON/Broken Arrow, OK (Hard Eight Racing #8J)
BRETT BECKER/Odessa, TX (Brett Becker Racing #2B)
KYLE BEILMAN/Los Angeles, CA (Beilman Motorsports #31)
ROBERT BELL/Colfax, IA (Robert Bell #71B)
BLAZE BENNETT/Parker, CO (Blaze Bennett #10B)
DAN BENNETT/Akron, NY (Dan Bennett #5J)
LANCE BENNETT/Aurora, CO (Cappy Mason #10 & Cappy Mason #91)
RYAN BERNAL/Hollister, CA (Matt Wood Racing #87w)
TANNER BERRYHILL/Bixby, OK (Berryhill Family Racing #17)
®RYAN BICKETT/Ramona, SD (Ryan Bickett #17H)
JOEY BISHOP/Camarillo, CA (Bishop Motorsports #45)
COLE BODINE/Rossville, IN (Clauson Marshall Racing #39BC)
J.R. BOOTH/Flemington, N.J. (Shannon Mausteller #5A)
SAGE BORDENAVE/French Camp, CA (MF Motorsports #35x)
BLAKE BOWER/Brentwood, CA (Tony Boscacci #9)
CLINTON BOYLES/Greenwood, MO (RAMS Racing #14s)
®BLAKE BRANNON/Morgan Hill, CA (Brannon Corporation #40)
GLENN BRATTI/Springdale, AR (Glenn Bratti #24T)
KEVIN BREWER/Owasso, OK (Walrus Racing-Brewer Motorsports #47K)
ALEX BRIGHT/Collegeville, PA (Tom Malloy #25m)
CHASE BRISCOE/Mitchell, IN (Chase Briscoe Racing #5B)
KAYLEE BRYSON/Muskogee, OK (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71)
JAKE BUBAK/Arvada, CO (Patrick Bourke #27B)
®TRAVIS BUCKLEY/Auckland, NZ (BSL Racing #7NZ)
STEVE BUCKWALTER/Royersford, PA (Brian Buckwalter #25B)
BOBBY BUTLER/Upper Black Eddy, PA (Glenn Motorsports #12)
C
JORDAN CALENDINE/Peru, IN (Alan Calendine #38)
®BRIAN CARBER/Lewisberry, PA (Hayward Motorsports #19)
TANNER CARRICK/Lincoln, CA (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71K & Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #98K)
ROBERT CARSON/Concord, CA (Karen & Howard Segur #99)
TREVOR CASEY/Altoona, IA (Mounce-Stout Motorsports #00 & Casey Racing #2c)
MICHAEL CLARK/Brazil, IN (Michael Clark #8)
MARIA COFER/Macdoel, CA (Abacus Racing #57)
JESSE COLWELL/Red Bluff, CA (Jay Mounce & Gavin Stout #14H)
JERRY COONS JR./Tucson, AZ (Central Motor Sports #85)
COLBY COPELAND/Roseville, CA (Tom Malloy #25m)
SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Danny Stamper #86)
TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN (Clauson Marshall Racing #7BC)
CADE COWLES/Coweta, OK (Gariss Racing #70)
IAN CREAGER/Covington, OH (Tod Creager #36)
®BRENHAM CROUCH/Lubbock, TX (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #97)
®CHANCE CRUM/Snohomish, WA (Rudeen Racing #26)
KYLE CUMMINS/Princeton, IN (Glenn Styres Racing #3G)
D
CONOR DALY/Noblesville, IN (DiaEdge Racing #47D
MASON DAUGHERTY/Lawton, OK (Berryhill Family Racing #97m)
ZACH DAUM/Pocahontas, IL (Bundy Built Motorsports #9m)
®COREY DAY/Clovis, CA (Clauson Marshall Racing #47BC)
ANDREW DEAL/Caney, KS (Mike Deal #15D)
®JACOB DENNEY/Galloway, OH (Petry Motorsports #35)
JUSTIN DICKERSON/Pittsboro, IN (Mike Dickerson #21D)
TYLER DOLACKI/Fresno, CA (MF Motorsports #35)
E
®MARIAH EDE/Fresno, CA (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71E)
TYLER EDWARDS/Salina, OK (Dragonfly Aviation #36x)
CORY ELIASON/Visalia, CA (Rudeen Racing #26)
CHASE ELLIOTT/Dawsonville, GA (Paul May Motorsports #9, Kyle Larson Racing #9 & CB Industries #84)
ANTHONY ESBERG/Kelseyville, CA (Anthony Esberg #1x)
THOMAS ESBERG/Kelseyville, CA (Thomas Esberg #8x)
®J.R. EWING/Phillipsburg, KS (J.R. Ewing #2c)
F
MICHAEL FACCINTO/Hanford, CA (Marcie Campbell #7J & Graunstadt Enterprises #14)
ANDREW FELKER/Carl Junction, MO (RAB Racing #57A)
SANTINO FERRUCCI/Woodbury, CT (Dave Mac Motorsports #16)
CHAD FREWALDT/Kansas City, KS (Chad Frewaldt #4c & Chad Frewaldt #9F)
BRODY FUSON/Bakersfield, CA (Rusty Carlile #51)
G
RUSS GAMESTER/Peru, IN (R & G, Inc. #46)
RONNIE GARDNER/Corona, CA (Kevin Arnold #43)
CARSON GARRETT/Littleton, CO (Broc Garrett #15x)
NOAH GASS/Mounds, OK (Randy Gass #20G)
CHETT GEHRKE/Broken Arrow, OK (A.J. Felker #37)
KAMERON GLADISH/Indianapolis, IN (Gladish Motorsports #4K)
JIMMY GLENN/Middletown, DE (Glenn Motorsports #7G)
SHANE GOLOBIC/Fremont, CA (Matt Wood Racing #17w)
TONY GOMES/Modesto, CA (Josh Ford Motorsports #73x)
JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (RMS Racing #2J)
RYLAN GRAY/Greenfield, IN (Gray Racing #81G)
®TREY GROPP/Lincoln, NE (Jay Mounce & Gavin Stout #00 & Team Ripper #21KS)
MAX GUILFORD/Auckland, NZ (Benic Enterprises #3NZ)
H
NOAH HARRIS/Broken Arrow, OK (Jimmy Harris #20H)
RON HAZELTON/Chatsworth, CA (Ron Hazelton #15ws)
ERIC HEYDENREICH/Bloomsburg, PA (Rich Heydenreich #11)
JOHN HEYDENREICH/Bloomsburg, PA (John Givens #22)
CASEY HICKS/Westwood, KS (Casey Hicks #5H)
®EMILIO HOOVER/Broken Arrow, OK (Team Ripper #21K)
I
DYLAN ITO/Ventura, CA (Josh Ford Motorsports #73)
J
SHAWN JACKSON/Bear, DE (Shawn Jackson #7J)
CHASE JOHNSON/Penngrove, CA (BSL Racing #7NZ & Six8 Motorsports #68)
COLBY JOHNSON/Penngrove, CA (Del Morris #17K)
KENNEY JOHNSON/Bethany, CT (Jeff Johnson #46)
KYLER JOHNSON/Quinter, KS (Kyler Johnson Racing #45x)
SAM JOHNSON/St. Peters, MO (Sam Johnson Racing #72J)
CURTIS JONES/Sand Springs, OK (Curtis Jones Motorsports #10x)
KYLE JONES/Kennedale, TX (Tri-Fecta Motorsports #7u)
ROBBY JOSETT/Santa Clarita, CA (Josh Ford Motorsports #73B)
COREY JOYNER/Concordia, KS (Corey Joyner #11H)
K
BUDDY KOFOID/Penngrove, CA (Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67)
TOMMY KOUNS/Lebanon, IN (Tommy Kouns #98)
RILEY KREISEL/Warsaw, MO (Ron Cox #19)
TOMMY KUNSMAN/Bethlehem, PA (Tommy Kunsman #21)
CARSON KVAPIL/Mooresville, NC (Marc Dailey #2MD)
L
GAGE LANEY/Owasso, OK (Jay Mounce & Gavin Stout #14H)
KYLE LARSON/Elk Grove, CA (Kyle Larson Racing #1K & CB Industries #86x)
BILLY LAWLESS/Fresno, CA (Lawless Racing #17L)
C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Josh Ford Motorsports #89x)
AARON LEFFEL/Springfield, OH (Team Taylor Racing #11L)
BEAU LEMIRE/Placerville, CA (Lemire Racing #14)
RICKY LEWIS/Ventura, CA (NP Motorsports #1EM)
M
CARSON MACEDO/Lemoore, CA (Tarlton Motorsports #21)
MICHAEL MAGIC/Winder, GA (Mike Magic #4m)
TREY MARCHAM/Newcastle, OK (Trey Marcham #32)
MICHAEL MARKEY/Hanover, PA (Michael Markey #7)
RANDY MAUSTELLER/Bloomsburg, PA (Randy Mausteller #21)
SHANNON MAUSTELLER/Selinsgrove, PA (Randy Mausteller #21m)
ACE McCARTHY/Tahlequah, OK (Jay Mounce & Gavin Stout #00 & MSW Motorsports #00)
CHASE McDERMAND/Springfield, IL (Chase McDermand #40m)
JASON McDOUGAL/Broken Arrow, OK (Klatt Enterprises #4, Robert Dalby Motorsports #4, RAMS Racing #4A, Dean Alexander #5T & Hayward Motorsports #19)
CANNON McINTOSH/Bixby, OK (Dave Mac Motorsports #08)
MAX McLAUGHLIN/Mooresville, NC (Bundy Built Motorsports #z8)
SHANNON McQUEEN/Bakersfield, CA (McQueen Racing #7)
THOMAS MESERAULL/San Jose, CA (RMS Racing #7x)
JOE B. MILLER/Millersville, MO (Chris Lewis #49)
ZAC MILLIKIN/Pryor, OK (Hunt Brothers #3ps)
ETHAN MITCHELL/Mooresville, NC (Bundy Built Motorsports #19m)
GREG MITCHELL/Parkersburg, WV (Greg Mitchell #001)
MATT MITCHELL/Yorba Linda, CA (J.W. Mitchell Motorsports #37m)
MITCHEL MOLES/Raisin City, CA (Matt Wood Racing #07w)
KALEB MONTGOMERY/Templeton, CA (Woodland Autosports #8w)
JAKE MORGAN/Elk Grove, CA (Luke OB Racing #45)
CHANCE MORTON/Coweta, OK (Blane Morton #7MF)
KADE MORTON/Coweta, OK (Blane Morton #8m)
N
TYLER NELSON/Olathe, KS (Tyler Nelson Racing #88)
JAKE NEUMAN/New Berlin, IL (Jim Neuman #3N)
RYAN NEWMAN/South Bend, IN (Clauson Marshall Racing #6BC)
TERRY NICHOLS/Delano, CA (NP Motorsports #1p)
O
BRANT O’BANION/Norfolk, NE (Aaron McDonald #9)
P
RYAN PADGETT/Anadarko, OK (NP Motorsports #1N, Phil Shapel #84J & Wayne Crow #98)
RANDI PANKRATZ/Atascadero, CA (Wally Pankratz #8)
JACE PARK/Overland Park, KS (CB Industries #87)
DAYLIN PERREIRA/Hilo, HI (Keliinoi Bros. Racing #8)
AIDEN PURDUE/Clinton, IL (Brian & Deidre Martin #11m & McCreery Motorsports #57D)
DAISON PURSLEY/Locust Grove, OK (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71K)
R
®CHASE RANDALL/Waco, TX (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19A)
KEITH RAUCH/Thornton, CO (Patrick Bourke #27)
MATT RECHEK/Beaver Dam, WI (Shoestring Racing #38)
TAYLOR REIMER/Bixby, OK (Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #25K & Dave Mac Motorsports #25K)
®HAYDEN REINBOLD/Gilbert, AZ (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19AZ)
DANIEL ROBINSON/Ewing, IL (McCreery Motorsports #57D & RAB Racing #57K)
RYAN ROBINSON/Foresthill, CA (Del Morris #71R)
JODY ROSENBOOM/Rock Rapids, IA (Jody Rosenboom #14)
JACK ROUTSON/Waterman, IL (RAB Racing #57A)
KENDALL RUBLE/Vincennes, IN (Brian & Deidre Martin #11)
TYLER RUST/Haubstadt, IN (Jim Neuman #3x)
S
CADEN SARALE/Stockton, CA (Caden Sarale #32)
KARTER SARFF/Mason City, IL (Karter Sarff Racing #21K)
C.J. SARNA/Palm Desert, CA (C.J. Sarna #20)
JEFF SCHINDLER/Evansville, IN (Brian & Deidre Martin #11)
STEPHEN SCHNAPF/Newburgh, IN (Brian & Deidre Martin #11s)
LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Tom Malloy #25)
ALEX SEWELL/Broken Arrow, OK (Andy Sewell #8)
®JONATHAN SHAFER/Ashland, OH (Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67K)
SHAUN SHAPEL/Wichita, KS (Phil Shapel #84s)
MIKE SNIDER/Kelseyville, CA (Lauren Snider #6K)
JARRETT SOARES/Discovery Bay, CA (Steven Soares #12)
MARK SOKOL/Doylestown, PA (Mark Sokol #50)
CARSON SOUSA/Red Bluff, CA (Jay Mounce & Gavin Stout #00)
®BLAKE SPICER/Marysville, KS (Terry John #4s)
ROBBY SPINO/Wallingford, CT (Jim Neuman #3x)
BRYAN STANFILL/Bakersfield, CA (Griffiths Motorsport #75AU)
JEFF STASA/Kingman, KS (SBR Motorsports #91)
KURT STELLHORN/Red Bud, IL (Kurt Stellhorn #17x)
RICKY STENHOUSE JR./Olive Branch, MS (Clauson Marshall Racing #17s)
T
GARY TAYLOR/Snohomish, WA (Mike & Brian Dunlap #32)
ZAC TAYLOR/Green River, WY (Todd Henry #71T)
KEVIN THOMAS JR./Cullman, AL (Petry Motorsports #5)
TYLER THOMAS/Collinsville, OK (Tyler Thomas Motorsports #91T)
TOMMY THOMPSON/Ten Mile, TN (Tommy Thompson #3T)
TANNER THORSON/Minden, NV (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports #19T & Dave Mac Motorsports #88)
®RYAN TIMMS/Oklahoma City, OK (CB Industries #84 & CB Industries #85T)
V
JIM VANZANT/Prescott, AZ (Jim Vanzant #3v)
BEN VARNER/Harbor Springs, MI (Gladish Motorsports #25v)
W
BRANDON WAELTI/Sun Prairie, WI (Martin Racing #3w)
BRETT WANNER/Shoemakersville, PA (Jamie Speers #00)
GLENN WATERLAND/Christchurch, NZ (Glenn & Hayley Waterland #11c)
AARON WERNER/Colman, SD (Donovan Peterson Racing #11w)
®BRYANT WIEDEMAN/Colby, KS (Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian #01)
BEN WIESZ/Colfax, CA (Colby Wiesz #21w)
®HAYDEN WILLIAMS/Auckland, NZ (BSL Racing #1NZ)
KYLE WILSON/Jenks, OK (Jay Wilson #05)
JEFF WIMMENAUER/New Whiteland, IN (Jeff Wimmenauer #15J)
CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (CB Industries #89)
ZEB WISE/Angola, IN (Matt Wood Racing #37w)
BRENDON WISELEY/Sand Springs, OK (Rick Horn #7w)
KEVIN WOODY JR./Victor, NY (Brian Buckwalter #0, Dave Mac Motorsports #10 & Brian Buckwalter #25B)
BEN WORTH/Coalinga, CA (Dean Alexander #5K)
Y
J.J. YELEY/Phoenix, AZ (Rick Ware Racing #51)
Z
JEFF ZELINSKI/Joliet, IL (Roger Engstrom #18)
® represents a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship Rookie
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2021 USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STORIES
WORTH THE WAIT: KOFOID WINS RAIN-DELAYED OPENER AT OCALA
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Florida (February 5 & 6, 2021)………Buddy Kofoid held the race lead of the 2021 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season opening event throughout the night and throughout day over a span of time totaling nearly 17 hours at Ocala, Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park.
Granted, that was due to rain halting the proceedings 13 laps into Friday’s 30-lap event under the lights, pushing the final 17 laps to Saturday afternoon during the daylight hours. But even rain and more threatening skies couldn’t stop Kofoid as he fended off a relentless Tanner Thorson down the stretch to snag the victory in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – Toyota – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
For Kofoid, the 2020 series Rookie of the Year, it marked a grand opening of his sophomore season with a fourth career series win, and aided his hopes of continuing a trend of Winter Dirt Games Midget wins translating to series championships, something that has occurred in each of the past two years with Tyler Courtney (2019) and Chris Windom (2020).
“They give me a really good car during those last 17 laps,” Kofoid said of his team. “I felt like my first six to eight (laps) were really good and, in those last 10, I felt like I needed to move around, or at least I was told to kind of move around. I saw them making ground on me off (turn) four and I struggled off four, but I felt like I started hitting it a little bit better. I know Tanner and Chris (Windom) are really good, and I got to race with them a little bit. I’m glad to hold them off and get the first win of the year.”
On Friday night, Kofoid jumped out to the lead from his outside front row starting position, surpassing teammate and pole sitter Daison Pursley for the position on the opening lap. A handful of cautions early on from Cannon McIntosh, Chase Randall, Max McLaughlin and Sam Johnson stopped the action. A light, nagging drizzle of precipitation fell throughout the event, and during the caution periods, drivers were asked by race control to help aid the racetrack from the clutch of Mother Nature by buzzing the corners with their tires.
The valiant effort came to an abrupt end after the final caution on lap 14 involving McLaughlin and Johnson in turn one. Cars were subsequently ordered back to the pit area where the race was pushed to Saturday afternoon for a lap 14 restart around a quarter after 3:15pm ET.
Under an overcast sky on Saturday afternoon, and faced with an entirely new set of track conditions under the daylight, the feature resumed with 17 laps remaining. Thorson was the first to move forward, getting to second by Pursley, but was forced back to third following a caution flag after Steve Buckwalter (11th) slipped over the cushion in turn four, and McIntosh (16th) contacting Buckwalter’s left rear wheel, causing him to spin to a stop.
The second try at the lap 14 restart was successful for Thorson – last year’s opening night Ocala winner – as he ripped around the outside of Pursley for second, then began closing on Kofoid as the two made their break from the rest of the field. Thorson then chased down and slid by Kofoid for the lead on lap 18 in turn two. Kofoid immediately raced back to the lead underneath Thorson in turn three. Immediately thereafter, the yellow flag flew for McIntosh who stopped in turn four with a flat left rear.
Windom then found his way to second, rolling the bottom, as Thorson swung wide while trying to reel in Kofoid for the lead. Thorson clung right to the bumper of Windom, ultimately sliding back by Windom on the bottom of turn one with eight circuits remaining. Windom attempted to get a run underneath Thorson off turn two, but midway down the back straightaway, Windom clipped the inside berm with his left front tire, getting him a tad sideways, and even more sideways when Pursley tagged his rear bumper before both continued on.
With four laps remaining, Thorson fired his shot for the top spot, attempting to slide Kofoid in turn one. Kofoid didn’t flinch and motored around the outside to maintain the lead while Thorson lost his momentum in the middle, allowing Kofoid to find a 10-car length separation.
On the final lap, Kofoid slid himself into turn one, then tried to stick the bottom in turns three and four. Kofoid found himself just outside the moisture while Thorson stuck it, propelling him to within a foot of Kofoid’s rear bumper exiting turn four.
Kofoid finished off the victory by a two-car length margin, 0.231 sec., ahead of Thorson at the stripe with Chris Windom, Daison Pursley and Emerson Axsom rounding out the top-five.
With the win, Kofoid has earned his first four career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget wins in four different states and four different time zones: Central, Mountain, Pacific and Eastern, plus the tracks of Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex (Missouri), Arizona Speedway (Arizona), Bakersfield Speedway (California) and Bubba Raceway Park (Florida).
After winning in his most recent USAC outing of 2020, Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) earned a solid second-place finish in his series debut aboard the Dave Mac Motorsports/The Healing Tree – A.L. Drivelines – FK Shocks/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“A lot of the credit goes to the teams that I’m with,” Thorson stated. “I’ve got a great group of people around me. This car’s really, really fast, and I felt like we probably had the fastest car. It was single lane a little bit, but I love this track; this place is awesome.”
Reigning series champion Windom’s most recent midget appearance at Ocala one year ago resulted in a victory. On this day, it was a third place run for the Canton, Ill. driver who had to fight through a slippery situation in order to round out the podium in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Once I got to second there, we broke a fuel line off,” Windom revealed. “It was blowing so much fuel out that it was about spinning me out down in turns three and four. So, I had to just try and salvage a third there.”
In Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying, Kevin Thomas Jr. became the first driver ever to record the fastest qualifying time during the USAC National Midget season opener in three consecutive years. Only four other drivers had previously accomplished the feat in two-straight years: Bobby Grim (1965-66), Tom Bigelow (1990-91), Tony Stewart (1997-98) and Dave Steele (2006-07).
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 5 & 6, 2021 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XII – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-14.037; 2. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-14.089; 3. Tanner Thorson, 88, Dave Mac-14.133; 4. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-14.157; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.234; 6. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-14.250; 7. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-14.259; 8. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-14.263; 9. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.271; 10. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.321; 11. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.400; 12. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.446; 13. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.457; 14. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-14.497; 15. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-14.508; 16. Chase Elliott, 84, CBI-14.534; 17. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.582; 18. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-14.629; 19. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.645; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.696; 21. Sam Johnson, 72J, SJR-14.702; 22. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-14.722; 23. Max McLaughlin, z8, Bundy Built-14.735; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-14.773; 25. Andrew Felker, 57A, RAB-14.811; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.945; 27. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-15.044; 28. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Ripper-15.126; 29. Daniel Robinson, 57K, RAB-15.198; 30. Michael Magic, 4m, Magic-15.642; 31. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-15.742; 32. Austin Barnhill, 17B, SJR-16.168; 33. Trey Gropp, 21KS, Ripper-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Andrew Felker, 8. Daniel Robinson. 2:00.09
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Chase Randall, 3. Jake Neuman, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Jason McDougal, 6. Noah Gass, 7. Michael Magic, 8. Hayden Reinbold. 1:56.296
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Max McLaughlin, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Oliver Akard. 1:58.603
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Kade Morton, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Chase Elliott, 7. Austin Barnhill, 8. Emilio Hoover. 2:00.647
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Chase Elliott, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Andrew Felker, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Trey Gropp, 10. Taylor Reimer, 11. Emilio Hoover, 12. Austin Barnhill, 13. Daniel Robinson, 14. Oliver Akard, 15. Kevin Thomas Jr., 16. Michael Magic, 17. Noah Gass. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, final 17 laps completed on Feb. 6, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (6), 3. Chris Windom (5), 4. Daison Pursley (1), 5. Emerson Axsom (10), 6. Thomas Meseraull (4), 7. Justin Grant (3), 8. Tanner Carrick (14), 9. Jake Neuman (15), 10. Jason McDougal (9), 11. Steve Buckwalter (16), 12. Logan Seavey (11), 13. Bryant Wiedeman (18), 14. Cannon McIntosh (20), 15. Brenham Crouch (12), 16. Kaylee Bryson (13), 17. Max McLaughlin (8), 18. Chase Elliott (17), 19. Ethan Mitchell (21), 20. Sam Johnson (7), 21. Kade Morton (22), 22. Chase Randall (19). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-78, 2-Buddy Kofoid-76, 3-Chris Windom-75, 4-Daison Pursley-69, 5-Emerson Axsom-63, 6-Thomas Meseraull-62, 7-Justin Grant-58, 8-Tanner Carrick-52, 9-Jake Neuman-52, 10-Jason McDougal-52.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Carrick-6, 2-Jake Neuman-6, 3-Cannon McIntosh-6, 4-Emerson Axsom-5, 5-Steve Buckwalter-5, 6-Bryant Wiedeman-5, 7-Tanner Thorson-4, 8-Chris Windom-2, 9-Ethan Mitchell-2, 10-Buddy Kofoid-1.
WINTER DIRT GAMES PROSOURCE MIDGET PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-8, 2-Tanner Carrick-8, 3-Trey Gropp-8, 4-Chris Windom-7, 5-Emerson Axsom-6, 6-Jake Neuman-6, 7-Cannon McIntosh-6, 8-Steve Buckwalter-5, 9-Bryant Wiedeman-5, 10-Austin Barnhill-5.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: February 6, 2021 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XII – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Sam Johnson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Max McLaughlin
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Chris Windom
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Carrick (14th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Bryant Wiedeman
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Andrew Felker
ProSource Hard Work Award: Kade Morton
=====================
2ND WINTER DIRT GAMES FEATURE RAINED OUT, RESCHEDULED FOR MONDAY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Florida (February 6, 2021)………Saturday afternoon’s second event of the day for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets at Bubba Raceway Park was rained out just prior to the start of heat races.
A new event for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets is now scheduled for Monday night, Feb. 8 at Bubba Raceway Park, the 3/8-mile D-shaped track in Ocala, Fla. Pits open at 4pm ET, with the front gates at 5pm and cars on track at 6pm.
For Monday, adult general admission tickets are $30 with kids age 11 and under free. Pit passes are $40 apiece and will be streamed live on FloRacing.
With tornado warnings in the area, and heavy rain falling, which is forecasted to continue for the rest of the evening, the event came to an end following Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying where Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) recorded quick time.
Saturday’s Fatheadz Qualifying session will count toward the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship points due to it being a complete session. However, Monday’s program will begin completely from scratch, starting with hot laps and qualifying before going into the heat races, semi-feature & feature event.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 6, 2021 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XII – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: 1. Tanner Thorson, 88, Dave Mac-14.281; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.287; 3. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-14.357; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-14.383; 5. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-14.445; 6. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-14.453; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.492; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-14.500; 9. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.580; 10. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-14.585; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.642; 12. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.660; 13. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-14.663; 14. Chase Elliott, 84, CBI-14.664; 15. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-14.687; 16. Trey Gropp, 21KS, Ripper-14.707; 17. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-14.757; 18. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.822; 19. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.868; 20. Max McLaughlin, z8, Bundy Built-14.891; 21. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.909; 22. Andrew Felker, 57A, RAB-14.932; 23. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Ripper-14.936; 24. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.013; 25. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-15.094; 26. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-15.154; 27. Austin Barnhill, 17B, SJR-15.186; 28. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-15.520; 29. Michael Magic, 4m, Magic-NT; 30. Sam Johnson, 72J, SJR-NT; 31. Daniel Robinson, 57K, RAB-NT; 32. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-NT.
REMAINDER OF PROGRAM RAINED OUT
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-94, 2-Buddy Kofoid-91, 3-Chris Windom-87, 4-Daison Pursley-79, 5-Emerson Axsom-74, 6-Thomas Meseraull-72, 7-Justin Grant-68, 8-Jason McDougal-66, 9-Jake Neuman-62, 10-Tanner Carrick-60.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Carrick-6, 2-Jake Neuman-6, 3-Emerson Axsom-5, 4-Steve Buckwalter-5, 5-Bryant Wiedeman-5, 6-Tanner Thorson-4, 7-Chris Windom-2, 8-Cannon McIntosh-2-, 9-Ethan Mitchell-2, 10-Buddy Kofoid-1.
WINTER DIRT GAMES PROSOURCE MIDGET PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-8, 2-Tanner Carrick-8, 3-Trey Gropp-8, 4-Chris Windom-7, 5-Emerson Axsom-6, 6-Jake Neuman-6, 7-Steve Buckwalter-5, 8-Bryant Wiedeman-5, 9-Austin Barnhill-5, 10-Daison Pursley-10.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: February 8, 2021 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XII – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
=====================
T-MEZ TOO TOUGH IN TRIUMPH AT OCALA
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Florida (February 8, 2021)………Thomas Meseraull has made a habit of winning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races of late.
A 21-year journey to his first series victory late last year has now led the San Jose, Calif. native to winning three of his last eight starts, including round two of the series’ season at Ocala, Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park, a race that was postponed to a rare Monday night start after being rained out on Saturday.
Meseraull led from start to finish in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota, wiring all 30 laps at the 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track, but required having to fight off repeated challenges from reigning champ Chris Windom and Saturday’s winner, Buddy Kofoid, down the stretch.
In doing so, Meseraull became just the third driver to win both a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Bubba Raceway Park (Tyler Courtney and Chris Windom). Meseraull previously won the sprint finale at the track in 2016.
In on the ground floor of the formation of RMS Racing in its initial season of competition in 2018, Meseraull quickly hit his stride, the best of which he’s enjoyed since his 1999 USAC debut. It’s a stride that has seen both the team and driver prosper and grow together into one of the elite powers on the trail.
“I feel like I’ve always been able to win, but I wasn’t in equipment that was capable of winning,” Meseraull said. “Tonight, we ended up on the front row and that was really the key to the night because the track was so fast. There are always six to eight guys who can win these races, and if you start in front of those guys, you have as good, if not a better, opportunity to win. I’m just excited to be a part of high-profile team like RMS Racing.”
Spectators see the on-track performance that results in wins, but ultimately, Meseraull feels that it all starts in the shop. From top-to-bottom, it’s every individual who helps makes this team go, which in turn, helps them prepare for track and atmospheric conditions such as the one presented Monday night.
“As always, all the work is done in the shop,” Meseraull said. “We’ve really put forth the effort at the shop. We bring top notch equipment, and we have a guy for everything. We have a tire guy; we have a car chief; we have a crew chief; we have an engine guy. Dave (Estep), who owns the cars, is the engine guy and he was spot on tonight. The track was in pretty optimal condition. This air is so different (in Florida); you really have to stay on top of the fuel settings because these cars are not electrical injection, so they don’t tune themselves. You have to keep up with the air as you go.”
RMS and Meseraull certainly kept up with that aspect all night, and there were formidable foes in Windom and Kofoid who kept pace with Meseraull all throughout but were unable to mount enough of a charge to get by. Meseraull felt that if he routinely hit his marks for all 30 laps, regardless of what move his opponents made, he’d be in good shape if he didn’t commit an error.
“It’s tough when you’re leading,” Meseraull admitted. “You don’t know who’s behind you or how close they are, or if they’re gaining, but this is the best this RMS Racing No. 7x has felt all week. I was pretty confident I had the car to beat.”
Throughout the duration, Windom remained a couple car lengths behind Meseraull, and routinely presented a challenge to Meseraull by poking the nose of his car underneath at the exit of turn four, with Meseraull able to withstand any and all threats. However, with eight laps remaining, a new hurdle lie ahead with the tail end of the lead lap cars in sight.
“Lappers are always tough because, anymore, everybody’s so fast,” Meseraull explained. “We barely caught the lappers, and when we caught them, we were only a tenth or two faster than them. It’s kind of hard to know where to go. At this place, turns three and four are so tricky, and you really have to get off (turn) four correctly or you lose two to five tenths in a lap if you just mess up that corner. That was crucial.”
As first heat race winner Taylor Reimer was perched high up in turn four, Meseraull responded by diving low into turn one. As Meseraull slid up, Windom ducked under when exiting turn two, pulling completely alongside Meseraull with Kofoid just a single car length behind as the top-three diced through traffic.
“I actually was getting ready to drive around the outside of (Reimer) and saw her toss the nose and come across the track,” detailed Meseraull. “I ended up having to turn and go underneath her. It worked out, but at the same time, I about crashed the car doing it. But that’s how you win races; you’ve got to hang it out every single lap of every single race.”
Meseraull kept Windom at bay to score a 0.515 second margin over Chris Windom, Buddy Kofoid, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley.
Tanner Thorson, who was running 5th on the final lap, had an engine issue on the final corner of the final lap that resulted in a brief ball of fire, and forced him to coast across the finish line in the 8th position in the final rundown. His 11 total positions advanced throughout the weekend, however, did net him Winter Dirt Games XII ProSource Midget Passing Master honors.
Windom (Canton, Ill.) began his title defense with a pair of podium finishes in Ocala, a 3rd on Saturday and a runner-up finish to round out the weekend in the CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota. A second is nice, but the champ wanted more.
“It’s disappointing because you want to win these races,” Windom said. “It was wide open the whole time, and the only shot I had to get him was in lapped traffic. We just didn’t make the right moves there. I felt like we were better than him, but we just couldn’t get by him and he ran a smart race and didn’t make any mistakes. When the track is that fast, that’s about all you can do there.”
Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) followed up Saturday’s triumph with a 3rd place result on Monday aboard his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – Toyota – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Two wins would’ve felt even better, but two podiums is nothing to hang your head about,” Kofoid said. “All of us were really fast, and we were stacking the same times on top of each other. I think my car got better in the end, but I made one mistake and got really tight in turns one and two but was able to pull right back up to their bumpers and drag race Chris to the line.”
Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, in his first weekend of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, finished a career best 14th in Monday’s feature event, but earlier in the night, raced to victory in the Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Race.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 8, 2021 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XII – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: 1. Tanner Thorson, 88, Dave Mac-14.325; 2. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-14.432; 3. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-14.532; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-14.540; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.545; 6. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.551; 7. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-14.577; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.578; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-14.666; 10. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.758; 11. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-14.800; 12. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.916; 13. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-14.977; 14. Max McLaughlin, z8, Bundy Built-15.003; 15. Chase Elliott, 84, CBI-15.008; 16. Trey Gropp, 21KS, Ripper-15.044; 17. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.107; 18. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.139; 19. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.252; 20. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.299; 21. Daniel Robinson, 57A, RAB-15.354; 22. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.382; 23. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Ripper-15.527; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-15.556; 25. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.788; 26. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-16.236.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Taylor Reimer, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Trey Gropp, 6. Emerson Axsom, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Hayden Reinbold. 2:00.957
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Oliver Akard. 1:57.122
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Elliott, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Chase Randall, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Kade Morton, 8. Daniel Robinson. 1:55.858
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Daniel Robinson, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Kade Morton, 8. Emilio Hoover, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Oliver Akard. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (1), 2. Chris Windom (2), 3. Buddy Kofoid (3), 4. Justin Grant (4), 5. Daison Pursley (10), 6. Jason McDougal (5), 7. Emerson Axsom (9), 8. Tanner Thorson (6), 9. Tanner Carrick (12), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 11. Cannon McIntosh (14), 12. Bryant Wiedeman (16), 13. Logan Seavey (13), 14. Chase Elliott (8), 15. Chase Randall (17), 16. Brenham Crouch (19), 17. Kaylee Bryson (18), 18. Taylor Reimer (7), 19. Trey Gropp (15), 20. Daniel Robinson (20), 21. Kade Morton (22), 22. Ethan Mitchell (21). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-161, 2-Chris Windom-161, 3-Tanner Thorson-155, 4-Thomas Meseraull-150, 5-Daison Pursley-141, 6-Justin Grant-137, 7-Emerson Axsom-133, 8-Jason McDougal-133, 9-Tanner Carrick-111, 10-Bryant Wiedeman-99.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Carrick-9, 2-Bryant Wiedeman-9, 3-Cannon McIntosh-9, 4-Emerson Axsom-7, 5-Jake Neuman-6, 6-Daison Pursley-5, 7-Steve Buckwalter-5, 8-Tanner Thorson-4, 9-Brenham Crouch-3, 10-Chris Windom-2.
FINAL WINTER DIRT GAMES PROSOURCE MIDGET PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-11, 2-Tanner Carrick-11, 3-Cannon McIntosh-9, 4-Bryant Wiedeman-9, 5-Daison Pursley-8, 6-Emerson Axsom-8, 7-Trey Gropp-8, 8-Chris Windom-7, 9-Jake Neuman-6, 10-Steve Buckwalter-5.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: April 9-10, 2021 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – T-Town Midget Showdown – 1/8-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Winter Dirt Games ProSource Midget Passing Master: Tanner Thorson
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Taylor Reimer
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Chase Elliott
Indy Race Parts Semi Winner: Emerson Axsom
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Daison Pursley (10th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Emilio Hoover
ProSource Hard Work Award: Kade Morton
=====================
SUPER KOFOID: BUDDY CHARGES FROM 16TH TO WIN AT PORT CITY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Tulsa, Oklahoma (April 10, 2021)………At a track he described as his personal kryptonite following his first visit a year ago, Buddy Kofoid played the part of Superman to a T Saturday night at Port City Raceway, charging his way from his 16th starting position to win the 50-lap opener of the Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by the Rayce Rudeen Foundation.
For his efforts, Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) earned $8,151 all in a night’s work at the Tulsa, Okla. 1/8-mile dirt oval, the largest payday of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career thus far.
Kofoid became the third different driver in as many years to win two of the first three USAC National Midget features to begin a season, following Tyler Courtney in 2019 and Tanner Thorson in 2020. Kofoid also won the season opener in February at Ocala, Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park in the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
In his debut at Port City in 2020, Kofoid finished 8th and 11th on each of the two nights, which he readily admitted were not up to par with his expectations. Those expectations were undoubtedly met, and exceeded, on this particular night.
“I’m glad to be the first repeat USAC winner, but to also win at a track that bit us, or at least that we struggled at. It was our kryptonite, a little bit,” Kofoid explained. “Jarett (Martin), Grant (Penn) and Andrew (West) did a really good job with the car. We’ve found so much speed. This is the same car I ended last year with; it’s kind of old faithful, and it’s just going really good.”
Kofoid qualified three cars from the end of the line in the 48-car field, clocking in 13th fastest overall, but felt his best opportunity was to win the heat in order to secure a surefire top-ten starting spot. Instead, the plan came up one spot short, finishing 2nd to Tyler Thomas in the first heat and relegating him to a 16th place starting spot on an elbows up, no rest for the weary type of racetrack.
“When I saw that I started 16th, I thought, ‘oh this is going to be tough. Hopefully, we can get a top-ten out of this.’”
Kofoid didn’t spend much time getting himself acclimated to the back, climbing his way into the top-ten by lap four while Logan Seavey, a hard charger himself from 19th to 2nd a year ago at Port City, led the way at the head of the field.
Trouble was in the cards for several in the early going with Tyler Thomas clipping a sideways Ryan Timms on the third lap while racing for 8th, which sent Thomas flipping in turn three. Thomas restarted from the tail, but retired from the race shortly thereafter, finishing 24th.
On the ensuing restart, defending series champion and 3rd place running Chris Windom spun in turn two, collecting Kevin Thomas Jr. in the skirmish. Both restarted from the back with Windom charging up to 12th and Thomas up to 10th.
Daison Pursley, a micro sprint winner just prior to the start of the midget feature, was on a mission early, climbing his way into 2nd on the bottom when he clipped a turn four infield tire, nearly causing him to flip. Once he landed on all fours, it was apparent that his left rear tire was flat, sending him to the work area before returning to finish 13th.
Ryan Timms, making his first career series start, became the newest challenger to the throne, sliding by Seavey briefly for the lead in turn three on lap eight. Justin Grant snuck under Timms for the position three laps later on the 11th circuit, sending Timms back to third with a surging Thomas Meseraull on the trail just behind in fourth.
On lap 13, disaster struck for Timms as Meseraull attempted a slide job under Timms entering turn three. The resulting meeting of wheels involved contact between the two, which sent Timms flipping hard toward the outside wall while Meseraull escaped with the position. Timms’ night was finished with a heavy amount of right front damage.
The surface was tricky with Seavey rolling the bottom in turns one and two and riding the cushion at the top in turns three and four, while Meseraull surpassed Grant and stayed tried and true to the high line – for the most part. Meseraull took his shot at Seavey for the lead with a slider in turn three but couldn’t make it stick as Seavey drove back underneath the 2018 series champ exiting turn four.
With Meseraull and Grant mired in a tussle for second, the duo of Cannon McIntosh and Buddy Kofoid barged into the top-five fray, surrounded by a mix of frontrunning foes and lapped traffic. McIntosh, who earlier had set the fastest qualifying time, and was now fourth in the order, ultimately saw the demise of his quality performance as he and 22nd running Brenham Crouch made contact while trying to squeeze to the bottom of turn one, sending McIntosh into a spin and stop. After restarting, McIntosh finished 8th.
Under yellow, when all seemed to quiet down on the western front, race leader Logan Seavey stopped in turn two with a battery issue. He eventually was able to refire, albeit briefly, for the restart at the back of the pack, but dropped out just laps later with a 21st place finish.
With Kofoid now running second, and figurative blood in the water, he raced his way past Grant on the bottom in turn three one lap after the restart on the 29th circuit to snare the lead, while Meseraull too sped around Grant on lap 32 for the second spot. Yet Kofoid felt like he had on Superman’s cape, with his car able to go anywhere he wanted, any place, any time.
“I was good on the top early when people didn’t really recognize that the top was good, especially in three and four,” Kofoid revealed. “I moved down at the right time on the bottom, and then found the bottom in three and four out front by myself, and I was able to use that to pick off some of the leaders, then I was able to move back to the top of three and four. At the end of the day, I could move around wherever I wanted.”
Although Meseraull was able to continuously hound Kofoid for the lead between laps 30 and 39, by lap 40, Kofoid had completely stretched his lead out to a full second, an interval which remained consistent despite a bevy of competition standing in his path on his preferred line. But Kofoid was able to freely move his car to where he needed to put it with pinpoint precision to maintain his relatively comfortable advantage.
Kofoid noted that he simply found the different areas of the track at just the right time, and at the end of the day, he was just going to go where they weren’t.
“Starting 16th with USAC, alone, at any track is tough,” Kofoid said. “But, especially here at Port City where it’s one of the smallest tracks we go to and one of the closest and hardest racing tracks. You can never get away from anyone, as opposed to bigger places where you can kind of check out. But here, it feels like you’re always in some kind of constant battle.”
Kofoid prevailed in every battle on this night, closing out his victory with a 0.808 sec. margin of victory over the late-surging Brian Carber, who was making his first career USAC National Midget appearance. Meseraull took third while Jason McDougal was fourth and Justin Grant rounded out the top-five.
The hot start, the series point lead and complete, total confidence has provided Kofoid a clear focus on his prevailing goal, which has never wavered in what he has considered to be the best start to a season in his career so far.
“My focus is the championship,” Kofoid said. “I want nothing more than to win a USAC national championship. We’ve started off right, and there’s some things we’ve got to work on, but we’re heading in the right direction and our cars just race really good.”
Brian Carber (Pipersville, Pa.) turned in one of the most impressive USAC National Midget debuts in recent times with a runner-up finish in his Hayward Motorsports/B & H Contractors – Stanton Racing Engines – Byrd – FK/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“This place blew off and got really wide, and there’s a lot of guys that can rotate the top pretty well,” Carber said. “We had some difficulties throughout the race, but I started working the shocks and began to migrate to the bottom and just set it up for the bottom. I followed Buddy (Kofoid) in the beginning, and he knows how to race. This SR-11, it honks, and I’m pretty proud of the whole team and everyone that’s on this deal. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be here.”
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) had an eventful evening as he wrestled at the front in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota, riding the high line as long as it lasted en route to a third-place result.
“You pretty much just hang your elbows up and go for it here,” Meseraull said. “I’m pretty stoked at that run. When it goes to the bottom, you don’t expect T-Mez to win races. I was up there just trying to sell shirts.”
Also of note, Joe B. Miller (Millersville, Mo.) raced from the C to the B to the A where he finished 7th in Saturday night’s feature. Along the way, Miller passed a total of 30 cars to take the lead of the ProSource T-Town Midget Showdown Passing Master standings entering Sunday’s finale at Port City.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 10, 2021 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by the Rayce Rudeen Foundation – 1/8-Mile Dirt Track
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-9.426; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-9.526; 3. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-9.550; 4. Ryan Timms, 84, CBI-9.601; 5. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.604; 6. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-9.618; 7. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-9.618; 8. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-9.629; 9. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-9.635; 10. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-9.648; 11. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-9.667; 12. Andrew Deal, 15D, Deal-9.682; 13. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.687; 14. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-9.692; 15. Ace McCarthy, 00, MSW-9.695; 16. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-9.700; 17. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-9.725; 18. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.736; 19. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-9.750; 20. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-9.753; 21. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-9.775; 22. Alex Sewell, 8, Sewell-9.788; 23. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-9.818; 24. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-9.822; 25. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.826; 26. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-9.839; 27. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-9.861; 28. Jesse Colwell, 14H, MSW-9.864; 29. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-9.902; 30. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-9.904; 31. Trey Gropp, 21KS, Ripper-9.919; 32. Joe B. Miller, 49, Lewis-9.932; 33. Jacob Denney, 35, Petry-9.939; 34. Tanner Berryhill, 17, Berryhill-10.012; 35. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-10.049; 36. Chase McDermand, 40m, McDermand-10.062; 37. Chad Frewaldt, 4c, Frewaldt-10.156; 38. Kevin Bayer, 91K, Bayer-10.176; 39. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Ripper-10.187; 40. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-10.187; 41. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-10.222; 42. Curtis Jones, 10x, Jones-10.307; 43. Ryan Bickett, 17H, Bickett-10.327; 44. Kurt Stellhorn, 17x, Stellhorn-10.357; 45. Kevin Brewer, 47K, Walrus/Brewer-10.369; 46. Casey Hicks, 5H, Hicks-10.381; 47. Zac Millikin, 3ps, Hunt-10.386; 48. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-NT (Time of 10.176 disallowed due to a right rear tire violation).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Jacob Denney, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Kyle Jones, 9. Austin Barnhill, 10. Chad Frewaldt, 11. Kevin Brewer, 12. Chance Morton. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Brian Carber, 4. Sam Johnson, 5. Jason McDougal, 6. Bryant Wiedeman, 7. Tanner Berryhill, 8. Kevin Bayer, 9. Curtis Jones, 10. Casey Hicks, 11. Ethan Mitchell, 12. Alex Sewell. 1:40.369
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chase Randall, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Trey Marcham, 5. Ace McCarthy, 6. Trey Gropp, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Kade Morton, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Zac Millikin, 11. Ryan Bickett, 12. Jake Neuman. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jonathan Beason, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Ryan Timms, 5. Joe B. Miller, 6. Andrew Deal, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Jesse Colwell, 9. Chase McDermand, 10. Cade Cowles, 11. Oliver Akard, 12. Kurt Stellhorn. 1:40.040
C-MAIN: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jacob Denney, 2. Joe B. Miller, 3. Chase McDermand, 4. Tanner Berryhill, 5. Trey Gropp, 6. Chad Frewaldt, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Kevin Bayer, 9. Curtis Jones, 10. Zac Millikin, 11. Cade Cowles, 12. Kevin Brewer, 13. Kade Morton, 14. Oliver Akard, 15. Ryan Bickett, 16. Casey Hicks, 17. Kurt Stellhorn, 18. Austin Barnhill. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (15 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Joe B. Miller, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Kyle Jones, 6. Alex Sewell, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Ace McCarthy, 9. Jacob Denney, 10. Ethan Mitchell, 11. Jake Neuman, 12. Hayden Reinbold, 13. Jesse Colwell, 14. Chance Morton, 15. Tanner Berryhill, 16. Andrew Deal, 17. Taylor Reimer, 18. Chase McDermand. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (16), 2. Brian Carber (14), 3. Thomas Meseraull (9), 4. Jason McDougal (12), 5. Justin Grant (11), 6. Kyle Jones (13), 7. Joe B. Miller (21), 8. Bryant Wiedeman (18), 9. Emerson Axsom (7), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 11. Tanner Thorson (17), 12. Chris Windom (2), 13. Daison Pursley (3), 14. Trey Marcham (24), 15. Jonathan Beason (10), 16. Sam Johnson (20), 17. Alex Sewell (19), 18. Cannon McIntosh (6), 19. Chase Randall (15), 20. Ethan Mitchell (23-P), 21. Logan Seavey (1), 22. Brenham Crouch (22-P), 23. Ryan Timms (4), 24. Tyler Thomas (8). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Austin Barnhill flipped during the C-Main. Casey Hicks flipped during the C-Main. Andrew Deal flipped during the semi. Tyler Thomas flipped on lap 3 of the feature. Ryan Timms flipped on lap 13 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-27 Logan Seavey, Lap 28 Justin Grant, Laps 29-50 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-241, 2-Thomas Meseraull-228, 3-Chris Windom-206, 4-Tanner Thorson-204, 5-Justin Grant-203, 6-Jason McDougal-200, 7-Emerson Axsom-192, 8-Daison Pursley-186, 9-Bryant Wiedeman-149, 10-Cannon McIntosh-135.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-21, 2-Bryant Wiedeman-19, 3-Buddy Kofoid-16, 4-Robert Ballou-16, 5-Chris Windom-15, 6-Justin Grant-13, 7-Tanner Thorson-13, 8-Jadon Rogers-13, 9-C.J. Leary-12, 10-Brian Carber-12.
T-TOWN MIDGET SHOWDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Joe B. Miller-30, 2-Buddy Kofoid-16, 3-Brian Carber-13, 4-Trey Marcham-13, 5-Bryant Wiedeman-12, 6-Jacob Denney-11, 7-Zac Millikin-9, 8-Cade Cowles-9, 9-Jason McDougal-8, 10-Sam Johnson-8.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: April 11, 2021 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – T-Town Midget Showdown – 1/8-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Trey Marcham
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tyler Thomas
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Jonathan Beason
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products / Dragonfly Aviation Hard Charger: Buddy Kofoid (16th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Daison Pursley
Saldana Racing Products / OpenWheel101.com First Non-Transfer: Brenham Crouch
ProSource Hard Work Award: Joe B. Miller
=====================
THORSON TAKES REINBOLD-UNDERWOOD TO FIRST USAC MIDGET WIN IN T-TOWN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Tulsa, Oklahoma (April 11, 2021)………Last November at Arizona Speedway, Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports found itself two laps away from winning its first ever USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature only to have the rug pulled out from underneath them on the final green-white-checkered restart.
The driver that denied them that maiden victory that night was Tanner Thorson.
Fast forward to Sunday night, just five months later, and Thorson is now the pilot for the Reinbold-Underwood team. How fitting it was that the driver who stole the prize from them on that particular night was ultimately the one who finally delivered the long sought after reward.
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) led the final 18 laps in just his second start aboard the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – The Healing Tree/Spike/Stanton SR-11x to score his first series victory of the season in the 2nd annual Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by the Rayce Rudeen Foundation at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway.
Technically serving as both the opener and closer of the T-Town Midget Showdown, the event had been postponed to Sunday following heavy storms that fell just after Friday night’s Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying session. Forty-eight hours later, Thorson was standing in victory lane for the 21st time in his USAC National Midget career, moving him past A.J. Foyt for 29th on the all-time list.
The combination of Thorson and Reinbold-Underwood on the midget side of the equation came on April 2 after competing for Dave Mac Motorsports in the first two events of the season at Ocala, Fla. in February.
The transition to a new midget team was made a tad more seamless due to Thorson’s already-established role as Reinbold-Underwood’s full-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car driver in 2021, and also because of Thorson’s newly-developed investment with the team, making an offer that team co-owner Andy Reinbold couldn’t refuse.
“I wanted to own my own racecar and own my own motor,” Thorson explained. “Andy’s really close with me, and we’re good friends outside of racing. I gave him the offer to team up and he took it on. I own the racecar and he owns everything else. It’s awesome to get back into victory lane in another racecar, and just continue the speed that we have.”
Thorson relates having a certain peace of mind with being hands-on in the operation, along with crewmembers Tyler Ransbottom, Connor Ridge and Austin French, and with the assistance of Gary Stanton on his engines, who he relates as “like a grandpa” to him.
“I’m big on being able to work on my own racecar at the shop and at the track,” Thorson said. “I like being able to maintenance it myself; that’s something that’s good for my mind when I go out there and race. It’s nothing against anybody else, I just like to have that control because I am a control freak. Everybody that’s been part of this team is great and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year. I know we’ve got a fast racecar, but I’ve still got to fine tune it. It’s not where I want it to be, by any means. We’re going after the title.”
It sure looked just fine on Sunday night. However, an 11th place finish in Saturday’s feature was not what they had in mind for their debut, which ended Thorson’s series-leading streak of 16 consecutive top-ten finishes dating to last July, which funny enough, began with a victory at a dirt track in the state of Oklahoma (Red Dirt Raceway).
A similar streak established at a Sooner State dirt track is just what Thorson hopes can bring him back to the top of the USAC National Midget championship battle when all is said and done in 2021 and reclaim the crown he last wore in 2016.
Thorson started fourth in the 24-car field and watched as pole sitter Justin Grant established the lead during the opening three laps. However, third-starting Sam Johnson was nipping at his heels throughout and was able to slip underneath Grant and lead the first nine laps of his USAC National Midget career while Thorson grabbed second from Grant on the 10th lap.
On the 13th lap, however, Johnson slid off the bottom line in turn one, opening the door for Thorson to drive underneath Johnson, suctioning his car to the bottom and moving himself into the lead where he remained for much of the rest of the way, despite the urges to run wide open on the cushion such as he did the night before.
“Patience kind of bit me last night,” Thorson admitted. “I was wanting to just get up and rip the top because everybody was putting on the bottom. I fell back a few spots because of it, and I knew I wasn’t going to let that happen again tonight. I just learned from my mistake. I’d rather be running the top more than the bottom. I wouldn’t say I’m the best on the bottom, but I am pretty freaking good.”
Heartbreak hit Johnson on the 17th circuit when he spun to a stop in turn four while running second. He restarted but finished 23rd.
By the 21st lap, Daison Pursley, the previous night’s micro sprint winner at Port City, was on the move, getting to the fourth position with Kevin Thomas Jr. in his crosshairs. Entering turn three, Pursley went low for the slider, just as Thomas snagged the cushion. The two forces collided as a result, sending Thomas spinning and Pursley flipping and landing perpendicular with the front bumper pointed to the skies. Thomas was out, while Pursley restarted, finishing 18th.
From there on, Thorson was dominant, opening up an instant half-straightaway lead. However, Grant was able to slightly reel in Thorson on the final lap but was unable to get by with Thorson closing out a 0.297 second victory over Grant, Ethan Mitchell, Chris Windom and Logan Seavey.
Grant (Ione, Calif.) earned his best finish of the season, taking second in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Serv./Spike/Speedway Toyota.
In his 31st career series start, Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.) scored the best finish of his USAC National Midget career, a 3rd aboard his Bundy Built Motorsports/QRC – Mark 4 – Walker Filtration – Arai/Spike/Bundy Built Honda, which put three different engine manufacturers on the podium: Stanton, Toyota and Honda.
Meanwhile, ninth place finisher Joe B. Miller (Millersville, Mo.) advanced a total of 37 positions over the two nights of USAC National Midget racing at Port City, which garnered him the honor of ProSource Passing Master for the T-Town Midget Showdown.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 9 & 11, 2021 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by the Rayce Rudeen Foundation – 1/8-Mile Dirt Track
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: (Held on April 9) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-9.474; 2. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-9.508; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-9.545; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.561; 5. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-9.564; 6. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-9.568; 7. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-9.580; 8. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-9.588; 9. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.592; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-9.596; 11. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-9.607; 12. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-9.612; 13. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.620; 14. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-9.639; 15. Tanner Berryhill, 17, Berryhill-9.641; 16. Joe B. Miller, 49, Lewis-9.650; 17. Alex Sewell, 8, Sewell-9.673; 18. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-9.677; 19. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-9.695; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-9.704; 21. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-9.713; 22. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-9.723; 23. Jacob Denney, 35, Petry-9.732; 24. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-9.750; 25. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-9.762; 26. Ace McCarthy, 00, MSW-9.770; 27. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.780; 28. Jesse Colwell, 14H, MSW-9.794; 29. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Ripper-9.829; 30. Ryan Timms, 84, CBI-9.838; 31. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-9.875; 32. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-9.927; 33. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-9.997; 34. Trey Gropp, 21KS, Ripper-10.017; 35. Kevin Bayer, 91K, Bayer-10.031; 36. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-10.032; 37. Noah Harris, 20H, Harris-10.048; 38. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-10.099; 39. Chad Frewaldt, 4c, Frewaldt-10.141; 40. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-10.244; 41. Kevin Brewer, 47K, Walrus/Brewer-10.292; 42. Kyle Wilson, 05, Wilson-10.298; 43. Zac Millikin, 3ps, Hunt-10.380; 44. Casey Hicks, 5H, Hicks-10.386; 45. Curtis Jones, 10x, Jones-10.563; 46. Kurt Stellhorn, 17x, Stellhorn-10.635; 47. Glenn Bratti, 24T, Bratti-10.736; 48. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-NT; 49. Ryan Bickett, 17H, Bickett-NT; 50. Gage Laney, 14H, MSW-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Jake Neuman, 3. Alex Sewell, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Jason McDougal, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Noah Harris, 8. Emilio Hoover, 9. Chance Morton, 10. Curtis Jones, 11. Kevin Brewer. 1:42.326
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Kyle Jones, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Ryan Timms, 6. Tyler Thomas, 7. Emerson Axsom, 8. Ace McCarthy, 9. Trey Gropp, 10. Cade Cowles, 11. Kyle Wilson. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Tanner Berryhill, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Bryant Wiedeman, 9. Kevin Bayer, 10. Zac Millikin, 11. Chad Frewaldt. 1:43.121
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Joe B. Miller, 3. Sam Johnson, 4. Jonathan Beason, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Kade Morton, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Taylor Reimer, 9. Gage Laney, 10. Ryan Bickett, 11. Oliver Akard. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Chance Morton, 2. Kevin Bayer, 3. Trey Gropp, 4. Noah Harris, 5. Taylor Reimer, 6. Cade Cowles, 7. Curtis Jones, 8. Ryan Bickett, 9. Oliver Akard, 10. Kyle Wilson, 11. Kevin Brewer, 12. Zac Millikin. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Ace McCarthy, 6. Bryant Wiedeman, 7. Noah Harris, 8. Chance Morton, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Trey Gropp, 11. Tanner Berryhill, 12. Brian Carber, 13. Emilio Hoover, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Gage Laney, 16. Kevin Bayer, 17. Brenham Crouch, 18. Ryan Timms. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (4), 2. Justin Grant (1), 3. Ethan Mitchell (9), 4. Chris Windom (13), 5. Logan Seavey (5), 6. Thomas Meseraull (6), 7. Buddy Kofoid (11), 8. Cannon McIntosh (8), 9. Joe B. Miller (15), 10. Kyle Jones (19), 11. Jake Neuman (18), 12. Jonathan Beason (14), 13. Emerson Axsom (10), 14. Jacob Denney (20), 15. Jason McDougal (12), 16. Ace McCarthy (21), 17. Chase Randall (17), 18. Daison Pursley (7), 19. Brian Carber (24-P), 20. Bryant Wiedeman (22), 21. Ryan Timms (23-P), 22. Alex Sewell (16), 23. Sam Johnson (3), 24. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Zac Millikin flipped during practice. Gage Laney flipped during the semi. Daison Pursley flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Justin Grant, Laps 4-12 Sam Johnson, Laps 13-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-295, 2-Thomas Meseraull-288, 3-Tanner Thorson-281, 4-Justin Grant-276, 5-Chris Windom-270, 6-Jason McDougal-234, 7-Emerson Axsom-233, 8-Daison Pursley-221, 9-Cannon McIntosh-192, 10-Logan Seavey-190.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-24, 2-Brady Bacon-21, 3-Bryant Wiedeman-21, 4-Buddy Kofoid-20, 5-Tanner Thorson-16, 6-Robert Ballou-16, 7-Justin Grant-13, 8-Jadon Rogers-13, 9-Jake Neuman-13, 10-C.J. Leary-12.
T-TOWN MIDGET SHOWDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Joe B. Miller-37, 2-Buddy Kofoid-21, 3-Bryant Wiedeman-18, 4-Jacob Denney-17, 5-Brian Carber-16, 6-Kyle Jones-16, 7-Noah Harris-16, 8-Cade Cowles-14, 9-Tanner Thorson-13, 10-Chris Windom-13.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: April 30-May 1, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Grand Prix – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Ace McCarthy
ProSource T-Town Midget Showdown Passing Master: Joe B. Miller (37)
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Ethan Mitchell
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Emerson Axsom
KSE Racing Products / Dragonfly Aviation Hard Charger: Chris Windom (13th to 4th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Emerson Axsom
Saldana Racing Products / OpenWheel101.com First Non-Transfer: Noah Harris
ProSource Hard Work Award: Bryant Wiedeman
=====================
AXSOM GRINDS OUT HIS FIRST USAC MIDGET WIN AT KOKOMO GP OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (April 30, 2021)………Kokomo Speedway has been a special place and the Kokomo Grand Prix has been a special race for Petry Motorsports in recent times.
In the last Kokomo Grand Prix held prior to Friday, in 2019, the team’s namesake, Scott Petry, captured his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory as a car owner.
Less than two years later, in Friday night’s Kokomo Grand Prix opener, Petry was a firsthand witness to one of his pilots, Emerson Axsom, experiencing his very own first career triumph with the series in the seat of one of his cars.
The 16-year-old Axsom, from Franklin, Ind., was dominant from start to finish, leading all 30 laps around the quarter-mile dirt oval in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Keizer Aluminum Wheels – Mobil 1/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, a win which came in just his 23rd career USAC start.
However, it was the 11th career start, back in September of 2020, which stuck in Axsom’s craw.
Despite growing up less than an hour and a half from the pit gate at Kokomo Speedway, Axsom never once turned a wheel at Kokomo Speedway prior to that race last Fall where he charged up to 4th midway through the feature before falling off the pace and out of the race when his kill switch broke.
While that particular race was one he’d rather forget, Friday will forever be engrained in the category of which he’ll always remember.
“I’ve always wanted to do what I’m doing right now; it’s a blast,” Axsom exclaimed. “I couldn’t be happier with the team I’m on and the way we’re doing it. And to do this with my dad by my side, there’s nothing better. I just can’t thank Scott (Petry) enough for this opportunity to run such a great racecar. After this, I’m even more pumped for the rest of the season.”
Young Emerson grew up racing with his father and mentor, Joe, a successful shoe in stock car racing on paved high banked racetracks such as Salem Speedway in Southern Indiana, and also an eight-time starter with the USAC Silver Crown series. Yet Emerson couldn’t resist the pull of open wheel dirt racing, attending Midget races at places like Kokomo and Eldora by the time he was 10 years old.
Axsom, himself, cut his racing teeth in quarter midgets and the amount of success was immense, winning the 2016 USAC .25 Midget Light 160 Paved and USAC .25 Midget Formula Mod Paved championships before, ultimately, making the transition to micro sprints where he scored a hefty payout in The Big Dance at U.S. 24 Speedway in Logansport, Ind. and garnered a memorable winged outlaw main event at the Tulsa Shootout.
Just six days prior to Friday’s Kokomo Grand Prix opener, Axsom notched his first career POWRi Midget win at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
And, as it turned out, just as it always has before, even more success was never too far away, such as it was on Friday night.
Axsom started from the outside of the front row alongside pole sitter Chris Windom, the defending USAC National Midget titlist, 2018 Kokomo Sprint Car track champ and winner of the most USAC National Midget race at Kokomo in September 2020.
No evidence of sweaty palms or any sort of intimidation was evident in Axsom who crossed over from the outside to the inside, swiping past Windom to grab the early lead into turn one. When Windom slid back by in turn three, Axsom responded in kind by driving back under Windom at the exit of turn four to recapture the lead.
However, fourth-starting Daison Pursley doubled-up by sliding past both Windom and Axsom in one fell swoop in turn one on the second lap. Pursley’s maneuver proved short-lived, however, as Axsom raced back by Pursley at the bottom of turn three and quickly built up a 1.5 second advantage.
“I knew that if I got out front and could run my own race, we’d be good,” Axsom explained. “To pass Chris, he’s raced here a ton and he’s really good here, and I figured he’d slide me into one, so I was ready for that. Once I was able to cross him over, I just hit my marks and it worked out well from there.”
On the fifth lap, early mover and shaker Brenham Crouch, who had ridden the high line from 6th to 4th, brought out the lone red flag of the night. Crouch biked on the cushion at the entry to turn one, landed on all fours and appeared to have it saved. Nonetheless, the car continued to drift up the racetrack, smacking the right side wheels against the outside wall between turns one and two, causing him to barrel roll twice. Crouch walked away uninjured but was finished for the evening.
On the ensuing restart, several front running contenders had their shots at winning eliminated. Third running Pursley surrendered with a flat left rear tire in an incident that resulted in Buddy Kofoid (5th) spinning in turn two and collecting Kyle Cummins (6th). Pursley and Cummins spent time in the work area for repairs during the yellow period. All three restarted from the tail with Kofoid racing back to 5th, Pursley to 6th and Cummins to 12th at the checkered.
Axsom withstood a Windom slider attempt on the second lap five restart, and instantly opened up another sizable lead of nearly two seconds, with new second place runner Cannon McIntosh whittling away at Axsom’s lead. McIntosh chopped the Axsom gap to a mere second with five laps remaining, but was unable to get any closer than that, as the two frontrunners broke free from traffic and entered the clear.
Securing the victory when all was said and done was Axsom, who became the first “first-time” USAC National Midget feature winner since Thomas Meseraull in October of 2020. Axsom was followed to the line by McIntosh, Windom, Justin Grant and Kofoid.
McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) earned, by far, his best finish of the year, taking 2nd in his Dave Mac Motorsports/DriveWFX.com – SBS Shocks – D.A. McIntosh/Spike/Speedway Toyota. His previous best finish with the series in 2021 had been 8th at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. after starting the year with three finishes outside the top-ten.
Windom (Canton, Ill.) finished inside the top-four for the fourth time in five starts with the series this season, scoring a 3rd place result in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Logan Seavey's Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time was the eighth of his USAC National Midget career, tying him for 72nd all-time alongside Christopher Bell, Dana Carter, Russ Gamester, Don Horvath, Kasey Kahne, Sam Sessions, George Snider and Jack Turner.
Meanwhile, Kevin Thomas Jr.’s 9th place finish on Friday came in his 100th career USAC National Midget feature start.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 30, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Grand Prix – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.022; 2. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.110; 3. Jason McDougal, 4A, RAMS-13.165; 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.179; 5. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.190; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.243; 7. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.275; 8. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.282; 9. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.297; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.298; 11. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.332; 12. Clinton Boyles, 14s, RAMS-13.339; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.345; 14. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.377; 15. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.414; 16. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.423; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.479; 18. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.556; 19. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffith-13.893; 20. Brandon Waelti, 3w, Martin-14.670.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Bryan Stanfill. 2:18.613
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Brandon Waelti, 7. Hayden Reinbold. 2:21.385
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Clinton Boyles, 6. Jason McDougal. 2:16.318
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Emerson Axsom (2), 2. Cannon McIntosh (3), 3. Chris Windom (1), 4. Justin Grant (9), 5. Buddy Kofoid (8), 6. Daison Pursley (4), 7. Tanner Thorson (17), 8. Ethan Mitchell (12), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 10. Thomas Meseraull (16), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (7), 12. Kyle Cummins (14), 13. Logan Seavey (10), 14. Clinton Boyles (15), 15. Hayden Reinbold (18), 16. Brandon Waelti (20), 17. Bryan Stanfill (19), 18. Chase Randall (5), 19. Brenham Crouch (6), 20. Jason McDougal (11). NT
**Brenham Crouch flipped on lap five of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Emerson Axsom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-361, 2-Justin Grant-345, 3-Tanner Thorson-340, 4-Chris Windom-340, 5-Thomas Meseraull-338, 6-Emerson Axsom-309, 7-Daison Pursley-285, 8-Cannon McIntosh-266, 9-Jason McDougal-264, 10-Logan Seavey-236.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-50, 2-Thomas Meseraull-44, 3-Tanner Thorson-40, 4-Brady Bacon-36, 5-Chris Windom-30, 6-Justin Grant-29, 7-Buddy Kofoid-23, 8-C.J. Leary-21, 9-Bryant Wiedeman-21, 10-Paul Nienhiser-18.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 1, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Grand Prix – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Daison Pursley
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Bryant Wiedeman
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (17th to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
=====================
WINDOM CHIMES IN FOR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON AT KOKOMO GP
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (May 1, 2021)………Through his first five USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget starts in 2021, Chris Windom had finished 2nd once, 3rd twice and 4th on one other occasion.
Standing in front of the gates of victory, but unable to pick the lock, as fate would have it, the reigning series champ just needed to head back to the site of his most recent victory 14 races prior, to where he’s a past track champ and a frequent winner of sprint car and midget races for the past decade-and-a-half – home sweet home, AKA Kokomo Speedway.
One such feather that the Canton, Ill. native had, thus far, been unable to put in his cap, prior to Saturday night, was a triumph in the Kokomo Grand Prix where he held prior bests of 3rd in 2019 and 4th in 2014.
Nevermore, said the reigning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion, as he overtook Daison Pursley for the lead for good on the fifth lap, changed his plan of attack mid-stream when the likes of Tanner Thorson began to bear down on him, then kept a hard-charging Buddy Kofoid at bay down the stretch, to tally a mark in the win column for the first time in this calendar year in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Windom’s 7th career series win moved him into 92nd on the all-time win list alongside Tommy Astone, Jack Hewitt, Don Horvath, Page Jones, Kenneth Nichols, Larry Patton, Les Scott, Len Sutton and Johnnie Tolan.
“(Car owner) Chad Boat had this thing so good to run the bottom,” Windom said. “I could run the top too when I needed to; it was a lot of fun. It’s been a frustrating year, but we’ve been wanting to win a race, and we finally got one the third weekend in.”
For the second consecutive night at Kokomo, Windom started his race from the pole position. However, he was keen on not allowing the opening laps play out in a similar fashion to the night before as it did with first-time series winner Emerson Axsom. This time, Windom outpaced outside front row starter Chase Randall into turn one, nestling his right rear tire on the sweet spot of the curb as he led the pace on the opening lap.
Soon after, third-starting Pursley emerged, occupying the bottom while Windom hung topside. The classic high/low duel quickly became an exchange of barbs on lap five when Pursley slid Windom into turn three, forcing Windom to crossover and divert low at the exit of turn four and sling back to the top past Pursley by the time the pair hit turn two.
Windom made his first commitment around the infield tires on lap seven as he panned downward in turn one. However, Pursley went even lower, and took the shorter route ahead of Windom, albeit very briefly.
By the time the duo made their way into turn three, Windom, standing three car lengths in arrears by the middle of the back straightaway, made a beeline straight from the bottom of turn three to the top of turn four, sliding just in front of Pursley, forcing Pursley to hiccup ever so slightly on the cushion, getting sideways, and lifting the front wheels off the surface, allowing Windom to slip away.
The moment was short-lived, however, when the yellow flag flew shortly thereafter for a flat left rear tire on 13th place running Ethan Mitchell. After replacing the tire in the work area during the caution period, Mitchell returned to finish 16th.
A gnarly curb saw several drivers bucking their way through turns one and two on the top side, yet Windom remained smooth as silk. Just when it appeared as if the top was the surefire bet for Windom, he hedged his bet when a charge on the bottom led by Tanner Thorson began to make the case for a different path to victory. With the pearly white nose of Thorson’s No. 19T rapidly closing and fully visible in the corner of Windom’s left eye, Windom said “sayonara” to the top and began a re-dedication to the bottom.
The move paid immediate dividends, upping Windom’s advantage from mere tenths to over a second with half of the 30 laps scored and half more remaining.
“I wanted to make the top work there early and make it interesting, but I saw those guys coming on the bottom and I had to jump down there and take the line away,” Windom explained. “This car is so good, that even though it’s so slow around the bottom, it’s just so much faster to do it. It was Just a technical track, and with how big that curb was, a midget doesn’t really run on it super well. You have to hit it perfect to be fast up there and it’s hard to hit it perfect for 30 laps. So, I got down in a safe spot.”
Pursley’s impressive run came to a shrieking halt on the 17th lap when the 4th place driver was bit by the cushion between turns one and two, which forced him onto the bike, two-wheeling his car before the right side wheels snagged and sent him barrel-rolling twice, then flipping him over once more nose-to-tail before coming to a rest, ending a relatively tough evening for the Oklahoman who also found himself upside-down in true Tommy Tipover style in practically the same spot in the third heat race.
On the lap 17 restart, Windom and Thorson stayed low while third-running Kevin Thomas Jr. and fourth-running Buddy Kofoid were the only takers of the high line who were running inside the top-ten at the moment. Thomas briefly strayed but found his way back to the bottom soon after while Kofoid was unwavering in his loyalty to the top and went about passing by means of going where everybody else simply wasn’t.
Kofoid rode the fence in turns one and two and implanted four in the fluff entering turn three to jet from 4th to 2nd in one big move on lap 21 around the outside of both Thomas and Thorson, the very same lap in which Kofoid turned the fastest single lap of the race.
Now the race was on between Kofoid, the current series point leader, and his pursuit of the defending champion, Windom. Kofoid carved down the margin to a single second with five laps remaining, but Windom was on rails and, with Kofoid’s subsequent bobble on the turn four cushion, that sealed the deal for Windom to secure the victory by a 1.736 second margin over Kofoid, Thomas, Thorson and Friday night winner Emerson Axsom, who also earned his first career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time with the series earlier in the night.
Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) finished as the runner-up in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota for his fourth top-three feature finish in six starts with the series this season.
Thomas (Cullman, Ala.) was the biggest mover in the event aboard his Petry Motorsports/Gray Auto – FK Rod Ends – Greber Racing Components/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, wheeling it from his 13th starting position to a 3rd place finish, which was his best result with the series this year.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 1, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Grand Prix – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.371; 2. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.382; 3. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.391; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.405; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.417; 6. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.424; 7. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.434; 8. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.479; 9. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.494; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.497; 11. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.503; 12. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.520; 13. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.529; 14. Jason McDougal, 4A, RAMS-13.540; 15. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.568; 16. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.582; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.67; 18. Clinton Boyles, 14s, RAMS-13.726; 19. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffith-13.782; 20. Brandon Waelti, 3w, Martin-14.181.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Bryan Stanfill, 7. Thomas Meseraull. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Brandon Waelti. 2:20.144
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Clinton Boyles. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Buddy Kofoid (8), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 4. Tanner Thorson (7), 5. Emerson Axsom (6), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Logan Seavey (9), 8. Thomas Meseraull (11), 9. Brenham Crouch (16), 10. Kyle Cummins (4), 11. Cannon McIntosh (12), 12. Chase Randall (2), 13. Bryant Wiedeman (14), 14. Clinton Boyles (18), 15. Jason McDougal (15), 16. Ethan Mitchell (10), 17. Hayden Reinbold (17), 18. Brandon Waelti (20), 19. Daison Pursley (3), 20. Bryan Stanfill (19). NT
**Daison Pursley flipped on lap 17 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Chris Windom, Laps 3-4 Daison Pursley, Laps 5-30 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-436, 2-Chris Windom-416, 3-Justin Grant-410, 4-Tanner Thorson-409, 5-Thomas Meseraull-392, 6-Emerson Axsom-378, 7-Daison Pursley-315, 8-Cannon McIntosh-312, 9-Jason McDougal-304, 10-Logan Seavey-296.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-50, 2-Thomas Meseraull-47, 3-Tanner Thorson-43, 4-Brady Bacon-36, 5-Chris Windom-30, 6-Buddy Kofoid-29, 7-Justin Grant-29, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-23, 9-Bryant Wiedeman-22, 10-C.J. Leary-21.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: May 14-15, 2021 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Missouri – John Hinck Championship – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Logan Seavey
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Emerson Axsom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Kevin Thomas Jr. (13th to 3rd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Bryant Wiedeman
=====================
T-MEZ THRILLS WITH LAST CORNER PASS TO WIN PARAGON IMW OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Paragon, Indiana (June 3, 2021)………From the drop of the green flag until his drop to the ground in his post-race celebration, Thomas Meseraull captivated the audience with a wildly entertaining Indiana Midget Week opener Thursday night at Paragon Speedway.
Meseraull charged from his 12th starting position to track down Cannon McIntosh on the final corner of the final lap, and with one swift move coming off turn four, the San Jose, California native delivered a dramatic last push to earn his first career Indiana Midget Week victory in his 28th IMW start.
Following the drama of the final lap, Meseraull delivered an encore performance of unintentional physical comedy when he lost his balance and fell from the top of his roll cage onto the ground below. Dusting himself off, and without hesitation, Meseraull joyously jumped to his feet ran full sprint toward the jubilant crowd with both arms raised in triumph.
All that came following an abundance of rainfall that moisturized the 3/8-mile dirt oval and pit area, making it a “cowboy up” surface with a skyscraper tall curb, which, at first, gave Meseraull a tad bit of trepidation. However, T-Mez was singing a triumphant tune at the conclusion of the evening despite having to dig his way through from deep in the field.
“This thing came out of the B-Main. We started 12th and drove by everybody,” Meseraull reiterated. “These types of tracks, where I really just wanted to go home when I got here, they seem to be the types of tracks that I run really good at. Hats off to everybody that helped get this thing in tonight.”
Meseraull became the second driver during the 2021 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season to win a feature after starting his race from the back half of the field. Buddy Kofoid began the April 10 race at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. from 16th and drove to the win.
After going winless in his first 88 USAC National Midget starts, since last Fall, Meseraull has now won four of his last 13 series appearances in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“(Crew chief) Donnie (Gentry) and I just click, (team owners) Dave Estep and Matt Estep, these guys give me the best of the best,” Meseraull praised. “We got Danny Drinan here and we’ve got the Dri-Bar on it. It seems to be really good in the rough, but I’m good too.”
Meseraull’s RMS teammate Justin Grant secured the lead for the first two laps of the 30-lap feature from the pole position. When Grant stumbled in turn two on the third lap, McIntosh was on the scene to capitalize, ducking under Grant for the top spot.
Grant stalked McIntosh relentlessly throughout the first half but, seemingly, each time he got nearer to McIntosh’s rear bumper, Grant would snag a fork in the road, halting his march dead in his tracks, forcing him to regroup and reload for another shot.
Nearing halfway, McIntosh’s brakes were throwing a shower of sparks from the left rear of the car as he navigated his way through the back end of the field. A lap 18 caution for a turn one spin by 13th running Brenham Crouch, however, brought about the feature’s lone caution period and, thus, removed the traffic factor of traffic.
McIntosh’s strong restart with 13 laps remaining allowed the Oklahoman to build a steady foundation in which to distance himself from the RMS duo of Grant and the suddenly emerging Meseraull. Nonetheless, within a couple of laps, the distance between the trio had shrunk to virtually nothing.
On the 22nd lap, Grant slid up the racetrack in turn four, opening the door for Meseraull to get a foothold underneath, then beat Grant to the bottom in turn one to gain the second position.
Meseraull’s only target now was chasing down McIntosh, which didn’t take long after McIntosh’s recovery from a bike in turn one with seven laps remaining. On lap 26, 28 and 29, Meseraull was able to pull even with McIntosh between turns one two but fell back in line behind McIntosh down the back straightaway while contemplating his next move on the chess board.
On the final lap, the same scene played out in turns one and two with Meseraull unable to find enough oomph to budge ahead of McIntosh. After settling in behind McIntosh exiting turn two, Meseraull played his hand slightly differently, taking his line a bit higher on entry into turn three while McIntosh sort of slid himself from bottom to top. With a slight diamond off the corner of turns three and four, Meseraull sped under and past McIntosh for the triumph just two car lengths in front at the line, 0.171 seconds ahead.
McIntosh equaled his best series finish of the season with a runner-up result in his Dave Mac Motorsports/DriveWFX.com – SBS Shocks – D.A. McIntosh/Spike/Speedway Toyota. Although understandably frustrated by the heartbreaking result, the Bixby, Okla. driver remained pleased with a finish they’ve sorely needed amid a somewhat inconsistent season.
“That one was really hard to watch slip away there off of four,” McIntosh admitted. “I felt like we had one of the best cars here tonight. I don’t know if T-Mez was just a little better there at the end, but I think we definitely had enough to hold him off. It’s so close down there with the grease, to the grip, and I saw him off of two; he was really close. I tried to block, but it just got a little tight on me, and I let it slip away. I had a really good starting spot in the feature, and we walked away there in the beginning, but just one little mistake in the end got us.”
Grant’s contrarily consistent campaign continued Thursday at Paragon with a 3rd place finish in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Mgmt. Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota. For the reigning USAC Silver Crown champion, it was his seventh consecutive top-seven USAC National Midget finish of the season.
Of note, in the third eight-lap heat race of the evening, Jason McDougal set a brand-new track record for the distance with the USAC National Midgets at Paragon, recording a time of 2:10.840, breaking the former record held by Wes Stafford, which was set in 1977, by nearly 11 full seconds.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 3, 2021 – Paragon Speedway – Paragon, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-15.809; 2. Ryan Timms, 85, CBI-15.957; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-16.019; 4. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.086; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-16.134; 6. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-16.204; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.239; 8. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-16.257; 9. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-16.369; 10. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-16.442; 11. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-16.443; 12. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.469; 13. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-16.477; 14. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-16.490; 15. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-16.497; 16. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-16.515; 17. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.587; 18. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-16.646; 19. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-16.669; 20. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-16.670; 21. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffith-16.818; 22. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.875; 23. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-16.882; 24. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-16.927; 25. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.939; 26. Brady Bacon, 21H, TKH-17.034; 27. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-17.038; 28. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-17.127; 29. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-17.200; 30. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-17.287; 31. Chett Gehrke, 37, Felker-17.587; 32. Stephen Schnapf, 11s, Martin-17.616; 33. Max Guilford, 3NZ, Benic-17.707; 34. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-18.241; 35. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-18.423.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2. Bryan Stanfill, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. Kaylee Bryson, 9. Max Guilford. 2:14.907
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chance Crum, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Hayden Williams, 4. Ryan Timms, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Travis Buckley, 8. Emerson Axsom, 9. Blake Brannon. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Corey Day, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Tyler Nelson, 8. Chett Gehrke, 9. Michael Clark. 2:10.840 (New Track Record)
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Trey Gropp, 3. Chase Randall, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Stephen Schnapf, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Brian Carber. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Corey Day, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Cole Bodine, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Tanner Thorson, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Tyler Nelson, 12. Kaylee Bryson, 13. Blake Brannon, 14. Chett Gehrke, 15. Max Guilford, 16. Travis Buckley, 17. Stephen Schnapf, 18. Michael Clark. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (12), 2. Cannon McIntosh (2), 3. Justin Grant (1), 4. Buddy Kofoid (3), 5. Logan Seavey (4), 6. Jason McDougal (8), 7. Daison Pursley (7), 8. Emerson Axsom (13), 9. Chris Windom (6), 10. Hayden Williams (14), 11. Ryan Timms (5), 12. Bryant Wiedeman (9), 13. Tanner Thorson (23-P), 14. Kyle Cummins (17), 15. Corey Day (15), 16. Trey Gropp (22), 17. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 18. Chance Crum (10), 19. Sam Johnson (18), 20. Ethan Mitchell (21), 21. Hayden Reinbold (24-P), 22. Brenham Crouch (11), 23. Bryan Stanfill (20), 24. Chase Randall (19). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Brenham Crouch flipped during the fourth heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Justin Grant, Laps 3-29 Cannon McIntosh, Lap 30 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-503, 2-Justin Grant-479, 3-Chris Windom-474, 4-Thomas Meseraull-467, 5-Tanner Thorson-446, 6-Emerson Axsom-429, 7-Cannon McIntosh-384, 8-Daison Pursley-375, 9-Jason McDougal-367, 10-Logan Seavey-363.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-75, 2-Cannon McIntosh-72, 3-Justin Grant-69, 4-Buddy Kofoid-67, 5-Logan Seavey-67, 6-Jason McDougal-63, 7-Daison Pursley-60, 8-Chris Windom-58, 9-Emerson Axsom-51, 10-Ryan Timms-51.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-60, 2-Thomas Meseraull-58, 3-Tanner Thorson-54, 4-Brady Bacon-43, 5-Chris Windom-39, 6-Buddy Kofoid-29, 7-Justin Grant-29, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-27, 9-C.J. Leary-23, 10-Jake Swanson-23.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-11, 2-Trey Gropp-6, 3-Emerson Axsom-5, 4-Hayden Williams-5, 5-Tanner Thorson-5, 6-Cole Bodine-5, 7-Jason McDougal-4, 8-Kyle Cummins-4, 9-Daison Pursley-3, 10-Chris Windom-3.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Logan Seavey
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Bryant Wiedeman
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chance Crum
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Jason McDougal
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Brenham Crouch
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (12th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Thorson
ProSource Hard Work Award: Trey Gropp
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Cole Bodine
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BUDDY BLISTERS BLOOMINGTON FOR FIRST INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bloomington, Indiana (June 4, 2021)………They say you only get one shot at making a first impression.
In the ensuing moments after his first career Indiana Midget Week victory on Friday night, Buddy Kofoid let it be known that his initial impression of his first visit to Bloomington Speedway was that it was now on his personal list of favorite racetracks. And it’s easy to see why.
The Penngrove, California driver’s first Bloomington experience made an impression itself on the immediate and season-long outlook as well by becoming the first driver to earn a third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win in 2021 while also extending his point lead in the series and rising to the top of the latest Indiana Midget Week standings.
Kofoid earned his stripes after prevailing in a near race-long duel with Chris Windom to earn his sixth career USAC National Midget feature win, and first at the 1/4-mile dirt oval in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
The win earned team owner Keith Kunz his 117th win with the USAC National Midget division, 16 behind all-time leader Steve Lewis’ 133, and his all-time leading fifth at Bloomington, all of which have come during Indiana Midget Week.
Getting a win during Indiana Midget Week is a source of pride for Kofoid, not only because of the stage, but because of what it took to earn it on Friday night.
“To win an Indiana Midget Week show is probably one of the bigger midget wins of my career,” Kofoid said. “It feels pretty good to beat some of the best, straight-up, head to head. I had a blast racing with Chris; that was so much fun. If you didn’t like that, I don’t know what to tell you. That was hard racing back and forth.”
Reigning series champion Windom established superiority at the beginning from his outside front row starting position, ducking underneath pole sitter and leading Rookie Bryant Wiedeman off turn two for the lead.
Windom controlled the first four laps until lap five when first time Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier Corey Day stopped in turn three to bring out the first yellow of the night. The Clovis, Calif. driver did not return to the lineup, and instead, dropped out with a 23rd place finish.
On the restart, third-starting Kofoid maneuvered past Wiedeman for second, then began his approach toward Windom, attempting to strike quickly and often with a slider on the bottom of turn three that came up short with Windom able to dodge the barrage for the time being, cutting back under off turn four to stave off Kofoid momentarily.
The detriment of showing a hand, but coming up short in executing completely, is that the leader can gain a sense of what line might be working in the trailing driver’s pursuit, then counteract that notion with a bit of defense of their own.
That’s what happened for Windom on the 10th lap when Kofoid’s bid came up short on the bottom of turns three and four. Windom altered his entry a tad lower to where he’d wind up sliding himself in the turns and, thus, prevented Kofoid from slipping by for the time being.
“When we ran the slider line in three and four and caught Chris, he saw it, then he started doing it,” Kofoid recalled. “I was like, ‘man,’ I don’t want to say it was game over, but I though it would be pretty hard to get to him after that. I figured pretty early in the race that the top was really far around into three and I figured that if I could be stuck enough as far as throttle control and keep it kind of straight up to the cushion, we’d have a shot to catch him pretty quickly,” Kofoid continued.
Throughout the middle stages of the 30-lapper, Windom and Kofoid matched each other punch for punch for the top spot with one’s small step being retaliated by a giant leap for mankind as the pair practically swapped their brief stays at the head of the field each turn of every lap.
Kofoid made the decisive move on the 15th lap with a demonstration of “how low can you go” which he delivered with a dive down toward the infield tire marker at the entry to turn one.
Following a yellow for the stoppage of Kyle Cummins on lap 20, Windom offered a swift reminder of his presence by sliding past Kofoid in turn one on the restart to lead once more. Nonetheless, a lap later, Kofoid mimicked the favor and returned to first with a similar turn one overtake to reinstate his name at the top of the leaderboard and stretching his lead to a full second mere moments later.
With six laps remaining, 16th running Chase Randall flipped atop the turn three and four cushion. He was uninjured. During the red flag period, Kofoid had several moments to contemplate and organize his thoughts for how to protect himself on the ensuing restart as well as some internal advice for the final mile-and-a-half stretch to the checkered.
“Those last six laps, I just told myself ‘don’t get tight, don’t get tight on the curb,’” Kofoid explained. “It worked out really good. The only time we got tight was that restart, and I thought I about gave it away right there. It shows how much speed this car has, to get it right back the next lap and keep on going.”
Windom presented his challenge under Kofoid in the first turn just after the drop of the green flag, but Kofoid kept his foot in it, never wavering from the cushion in turns one and two to drive back by Windom and secure his position in the lead. Windom searched the racing surface for an alternate path to get back into contention, altering his line to high in one and two and low in three and four.
Kofoid, who took 23 races to win his first USAC National Midget feature in September of 2020, carried onto to the win for the sixth time in the past 18 feature events with a 1.493 second margin of victory over Windom, Kevin Thomas Jr., Brady Bacon and Bryant Wiedeman, who earned a best career series finish by rounding out the top-five.
For Kofoid, it was his sixth career USAC National Midget win in his sixth different state following wins in Missouri (Sweet Springs), Arizona (Arizona Speedway), California (Bakersfield Speedway), Florida (Bubba Raceway Park), Oklahoma (Port City Raceway) and now Indiana (Bloomington Speedway).
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) earned his fifth top-three finish of the season with the series following a runner-up finish at Bloomington aboard his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“That was a lot of fun racing with him there,” Windom said of the battle with Kofoid. “We just kind of had to go where each other weren’t. When I was out front, I felt like I was a sitting duck in three and four. I didn’t feel like running the top was that great, but I saw him slide me there and I realized that was a better line. He was just a little better than us there and we couldn’t make quite as much as speed as him, but we’d get shots at him on the restarts and I felt like we had a really good run at it, but he was just a little bit better than us.”
“Through three and four, he could run that line a little bit better than I could and we were about the same speed through one and two,” Windom continued. “I just couldn’t quite figure out where to stick it just right through three and four. That’s where he got away from us. I tried the bottom there on the last restart, trying to make something happen, but it didn’t quite work either. I’m happy with the overall result from the night though.”
Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) equaled his best result of the USAC National Midget season with a third-place run in his Petry Motorsports/Gray Auto – FK Rod Ends – Greber Racing Comp./Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota. Thomas also set a new 12-lap track record for the series at Bloomington with a time of 2:34.699 during the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature, displacing the former record of 2:40.02 established by Logan Seavey in 2019.
Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) earned the KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger award by moving from his 22nd starting position to an 11th place finish in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Keizer Aluminum Wheels – Mobil 1/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota. Axsom’s time during qualifying was good enough for ninth overall but was disallowed due to him missing the scales following his time trial run.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 4, 2021 – Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-11.489; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-11.496; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.503; 4. Brady Bacon, 21H, TKH-11.559; 5. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-11.568; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.586; 7. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-11.595; 8. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.602; 9. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.627; 10. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.640; 11. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-11.676; 12. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-11.702; 13. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.709; 14. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.729; 15. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-11.746; 16. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-11.779; 17. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-11.789; 18. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.796; 19. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-11.829; 20. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-11.844; 21. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.889; 22. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.914; 23. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-11.929; 24. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffith-12.060; 25. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.077; 26. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-12.100; 27. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-12.164; 28. Chett Gehrke, 37, Felker-12.176; 29. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.199; 30. Max Guilford, 3NZ, Benic-12.330; 31. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-NT; 32. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-NT (Time of 11.620 disallowed).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Hayden Williams, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chase Randall, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Cannon McIntosh, 7. Corey Day, 8. Ethan Mitchell. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Max Guilford, 8. Tyler Nelson. 2:07.284
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Sam Johnson, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Trey Gropp, 7. Blake Brannon. 2:05.082
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Chance Crum, 6. Brian Carber, 7. Chett Gehrke, 8. Bryan Stanfill. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Corey Day, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Brian Carber, 6. Trey Gropp, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Chett Gehrke, 10. Max Guilford, 11. Ethan Mitchell, 12. Blake Brannon, 13. Tyler Nelson, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Oliver Akard. 2:34.699 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (3), 2. Chris Windom (2), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 4. Brady Bacon (5), 5. Bryant Wiedeman (1), 6. Tanner Thorson (14), 7. Logan Seavey (6), 8. Daison Pursley (12), 9. Justin Grant (8), 10. Jason McDougal (4), 11. Emerson Axsom (22), 12. Cannon McIntosh (16), 13. Thomas Meseraull (20), 14. Brian Carber (15), 15. Ethan Mitchell (23-P), 16. Cole Bodine (9), 17. Hayden Williams (7), 18. Brenham Crouch (13), 19. Sam Johnson (21), 20. Chase Randall (19), 21. Kyle Cummins (18), 22. Trey Gropp (17), 23. Corey Day (10). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Chase Randall flipped on lap 24 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Chris Windom, Laps 15-19 Buddy Kofoid, Lap 20 Chris Windom, Laps 21-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-581, 2-Chris Windom-549, 3-Justin Grant-533, 4-Thomas Meseraull-510, 5-Tanner Thorson-503, 6-Emerson Axsom-477, 7-Daison Pursley-431, 8-Logan Seavey-425, 9-Cannon McIntosh-424, 10-Jason McDougal-417.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-145, 2-Chris Windom-133, 3-Logan Seavey-129, 4-Justin Grant-123, 5-Thomas Meseraull-118, 6-Daison Pursley-116, 7-Jason McDougal-113, 8-Cannon McIntosh-112, 9-Bryant Wiedeman-110, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-103.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-65, 2-Tanner Thorson-62, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-44, 5-Chris Windom-39, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-35, 7-Buddy Kofoid-31, 8-Justin Grant-29, 9-Emerson Axsom-25, 10-C.J. Leary-23.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Emerson Axsom-22, 2-Thomas Meseraull-18, 3-Tanner Thorson-13, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-10, 5-Daison Pursley-9, 6-Buddy Kofoid-7, 7-Chris Windom-7, 8-Trey Gropp-7, 9-Max Guilford-7, 10-Cannon McIntosh-6.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 5, 2021 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Chris Windom
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Corey Day
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Hayden Williams
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Emerson Axsom (22nd to 11th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Thomas Meseraull
ProSource Hard Work Award: Emerson Axsom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Kaylee Bryson
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SEAVEY SERVES NOTICE WITH INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WIN AT THE BURG
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (June 5, 2021)………As the lone past Indiana Midget Week championship representative in Saturday night’s starting lineup at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway, Logan Seavey knows all too well what it takes to compete and win during this most intense and busy week(s) of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing.
The 2019 IMW titlist and one-time IMW race winner from Sutter, Calif. returned to form at the 3/8-mile oval to survive and withstand a late-race cascade of cautions and challenges served by way of current IMW point leader Buddy Kofoid, the very driver aiming to establish himself in the echelon Seavey positioned himself in just two years prior.
Seavey was succeeded at the beginning of the 2020 season by Kofoid in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 67, the team for which Seavey earned the bulk of his earliest USAC accolades and achievements, the likes of which included a 2018 National Midget championship as well.
For 2021, Seavey aligned himself with the Tom Malloy-owned outfit and, after an imbalanced early part to the schedule, the pairing seems to have hit its stride, earning their first win together and serving notice to the competition of their aspirations to capture the Indiana Midget Week title, which they trail now by only 14 points to Kofoid with three races complete and four more remaining.
The Lawrenceburg win was a longtime coming for Seavey who hadn’t won a USAC National Midget feature since 2019 at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. It’s the first occasion of what Seavey hopes will become an increasingly more often routine in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota.
“This feels awesome,” Seavey exclaimed following his seventh career USAC National Midget win. “With Tom Malloy and Jerome (Rodela), Chris (Tramel) and Krieg Poland working so hard, this definitely wouldn’t even be possible. It’s been a couple years since I’ve won a national midget race and it feels really good. We’ve had so much speed and I just haven’t been getting the job done in the features. Tonight, we got to the lead early and we’re able to set our pace and show the speed this thing has had all year. I’m just glad I could get it done for these guys. They work so hard, and they have such a nice race car. I’m just lucky to be the one driving it.”
Seavey started third in the 22-car field but was already hustling his way past both front row occupiers from the word “go.” While outside front row starter Chris Windom disposed of pole sitter Thomas Meseraull to lead the opening lap, Seavey set sail up top and drove by Meseraull off turn four, then rocketed around Windom moments later for the lead exiting turn two on the second circuit and immediately constructed a more than one second advantage.
Trouble befell third-running Meseraull on the fifth lap when he jumped over the turn one cushion, tagged the outside wall and began flipping. Kevin Thomas Jr., with no place to escape, ran into the bottom of Meseraull’s racecar while it was still flipping down the racetrack. As a result, Meseraull was finished for the evening with damage too extensive while Thomas ultimately returned, finishing a distant 19th.
Time and time again on this evening, Seavey showed his strong suit on restarts where he was mostly unheeded as he launched away from his pursuers. Behind him, though, Chris Windom and Justin Grant were engaged in their own personal war after exchanging “White Castles” on both ends of the racetrack, lap after lap, on a loop.
That proved to be all to Seavey’s advantage as his interval jumped to one second, then a full two seconds and a half-straightaway as the laps clicked away amid a rapid pace before, during and in the post-aftermath of the halfway mark. In traffic, however, Windom sliced Kofoid’s lead in half to a mere second.
The length of Kofoid’s lead shrank substantially once more on the 19th lap when 11th running Bryant Wiedeman flipped after contacting the outer concrete in turns three and four. The series’ top-leading Rookie was uninjured in the incident, which came less than 24 hours following his best career USAC finish, a 5th at Bloomington Speedway.
With a clear, unhindered view from behind his visor, Seavey powered away on the restart while Windom and now third-running Windom went on the attack, relentlessly sliding each other without an ounce of hesitation on the tip of their minds in turns one and three. It was no holds barred between the two, with Kofoid able to corral the position just nine trips from the conclusion.
Less than a lap later, a flurry of carnage began to rear its ugly head when Daison Pursley (4th) and Chase Randall (5th) collided in the middle of turn four, sending Randall into a 180-degree spin before flipping over and flopping onto the left side of his car to bring out the red flag. Damage to Randall’s car appeared fairly insignificant at the time and, after a minute in the work area.
On the 22nd lap restart, Kofoid sent out a teaser by pulling alongside Seavey in turns one and two but was unable to make Seavey surrender the position in any manner whatsoever, which in turn, allowed Windom to distance himself once again from Kofoid.
Randall’s brief reemergence to the action was short-lived, however, as the Waco, Texas Rookie driver’s night went from bad to worse. As Randall entered the third turn on lap 24, an apparent part failure sent him into a nasty series of flips in turn three. An extraordinary amount of hang time resulted for Randall as he ricocheted off the top of the catchfence before seemingly falling from the sky and back to the track surface. Randall emerged from the wreckage physically okay following the pair of incidents but was finished for the evening, and for the weekend.
An open track awaited race leader Seavey for the restart with seven laps to go, but he was keenly aware that Lawrenceburg is a nesting ground for slide jobs on restarts, and he was in the ultimate sitting duck position. As the field rolled away to take the green, Seavey stretched out a big enough gap that Kofoid had no attack and no chance to fight for, at least for turns ones and two.
Following Seavey on the high side, as it turned out, Kofoid was setting up a turn three maneuver, and took his shot, firing a bomb across the bow of Seavey which briefly sent him to P1. However, Seavey was prepared in anticipation of the challenge, and already had his front bumper pointed back under Kofoid where he drove downhill to pull ahead, as it turned out, for good.
Seavey closed the account during the final six laps and cashed in to win his first USAC National Midget feature of the season, and first for car owner Tom Malloy over Kofoid, Windom, Grant and Brenham Crouch, who rounded out the top-five with a career-best USAC finish.
With the win, Seavey now stands second in the Indiana Midget Week standings and has placed himself into instant IMS championship contention. He’s got the ingredients, he’s got the car, he’s got the win in the bank, and he’s got the confidence after a flawless performance, which is just one of the several parts of the equation it’s going to take to win this eight-race in ten nights deal.
“It just takes speed all the time and not making too many big mistakes,” Seavey explained of what an Indiana Midget Week championship entails. “So far, that’s what we’re doing. Obviously, Buddy and Chris are doing the same thing. I think it’s going to come down to the wire this week and that’s a cool thing to have for the fans. I lost a lot of spots last night when I shouldn’t have, so I just have to minimize those kind of nights.”
There’s not much time to bask in the glory of an Indiana Midget Week victory like this one with the next race less than 24 hours away and a relatively long, lonesome highway voyage during the night staring square into their eyes. In fact, Seavey had less time than most Saturday night, hopping out of the midget and proceeding to win the accompanying sprint car feature to sweep the night.
With full momentum on his side, Seavey still took a moment to relish the importance of a substantial victory for he and his midget team.
“Indiana Midget Week is one of those bittersweet weeks,” Seavey admitted. “You win a race and tomorrow it doesn’t matter. You’re showing up to race again and you don’t really have the week to celebrate it. But it is really cool. These are big races to win and I’m glad I could get another one.”
Runner-up finisher Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) has known Seavey since he was a 6-year old as they grew up racing outlaw karts together. The two Californian’s have a deep respect for one another, and they were able to engage in a highly entertaining “slider-fest” without any contact, a place where the brand of racing is necessary in order to elevate yourself up the results sheet, which Kofoid did aboard his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“At this place, you’ve got to throw them,” Kofoid said, referring to slide jobs. “There’s no other lane to run but the top, and the way to get in front of a guy is to slide up right back into his lane. Once it slicked off, we got going well and, I think we were close to even with him, but at a track like this, it’s really tough to be better in open air. I would’ve liked to have won this one; obviously would like to win any one.”
With winged sprint car experience and now a highly-successful midget foray under his belt on the high banks of Lawrenceburg, Kofoid has a readily apparent comfort level at the venue in which he now has placed right at the top of his ever-growing “favorites” list.
“This place is special because it’s so much fun; I enjoy coming here,” Kofoid revealed. “It’s big and fast and high banked and my love for it started in a wing sprint car, that’s where I came from. Running sprint cars here has been really fun and I’ve had pretty good success with the World of Outlaws the two times that I’ve done it. We’ve been good with the midget too, but I would’ve liked to have been one spot better. It’s another good points night and things are ticking good.”
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) earned his second consecutive top-three feature finish during Indiana Midget Week, taking third place in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, which came just one night after finishing 2nd at Bloomington.
Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Ariz.) turned in a career-best 6th place qualifying result Saturday at Lawrenceburg, but had his race come to a spectacular end when he sucked his right rear tire into the wall and flipped wildly down the main straightaway during the semi-feature. Reinbold walked away from the wreckage under his own power.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 5, 2021 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-14.750, 2. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-14.765, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.787, 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-14.826, 5. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-14.838, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.849, 7. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-14.872, 8. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.906, 9. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-14.912, 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.930, 11. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-14.975, 12. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.005, 13. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.022, 14. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-15.029, 15. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.118, 16. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.167, 17. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-15.209, 18. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-15.216, 19. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-15.221, 20. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.230, 21. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-15.271, 22. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-15.316, 23. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-15.372, 24. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-15.401, 25. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-15.990, 26. Chett Gehrke, 37, Felker-16.481, 27. Tommy Thompson, 3T, Thompson-17.045.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Corey Day, 5. Bryant Wiedeman, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Blake Brannon. 2:01.212
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Cannon McIntosh, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Hayden Williams, 9. Chett Gehrke. 2:03.605
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Brenham Crouch, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Trey Gropp, 6. Kyle Cummins, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Tommy Thompson. 2:05.420
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Chance Crum, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Chett Gehrke, 9. Blake Brannon, 10. Tommy Thompson, 11. Hayden Reinbold, 12. Jason McDougal. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (3), 2. Buddy Kofoid (4), 3. Chris Windom (2), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Brenham Crouch (13), 6. Corey Day (6), 7. Daison Pursley (8), 8. Kaylee Bryson (19), 9. Cannon McIntosh (16), 10. Brian Carber (22), 11. Ethan Mitchell (15), 12. Emerson Axsom (7), 13. Tanner Thorson (14), 14. Chance Crum (18), 15. Hayden Williams (21), 16. Kyle Cummins (20), 17. Chase Randall (10), 18. Trey Gropp (11), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 20. Bryant Wiedeman (12), 21. Cole Bodine (17), 22. Thomas Meseraull (1). NT
**Hayden Reinbold flipped during the semi. Thomas Meseraull flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Bryant Wiedeman flipped on lap 19 of the feature. Chase Randall flipped on lap 21 of the feature. Chase Randall flipped on lap 24 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Chris Windom, Laps 2-30 Logan Seavey.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-657, 2-Chris Windom-619, 3-Justin Grant-603, 4-Tanner Thorson-545, 5-Thomas Meseraull-540, 6-Emerson Axsom-524, 7-Logan Seavey-503, 8-Daison Pursley-491, 9-Cannon McIntosh-473, 10-Jason McDougal-427.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-221, 2-Logan Seavey-207, 3-Chris Windom-203, 4-Justin Grant-193, 5-Daison Pursley-176, 6-Cannon McIntosh-158, 7-Thomas Meseraull-148, 8-Emerson Axsom-146, 9-Bryant Wiedeman-137, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-136.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-65, 2-Tanner Thorson-63, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-44, 5-Chris Windom-39, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-35, 7-Buddy Kofoid-33, 8-Justin Grant-30, 9-C.J. Leary-25, 10-Emerson Axsom-25.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Emerson Axsom-24, 2-Thomas Meseraull-20, 3-Brian Carber-16, 4-Hayden Williams-15, 5-Cannon McIntosh-14, 6-Tanner Thorson-14, 7-Buddy Kofoid-11, 8-Daison Pursley-11, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-11, 10-Kyle Cummins-11.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 6, 2021 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Hayden Williams
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Corey Day
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Chase Randall
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Brian Carber (22nd to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Thorson
ProSource Hard Work Award: Brian Carber
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chett Gehrke
=====================
TRI-STATE MASTER CUMMINS WINS FIRST CAREER USAC MIDGET FEATURE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana (June 6, 2021)………As if you needed any more indication that, for all intents and purposes, Kyle Cummins practically owns Tri-State Speedway, the Princeton, Ind. driver was there to cement that fact in round four of Indiana Midget Week on Sunday night.
Cummins shot to the lead early, lost it, gained it back, then stood his ground in warding off constant pressure from reigning series champion Chris Windom down the stretch to earn his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature at his “home track.”
“To have Chris there behind me, that’s pretty nerve wracking because he’s pretty good in a midget,” Cummins admitted. “I just didn’t know what to do, but I felt like if I was going to win one, this would probably be the place to do it.”
Cummins’ prowess in a sprint car at the southwestern Indiana quarter-mile dirt oval has been well-established with numerous victories, and he recently collected his all-time leading sixth career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at Tri-State in April of this year. He reiterated that fact by snaring the Midwest Sprint Car Series feature just moments before hopping in the midget for Sunday’s 30-lap main event.
Entering Sunday as one of the prime suspects to earn a first career USAC National Midget feature win, Cummins earned a career-best 3rd place finish with the series at Tri-State in 2019, then equaled that performance with another 3rd in 2020.
Progressing and finding comfort in the seat of a midget are paramount to setting the stage for a breakthrough victory, and Cummins has certainly done that over the past couple seasons, but admittedly shared that, in a way, they’re still flying by the seat of their pants trying to figure out the science of midget racing.
The process paid off at Tri-State in just his 17th career series start, becoming the second “first-time” USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature winner of the 2021 season, along with Emerson Axsom, taking his Ohsweken Speedway – Lucas Oil Center/Spike/Stanton SR-11x to its first USAC win for Ontario, Canada car owner Glenn Styres.
“Glenn Styres, I owe it all to him,” Cummins said. “He’s put the trust in me. We’ve only got 20 midget races under our belt, and we have no idea what we’re doing. Throughout Indiana Midget Week, we’ve been getting better and better every night.”
Cummins got to the front in a flash from his inside row two starting position, racing to the lead by overtaking an all Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports front row consisting of Daison Pursley and Buddy Kofoid. Pursley fought back to regain the lead briefly on the second lap before Cummins reemerged in front with a turn three slider on the third lap.
The first stoppage of the night occurred on the seventh lap when 16th running Ethan Mitchell clipped an infield tire and flipped heavily in turn four. The Mooresville, N.C. racer escaped without injury.
On the lap seven restart, sixth-starting Windom began to surge, moving from 5th to 3rd in one fell swoop, then slotted into second on lap nine after getting past Pursley for the position. In Windom’s pursuit of Cummins, the pair broke away from the rest of the field just as lapped traffic began to loom.
However, on the 20th lap, with Cummins and Windom on the cusp of fighting traffic, 21st running Kaylee Bryson clipped the turn four curb directly in front of the leaders. Simultaneously, Windom was in the process of passing for the lead, getting by Cummins just as the yellow flag flew.
Windom, thus, relinquished the position back to Cummins, but the frontrunners were plucked straight out of traffic, which completely altered the dynamic of the remainder of the race.
“The red came out at the perfectly wrong time,” Windom recalled. “I had just slid by him and kind of showed him where I was at, and he took away my line there and didn’t make any mistakes.”
Shortly after the restart, on lap 21, New Zealand’s Hayden Williams, running 13th, hooked an infield tire, causing a mechanical issue that instantly turned his car sharp right and straight into the path of 16th place Brenham Crouch who T-boned Williams, causing Williams to flip over. Crouch restarted and finished 15th, but it was no dice for Williams who was forced to exit with damage and a 21st place result.
The ensuing restart saw Cummins get relatively freed up and now the main focus turned to the joust for second, with Pursley now finding a second wind and driving around the outside of Windom to move into the runner-up spot for laps 21 and 22 before Windom catapulted himself back in front of Pursley on the 23rd circuit.
For the majority throughout, Cummins took a low entry into turns one and three and made a sweeping exit through the middle of turns two and four, preventing his challengers from making a banzai maneuver getting into the turns on each end of the track. A party of five swarmed Cummins, led by Windom two car lengths back along with the sudden emergence of Thomas Meseraull, Pursley, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Jason McDougal as well.
“I love just blowing it in there and throwing a slider,” Cummins explained. “I was better around the top, and once it got slick, I knew, because of the last couple years I’ve been here, if you get in front of them, it’s really hard to pass somebody in a midget. I think it’s due to the experience from that and getting the car right, I guess.”
None of the “swarm” was able to make much headway on Cummins who executed to perfection and became the 12th different driver to win a feature in each of Tri-State Speedway’s previous 12 USAC National Midget events since the first one held in 1969, won by two-time USAC National Midget champ, Mike McGreevy.
Cummins’ 0.570 second margin under the checkered flag came ahead of Windom, Thomas Meseraull, Daison Pursley and Kevin Thomas Jr.
Windom (Canton, Ill.) set the tone early in the evening, breaking the late, great Bryan Clauson’s 2010 one-lap USAC National Midget track record of 13.629 at Tri-State, establishing his own blistering mark of 13.377 in the CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Furthermore, Chris Windom moved into the Indiana Midget Week point lead by virtue of his runner-up performance and now possesses a 13-point lead over former leader, Buddy Kofoid, who dropped to second. Despite owning the IMW point lead through consistency with four races completed and four remaining, Windom is fatigued by having to stand by and watch someone else enjoy the spoils of victory following his second 2nd performance in the past three nights of IMW.
“I’m sick of running second,” Windom said point blank. “I felt like we had the best car there for most of the race. I had to try something there at the end to try and drive around the outside and it about cost me second. Sucks to be as fast as were and come home second. Wasn’t much we could do there, just keep plugging away and go after the midget week title.
Thomas Meseraull’s long-awaited first career USAC National Midget win came at Tri-State in October of 2020. While a win wasn’t quite in the cards for the San Jose, Calif. racer on Sunday night, a solid third-place result was in order following a heavy crash during the opening laps of Saturday’s feature at Lawrenceburg. Sunday, nonetheless, contained a sense of relief and redemption for the driver known as T-Mez.
“It’s the perfect place to come after you’ve banged your head,” Meseraull noted. “This place is always smooth, always kind of greasy, just hammer down and go. If the thing’s doing wheelies, you’ve got a good car, but we weren’t really doing wheelies. We were pretty good, though. I didn’t feel 100 percent today, but I gave it 110.”
Starting 9th, Meseraull was shuffled back to mid-pack by lap five, but dug in and steadily worked his way back into the forefront by race’s end aboard his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“We were so good in the beginning,” Meseraull said. “I got to racing with (Logan) Seavey and he kind of shut the door on me. I locked the brakes up and stalled the thing. It got started again, but I fell back to about 13th. This RMS Racing 7x is bad fast everywhere we go as long as I can keep it on all fours.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 6, 2021 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.377 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.405; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.691; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.706; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.722; 6. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.730; 7. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.771; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.772; 9. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-13.775; 10. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.789; 11. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.807; 12. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.899; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.932; 14. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-13.984; 15. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-13.985; 16. Kendall Ruble, 11, Martin-14.026; 17. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-14.055; 18. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-14.064; 19. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-14.113; 20. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.114; 21. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-14.125; 22. Stephen Schnapf, 11s, Martin-14.150; 23. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-14.350; 24. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.380; 25. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-14.382; 26. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-14.631; 27. Aiden Purdue, 57D, McCreery-14.723.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Stephen Schnapf, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Kendall Ruble. 2:21.269
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Trey Gropp, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Travis Buckley. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Corey Day, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Bryant Wiedeman, 7. Hayden Williams, 8. Kaylee Bryson, 9. Aiden Purdue. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Hayden Williams, 2. Stephen Schnapf, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Travis Buckley, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Aiden Purdue, 11. Blake Brannon. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (3), 2. Chris Windom (6), 3. Thomas Meseraull (9), 4. Daison Pursley (1), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 6. Jason McDougal (15), 7. Cannon McIntosh (4), 8. Justin Grant (19), 9. Tanner Thorson (8), 10. Buddy Kofoid (2), 11. Corey Day (11), 12. Emerson Axsom (12), 13. Logan Seavey (5), 14. Cole Bodine (17), 15. Brenham Crouch (18), 16. Bryant Wiedeman (10), 17. Brian Carber (22), 18. Kaylee Bryson (21), 19. Trey Gropp (14), 20. Stephen Schnapf (20), 21. Hayden Williams (16), 22. Ethan Mitchell (13). NT
**Ethan Mitchell flipped on lap 7 of the feature. Hayden Williams flipped on lap 20 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kyle Cummins, Lap 2 Daison Pursley, Laps 3-30 Kyle Cummins.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-706, 2-Chris Windom-699, 3-Justin Grant-657, 4-Thomas Meseraull-612, 5-Tanner Thorson-599, 6-Emerson Axsom-567, 7-Daison Pursley-558, 8-Logan Seavey-552, 9-Cannon McIntosh-533, 10-Jason McDougal-489.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-283, 2-Buddy Kofoid-270, 3-Logan Seavey-256, 4-Justin Grant-247, 5-Daison Pursley-243, 6-Thomas Meseraull-220, 7-Cannon McIntosh-218, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-202, 9-Emerson Axsom-189, 10-Jason McDougal-185.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-71, 2-Tanner Thorson-63, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-44, 5-Chris Windom-43, 6-Justin Grant-41, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-37, 8-Buddy Kofoid-33, 9-Brian Carber-30, 10-Kyle Cummins-26.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-27, 2-Emerson Axsom-24, 3-Brian Carber-24, 4-Justin Grant-17, 5-Kaylee Bryson-17, 6-Chris Windom-16, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-16, 8-Jason McDougal-16, 9-Tanner Thorson-16, 10-Hayden Williams-16.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9, 2021 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana – 17th Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Daison Pursley
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Hayden Williams
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Justin Grant (19th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
ProSource Hard Work Award: Brian Carber
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Travis Buckley
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IT’S ALL DAY’S NIGHT AT CIRCLE CITY; BECOMES USAC MIDGETS’ YOUNGEST WINNER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Indianapolis, Indiana (June 9, 2021)………At 15 years, 6 months and 12 days old, Corey Day became the youngest feature winner in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget history with a sterling performance Wednesday night in the series’ debut at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, round number five of USAC Indiana Midget Week.
Driving for Clauson Marshall Racing, it seems fitting that it’s Day who now owns the “youngest winner” handle. In 2018, Zeb Wise became the youngest series winner at 15 years, 8 months and 21 days old at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Pennsylvania, himself driving a Clauson Marshall-owned ride that night, same as Day.
Almost three years ago, Wise surpassed the former “youngest winner” title that had previously been held by Bryan Clauson, who became a first-time USAC National Midget winner at the age of 16 years, 3 months and 23 days in 2005 at Ohio’s Columbus Motor Speedway.
However, a close call while navigating the final turns of the final lap nearly spoiled what was a flawless performance by Day as he bounced not one, not two, but three times atop the cushion between turns three and four, before landing back on all fours and finishing out the last half-straightaway to earn his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win by a 0.423 second margin over Kevin Thomas Jr.
At a new venue, it takes teams a bit of time to fine-tune their set-ups to get their cars dialed in to the racing surface. Circle City is no exception to the rule, but one team that has figured out the quarter-mile dirt track faster than all others is Clauson Marshall Racing, winner of two All Star Circuit of Champions events on back-to-back nights at the track in May with driver Tyler Courtney, and now added on a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget triumph in their first outing at the place, the team’s 28th with the series and first of the 2021 campaign.
“(Car owner) Tim (Clauson) is amazing with midgets,” Day said. “I couldn’t have a better mentor or crew chief setting up my cars.”
After two Fatheadz fast qualifying times in the first half of USAC Indiana Midget Week at Bloomington and Lawrenceburg, a brief glimpse of the potential that Day carries was noticeably evident, and that someday in the distant future, Day’s breakthrough USAC victory would arrive.
As it turned out, less than a week following his first career start with the series, Day’s night did arrive aboard his Clauson Marshall Racing/ZMax – Driven2SaveLives/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. The son of west coast sprint car and midget racing standout Ronnie Day celebrated with a few exquisite donuts, a pump of the fist and an exuberant cage stand to put an exclamation point on the happenings.
A moment in Day’s heat race proved pivotal as he recovered from a late-race bobble and charged around the outside of Max Guilford to snag the fourth and final transfer spot by inches at the line. That move altered Day’s outlook, and positioned the Clovis, Calif. driver on the outside of the front row where he decidedly positioned himself on the high side while pole sitter Kevin Thomas Jr. worked the bottom.
On the fourth lap, disaster struck USAC National Midget point leader Buddy Kofoid while battling for the seventh position alongside Brenham Crouch and just behind his closest challenger in the points, Chris Windom. Kofoid tapped the rear bumper of Windom and spun to a stop between turns three and four, sending the National point leader to the rear of the 24-car field for the restart.
The high/low contest between Day and Thomas resumed after the yellow, but by lap nine, Day had separated himself from Thomas and constructed a 2.105 second lead by the 13th lap when the yellow fell for a tangle between turns one and two involving Justin Grant (11th), Brian Carber (13th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (18th).
The lap 13 restart saw Emerson Axsom jet past Petry Motorsports teammate Thomas for 2nd and immediately begin to challenge Day for the race lead just before the yellow fell for 6th running Thomas Meseraull who stopped sideways in turn two.
Axsom fired the first shot toward Day on the 14th lap restart, sliding past for the lead in turn one. Day returned the favor by sliding Axsom back in turn three. Axsom loaded the cannons for another go in turn three on the 16th lap, but Day answered the bell again by cutting back underneath off turn four. Once more, the relentless Axsom went on the attack in turn three with another slide job of Day on lap 18 but was denied with the never-flinching Day racing back by to secure his position at the front.
“I’ve raced micros with him forever,” Day said of Axsom. “So, I know he’s going to race me clean and I’m going to race him clean back. When someone’s throwing a slide job, and you see them coming, you already go to diamond under him as soon as you see him. It’s fun racing clean like that. Emerson, he’d never take me out, so it’s cool racing with him.”
Meanwhile, Kofoid had driven from the tail back into the top-ten in just 15 laps, but on lap 19, he was in the process of trying to slide job Kaylee Bryson for the 9th position when Kofoid’s right rear dug into the service, sending him flipping. Bryson was also collected in the incident. Kofoid once again restarted, but only managed to get back to 19th, his first finish outside of the top-ten all season. Bryson finished 17th.
When racing resumed with 11 laps remaining, second-running Axsom tripped on the turn three and four curb, allowing Thomas to slip by for 2nd then bobbled in turn two on the following lap, which let both Brady Bacon and Brenham Crouch go by for 3rd and 4th. And Day was off again, posting a 2.025 sec. advantage for an all-certain victory with the white flag in sight.
However, Cannon McIntosh, running 13th, came to a halt in turn four to bring out the final yellow, thus setting up a green-white-checkered finish for the young Day to face. Day looked every bit the part of a veteran on the final restart, distancing himself from the pack with no challengers in close range behind and a clear view of the Indiana horizon ahead.
Instead, Day found himself trying to wrangle the car home in one piece as he did his best impression of a Professional Bull Rider to hang on for the final eight seconds, give or take a few. As his machine bounced through turns three and four, Thomas, Bacon and others ganged up a little bit closer, but as fate would have, Day’s car landed with the wheels pointed straight at the finish line, where he shot away to secure the victory over Thomas, Bacon, Axsom and Crouch.
Through five USAC Indiana Midget Week events thus far, five different winners have emerged from five different teams: Thomas Meseraull for RMS Racing at Paragon; Buddy Kofoid for Kunz/Curb-Agajanian at Bloomington; Logan Seavey for Tom Malloy at Lawrenceburg; Kyle Cummins for Glenn Styres at Tri-State; and now Corey Day for Clauson Marshall Racing at Circle City.
An odd night for many traditional front runners resulted in a shake up in both the Indiana Midget Week standings and the overall USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget title race. Windom maintains the Indiana Midget Week lead while Logan Seavey moved into second and Kofoid dropped back to third.
Windom, meanwhile, gained the lead in the USAC National Midget standings by a seven-point margin over Kofoid after trailing by seven coming in.
Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) earned his best finish of the 2021 USAC National Midget season with a 2nd in his Petry Motorsports/Gray Auto – FK Rod Ends/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota. It was KTJ’s third top-five finish in his last four starts, his best four-race span with the series this year.
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla) missed the transfer in last Thursday’s Paragon USAC Indiana Midget Week opener, then ran 4th at Bloomington, took two nights off from the midget, then returned at Circle City on Wednesday to turn in his best series’ finish of the year, a 3rd place run aboard his TKH Motorsports/Dahmer Powertrain – Fatheadz Eyewear/Triple X/Stanton SR-11x. Bacon won the accompanying Midwest Sprint Car Series feature earlier in the evening at Circle City.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 9, 2021 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 21H, TKH-12.869 (New Track Record); 2. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.929; 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-12.960; 4. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.063; 5. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.079; 6. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.104; 7. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-13.109; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.153; 9. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.158; 10. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.171; 11. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-13.276; 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson Marshall-13.277; 13. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.328; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, RMS-13.355; 15. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.358; 16. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.372; 17. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.389; 18. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-13.394; 19. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-13.408; 20. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-13.429; 21. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-13.470; 22. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.475; 23. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-13.610; 24. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.644; 25. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-13.662; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.670; 27. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.786; 28. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.831; 29. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-13.927; 30. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-13.928; 31. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.959; 32. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-14.020; 33. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-14.050; 34. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.160; 35. Max Guilford, 3NZ, Benic-14.249; 36. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-14.613.; 37. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-14.873.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Tyler Nelson, 8. Travis Buckley, 9. Blake Brannon, 10. Chase Randall. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Jarett Andretti, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Austin Barnhill, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Hayden Williams. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Taylor Reimer, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Corey Day, 5. Max Guilford, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Jonathan Shafer, 8. Bryant Wiedeman, 9. Brian Carber. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Oliver Akard, 8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 9. Trey Gropp. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Hayden Williams, 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 5. Brian Carber, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Bryant Wiedeman, 8. Max Guilford, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Blake Brannon, 11. Jonathan Shafer, 12. Ethan Mitchell, 13. Cole Bodine, 14. Tyler Nelson, 15. Oliver Akard, 16. Chase Randall, 17. Jarett Andretti, 18. Travis Buckley, 19. Austin Barnhill, 20. Hayden Reinbold, 21. Trey Gropp. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Corey Day (2), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 3. Brady Bacon (6), 4. Emerson Axsom (10), 5. Brenham Crouch (12), 6. Kyle Cummins (5), 7. Logan Seavey (22), 8. Tanner Thorson (16), 9. Daison Pursley (17), 10. Jerry Coons Jr. (4), 11. Hayden Williams (18), 12. Chris Windom (7), 13. Chase Randall (24-P), 14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (15), 15. Bryant Wiedeman (23-P), 16. Brian Carber (20), 17. Kaylee Bryson (3), 18. Taylor Reimer (8), 19. Buddy Kofoid (9), 20. Thomas Meseraull (13), 21. Justin Grant (11), 22. Sam Johnson (14), 23. Cannon McIntosh (21), 24. Jason McDougal (19). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Hayden Reinbold flipped during qualifying. Hayden Williams flipped during the second heat. Bryant Wiedeman flipped during the third heat. Chance Crum flipped during the fourth heat. Trey Gropp flipped during the fourth heat. Travis Buckley flipped during the semi. Buddy Kofoid flipped on lap 19 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Corey Day.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-746, 2-Buddy Kofoid-739, 3-Justin Grant-686, 4-Tanner Thorson-655, 5-Thomas Meseraull-642, 6-Emerson Axsom-636, 7-Daison Pursley-611, 8-Logan Seavey-609, 9-Cannon McIntosh-562, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-558.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-330, 2-Logan Seavey-313, 3-Buddy Kofoid-303, 4-Daison Pursley-296, 5-Justin Grant-276, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-275, 7-Emerson Axsom-258, 8-Corey Day-255, 9-Thomas Meseraull-250, 10-Cannon McIntosh-247.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-71, 2-Thomas Meseraull-71, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-47, 5-Chris Windom-43, 6-Justin Grant-41, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-37, 8-Brian Carber-34, 9-Buddy Kofoid-33, 10-Emerson Axsom-31.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Brian Carber-33, 2-Logan Seavey-31, 3-Emerson Axsom-30, 4-Thomas Meseraull-29, 5-Hayden Williams-28, 6-Tanner Thorson-25, 7-Brenham Crouch-22, 8-Daison Pursley-21, 9-Max Guilford-20, 10-Cannon McIntosh-19.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 10, 2021 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Corey Day
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Taylor Reimer
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Brenham Crouch
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Logan Seavey (22nd to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chase Randall
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Bryant Wiedeman
John Hinck Championship Hard Work Award: Logan Seavey
=====================
THORSON TROUNCES FIELD FOR 3RD CAREER PUTNAMVILLE IMW VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (June 10, 2021)………A newly-constructed chassis delivered satisfyingly familiar results for Tanner Thorson on Thursday night as the Minden, Nev. native collected his third Lincoln Park Speedway victory in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition during round six of USAC Indiana Midget Week.
Thorson and Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports’ Thursday night domination also continued an unprecedented USAC Indiana Midget Week streak in the process.
With six IMW races complete, six different teams have now captured a feature victory: RMS Racing at Paragon; Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports at Bloomington; Tom Malloy at Lawrenceburg; Glenn Styres Racing at Tri-State; Clauson Marshall Racing at Circle City; and now Reinbold-Underwood at Lincoln Park. The previous record had been five different teams back in 2010.
Thorson, personally, had previously won at LPS in both 2016 and 2019, and his third win at the Putnamville, Ind. dirt oval tied him with Bryan Clauson as the winningest driver at the track in USAC National Midget competition.
A less than ideal first half of Indiana Midget Week, which saw results of 13th, 6th, 13th and 9th in his first four outings, led to a vent of frustration for Thorson and a desire to right the ship for the second half. Thorson went to work in the two “off” days between Indiana Midget Week races and pieced together a new ride.
The new version of the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – The Healing Tree/Spike/Stanton SR-11x debuted with a solid 16th to 8th run Wednesday night at Circle City Raceway, then truly hit its sweet spot at LPS, right within his comfort zone.
“It’s just a comfort feel,” Thorson explained. “It’s nothing really against that car or anything, but this is what I’ve built my whole setup around and everything I’ve accomplished over the last few years has been with this style of car and everything. We’ve got a lot of great people behind me, and it’s definitely been a struggle here lately, but it’s all coming forward. Stanton racing’s been working really hard to get this motor better and better for me. It’s not perfect but we’re getting there. This is definitely a little bit of a relief.”
Thorson’s 22 career USAC National Midget feature victories moved him past Steve Cannon, Jimmy Caruthers, Rex Easton and Ken Schrader on the all-time list and into a tie with Bobby East and Shorty Templeman for 27th all-time.
As fate would have it, two brand new Reinbold-Underwood cars started on the front row of the 30-lap feature with Thorson on the pole and series Rookie Chase Randall alongside. Last Saturday at Lawrenceburg, Randall took a high-flyer into the turn three catchfence during the feature but rebounded to win his first career USAC heat race Thursday at LPS and positioned himself on the outside of the front row for the main event.
Sliding up to the top in turns one and two, Thorson grabbed the initial lead from Randall, then opened up a sizable 1.856 sec. lead just four laps into the main when Justin Grant (18th) slid sideways at the entrance to the top of turn three. Kaylee Bryson (19th) got hard on the binders to avoid contact with Grant but wound up transferring the weight to the left side of the car with a 90-degree turn, which flipped her upside down. Both restarted with Grant finishing 19th and Bryaon 12th.
Once again, Thorson broke away on the ensuing restart, which presented him with another hefty 1.5 sec. advantage over Randall and Emerson Axsom. On lap nine, fourth-running Kevin Thomas Jr., a top-five finisher in three of his last four series starts, had his brakes lock up on him between turns one and two. Thomas slid to a stop with the rest of the field barreling behind him, able to avoid contact. Thomas restarted from the tail but drove all the way back to a sixth-place finish at race’s end.
Under yellow, 16th running Chris Windom slowed with a flat right rear tire. After a new wheel and tire were put on the defending series’ champion’s ride in the work area, he returned to pilot his car up to the 13th position at the finish, his lowest finish of the 2021 campaign thus far. Trey Gropp encountered his own issue moments later, still under yellow, following Windom’s, but wouldn’t be as fortunate, dropping out of the race.
Thorson’s restarts were something to marvel at as a two second difference between he and second running Randall developed past the halfway mark. Randall’s runner-up position wasn’t long for the world as a freight train consisting of Daison Pursley, Emerson Axsom and Buddy Kofoid stormed by Randall, who regained his footing by slotting into fifth.
A half lap later, the red flag was displayed when 11th running Brenham Crouch caught the turn four cushion and flipped over, concluding the Rookie driver’s night nine laps from the finish, relegating the Texan to a 20th place finish.
With the red closing up the gap between first and second, a sliver of hope remained for Pursley and Axsom to overtake race leader Thorson. A brief exchange of sliders saw Pursley secure second away from Axsom with five laps remaining. Suddenly, Pursley’s field of vision now had Thorson closer than he’d been all race, just a half second ahead.
However, that chapter came to a close quickly on lap 26 when Pursley bogged down on the turn two cushion, losing a full second’s worth of groundwork to Thorson, from a scant half second to what ultimately became an insurmountable 1.5 sec. margin.
Thorson maintained his presence at the head of the field for the remaining handful of laps before going on to collect his second feature win with the series in 2021 following a first score at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway in April.
Pursley finished second, 1.393 sec. behind, with Emerson Axsom third, Buddy Kofoid fourth and Corey Day fifth after starting 12th, earning himself KSE Racing Products/Irvin King Hard Charger honors one night after winning his first-ever series feature at Circle City.
Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) maintained his record as the only driver to finish inside the top-ten in all six IMW races run thus far: 7th at Paragon, 8th at Bloomington, 7th at Lawrenceburg, 4th at Tri-State, 9th at Circle City and a career-best USAC result of 2nd at Lincoln Park.
Pursley’s consistent performances have provided the second-year driver with a one-point lead in the Indiana Midget Week standings with just two races remaining aboard his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/iBuyPower – TRD – Curb/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I was trying to chase (Thorson) down early on,” Pursley recalled. “I knew that, when I got into second, I probably needed a caution to catch Tanner in lapped traffic. But everyone’s so good here during Indiana Midget Week in the A-main field that it’s hard to catch lapped cars. I was really praying for a caution, and I got it, but I just made a mistake there in one and two and let him get back away.”
Twenty-four hours after finishing 4th at Circle City, Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) upped his best Indiana Midget Week result to a 3rd at Lincoln Park in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Keizer Aluminum Wheels/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I grew up watching (races at) Lincoln Park and it’s been known to have a big ol’ cushion,” Axsom explained. “I felt like we had a shot to win tonight and had a shot to win last night. I’ve been fast the first half of midget week but have just had a little bad luck. We’re fast at all these tracks we’ve been to. Daison and Tanner are really fast, and I felt like the results could’ve been different if any of the roles had been switched, if Tanner and I were racing and Daison was out front. We definitely have the speed, but you’ve got to have a perfect night to win a USAC race.”
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) earned a new 12-lap USAC National Midget track record of 2:47.227 at Lincoln Park Speedway during the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature. Oddly enough, the track record was established rather than broken, since there had not been a single caution-free 12-lap race for the series at LPS in any of the series’ 21 previous appearances since 1979.
Logan Seavey’s Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time was the ninth of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, moving him past Christopher Bell, Dana Carter, Russ Gamester, Don Horvath, Kasey Kahne, Sammy Sessions, George Snider and Jack Turner on the series’ fast time list while equaling A.J. Foyt, Doug Kalitta, Larry Patton, Stevie Reeves, Dave Strickland Jr. and Jerry Weeks to rank 66th all-time.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 10, 2021 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-12.940; 2. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.991; 3. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.007; 4. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-13.012; 5. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.056; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.117; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.136; 8. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.139; 9. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.143; 10. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.161; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.192; 12. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.194; 13. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.233; 14. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-13.271; 15. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.289; 16. Brady Bacon, 21H, TKH-13.309; 17. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.314; 18. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.327; 19. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.348; 20. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-13.388; 21. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.392; 22. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-13.392; 23. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-13.439; 24. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-13.450; 25. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-13.491; 26. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-13.503; 27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson Marshall-13.526; 28. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-13.587; 29. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-13.668; 30. Max Guilford, 3NZ, Benic-13.892; 31. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.906; 32. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.984; 33. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-14.029; 34. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.115; 35. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-14.118; 36. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-14.870.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Hayden Williams, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Brian Carber, 9. Austin Barnhill. 2:15.214
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Trey Gropp, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Jonathan Shafer, 7. Max Guilford, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Brenham Crouch. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Chance Crum, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 9. Travis Buckley. 2:15.288
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Corey Day, 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Michael Clark. 2:17.296
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Corey Day, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Chance Crum, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Brian Carber, 8. Hayden Williams, 9. Jonathan Shafer, 10. Sam Johnson, 11. Cole Bodine, 12. Austin Barnhill, 13. Max Guilford, 14. Taylor Reimer, 15. Travis Buckley, 16. Hayden Reinbold, 17. Blake Brannon, 18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 19. Ethan Mitchell, 20. Michael Clark. 2:47.227 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (1), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. Emerson Axsom (3), 4. Buddy Kofoid (5), 5. Corey Day (12), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 7. Jason McDougal (8), 8. Chase Randall (2), 9. Ryan Timms (9), 10. Logan Seavey (10), 11. Thomas Meseraull (7), 12. Kaylee Bryson (16), 13. Chris Windom (14), 14. Bryant Wiedeman (18), 15. Chance Crum (22), 16. Jerry Coons Jr. (19), 17. Brian Carber (23-P), 18. Cannon McIntosh (13), 19. Justin Grant (17), 20. Brenham Crouch (11), 21. Brady Bacon (15), 22. Kyle Cummins (20), 23. Trey Gropp (21). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 4 of the feature. Brenham Crouch flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-807, 2-Chris Windom-789, 3-Tanner Thorson-730, 4-Justin Grant-717, 5-Emerson Axsom-705, 6-Thomas Meseraull-691, 7-Daison Pursley-689, 8-Logan Seavey-659, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-618, 10-Cannon McIntosh-596.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-374, 2-Chris Windom-373, 3-Buddy Kofoid-371, 4-Logan Seavey-363, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-335, 6-Emerson Axsom-327, 7-Corey Day-319, 8-Justin Grant-307, 9-Thomas Meseraull-299, 10-Tanner Thorson-294.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-71, 2-Thomas Meseraull-71, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-47, 5-Chris Windom-44, 6-Justin Grant-41, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-37, 9-Buddy Kofoid-34, 8-Brian Carber-34, 10-Emerson Axsom-31.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Hayden Williams-35, 2-Brian Carber-35, 3-Thomas Meseraull-32, 4-Logan Seavey-31, 5-Emerson Axsom-31, 6-Daison Pursley-29, 7-Tanner Thorson-25, 8-Kaylee Bryson-23, 9-Brenham Crouch-22, 10-Max Guilford-22.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 11, 2021 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Chase Randall
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Randall
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Jason McDougal
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Ryan Timms
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Corey Day (12th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chris Windom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Brian Carber
John Hinck Championship Hard Work Award: Chance Crum
=====================
KOFOID PUTS KIBOSH ON STREAK WITH USAC IMW WIN AT GAS CITY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (June 11, 2021)………Entering Friday’s penultimate round of USAC Indiana Midget Week at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway, all the chatter revolved around who could step up and carry on the streak that had a different driver and team winning a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature in each of the last eight races, the longest such run of parity since 2009.
Buddy Kofoid and Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports put the kibosh on that discussion, placing a period on the streak and writing their own exclamation point with a wire-to-wire victory, leading all 30 laps to become Indiana Midget Week’s first multi-time winner and ending the succession of new names in the winner’s column that had begun two months prior.
Not only did the Penngrove, Calif. driver open up his lead in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget series points to its widest margin of the season (68), he also rose to the top of the USAC Indiana Midget Week point standings, by a mere three points going into Saturday’s IMW finale at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
When he won the first race of IMW last Friday at Bloomington Speedway, Kofoid became the first three-time winner in the season-long series. Seven days later, he became the first four-time winner of 2021 in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I’m pumped to be the first repeat winner and to have another good night after two not-so-stellar nights,” Kofoid said. “To get number four with USAC this year is pretty damn cool. Earlier today, we kind of struggled and barely made it through the heat race but we were able to sneak in and, where I qualified, that really put me in a good spot. I knew I needed to get the jump because our cars just worked so good on the cushion.”
That they did, as did he, starting from the favorable outside position of the front row on this night where he quickly established himself at the head of the class on the opening lap. Fourth starting KKM teammate, Daison Pursley, followed suit, shadowing Kofoid on the top until turn three when Pursley biked and nearly encountered what could’ve been wildly disastrous for the IMW point leader coming in. Pursley landed on all fours, and his early second-place running position was immediately consumed up by pole sitter Jason McDougal.
Smooth sailing for Kofoid throughout the opening laps allowed him to stretch his lead to nearly two seconds by lap four, and holding serve, until lap nine. Just as the leaders began to barge into traffic, seventh running Justin Grant slowed atop turns one and two to initiate the first yellow flag of the feature. Although briefly returning from the work area, Grant pulled back to the pits for good after leaving a trail of fluid around the racing surface, just as the field was headed for the restart, sending him to a 24th place finish.
Axsom slid his way into second place past McDougal in turn one on the ensuing restart. Cannon McIntosh valiantly took his shot at reenacting the same maneuver a lap later in the same spot but was rebuffed by McDougal who thwarted the attempt by driving around the outside to seal himself into third for the time being.
Another yellow, this time on lap 13, halted the proceedings once again as a four-car tangle consumed the exit of turn four, and involved Chris Windom (10th), Jerry Coons Jr. (12th), Hayden Williams (15th) and Bryant Wiedeman (19th), all of whom stopped. Only Windom returned, albeit briefly, before finishing 20th, his third straight finish outside the top-ten after finishing within the first 10 in nine of his first 10 starts this season.
Meanwhile, Coons’ early exit came during a monumental night which saw the USAC career Triple Crown champion make his 400th career USAC National Midget feature start.
When racing resumed, the fiercest battle was for third with a pair of Oklahomans in Pursley and McDougal exchanging slide jobs. McDougal initially lost the position on the 14th lap but managed to power back past and hold a firm grip on third while Logan Seavey slotted into fourth.
McDougal dug in and tracked down second-running Axsom for the runner-up position on the 19th lap, giving the Robert Dalby Motorsports ride its best outing yet this year. A slight hiccup on the 21st lap saw McDougal bounce like a basketball on the high line of turn one but showed no hindrance and remained on the gas in his pursuit of the elusive Kofoid.
However, Kofoid was in another zip code at this juncture, possessing a lead of 3.5 seconds with 10 laps remaining. Although, the waters did prove to be a little testy for Kofoid who found himself in a bit of distress as he sought to circumvent the lapped traffic in the final third of the race.
With a tricky cushion between turns one and two, to go along with the current traffic situation, Kofoid navigated with a bit of trepidation, not wanting to hit the panic button and charge course from where he felt most at ease, despite those in plain view out in front of him running two-wide and throwing sliders on each other for positions deeper in the field.
“Traffic really made it tricky,” Kofoid admitted. “I kept looking to my left to see if second, or whoever, would be there. I didn’t want to pull to the bottom because I hadn’t run there all race. I felt the top was faster. I tried a slider once and it didn’t quite work. I looked to my left and didn’t see anyone there, so I just tried to keep my pace up. That had me pretty nervous with the traffic. The top was the best line, obviously, and everyone’s going to naturally migrate up there.”
From start to finish, this night belonged to Kofoid who checked out on the rest of the field to win by a 5.852 second margin. However, on the final lap, trouble befell second running McDougal whose axle snapped halfway down the back straightaway. The sudden monkey wrench sent McDougal’s car into an immediate loop before stopping in turn three. The visibly agitated McDougal was relegated to a non-indicative 15th place finish at the checkered.
McDougal’s final lap misfortune meant a slight bump up the results sheet for everyone else behind him. Axsom finished second in the final rundown while Seavey, Pursley and McIntosh rounding out the top-five in the end. The lasting result produced a tightened points race which finds Kofoid at the top by a slim three-point margin over Pursley.
“I told (crew chief) Jarrett (Martin) that I kind of look at the USAC Indiana Midget Week points as a race,” Kofoid stated. “It’s better to be the guy out front and in control. I told him I’d kind of like to have (the lead) back going into the final night. We ran pretty good at the Kokomo Grand Prix and, hopefully, we can keep it up and get another win tomorrow and, more importantly, take home this USAC Indiana Midget Week title.”
Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) has an admittedly distant shot to win the USAC Indiana Midget Week title, 43 points behind heading into Kokomo on Saturday where he won with the series earlier this April. Consistently running up front will take care of the points situation in an orderly fashion and no driver has been as consistent over his past three starts during IMW than has Axsom with a 4th at Circle City, a 3rd at Lincoln Park and a 2nd at Gas City in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I definitely want to win the championship, but I want to win races just as much,” Axsom said. “Running second to Buddy is no joke; he’s the best in the business right now. I thought we were close at the start, but I got a little afraid of dialing myself out with the shocks. If we want to win races, we’ve got to take chances. Tomorrow night, if we’re in the same position, I’ll definitely be making those changes.”
Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) advanced from 11th to 3rd in Friday night’s feature at Gas City to keep him among the prime contenders for the USAC Indiana Midget Week championship come Saturday night at Kokomo in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. Seeking his second career IMW title (2019), Seavey enters as the third-ranking IMW driver, just 12 points behind the leader, Kofoid.
“I’m just happy with our racecar,” Seavey said. “To get up to third after starting 11th is pretty good. I’ve just got to pick up the slack in the heat race and not put ourselves so far back. If we would’ve gotten through our heat race, we would’ve started in the second row or so. I’ve just got to put a full night together again; I haven’t done that the last few nights and it’s hindering our feature finishes. I’ve got to get a little better, but overall, it was a solid night and we’re still right there with these guys with one more night to go.”
Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) returned to the track after winning Thursday’s Indiana Midget Week event at Lincoln Park. Whereas he started from the pole at LPS, the road wasn’t as easy to hoe at Gas City where he started 20th and managed a solid 8th place finish despite the trying circumstances to earn the KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger Award.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 11, 2021 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.191; 2. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-12.238; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.266; 4. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-12.270; 5. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.272; 6. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-12.306; 7. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.318; 8. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.326; 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-12.327; 10. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-12.339; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.362; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.381; 13. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.444; 14. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.473; 15. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-12.487; 16. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.493; 17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson Marshall-12.549; 18. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-12.553; 19. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-12.568; 20. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-12.577; 21. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-12.589; 22. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-12.602;; 23. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce/Stout-12.603; 24. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-12.620; 25. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-12.629; 26. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.672; 27. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-12.720; 28. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-12.764; 29. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.805; 30. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.807; 31. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-12.955; 32. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-13.554; 33. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-13.759; 34. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Hayden Williams, 9. Oliver Akard. 2:07.221
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Corey Day, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Austin Barnhill, 6. Blake Brannon, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Jonathan Shafer. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Trey Gropp, 2. Brenham Crouch, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Brian Carber, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Travis Buckley. 2:09.922
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Logan Seavey. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Jonathan Shafer, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Ethan Mitchell, 11. Brian Carber, 12. Taylor Reimer, 13. Austin Barnhill, 14. Travis Buckley, 15. Blake Brannon, 16. Oliver Akard, 17. Glenn Waterland. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (2), 2. Emerson Axsom (5), 3. Logan Seavey (11), 4. Daison Pursley (4), 5. Cannon McIntosh (8), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15) , 7. Corey Day (6), 8. Tanner Thorson (20), 9. Kaylee Bryson (7), 10. Thomas Meseraull (14), 11. Trey Gropp (10), 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (19), 13. Cole Bodine (17), 14. Chase Randall (23-P), 15. Jason McDougal (1), 16. Brenham Crouch (3), 17. Ethan Mitchell (24-P), 18. Hayden Reinbold (22), 19. Kyle Cummins (16), 20. Chris Windom (12), 21. Jerry Coons Jr. (13), 22. Hayden Williams (21), 23. Bryant Wiedeman (18), 24. Justin Grant (9). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-882, 2-Chris Windom-814, 3-Tanner Thorson-781, 4-Emerson Axsom-781, 5-Daison Pursley-758, 6-Justin Grant-748, 7-Thomas Meseraull-740, 8-Logan Seavey-730, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-680, 10-Cannon McIntosh-662.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-446, 2-Daison Pursley-443, 3-Logan Seavey-434, 4-Emerson Axsom-403, 5-Chris Windom-398, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-397, 7-Corey Day-383, 8-Thomas Meseraull-348, 9-Cannon McIntosh-347 10-Tanner Thorson-345.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-83, 2-Thomas Meseraull-75, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Brady Bacon-47, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-46, 6-Chris Windom-44, 7-Justin Grant-41, 8-Buddy Kofoid-35, 9-Emerson Axsom-34, 10-Brian Carber-34.
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-42, 2-Logan Seavey-39, 3-Hayden Williams-39, 4-Thomas Meseraull-37, 5-Emerson Axsom-36, 6-Brian Carber-36, 7-Daison Pursley-31, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 9-Brenham Crouch-25, 10-Kaylee Bryson-25.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 12, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Cannon McIntosh
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Ethan Mitchell
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Trey Gropp
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (20th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Cole Bodine
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chase Randall
John Hinck Championship Hard Work Award: Hayden Reinbold
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WINDOM WINS KOKOMO FINALE, KOFOID COLLECTS IMW TITLE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (June 12, 2021)………With eight nights of racing over a 10-night span, the lengthiest and most rigorous Indiana Midget Week schedule in the 17-year history of the series bled into another day following a rain delay that pushed Saturday’s USAC Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway into the early hours of Sunday for the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship.
For race winner Chris Windom, the agonizing wait couldn’t end soon enough as the Canton, Ill. native endured three consecutive nights of Indiana Midget Week misery before prevailing with a winning performance at the quarter-mile track, a venue which has hosted many of the latest USAC Triple Crown Club member’s career highlights, including pair of previous print car track championships and where he had most recently won with the USAC Midgets back in May.
For 2021 Indiana Midget Week champion Buddy Kofoid, the title came right on time for the Penngrove, Calif. driver who finished off his second IMW run with a first title in the mini-series after finishing third in the final tally in 2020. Coupled with an extension of his point lead in the season-long USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Kofoid now holds a 47-point advantage and is fixed on translating his June success on an eight-race scale into a full-fledged run at the National title at year’s end.
Just four days prior, Windom led the IMW standings by double-digits and was riding a streak of three-straight top-three finishes. The three ensuing races leading into Kokomo saw results of 12th, 13th and 20th, which all but eliminated Windom’s hopes and dreams for an Indiana Midget Week title before he even set foot at Kokomo.
However, as has been the case throughout the entirety of his career, Kokomo was a sight for Windom’s sore eyes as he approached the final race of Indiana Midget Week. After midnight, he let it all hang out as he shot to the front just shy of the midway point and led the remaining 17 laps to earn his eighth career USAC National Midget feature victory and his third win in the last three years of Indiana Midget Week aboard his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“The last three nights have been some of the three crappiest I’ve had in a row in my career,” Windom acknowledged. “These guys have had to work every single day in this hot weather. It’s been a pretty crappy last three days for us and I know everybody was pretty down. But no one quit, and we came back. We had engine troubles after the heat, and they busted it to figure out what it was, and they got it fixed. I’m so happy to do this for these guys because they work so hard all week. Eight straight days is tough. We might not have won Indiana Midget Week, but we won the final night, and that’s all you can ask for at this point.”
Amid a block of eight races, night after night, it takes a lot of good fortune to avoid any missteps or heartaches. Kofoid was not immune as he had his share with a night at Circle City Raceway in round five in which he was involved in two separate incidents during the feature that thwarted a quality finish and wound up with him upside down when all was said and done.
However, Kofoid dug his way back to the top, and that’s just the place he finished in the standings after carving a path from 13th to 7th in Kokomo’s feature to secure the 2021 IMW points race and the crown by 20 points in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
The title was Kofoid’s first in Indiana Midget Week following a third-place finish in the points during his first try in 2020. His 2021 IMW championship was also the unprecedented sixth for car owner Keith Kunz following previous five previous triumphs: Christopher Bell (2013), Rico Abreu (2014-15), Spencer Bayston (2018) and Logan Seavey (2019).
“It was a fun week, but I’m glad it’s over now,” Kofoid said. “It’s stressful, from winning to getting upside down, to losing it, to winning again, to having today where we didn’t qualify great, finished second in the heat race, then started 13th while the guy I needed to beat (Logan Seavey) was on the front row. It was tough, but once I got by Logan, I just wanted the race to be over right there. That was a lot for me to handle.”
“I’m kind of at a loss for words; this is a really big win for me,” Kofoid continued. “Winning Indiana Midget Week is huge; it’s really tough to do. I owe it all to Jarrett (Martin), Grant (Penn) and Andrew (West), they do a hell of a job every time we hit the track. We’ve always got some sort of speed. I couldn’t do this without (car owners) Keith (Kunz) and Pete (Willoughby), Keith Kunz Motorsports, Mobil 1 and Toyota for letting us come out here and have some fun.”
Kofoid led the IMW standings by seven coming into the 30-lap A-Main over teammate and 16th place starting Daison Pursley, and 11 markers over second-place starter Seavey. Windom, meanwhile, started third in the event, which was pushed to a 12:25am EDT start due to a lengthy rain delay following Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying, which ultimately resumed with midgets getting back on track for hot laps at 10:18pm.
The opening sequence saw a spirited high/low contest between pole sitter Justin Grant and outside front row starter Seavey. The duo raced shoulder to shoulder for the first three laps with Grant edging Seavey at the line by a narrow margin for the first two before Seavey utilized the momentum off the top side to pace past Grant for the lead on lap three.
On the ninth lap, Grant had re-reeled in Seavey, getting underneath the 2019 IMW champ entering the third turn. Seavey, in turn, bobbled over the cushion, allowing Grant to slip by to retake the spot while Windom nearly overtook both in one swing, missing out on the lead by a wheel, but now garnered Grant’s full attention.
Windom maintained his front bumper’s presence to the left corner of Grant’s line of vision until, on the 14th circuit, Windom pulled up the wheels and whipped past Grant to lead by a car length at the line. Grant refused to go quietly into the night, and continued to cruise the top line, but it proved to be too far around as Windom rolled the bottom to perfection and held serve a half second ahead.
The race went caution free until lap 21 when 18th running Cannon McIntosh began to slow with mechanical trouble as the leaders began to bear down on him. Just as the yellow flag flew, 16th running Brenham Crouch glanced his right rear tire off the back straightaway wall at speed, sending him into a wild series of flips that landed the Rookie driver in turn three with smoke and steam billowing from his ride. Crouch walked away uninjured.
Following the restart with nine to go, the ending of the story was being illustrated, and Windom held the pen, as he pulled away to win by a 1.661 second margin over Grant, with Jason McDougal, Emerson Axsom and Thomas Meseraull rounding out the top-five.
In doing so, Windom became the first driver since Brady Bacon in 2017 to win consecutive USAC National Midget races at Kokomo. While on most occasions, Kokomo is won on the top, where Windom has mastered with a sprint car a copious amount of times, Windom had his CBI No. 89 operating so well on the low line at the quarter-mile dirt oval that there was no thought of changing anything up when he reached the front, no matter how fraught the initial desire to do so was.
“The way the track changed, the bottom was tough to hit right,” Windom explained. “But every time we’re here, it seems like we’re able to roll the bottom so well. I’m so used to running the top in a sprint car here, it’s kind of tough to change up and run the bottom in a midget but this thing just works so good down there. We won down there the last two times we’ve won here, so I wasn’t going to change anything up once I got the lead there.”
Following finishes of 21st, 19th and 24th in his three most recent series starts leading into Kokomo’s finale, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) saved his best for last by turning in his finest performance of 2021 Indiana Midget Week while piloting the RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota. His runner-up finish equaled his top performance of the year after also finishing second at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway in April.
Third-place Kokomo finisher Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) also made a much-needed recovery at Kokomo after suffering adversity the previous night at Gas City, with an axle snapping on him while running second on the final lap of the feature. Since McDougal has taken the wheel of the Robert Dalby Motorsports/RD Spring & Stamping – Walker Performance Filtration/Spike/Speedway Toyota at the beginning of the 2021 season, the “podium” finish at Kokomo turned out to be their best result thus far.
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) advanced from his 11th starting spot to finish 5th in the feature, helping him to the ProSource Indiana Midget Week Passing Master title with a total of 47 cars passed throughout the entirety of the eight-race series.
Series Rookie of the Year contender Chase Randall (Waco, Texas) earned his first career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, clocking in with a lap of 13.112 seconds around Kokomo Speedway.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 12, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 17th USAC Indiana Midget Week – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/DIRT RACING WRAP UP QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.112; 2. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.215; 3. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-13.239; 4. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.278; 5. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.280; 6. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.332; 7. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.344; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.370; 9. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.379; 10. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.411; 11. Brian Carber, 19, Hayward-13.434; 12. Corey Day, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-13.446; 13. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.464; 14. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.489; 15. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.502; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.509; 17. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Dave Mac-13.512; 18. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.514; 19. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.527; 20. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-13.572; 21. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.597; 22. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.633; 23. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-13.683; 24. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.697; 25. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-13.709; 26. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-13.735; 27. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.744; 28. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson Marshall-13.792; 29. Trey Gropp, 00, MSW-13.916; 30. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-14.122; 31. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-14.697; 32. Jordan Calendine, 38, Calendine-14.727; 33. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.867.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Taylor Reimer, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Trey Gropp. 2:17.776
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Jonathan Shafer, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Travis Buckley. 2:14.472
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Hayden Williams, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brian Carber, 6. Kyle Cummins, 7. Blake Brannon, 8. Glenn Waterland. 2:15.788
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Corey Day, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Austin Barnhill, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Jordan Calendine. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Brian Carber, 6. Jonathan Shafer, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Austin Barnhill, 9. Blake Brannon, 10. Travis Buckley, 11. Taylor Reimer, 12. Chance Crum, 13. Sam Johnson, 14. Glenn Waterland, 15. Hayden Reinbold. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (3), 2. Justin Grant (1), 3. Jason McDougal (4), 4. Emerson Axsom (5), 5. Thomas Meseraull (11), 6. Corey Day (7), 7. Buddy Kofoid (13), 8. Chase Randall (6), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (18), 10. Logan Seavey (2), 11. Jerry Coons Jr. (15), 12. Kaylee Bryson (12), 13. Daison Pursley (16), 14. Bryant Wiedeman (8), 15. Cole Bodine (22), 16. Kyle Cummins (17), 17. Hayden Williams (21), 18. Jonathan Shafer (10), 19. Tanner Thorson (9), 20. Brenham Crouch (20), 21. Cannon McIntosh (19), 22. Brian Carber (14). NT
**Brenham Crouch flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Justin Grant, Laps 3-8 Logan Seavey, Laps 9-13 Justin Grant, Laps 14-30 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-941, 2-Chris Windom-894, 3-Emerson Axsom-852, 4-Justin Grant-820, 5-Tanner Thorson-814, 6-Thomas Meseraull-802, 7-Daison Pursley-798, 8-Logan Seavey-781, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-732, 10-Jason McDougal-693.
FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-505, 2-Logan Seavey-485, 3-Daison Pursley-483, 4-Chris Windom-478, 5-Emerson Axsom-474, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-449, 7-Corey Day-446, 8-Thomas Meseraull-410, 9-Justin Grant-410, 10-Jason McDougal-389.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-83, 2-Thomas Meseraull-81, 3-Robert Ballou-60, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-55, 5-Brady Bacon-47, 6-Chris Windom-46, 7-Justin Grant-41, 8-Buddy Kofoid-41, 9-Emerson Axsom-35, 10-Brian Carber-34.
FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-47, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-43, 3-Hayden Williams-43, 4-Tanner Thorson-42, 5-Logan Seavey-41, 6-Emerson Axsom-39, 7-Daison Pursley-37, 8-Brian Carber-36, 9-Jason McDougal-26, 10-Brenham Crouch-25.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 11, 2021 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Missouri – John Hinck Championship – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Jason McDougal
Fatheadz Eyewear / Dirt Racing Wrap Up Fast Qualifier: Chase Randall
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Bryant Wiedeman
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Jason McDougal
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Corey Day
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Thomas Meseraull
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Kevin Thomas Jr. (18th to 9th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Daison Pursley
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Trey Gropp
John Hinck Championship Hard Work Award: Cole Bodine
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PURSLEY PROCURES FIRST USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WIN AT RED DIRT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Meeker, Oklahoma (July 13, 2021)………Daison Pursley had made 46 previous starts in his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career coming into Tuesday Night Thunder’s Mid-America Midget Week opener at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, Oklahoma.
Close calls, laps led, heartbreak, he’s certainly had his share in his young career. But, on this night, his 47th series start wound up quite differently as the native Oklahoman from Locust Grove, located two hours west of Red Dirt, won one for the home crowd.
Pursley’s first USAC National Midget triumph came moments after a late-race restart in which he hustled around the high side of the quarter-mile to race past both Zach Daum for 2nd and Kevin Thomas Jr. for 1st in quick succession, then raced away for commanding 3.471 second victory in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/IWX – TRD – Curb Records/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
In doing so, Pursley became the fourth first-time winner of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season in just the first 15 races, joining Emerson Axsom (Kokomo), Kyle Cummins (Tri-State) and Corey Day (Circle City) in that group. That’s already the second most total in a single season since 2009, trailing only the 2019 campaign which saw five first-time series winners.
The monumental night also saw Pursley win the accompanying NOW600 Micro Sprint feature just prior to the start of the midget A-Main, which also came in a KKM owned machine.
“It feels amazing,” Pursley said following his first USAC win. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. It’s finally happened and it’s pretty cool to get it done in my home state in front of all these fans; it was a packed house tonight. The track was phenomenal; you could run the bottom early and then the track widened out really, really well. The top was hard to run and a little bit treacherous, which makes you get up on your toes.”
Speaking of the top, the 30-lap feature race was halted just as soon as it started when Pursley’s teammate, fellow third-row starter, leading series Rookie and first-time USAC fast qualifier Bryant Wiedeman biked on the cushion in the first corner of the first lap, sending him barrel rolling over the banking and ending his race prematurely. A dejected Wiedeman walked away uninjured.
When action resumed, a furious battle at the front of the field was waged between pole sitter Jonathan Beason and outside front row starter Kaylee Bryson. Beason remained true to the low line while Bryson stuck to the high side with the two seemingly connected by a string as they raced in lock step time after time after time.
Bryson led lap one by a car length before Beason took his turn at the front on lap two by a length. Bryson reemerged at the front on lap three by a car length and by inches at the line on laps four and five before extended the gap to a single car length on the sixth lap. On the seventh circuit, Beason followed Bryson to the top, which allowed third-starting Kevin Thomas Jr. to scoot by on the bottom for the runner-up position.
Entering the 11th lap, Bryson was cruising up top in her pursuit to become the first woman to win a USAC National Midget feature. However, a snag of the cushion in turn two knocked her sideways. As she wrestled back control, Thomas raced by on the bottom and into the lead.
However, as Thomas diced his way through traffic, Bryson fought her way back into contention, crossing the stripe in a literal dead heat (0.0 second margin between the two) on the 14th lap. Moments later, Bryson found trouble with the turn two curb again as Thomas blitzed away to a full second advantage over Bryson while seventh starting Zach Daum crawled the bottom past Bryson for the second position on lap 16.
The feature’s only yellow flag came on lap 21 when Bryson, now running third, got entangled as she tried to fight her way through lapped traffic with her and 20th running Trey Gropp making contact and stopping both atop turn three. Kyle Jones (21st) found no room to escape and became involved in the incident as well, causing major damage to the right front of his ride and putting him out of the race. Bryson and Gropp restarted with Bryson finishing 18th and Gropp 21st.
During the yellow flag period, Pursley was now slotted third and was plotting his next move with just 10 laps remaining. Pursley possesses substantial prior experience competing in micro sprints at Red Dirt and recalled putt-putting around the bottom more often than not. But, right here, right now, Pursley had nothing of the kind on his mind.
“Early on, I was ripping the top in one and two and just trying stuff,” Pursley explained. “KTJ was really strong on the bottom at both ends, and I knew I wasn’t going to beat him just following him. I ventured up there a little bit before they did and, when we got to lapped traffic, I could move around better than they could. I feel like that’s just the pros of being in third. When you’re the leader like that, you don’t know where to run.
I hadn’t run the top at all in three and four,” Pursley continued. “I was telling myself I knew KTJ wasn’t going to get off the bottom. Zach (Daum) was really good down there also, and I knew if I wanted to win the race, I had to get up there. (Crew chief) Beau (Binder) was giving me signals to get up there and reassured me that it was fast and that I could do it.”
Pursley did just that, speeding around Daum on the initial lap following the restart then, two laps later, tearing around the outside of Thomas in turn two and immediately distancing himself from Thomas, increasing the gap each and every lap for his last eight revolutions around Red Dirt Raceway.
Pursley finished things off with a flourish, taking home $4,000 for his efforts while Grant, Daum, Thomas and Chris Windom, who started 12th, rounded out the top-five at the checkered.
For car owner Keith Kunz, the victory marked the 119th of his career with the USAC National Midgets, just 14 behind the all-time leader, Steve Lewis.
After nearly two full years of trying, Pursley’s breakthrough moment with USAC came Tuesday night, which arrives as a sort of a momentary solace, but also signifies what, he hopes, is the first of many more to come.
“It’s a relief right now but I definitely don’t want to stop now, and I don’t see a reason to stop,” Pursley stated. “We’ve been really good throughout the year. We’ve, unfortunately, gotten upside down a couple times and that set us back. We’ve really been working on the car, really fine-tuning it and getting comfortable again. To come back and pick up this win at the start of this long week here is pretty cool.”
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) went on a passing rampage down the stretch to finish in the runner-up spot, moving from 7th to 2nd during the final five laps after starting 13th on the grid in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota, which earned him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors for the evening.
“The curb was tall and gnarly and if you got above it, it was a ton of fun,” Grant expounded. “We were plenty good on the bottom, but I moved off there early and thought I should try and get the top sorted because I thought that’s where this was going to end up. I like running the top better than I like rolling around the infield tires anyway. (Crew chief) Donnie (Gentry) and I talked and decided to get this thing stable against the curb so I could go out and smash it, and that’s what we did. He gave me a really stable racecar; I could pick my parks and take as big of a bite out of the cushion as I wanted, and it was a lot of fun.”
Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.) had made all 163 of his USAC National Midget career starts since 2007 in the Daum Motorsports #5D. Tuesday, Daum took his first ride aboard the Bundy Built Motorsports/5D Speed Shop/Spike/Bundy Built Honda and promptly earned his best USAC finish since the 2016 season, taking third, and equaling the team’s best ever USAC finish, which Ethan Mitchell also achieved back in April of this year at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla.
“It’s cool for me because I haven’t really run a midget all year,” Daum acknowledged. “It’s cool to get back into a midget and get comfortable. Obviously, the car runs really well, and they’ve got the motor running really well. It’s definitely a good package.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 13, 2021 – Red Dirt Raceway – Meeker, Oklahoma – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Mid-America Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.160; 2. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.176; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.254; 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.314; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.321; 6. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.323; 7. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.325; 8. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-13.335; 9. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.371; 10. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.375; 11. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce/Stout-13.450; 12. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.458; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.472; 14. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.493; 15. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-13.496; 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.503; 17. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.510; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.510; 19. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.517; 20. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-13.545; 21. Jason McDougal, 4, Klatt-13.583; 22. Tanner Berryhill, 17, Berryhill-13.631; 23. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-13.653; 24. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.655; 25. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.669; 26. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-13.683; 27. Trey Marcham, 32T, Marcham-13.689; 28. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.719; 29. Andrew Deal, 15D, Deal-13.749; 30. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-13.824; 31. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-13.986; 32. Noah Harris, 20H, Harris-13.987; 33. Ryan Padgett, 98, Crow-14.238; 34. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-14.322; 35. Brett Becker, 2B, Becker-14.483; 36. Chase Elliott, 9, May-NT; 37. Brendon Wiseley, 7w, Horn-NT; 38. Mason Daugherty, 97m, Berryhill-NT (Time of 14.511 disallowed-underweight).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Andrew Deal, 8. Shannon McQueen, 9. Mason Daugherty, 10. Ryan Padgett. 1:52.32
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Tanner Berryhill, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Ryan Timms, 8. Sam Johnson, 9. Cade Cowles. 1:50.32
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Daum, 2. Kyle Jones, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Trey Marcham, 6. Trey Gropp, 7. Brett Becker, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Travis Buckley. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Jonathan Beason, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Chase Randall, 7. Tyler Thomas, 8. Noah Harris, 9. Chase Elliott. 1:49.120 (New Track Record)
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Tyler Thomas, 7. Jason McDougal, 8. Ryan Timms, 9. Trey Gropp, 10. Sam Johnson, 11. Trey Marcham, 12. Andrew Deal, 13. Noah Harris, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Travis Buckley, 16. Shannon McQueen, 17. Chase Elliott, 18. Cade Cowles, 19. Brett Becker, 20. Mason Daugherty. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (5), 2. Justin Grant (13), 3. Zach Daum (7), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 5. Chris Windom (12), 6. Buddy Kofoid (15), 7. Jerry Coons Jr. (18), 8. Jonathan Beason (1), 9. Logan Seavey (11), 10. Chase Randall (10), 11. Tanner Thorson (17), 12. Thomas Meseraull (16), 13. Emerson Axsom (4), 14. Cannon McIntosh (14), 15. Brenham Crouch (9), 16. Ethan Mitchell (8), 17. Hayden Williams (19), 18. Kaylee Bryson (2), 19. Tyler Thomas (22), 20. Tanner Berryhill (20), 21. Trey Gropp (23-P), 22. Kyle Jones (21), 23. Bryant Wiedeman (6). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Bryant Wiedeman flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kaylee Bryson, Lap 2 Jonathan Beason, Laps 3-10 Kaylee Bryson, Laps 11-22 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 23-30 Daison Pursley.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1002, 2-Chris Windom-953, 3-Emerson Axsom-899, 4-Justin Grant-889, 5-Daison Pursley-878, 6-Tanner Thorson-862, 7-Thomas Meseraull-848, 8-Logan Seavey-831, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-801, 10-Cannon McIntosh-735.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-92, 2-Robert Ballou-87, 3-Thomas Meseraull-85, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-83, 5-Chris Windom-74, 6-Brady Bacon-72, 7-Justin Grant-61, 8-C.J. Leary-51, 9-Buddy Kofoid-50, 10-Logan Seavey-47.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 14, 2021 – Solomon Valley Raceway – Beloit, Kansas – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Mid-America Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Kaylee Bryson
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Bryant Wiedeman
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Ethan Mitchell
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Brenham Crouch
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Zach Daum
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Chase Randall
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Justin Grant (13th to 2nd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Emerson Axsom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jason McDougal
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USAC MIDGETS AT SOLOMON VALLEY POSTPONED TO THURSDAY, JULY 15
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Beloit, Kansas (July 14, 2021)………A persistent rain shower hit Solomon Valley Raceway just as hot laps were set to roll onto the track Wednesday night, then was followed by continuous heavy rain throughout the following hours, forcing postponement of the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship’s Chad McDaniel Memorial to Thursday night, July 15, at the Beloit, Kansas 1/4-mile dirt oval.
Ticket and pit pass holders from Wednesday night may use their wristbands in order to gain re-entry on Thursday night at Solomon Valley. For all others, general admission tickets are just $20 with high school students and younger just $5. All access passes are available as well for $35 and available at the pit gate on the day of the show only.
The timetable remains the same for Thursday night’s event with gates opening at 5pm (Central) with the drivers meeting at 6pm and cars on track at 6:30pm with qualifying and racing to follow.
Thirty-seven USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets entered Wednesday’s event at Solomon Valley and were greeted with a packed grandstand full of thrilled racing fans. Since cars pushed and took to the track for wheel packing earlier in the evening, all USAC Nationally licensed drivers and entrants received 10 appearance points toward the championship standings.
Thursday’s 10th running of the Chad McDaniel Memorial features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship and the NOW600 Non-Wing & Restricted Micro Sprints.
The Chad McDaniel Memorial from Solomon Valley Raceway will be streamed live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.
Mid-America Midget Week resumes on Thursday night, July 15 at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kansas; then concludes with two nights at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Neb. on July 16 and on July 17, with the finale paying $10,000 to the winner.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 14, 2021 – Solomon Valley Raceway – Beloit, Kansas – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Mid-America Midget Week
CARS & DRIVERS IN ATTENDANCE: (37) Trey Gropp (#00 Mounce-Stout), Bryant Wiedeman (#01 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), Hayden Williams (#1NZ BSL), Brett Becker (#2B Becker), J.R. Ewing (#2c Ewing), Justin Grant (#2J RMS), Jason McDougal (#4 Klatt), Blake Spicer (#4s John), Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), Shannon McQueen (#7 McQueen), Travis Buckley (#7NZ BSL), Kyle Jones (#7u Tri-Fecta), Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), Chase Elliott (#9 May), Zach Daum (#9m Bundy Built), Corey Joyner (#11H Joyner), Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold-Underwood), Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy), Keith Rauch (#27 Bourke), Jake Bubak (#27B Bourke), Kyler Johnson (#45x KJR), Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Kaylee Bryson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Daison Pursley (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Sam Johnson (#72J Johnson), Ryan Padgett (#84J Shapel), Shaun Shapel (#84s Shapel), Jerry Coons Jr. (#85 Central), Ryan Timms (#85T CBI), Chris Windom (#89 CBI), Jeff Stasa (#91 SBR), Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian).
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1012, 2-Chris Windom-963, 3-Emerson Axsom-909, 4-Justin Grant-899, 5-Daison Pursley-888, 6-Tanner Thorson-872, 7-Thomas Meseraull-858, 8-Logan Seavey-841, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-811, 10-Cannon McIntosh-745.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-92, 2-Robert Ballou-87, 3-Thomas Meseraull-85, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-83, 5-Chris Windom-74, 6-Brady Bacon-72, 7-Justin Grant-61, 8-C.J. Leary-51, 9-Buddy Kofoid-50, 10-Logan Seavey-47.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 15, 2021 – Solomon Valley Raceway – Beloit, Kansas – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Mid-America Midget Week
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THORSON REIGNS IN USAC’S CHAD McDANIEL MEMORIAL AT SOLOMON VALLEY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Beloit, Kansas (July 15, 2021)………Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
After making three consecutive attempts that brought him closer and closer to the lead, Tanner Thorson’s diligence paid off when he slid past Emerson Axsom with just five laps remaining to score Thursday night’s Mid-America Midget Week victory in the 10th running of the Chad McDaniel Memorial at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kansas.
Thorson’s third series win of the year was the 23rd in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, moving the Minden, Nevada native into the top-20 on the all-time list alongside Christopher Bell, Tom Bigelow, Pancho Carter, Tommy Copp, Kyle Larson, Kevin Olson and Billy Vukovich.
Most recently winning with the series on June 10 of this year during Indiana Midget Week at Lincoln Park Speedway, Thorson has endured somewhat of a rollercoaster ride of sorts in terms of his feature results this season. He went back to the basics at LPS after implementing some new ideas into his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – The Healing Tree/Spike/Stanton SR-11x earlier in the year.
The back to the basics approach paid off once again Thursday night at Solomon Valley.
“Hopefully, we keep clicking off these wins,” Thorson exclaimed after his $4,000 triumph. “I love midget racing, especially when we’re running good, obviously. I feel like I’ve learned all the tricks in the book as far as midget racing. Now it’s just a matter of keeping it simple.”
The simplified method worked initially, but following his June win, he had finished 8th, 19th and 11th in his three most recent series starts entering the night. During the monthlong break in the schedule between the conclusion of Indiana Midget Week and the start of Indiana Midget Week, Thorson went through every inch of the racecar with a fine-tooth comb to make sure he’d ascend back into his familiar spot as a prime contender.
“Everything was gone through over and over,” Thorson explained. “I squared the car about 20 times, just scratching my head, scaling, chassis dyno, you name it. I did everything in my power to get my car better and I think it shows.
On Tuesday at Red Dirt, a little bit was on my side as a driver, and not being comfortable,” Thorson continued. “I did a couple things in the cockpit to suit me. After my accident and due to wrecks that I’ve had in the past, I’m just not as flexible and can’t really fit in the cars and use the throttle and the brake as well as I used to be, I’d say. I built this car in one night and threw the seat in, so it wasn’t necessarily comfortable, and I was fighting other stuff. I never really had time to think about my cockpit and me inside of it. I got the motor running good, got the car working good, got my cockpit good, and now we’re good.”
Starting from the fifth position in the 23-car field, Thorson felt he was just hanging on, so to speak, during the early stages of the 30-lap feature while point leader and pole sitter Buddy Kofoid controlled the pace of the race up front for the first half of the event.
Fourth starting Cannon McIntosh was an early contender, clamping down, then sliding past Kofoid in the first turn on the eighth lap. A half-lap later, Kofoid returned the favor on the 1/4-mile dirt oval, powering under McIntosh to retake the position just as 23rd starting Thomas Meseraull found trouble, spinning backwards to a stop on the front straightaway with major damage to the left front of his racecar.
The incident knocked Meseraull out of the race, concluding what was a tumultuous night after earlier setting quick time in Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying for just the third time in his career. While running second on the final corner of the final lap in the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature, Meseraull got caught up with a spinning, lapped car, which caused him to flip and, subsequently, knocked him out of a transfer spot, and forced him to use a provisional.
On the ensuing restart, McIntosh found a hitch in his giddy-up in turn two, which opened the door for Emerson Axsom to slip by for the second position, followed shortly thereafter by Thorson who maneuvered his way into the third spot by McIntosh on lap 10, and finally cleared McIntosh for the spot on lap 12 after exchanging the position multiple times.
Reaching the halfway point, Kofoid remained the possessor of a full second lead over Axsom with Thorson in third and McIntosh and Kaylee Bryson challenging each other for fourth. On the 16th circuit, McIntosh attempted to slide into turn three and snag the position away from Bryson.
As the two came within close quarters of each other, Bryson became sideways atop the cushion, spinning sideways down the middle of the racetrack, right into the path of Tuesday’s Red Dirt winner, and teammate, Daison Pursley. The resulting contact knocked the front end out on Pursley, putting him out of the race. Meanwhile, Bryston restarted her race from the tail and, unfortunately, misfortune continued.
New fourth place in the running order Kevin Thomas Jr. locked up the brakes to avoid contact with another car as the accordion effect bunched up the field on the lap 16 restart between turns one and two, ending his undefeated 2-0 record in the Chad McDaniel Memorial following previous wins in 2015 and 2018 in his only two prior event starts. Thomas restarted and ultimately finished 13th.
Just one lap following the restart, Axsom put on the moves to matriculate his way into the race lead as he slid past racelong leader Kofoid in turn three and made the car stick as he tickled the edge of the turn four cushion with precision. Kofoid cut back under while Thorson took the bottom line off turn four to briefly make it a three-wide contest for the lead with Axsom securing the advantage by a hair at the line.
Thorson officially slotted in the second spot a lap later on the 18th go-around with Justin Grant 3rd. Meanwhile, Buddy Kofoid went Tom Petty free fallin’ all the way back to 7th in just a few short laps before gathering it up and driving back to an eventual 4th place result.
A stoppage on lap 23 took 4th running McIntosh officially out of contention as he hopped over the banking between turns one and two with just eight laps remaining. He’d finish out with a 16th place result for the evening.
The restart saw Thorson take run-after-run at Axsom for the lead, lining up his shot midway down the back straightaway by aiming the car straight to the bottom of turn three and sliding up to the top by the time he reached turn four. Shot one had him pull his front bumper right to Axsom’s tail tank. Shot two saw him pull to within a half-length. Shot three witnessed Thorson pull exactly wheel-to-wheel with Axsom before falling back into line for lap 26 when the persistence finally paid off.
“I just kept poking at him, poking at him and I was getting a little bit closer because I was driving it harder and harder into turn three,” Thorson explained. “With that being said, every time I drove it harder getting into three, he was actually pulling me a little bit down the back stretch. I knew I had to kind of shoot it off in there and I was hoping for him to mess up. He and Buddy were messing up every once in a while there on the top since it was really tricky to run and technical. I figured I gave him enough shots, and I figured he knew I was there. At that point, I was just going for it. I feel like I gave him enough warning shots that I was there - firing the rifles off in the air – just to let him know I was here.”
On the 26th lap, Thorson gave it one more shot, coming right toward Axsom as he performed a full-speed drift into turns three and four. As Thorson slid across Axsom’s front bumper, Axsom pitched the car sideways and lifted and pitched the car sideways as Thorson drove by and set sail toward another victory.
However, a lap 29 incident involving Chase Randall and Kaylee Bryson, while battling for 12th, sent Bryson flipping high in the sky down the front straightaway. She was oaky, and briskly walked her way from the front stretch to turn three to confront Randall for a brief chat. Bryson was finished for the night, finishing 20th while Randall took 12th.
The green-white-checkered finish resulted in no change at the front as Thorson held his ground throughout the final two circuits to become the newest first-time Chad McDaniel Memorial winner by a 0.339 second interval over Emerson Axsom, Justin Grant, Buddy Kofoid and Bryant Wiedeman, who equaled his best career USAC finish with a 5th.
Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) led nine laps but came up just shy of reaching USAC National Midget victory lane for the second time in his career in the Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“He gave me the option to lift,” Axsom recalled. “It was either lift or jump his right rear, which is just a good slider I guess. If I didn’t lift, I probably would’ve been the red. I got on the brakes hard there, and it just played out how it did. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t my fault, it was just kind of hard racing. I think we kind of gave one away there. We had a really fast racecar and, when we were racing for the lead, we passed Buddy and a lot of other fast racecars that aren’t easy to pass.”
For the third-straight series event, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) finished inside the top-three in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota. After a 21st place qualifying run, Grant won his heat race, which elevated him to the ninth starting position in the feature where he proceeded to a finish of 3rd.
“I’ve been burying us pretty good in these features, so I’ve been having to take chunks when I can,” Grant admitted. “I had another awesome car and I got to the front plenty early to have a shot there. USAC Midgets are tough and it’s a lot of fun racing, though. It keeps you on your game and you have to drive hard. When you see an opening, you’ve got to try and drive through it.”
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) gripped the wheel on a gripped up track and blasted from the 17th starting position to finish 7th in Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota.
Daison Pursley's time of 2:32.00 in the Elliotts Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature set a new 12-lap track record for USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing at Solomon Valley Raceway.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 15, 2021 – Solomon Valley Raceway – Beloit, Kansas – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 10th Chad McDaniel Memorial / Mid-America Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.223; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.247; 3. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-12.248; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-12.301; 5. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.320; 6. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.331; 7. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-12.334; 8. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-12.348; 9. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.357; 10. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.358; 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-12.371; 12. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-12.372; 13. Jason McDougal, 4, Klatt-12.374; 14. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.391; 15. Jake Bubak, 27B, Bourke-12.398; 16. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-12.424; 17. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-12.425; 18. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-12.427; 19. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.446; 20. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.455; 21. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-12.484; 22. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-12.506; 23. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce/Stout-12.514; 24. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.574; 25. Keith Rauch, 27, Bourke-12.591; 26. Kyler Johnson, 45x, KJR-12.653; 27. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-12.697; 28. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-12.752; 29. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.797; 30. Brett Becker, 2B, Becker-13.044; 31. Corey Joyner, 11H, Joyner-13.610; 32. Ryan Padgett, 84J, Shapel-13.649; 33. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-13.833; 34. Blake Spicer, 4s, John-14.797; 35. J.R. Ewing, 2c, Ewing-15.699.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Hayden Williams, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Keith Rauch, 9. Shaun Shapel. 2:05.77
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Kyle Jones, 6. Shannon McQueen, 7. Kyler Johnson, 8. Brett Becker, 9. Blake Spicer. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Trey Gropp, 4. Jake Bubak, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Ryan Timms, 8. Corey Joiner, 9. J.R. Ewing. 2:05.09
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Travis Buckley, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Ryan Padgett. 2:05.61
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Shannon McQueen, 6. Kyle Jones, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Keith Rauch, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Kyler Johnson, 11. Travis Buckley, 12. Brett Becker, 13. Thomas Meseraull, 14. Corey Joyner, 15. Shaun Shapel, 16. J.R. Ewing, 17. Ryan Padgett, 18. Jerry Coons Jr. 2:32.00 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (5), 2. Emerson Axsom (7), 3. Justin Grant (9), 4. Buddy Kofoid (1), 5. Bryant Wiedeman (2), 6. Chris Windom (13), 7. Logan Seavey (17), 8. Zach Daum (14), 9. Ryan Timms (12), 10. Hayden Williams (18), 11. Brenham Crouch (10), 12. Chase Randall (20), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 14. Ethan Mitchell (8), 15. Jake Bubak (16), 16. Cannon McIntosh (4), 17. Trey Gropp (22), 18. Kyle Jones (21), 19. Shannon McQueen (19), 20. Kaylee Bryson (3), 21. Daison Pursley (11), 22. Jason McDougal (15), 23. Thomas Meseraull (23-P). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Thomas Meseraull flipped during the semi. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 29 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 17-25 Emerson Axsom, Laps 26-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1080, 2-Chris Windom-1020, 3-Emerson Axsom-984, 4-Justin Grant-971, 5-Tanner Thorson-953, 6-Daison Pursley-917, 7-Logan Seavey-900, 8-Thomas Meseraull-887, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-859, 10-Cannon McIntosh-784.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-96, 2-Robert Ballou-87, 3-Thomas Meseraull-85, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-83, 5-Chris Windom-81, 6-Brady Bacon-72, 7-Justin Grant-67, 8-Logan Seavey-57, 9-C.J. Leary-51, 10-Buddy Kofoid-50.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: July 16-17, 2021 – Jefferson County Speedway– Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation / Mid-America Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Emerson Axsom
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Ethan Mitchell
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brenham Crouch
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Logan Seavey (17th to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Sam Johnson
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THORSON THROTTLES TO 2ND STRAIGHT USAC MIDGET SCORE; WINS JEFFERSON COUNTY NIGHT #1
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Fairbury, Nebraska (July 16, 2021)………With his engine steaming in victory lane, Tanner Thorson estimated he had barely cracked the throttle throughout the 30-lap duration of Friday night’s Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway.
The same could be said for Thorson himself, who has used the mid-summer Mid-America Midget Week to bring the heat to the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship tour in winning his second career series feature at the 1/5-mile dirt oval after earlier winning back in 2017.
Meanwhile, Thorson became the first driver to win back-to-back races during the 2021 season, doing so on consecutive nights after capturing the victory in Thursday’s Chad McDaniel Memorial at bordering Kansas’ Solomon Valley Raceway just 24 hours earlier.
The two performance weren’t exactly mirror reflections of each other with Friday’s wire-to-wire triumph seeming like a relative cakewalk in comparison to the previous night’s hard-charging win aboard his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – The Healing Tree/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
At Jefferson County, the Minden, Nevada native earned a front row starting spot and possessed a stranglehold from the outset of the green, all this despite having to overcome the high-stakes burden of traffic that allowed Kevin Thomas Jr. to move right on in and clamp down mid-race.
The $4,000 victory for Thorson was the first time he’s won back-to-back USAC National Midget features since his championship season of 2016. Interestingly enough, Friday also marked the first time in the series that any driver has won features on consecutive nights in quite nearly, exactly one year ago, on the 2020 Mid-America Midget Week tour. Tyler Courtney was victorious on July 18-19 of 2020 at Jefferson County and at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas, respectively.
Thorson’s 24th career USAC National Midget feature score moved him into a tie for 19th all-time with Billy Engelhart while also elevating him above the likes of Christopher Bell, Tom Bigelow, Pancho Carter, Tommy Copp, Kyle Larson, Kevin Olson and Billy Vukovich on the all-time series’ win list.
Beginning his pursuit from the pole, Thorson slid up in front of outside front row starter Kevin Thomas Jr. and quickly obtained control in the early stages with a single car length lead at the stripe.
Moment later, however, the feature’s first stoppage saw 10th running Jerry Coons Jr. barrel rolling in turn three in an incident which also involved Jason McDougal, Ryan Timms and Kaylee Bryson. All drivers were okay, but Coons’ damage was enough to signal an end to his race.
On the ensuing restart, while turning the corner and headed toward the green flag, a chain reaction at the head of the pack had its effects ricochet throughout the entire field, practically. In the resulting melee, five cars were knocked askew and came to a rest on track, including Buddy Kofoid (7th), Kyle Jones (8th), Daison Pursley (9th), Kaylee Bryson (17th) and Thomas Meseraull (18th). All drivers involved were able to resume, albeit from the back of the field.
When the action finally found its footing and the laps began to tick away, Thorson led a three-car breakaway with K. Thomas and Windom tagging along just less than a mere couple car lengths back, while a full straightaway separated the trio and fourth-running Ethan Mitchell with one-third of the race in the books.
By midway, traffic was first and foremost on the mind of the leaders as Thorson sought space to escape his entanglement within the web with the lap counter winding down to less than 10 circuits remaining. There, at that moment, Thorson was momentarily caught up trying to press his way past the final lead lap running car of Tyler Thomas.
With Thorson catching the rear bumper of T. Thomas, but finding difficulty in putting him a lap down, K. Thomas mounted a charge and managed to pull even to the inside of Thorson between turns one and two with eight laps remaining. Using T. Thomas as a pick of sorts, Thorson swept past and had K. Thomas and Windom now pinned behind T. Thomas, which provided a shred of light for Thorson to check out for the remaining balance of the event.
At the finish, Thorson’s final margin of victory was 1.131 seconds over Kevin Thomas Jr. with Chris Windom, Emerson Axsom and Justin Grant rounding out the top-five.
Despite the pressure, Thorson was as cool as the other side of the pillow in equaling point leader Buddy Kofoid as the winningest series driver of the season with four wins apiece.
“I figured he would be there,” Thorson said of K. Thomas. “He’s really good at running the bottom and I figured he was there. I was just trying to hit my marks as best I could and get by the lapped cars. They were kind of holding me up for a minute there and I was getting nervous. I saw KTJ poke his nose in a couple times, and I just had to hold my composure, look forward and go for it.”
Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) turned in yet another fine run in his Petry Motorsports/Gray Auto – FK Rod Ends/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, finishing inside the top-ten for the seventh time in his eight previous starts, equaling his best finish of the season, a 2nd, which he also earned in June at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, Ind.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) collected a fourth consecutive top-six feature finish with the series, overcoming three-straight results outside the top-ten prior to this successful string of good fortune in the driver’s seat of his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Fifth place feature finisher Justin Grant blazed the fastest 10-lap trail for USAC National Midgets at Jefferson County Speedway, finishing the fourth heat race with a time of 1:50.360, which lowered the track record for the distance by nearly six seconds, which was previously held by Tanner Carrick since 2019.
Daison Pursley endured a rough and tumble evening which began with a massive nose-to-tail turn one flip during hot laps. Pursley recovered after his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team successfully repaired the car and Pursley subsequently recorded the second fastest qualifying time to earn the night’s GSP Quality Driving Performance award before going on to win the semi-feature and finishing 12th in the feature after being involved in the lap two restart kerfuffle.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) kept his undefeated qualifying record alive by recording his fourth career Jefferson County Speedway Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time on Friday night. More amazingly, those four fast times have come in just four appearances at the track, in 2018, twice in 2019 and again in his return on Friday night.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 16, 2021 – Jefferson County Speedway– Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation / Mid-America Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-10.710; 2. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.712; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.745; 4. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce/Stout-10.827; 5. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-10.840; 6. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-10.840; 7. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-10.865; 8. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-10.869; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-10.871; 10. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-10.911; 11. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.913; 12. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-10.919; 13. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.921; 14. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-10.948; 15. Sam Johnson, 72J, Johnson-10.951; 16. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-10.967; 17. Jason McDougal, 4, Klatt-10.994; 18. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.999; 19. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-11.017; 20. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.053; 21. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.074; 22. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-11.083; 23. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-11.184; 24. Jake Bubak, 27B, Bourke-11.195; 25. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Johnson-11.222; 26. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-11.268; 27. Brett Becker, 2B, Becker-11.282; 28. Kyler Johnson, 45x, KJR-11.367; 29. Zac Taylor, 71T, Henry-11.387; 30. Keith Rauch, 27, Bourke-11.400; 31. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.411; 32. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-11.672; 33. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-12.014; 34. Blake Spicer, 4s, John-12.324; 35. J.R. Ewing, 2c, Ewing-12.795; 36. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Zac Taylor, 8. Austin Barnhill, 9. Shaun Shapel. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Chase Randall, 7. Keith Rauch, 8. Blake Spicer, 9. Travis Buckley. 1:51.210
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Jones, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Shannon McQueen, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Brett Becker, 9. J.R. Ewing. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Trey Gropp, 6. Jake Bubak, 7. Hayden Williams, 8. Cade Cowles, 9. Kyler Johnson. 1:50.360 (New Track Record)
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Trey Gropp, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Jake Bubak, 8. Austin Barnhill, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Zac Taylor, 11. Kyler Johnson, 12. Keith Rauch, 13. Cade Cowles, 14. Shaun Shapel, 15. Hayden Williams, 16. Shannon McQueen, 17. Blake Spicer, 18. Travis Buckley. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (1), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 3. Chris Windom (4), 4. Emerson Axsom (5), 5. Justin Grant (8), 6. Logan Seavey (11), 7. Ethan Mitchell (3), 8. Trey Gropp (13), 9. Thomas Meseraull (18), 10. Cannon McIntosh (20), 11. Brenham Crouch (22), 12. Daison Pursley (12), 13. Bryant Wiedeman (17), 14. Buddy Kofoid (6), 15. Chase Randall (14), 16. Ryan Timms (16), 17. Sam Johnson (19), 18. Kyle Jones (7), 19. Jason McDougal (21), 20. Kaylee Bryson (15), 21. Tyler Thomas (9), 22. Jerry Coons Jr. (10). NT
**Daison Pursley flipped during practice. Jerry Coons Jr. flipped on lap 2 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1124, 2-Chris Windom-1090, 3-Emerson Axsom-1053, 4-Justin Grant-1037, 5-Tanner Thorson-1028, 6-Daison Pursley-965, 7-Logan Seavey-964, 8-Thomas Meseraull-940, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-931, 10-Cannon McIntosh-833.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-96, 2-Thomas Meseraull-94, 3-Robert Ballou-87, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-83, 5-Chris Windom-82, 6-Brady Bacon-72, 7-Justin Grant-70, 8-Logan Seavey-62, 9-C.J. Leary-51, 10-Buddy Kofoid-50.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 17, 2021 – Jefferson County Speedway– Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation / Mid-America Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Daison Pursley
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tyler Thomas
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Jerry Coons Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Kyle Jones
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Brenham Crouch (22nd to 11th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Bryant Wiedeman
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jake Bubak
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AXSOM RACKS HIM A $10-GRAND USAC MIDGET VICTORY AT JEFFERSON COUNTY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Fairbury, Nebraska (July 17, 2021)………As a Rookie making just his third career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start a year ago at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway, Emerson Axsom made his initial statement in the series by leading until three laps to go before finishing as the runner-up.
Since that time, as the Franklin, Ind. driver has progressed and gained an entire year of experience on the tour, he never let that particular race slip from his memory bank with the thought that, if he had the chance to get that one back, he’d be the winner this time around.
Axsom put those lessons and ambitions into action Saturday night during the Mid-America Midget Week finale, the Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation, where he led the final eight laps on the 1/5-mile dirt oval to score a $10,000 prize in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Last year, we said that if that had been this year, we would’ve won that race. To say that and then to actually do it, that feels pretty good right now,” Axsom said. “The biggest thing is seat time and figuring out how much is too much and how little is too little. I’ve kind of found the sweet spot here lately.”
Axsom’s pursuit of his second career USAC National Midget feature victory didn’t come without a bit of friction late in the going which led to a hearty chorus of reactions from the throng of fans packed into the covered grandstand.
Axsom led the first of the 40 laps, crawling the bottom to reach the front of the field, then waged in a side-by-side battle for much of the first quarter of the event alongside pole sitter Logan Seavey. The war was chock full of lead swaps and crossovers that Seavey maintained control over for the opening seven laps until New Zealand’s Hayden Williams, running 22nd, tipped over in turn one.
Seavey promptly commanded the race lead following the restart for seven more laps when, on lap 14, seventh running Tanner Thorson and sixth-place Cannon McIntosh made front bumper to rear bumper contact, sending McIntosh spinning and also collecting eighth-place Thomas Meseraull who did a 90-degree rotation in an attempt to avoid the melee. Further down the track, Thorson stopped on the back straightaway. All three were able to restart from the tail.
On the resumption of lap 17th running Jake Bubak was caught in a sandwich as he tried to split between Tyler Thomas and Kyle Jones on the back straightway. The resulting contact sent the Coloradan barrel-rolling to bring out the red flag. Bubak was uninjured, but the damage proved too extensive for him to return from.
When the green flag dropped again, Seavey slipped away to distance himself from Axsom who subsequently lost the second position to Justin Grant on the 15th lap and the third spot to Kevin Thomas Jr. on the 19th lap. Axsom regained 3rd a lap later on the 20th circuit and raced back into 2nd on the 21st go-around.
Grant, meanwhile, dueled with Axsom until lap 23 when near contact almost caused Grant to stall his machine in turn two, dropping him back to 5th.
Moments later, the yellow flag was displayed for 9th running Chase Randall and Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association point leader Zac Taylor, who both came to a rest in the fourth turn. Randall was parked with a flat left rear tire while Taylor was aimed backwards adjacent to Randall. Randall came back to finish 13th while Taylor bowed out in the 20th position.
At the time prior to the yellow, Seavey possessed a full straightaway lead of 1.7 seconds that was erased from the board. K. Thomas blitzed back into 2nd on lap 24 at the line as the trio of Seavey, K. Thomas and Axsom were staged three-wide exiting turn four. K. Thomas ultimately lost the runner-up spot to his Petry Motorsports teammate Axsom on lap 26.
Axsom chased down Seavey and, on lap 31, slid under Seavey for the race lead, holding briefly, but Seavey countered to retake the spot as the two crossed the line nose-to-tail.
The pressure was turned up to the melting point as the leaders encountered the final car on the lead lap, 11-time Rocky Mountain Midget champion Keith Rauch, with eight laps remaining as the entire event reached a fever pitch.
With Seavey leading and Axsom just a car length behind entering turn one on the 33rd lap, Axsom’s front bumper and the left side of Seavey’s rear bumper met chrome to chrome, sending Seavey into a 360 degree spin in turn two. By rule, with the yellow flown for his 360 spin, Seavey was sent to the tail for the restart, while Axsom assumed his role as the new race leader.
“Really, I think what caused it was the lapped car,” Axsom explained. “Logan went in over the cushion a little extra high to diamond it. When he got on the brakes and turned down, it was already sideways from turning down. I expected him to kind of follow him through or slide him the next corner. I was on the brakes hard. If I wanted to wreck Logan, I would’ve done it on lap two; I definitely didn’t mean to. I’m glad we won, and I felt we had the fastest car anyway, but I wish we could’ve done it a little bit better.”
It was bitter disappointment for Seavey after leading a race-high 31 laps, owns the Jefferson County Speedway one-lap track record and owned the majority of Saturday night’s event until “the moment” occurred.
“I had a great racecar, but it sucks to be in a position to win and not get it done,” Seavey admitted. “For the most part, I was getting through traffic pretty well and didn’t really get stuck behind many cars. I saw the 27 (Rauch) was running the top in one and two and the bottom in three and four. He kind of had a different entry into turn one. I thought he was going to the bottom, so I sent it to the top. I got on the brakes to not get in the back of a lapped car.
Obviously, Emerson was pretty close,” Seavey continued. “I don’t think he went in there to crash me or anything. If he wanted to crash me, he had plenty of opportunities before that. He just didn’t slow down as much as I did, and I went around. It’s just part of it. It sucks to lose any race. It sucks a lot to lose a race that pays 10 grand.”
After the hullaballoo, Axsom now had to finish off eight more laps with his teammate, K. Thomas and the ever-surging point leader Buddy Kofoid, running third after starting all the way back in 15th.
Kofoid slid past K. Thomas in turn two on lap 34, then quickly erased the half-second gap that existed between he and Axsom. Kofoid tried a slider on Axsom in turn two with three to go that came up short and fell back into line just as the final yellow came out for contact between Thorson and Grant, running in the 6th and 7th positions, respectively, resulting in Thorson spinning and stopping on the bottom of turn three. Thorson’s two-race winning came streak came to an end as a result, finishing the week with a 19th place result.
Axsom got a clean restart with three laps remaining, holding Kofoid at bay for the time being. Coming to the white flag, Kofoid inched closer, but encountered a rough patch against the turn two cushion and fell over the perimeter of the track surface on the back straight, essentially extinguishing all hope for a victory bid for the point leader.
Axsom, who had spent the previous night playing badminton until 4am and battled with fellow driver Sam Johnson in a friendly game in the pit area prior to Saturday’s hot laps, closed out his victory on the racetrack by a 0.572 second margin over Kofoid with Chris Windom, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley rounding out the top-five.
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) extended his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget lead by three to 37 points with a 15th to 2nd surge in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota that earned him the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger award for the evening.
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) remains second place in the standings following his third-place result in the feature event, piloting his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota to his fifth-straight top-six feature result.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 17, 2021 – Jefferson County Speedway– Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation / Mid-America Midget Week
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), 2. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Justin Grant (#2J RMS), 4. Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold-Underwood), 5. Austin Barnhill (#17B Johnson), 6. Travis Buckley (#7NZ BSL), 7. Keith Rauch (#27 Bourke), 8. Jason McDougal (#4 Klatt). 2:03.560
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 3. Tyler Thomas (#91T Thomas), 4. Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy), 5. Hayden Williams (#1NZ BSL), 6. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 7. Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 8. J.R. Ewing (#2c Ewing). NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zac Taylor (#71T Henry), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (#85 Central), 3. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Chris Windom (#89 CBI), 5. Sam Johnson (#72J Johnson), 6. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), 7. Shannon McQueen (#7 McQueen). 2:06.96
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Bubak (#27B Bourke), 2. Daison Pursley (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 4. Kyle Jones (#7u Tri-Fecta), 5. Trey Gropp (#00 Mounce-Stout), 6. Kyler Johnson (#45x KJR), 7. Blake Spicer (#4s John). 2:02.97
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Trey Gropp, 2. Chase Randall, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Sam Johnson, 5. Keith Rauch, 6. Shannon McQueen, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Austin Barnhill, 9. Kyler Johnson, 10. Blake Spicer, 11. J.R. Ewing, 12. Hayden Williams, 13. Travis Buckley. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Emerson Axsom (3), 2. Buddy Kofoid (15), 3. Chris Windom (4), 4. Justin Grant (2), 5. Daison Pursley (14), 6. Cannon McIntosh (8), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 8. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 9. Brenham Crouch (13), 10. Thomas Meseraull (7), 11. Trey Gropp (12), 12. Tyler Thomas (19), 13. Chase Randall (16), 14. Logan Seavey (1), 15. Kyle Jones (18), 16. Sam Johnson (17), 17. Shannon McQueen (22), 18. Keith Rauch (21), 19. Tanner Thorson (6), 20. Zac Taylor (10), 21. Hayden Williams (23-P), 22. Jake Bubak (9), 23. Ethan Mitchell (11). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Hayden Williams flipped on lap 7 of the feature. Jake Bubak flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Emerson Axsom, Laps 2-32 Logan Seavey, Laps 33-40 Emerson Axsom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1191, 2-Chris Windom-1154, 3-Emerson Axsom-1123, 4-Justin Grant-1098, 5-Tanner Thorson-1053, 6-Daison Pursley-1023, 7-Logan Seavey-999, 8-Thomas Meseraull-983, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-983, 10-Cannon McIntosh-888.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-96, 2-Thomas Meseraull-94, 3-Robert Ballou-87, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-83, 5-Chris Windom-83, 6-Brady Bacon-72, 7-Justin Grant-70, 8-Buddy Kofoid-63, 9-Logan Seavey-62, 10-C.J. Leary-51.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 3, 2021 – Grandview Speedway – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Jake Bubak
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Zac Taylor
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Jake Bubak
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Trey Gropp
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Buddy Kofoid (15th to 2nd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chase Randall
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Hayden Reinbold
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DÉJÀ GRANDVIEW FOR WINDOM IN EASTERN MIDGET WEEK OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania (August 3, 2021)………This scene looked all too familiar for Chris Windom.
Two years ago, in the most recent edition of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing at Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway, Windom experienced a roller coaster final lap in which he saw his race lead slip away in the first turn only to race back past Tyler Courtney for the narrow win.
Fast forward to Tuesday night’s Ken Brenn Midget Masters at Grandview, the landscape Windom found himself in was eerily similar, but this time, the situation involved Emerson Axsom along with a rich tapestry of lapped traffic.
Nose-to-tail as Windom and Axsom crossed under the white flag, Windom became boxed in behind the lapped cars of Bundy Built Motorsports teammates Ethan Mitchell and Zach Daum, who were racing side-by-side down the front straightaway.
With Windom choosing the high line path entering turn one, the door inherently opened for Axsom to slide past both Windom and Mitchell. Windom rotated his car, cut to the bottom of turn two and raced back past Axsom midway down the back straightaway, dove under Daum a tick of the Timex later in turn three and finished off a hectic final lap with a 0.788 second winning margin over Axsom.
“I didn’t really want it to be that exciting,” Windom said with a smile. “I got to the Bundy cars, and they were running side by side. I know they didn’t know I was there, and they were running their own race. I literally had nowhere to go. I just had to wait for one of them t make a mistake to get by them. Emerson was able to put a move on me there, but luckily we were able to get back by him.”
Windom started the 30-lap feature event from the pole position in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota. However, it was outside front row starter, series Rookie Chase Randall, who controlled the race right from the green and throughout the early stages.
At the conclusion of lap seven, Windom had “the diamond” working as he went topside in turn three, then cut to the bottom off turn four carrying an enormous amount of momentum. Windom roared past Randall on the bottom of turn one before sliding to the top in turn two. Randall cut back under Windom and the pair silhouetted each other for the entirety of the back straightaway.
However, Randall carried just a tad bit too much speed into turn three, causing him to drift up over the cushion exiting turn four, which allowed Axsom to scoot by Randall and into the runner spot with a slide job in turn one mere moments later.
The high majority of the second half of the race saw Windom in an unrelenting tug-of-war with the tail end of the field as he sought to break free from Axsom. When Windom caught Rookie Jonathan Shafer at the back end of the field, Axsom capitalized on the hand that was dealt and managed to close right on the rear bumper of Windom. As soon as Windom found his way past Shafer in turn three on lap 19, the comforting feeling didn’t last long as Axsom mimicked Windom a half lap later past Shafer and was right back on Windom’s trail.
With five to go, Windom carved a path past the now lapped car of New Zealand’s Hayden Williams on the bottom of turn three to gain roughly 10 lengths on Axsom and, shortly thereafter, encountered Mitchell and Daum running side-by-side competing in their own tussle for the 14th position.
Once Axsom slid Williams in turn one, the gap that existed between he and Windom rapidly dissipated to less than a single car length entering the turns. With the white flag in full view coming off turn four, Windom veered down to the bottom off turn four, making it three-wide with Mitchell and Daum to his outside.
Windom made the split-second decision to dart right to the top of turn one on the final lap, which got him caught behind Mitchell. Using Mitchell as a sort of pick, when Axsom drifted by both to momentarily take away the race lead, Windom’s instincts drove him to the bottom of two, straight past Axsom, straight past Daum too going into three.
Finally, Windom had room to breathe as he rocketed off turn four to win his third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature of the 2021 season and the seventh of his career ahead of Axsom, Randall and Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier Kevin Thomas Jr. with Tanner Thorson rounding out the top-five.
Although coming close to his third career series victory in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, Axsom feels he and the team are starting to put together a full night race-after-race, which has seen the Franklin, Indiana driver earn, far and away, the most points since that span nine races ago with him earning 631 points, Kevin Thomas Jr. with 569, series point leader Buddy Kofoid at 538, Chris Windom at 532 and Daison Pursley at 528.
“Chris doesn’t make mistakes,” Axsom said after observing this firsthand. “It’s hard to run him down and it’s even harder to pass him. Lapped traffic hurt us there at the end, but that’s how we ran him down. It’s part of racing. I thought we had him there for a second, but I knew he’d be able to diamond it off turn two because, in lapped traffic, he was really good doing that and sometimes pulled away from me doing that. I knew it was going to be tough to slide him, but when I saw the white, I saw an opening and I went for it. We came up short, but we had a really good car.”
In a week where he’s poised to make a big run toward the head of the Rookie class in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, Chase Randall (Waco, Texas) earned his best career result with a third-place finish in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/Bush’s Chicken – AME Electrical – CSI/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Randall said. “We’ve made a huge improvement throughout the year, and we can only go up from here. I’m just glad to finally get a podium with these guys and to do it with this team.”
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) salvaged what could’ve very well been a demoralizing end to the night for the driver of the RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota. After a misfortunate interaction with a truck while being pushed off for the feature, Meseraull’s ride suffered a bent shock and a flattened tire. After a brief period of time in the work area, Meseraull was provided his spot back in the 15th position where he proceeded to drive up to an 8th place finish to earn KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger honors for the evening.
“We can’t actually start without a push truck, so we appreciate all the push trucks for coming out,” Meseraull stated. “Luckily, my guys had stuff prepared and we were able to get a new right rear shock on it. We didn’t quite have it set up the way I had hoped with a single adjustment right rear shock, but we were really good. The RMS Racing number 7x hasn’t had much luck in the last, let’s say 10 races, so we’re looking to turn that around, take this hard charger and move on to tomorrow.”
Interestingly, every time USAC National Midgets were on track on Tuesday night, somebody was setting a new track record. Kevin Thomas Jr. broke Kyle Larson’s one-lap record for the series at the 1/3-mile dirt oval. All three heat races lowered the former eight-lap mark at the track by multiple seconds with Alex Bright’s run being the fastest of them all. Jonathan Shafer laid down a new 10-lap record while the green-to-checker feature finish established a brand-new 30-lap all-time record for Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 3, 2021 – Grandview Speedway – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Ken Brenn Midget Masters / Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR / CLEVER GIRL WINERY QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.970 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.105; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-14.126; 4. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-14.133; 5. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-14.143; 6. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-14.165; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.186; 8. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.213; 9. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.239; 10. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.242; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.253; 12. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-14.263; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.264; 14. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-14.270; 15. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.295; 16. Alex Bright, 25m, Malloy-14.309; 17. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-14.325; 18. Tommy Kunsman, 21, Kunsman-14.669; 19. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-14.745; 20. Shawn Jackson, 7J, Jackson-14.752; 21. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-14.822; 22. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-14.939; 23. Michael Markey, 7, Markey-15.024; 24. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-15.158; 25. Dan Bennett, 5J, Bennett-16.031; 26. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-NT; 27. John Heydenreich, 22, Givens-NT (Time of 15.092 disallowed due to missing the scales).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Alex Bright, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Hayden Williams, 8. Kevin Woody Jr., 9. Dan Bennett. 1:53.83 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Michael Markey, 8. John Heydenreich, 9. Shawn Jackson. 1:54.62
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Tommy Kunsman, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Jonathan Shafer, 7. Steve Buckwalter, 8. Travis Buckley, 9. Oliver Akard. 1:56.92
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Jonathan Shafer, 2. Taylor Reimer, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Travis Buckley, 7. Kevin Woody Jr., 8. Michael Markey, 9. Dan Bennett, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Shawn Jackson. 2:35.22 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Emerson Axsom (4), 3. Chase Randall (2), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 5. Tanner Thorson (3), 6. Daison Pursley (6), 7. Justin Grant (8), 8. Thomas Meseraull (15), 9. Cannon McIntosh (10), 10. Buddy Kofoid (9), 11. Logan Seavey (17), 12. Alex Bright (7), 13. Taylor Reimer (12), 14. Zach Daum (14), 15. Ethan Mitchell (11), 16. Hayden Williams (19), 17. Steve Buckwalter (20), 18. Jonathan Shafer (16), 19. Hayden Reinbold (13), 20. Tommy Kunsman (18), 21. Kevin Woody Jr. (21), 22. Travis Buckley (22). 7:45.45 (New Track Record)
**Oliver Akard flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Chase Randall, Laps 7-30 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1244, 2-Chris Windom-1231, 3-Emerson Axsom-1198, 4-Justin Grant-1158, 5-Tanner Thorson-1120, 6-Daison Pursley-1086, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1054, 8-Logan Seavey-1047, 9-Thomas Meseraull-1039, 10-Cannon McIntosh-939.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-112, 2-Tanner Thorson-110, 3-Brady Bacon-110, 4-Thomas Meseraull-102, 5-Robert Ballou-97, 6-Chris Windom-96, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-86, 8-Logan Seavey-82, 9-Kyle Cummins-68, 10-Buddy Kofoid-63.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 4, 2021 – Action Track USA – Kutztown, Pennsylvania – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Emerson Axsom
Fatheadz Eyewear / Clever Girl Winery Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Alex Bright
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jonathan Shafer
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (15th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Taylor Reimer
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Michael Markey
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PURSLEY SLICES THROUGH FOR USAC WIN #2 AT ACTION TRACK USA
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kutztown, Pennsylvania (August 4, 2021)………If you keep on racing, the levee’s goin’ to break. And, eventually, the wins are going to flood in.
With his first win coming in the 47th start of his career in mid-July, it took Daison Pursley just five more to capture his second career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory on Wednesday night during the second round of Eastern Midget Week at Kutztown, Pennsylvania’s Action Track USA.
“That’s what a lot of people have been telling me,” Pursley said. “The first one is always hard to get, then you start clicking them off. This kind of shows that that’s true.”
The box score reads that the Locust Grove, Okla. driver led all 30 laps of the feature in succession after starting from the pole position, but it took a roundabout venture en route from point A to point B in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/IWX – TRD – Curb/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota at the 1/5-mile, newly re-banked dirt oval.
A tumultuous first lap resulted in devastating consequences for a couple of frontrunners, both from the RMS Racing stable. As Pursley led the field midway down the back straightway, he received a tap on the rear bumper from Meseraull that sent him up the racetrack. Emerson Axsom shot by both drivers from third to first while Meseraull ducked under to second through turns three and four.
Side-by-side exiting turn four, outside-riding Axsom pulled the front wheels off the ground. Simultaneously, he and Meseraull banged wheels, sending Meseraull into a 180-degree spin as the field whizzed past near the flag stand. The oncoming car of Justin Grant collided with his RMS teammate, Meseraull, and flipped over in a series of twists and turns before landing at the entry to turn one. Grant immediately tossed out the steering wheel and crawled his way out from the wreckage.
Under the red, Meseraull went on a full sprint around the perimeter of the infield to vigorously confront the still strapped-in Axsom on the back straightaway. After a stern meeting of words and hand gestures, Meseraull parted with a 21st place finish while Grant was scored 22nd.
With a complete restart on tap, Pursley reassumed his place on the pole position where he spurted away with the race lead. However, all efforts proved to be short-lived when a six-car tangle ensued in turn one at the conclusion of lap one when third-running Tanner Thorson spun in turn one, which collected Logan Seavey (5th), Cannon McIntosh (8th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (9th).
A separate tangle in the back at the same moment also forced the stoppage of both Eric Heydenreich and Michael Markey, both of whom were making their first series starts of the year. Those two returned to the field as did Thorson and Seavey, who finished 9th and 12th, respectively. Damage to the front ends of McIntosh and Thomas knocked both out of the race prematurely.
With 10 laps remaining, Axsom had tracked down and tightened the leash on Pursley, beginning a succession of three consecutive Axsom slide jobs over the next two laps entering turns one and three. However, each time, Pursley managed to cross over successfully and regain the lead.
Pursley gained an ounce of freedom with a slide job on the lapped car of his teammate, Jonathan Shafer, with eight laps remaining that, conversely, pinned his nemesis, Axsom, with Shafer now separating the two in the meantime.
Bottled up with two laps remaining and, seemingly, appearing to have his roadway blocked, Axsom began to dig back into contention, Pursley bounced off the turn one cushion just inches from the outer wall on his right side and mere inches from the rear bumper of Zach Daum just ahead of him. Pursley jet-streamed right through the barely-existent gap that remained between the tail-end lead lap cars of Daum and Chase Randall halfway down the back straightaway.
That proved to be the winning move for Pursley as he shot through the gap and subsequently, created his own gap between he and second place finisher Axsom at the checkered flag, 0.967 second ahead at the checkered with a wounded Buddy Kofoid third, Hayden Williams finishing a career-best fourth and Chris Windom rounding out the top-five a night after winning at Grandview Speedway.
“Going through lapped traffic there, I feel like it’s usually better to be in second,” Pursley explained. “When I first hit traffic, I started biding my own time and knew that I had a little bit of a gap with what (car owner) Keith (Kunz) was telling me. I knew it was going to be a number of laps before sliders started getting thrown. When I got to traffic, and as soon as (Emerson) threw that one, I got up on the wheel and started really not making any friends with the lapped cars out there, but I feel that’s what you’ve got to do to win these races.”
For the second consecutive night, Franklin, Indiana’s Emerson Axsom briefly took over the lead late before dropping back to second shortly thereafter, instead having to settle for a runner-up finish in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Yet, it was the opening lap accident between he and Meseraull that had the crowd in a frenzy.
“I haven’t seen the replay, so I’m not sure,” Axsom stated. “But, either way, if I did wreck him, I’m sorry.
We’ve been super consistent since the second half of Indiana Midget Week. I saw a tweet that said we had made up the most points since that time. Our cars are good; KTJ’s is good. Everyone on the crew is working together. It all helps. Hopefully, we can just keep riding the wave and keep having these good runs.”
Buddy Kofoid was cast in body armor at Action Track USA after suffering both a broken right wrist and a broken left foot in a late model accident at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway on July 24. With a cast grooved to fit the curvature of his steering wheel, ala Jim Hurtubise, Kofoid steered his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota to a solid third-place result.
“Towards the end, it’s hard to speculate, but I think we were just as fast if not a little faster (than Axsom and Pursley),” Kofoid said. “At the end, when the track got slicker and dirtier, I was able to chip away just a little bit. It’s so narrow around the top, you can’t afford to get off the top. With a broken wrist and a broken foot, I guess a third isn’t too bad.”
Tanner Thorson’s 20th career Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time with the USAC National Midgets at Action Track USA tied him for 22nd on the all-time list alongside Bryan Clauson, Dan Drinan, Bobby East and Bobby Grim.
Thorson’s time of 10.881 in resulted in a new one-lap track record for the series at Action Track USA while Thomas Meseraull’s time of 1:54.72 in heat race three set a new 10-lap track record.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 4, 2021 – Action Track USA – Kutztown, Pennsylvania – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-10.881 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-10.885; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-10.984; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-11.006; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.006; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.023; 7. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.043; 8. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.102; 9. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.127; 10. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-11.128; 11. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-11.129; 12. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.143; 13. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-11.198; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.217; 15. Alex Bright, 25m, Malloy-11.290; 16. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.306; 17. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.394; 18. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.406; 19. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-11.489; 20. Michael Markey, 7m, Markey-11.542; 21. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-11.632; 22. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-11.777; 23. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-12.274; 24. Dan Bennett, 5J, Bennett-12.288; 25. Mark Sokol, 50, Sokol-12.472.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Hayden Williams, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Jonathan Shafer, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Eric Heydenreich, 8. Mark Sokol, 9. Travis Buckley. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Michael Markey, 8. Glenn Waterland. 1:55.89
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Dan Bennett. 1:54.72 (New Track Record)
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Taylor Reimer, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Travis Buckley, 5. Eric Heydenreich, 6. Michael Markey, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Dan Bennett, 9. Mark Sokol. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (1), 2. Emerson Axsom (4), 3. Buddy Kofoid (3), 4. Hayden Williams (7), 5. Chris Windom (13), 6. Alex Bright (16), 7. Ethan Mitchell (8), 8. Taylor Reimer (11), 9. Tanner Thorson (6), 10. Chase Randall (18), 11. Zach Daum (12), 12. Logan Seavey (10), 13. Hayden Reinbold (15), 14. Jonathan Shafer (17), 15. Travis Buckley (19), 16. Michael Markey (20), 17. Glenn Waterland (22), 18. Eric Heydenreich (21), 19. Cannon McIntosh (14), 20. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 21. Thomas Meseraull (2), 22. Justin Grant (5). NT
**Justin Grant flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Daison Pursley.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1314, 2-Chris Windom-1296, 3-Emerson Axsom-1273, 4-Justin Grant-1192, 5-Tanner Thorson-1177, 6-Daison Pursley-1163, 7-Logan Seavey-1091, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1084, 9-Thomas Meseraull-1071, 10-Cannon McIntosh-971.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-112, 2-Tanner Thorson-110, 3-Brady Bacon-110, 4-Chris Windom-104, 5-Thomas Meseraull-102, 6-Robert Ballou-97, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-86, 8-Logan Seavey-82, 9-Kyle Cummins-68, 10-Buddy Kofoid-63.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 5, 2021 – Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Swedesboro, New Jersey – 4/10-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Thomas Meseraull
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Hayden Williams
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Ethan Mitchell
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Alex Bright (16th to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Hayden Reinbold
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dan Bennett
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THORSON THUMPS FIELD IN BRIDGEPORT’S USAC MIDGET DEBUT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Swedesboro, New Jersey (August 5, 2021)………It had been 32 years since USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets last turned a wheel in the state of New Jersey.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s Eastern Midget Week round three at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Tanner Thorson found himself ahead of the field by 32 light years, or so it seemed, as he scored the most dominating victory of the season in the series’ first ever visit to the 4/10-mile high banked dirt oval.
Thorson flexed his way into the lead on the fifth lap past pole sitter Emerson Axsom, then steadily increased the gap between he and the rest of the field throughout the 30-lap duration to win by a staggering 8.429 seconds, putting all but the top-eight finishers a lap down in the 21-car field aboard his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – The Healing Tree/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
It marked the series-leading fifth USAC National Midget feature triumph of the season for the Minden, Nevada native, and the eighth overall combined between the USAC National Midget and Sprint Car series.
Thorson found his groove nearly instantaneously, making a beeline to the inside from his outside second row starting spot in turn one on the opening lap to slot into second behind Axsom. After sliding away from the bottom between turns three and four at the end of the first lap, Cannon McIntosh slid under to take away second from him on the bottom of turns one and two.
Lesson learned for Thorson.
Thorson went straight back to the inside line in three and four on the second lap and whipped past McIntosh for the runner-up spot where he quickly began to shrink the gap between himself and race leader Axsom.
The feature’s lone caution came on lap five when 10th running Zach Daum’s engine expired in a dramatic manner with a big ball of flame emanating from the car before quickly dissipating. Daum steered his coasting car right to the extinguisher, then hopped out in a jiff with his steering wheel in hand, officially out of the race.
The bottom wasn’t only the shortest way around, but also the fastest way around for Thorson on the lap five restart. There, Thorson was hooked up, wheels up, right around the infield tires in turns three and four as he scooted to the lead and never lost any speed on his fastball for the remainder of the distance.
“As soon as I rolled out there, I saw there was a bunch of grip and I figured the modifieds had made the bottom hooked up for us,” Thorson recalled. “As soon as I fired off, I went down there and was able to feel it out and knew that was going to be the place to be.”
Thomas Meseraull found the same path to his liking as he raced past Axsom on lap eight for the second position. However, by then, Thorson was in the midst of a tear, up by a straightaway on lap 10 and by a half lap on at the midway point on lap 15.
As Buddy Kofoid muscled his way into the third spot with nine laps remaining, Thorson remained ahead by 7.5 seconds and ever-growing as he split between and breezed by everybody in his path, putting the likes of series winners Daison Pursley and Justin Grant a lap down on his torrid pace as he entered the top-10…to lap them.
With an average feature finish of 11th over his last three series starts, Thorson put himself back on top for the 25th time in his USAC National Midget career, surpassing Billy Engelhart in terms of wins and tying himself with Darren Hagen, Parnelli Jones and Dave Strickland for 16th on the all-time list.
“We’ve struggled the last couple nights, I feel like,” Thorson said. “Just the fact that our team has worked so hard together, it has definitely paid off and shows.”
Thorson’s midget victory comes after a 12th place finish in a USAC National Sprint Car feature in his only previous Bridgeport experience during Eastern Storm in June. He admitted feeling the struggle linger on into tonight following a fifth-place finish in his heat race. Thorson finally found the perfect recipe on Thursday night during the feature.
“Midgets and sprint cars are obviously a little different,” Thorson stated. “With the sprint car, it was kind of hard to run the bottom here. I think the midget has so much side load that you can load it off on the bottom and be stuck way, way better than a sprint car.”
Thomas Meseraull had endured a tumultuous first two nights of Eastern Midget Week, first at Grandview Speedway where his right rear was toppled by a push truck at the start of the feature. The following night at Action Track USA, his race ended with a first lap feature incident while battling for the lead. Thursday night saw the San Jose, California native score his best result since winning the Indiana Midget Week opener at Paragon Speedway more than two months earlier, earning a runner-up finish in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“When it got slick, it went slick, slick,” Meseraull explained of the track conditions on his path to the front. “Modifieds weren’t running the bottom, but the midgets, they’ll run the bottom pretty good compared to a lot of bigger cars with a lot of weight. I saw Tanner (Thorson) down there starting to roll the bottom. We really weren’t set up to run down there. I might’ve had something if we had geared for the bottom, but Tanner drove away. I feel like the team deserves this. We’ve been on the road for the last 40 days, I feel like. It’s been a grind, but it’s nice to be up on the podium with this car.”
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.), casted up with a broken right wrist and broken left foot, toughed it out to earn a second consecutive podium finish in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, finishing third at Bridgeport and extending his series point lead to 19 markers over fourth-place feature finisher Chris Windom.
“Toward the bottom was the fastest line, but my car was pretty good all over and I don’t think we were quite set up to run the bottom with us not expecting the track to do that,” Kofoid said. “I could make up a lot of ground early on by sliding myself and splitting guys. The bottom came in and it got dirty where I couldn’t really run my line through the middle or run the fence. It was another pretty good points night and I’m glad to be on the podium again. I just need to be two spots better.”
Alex Bright (Collegeville, Pa.) earned his first career USAC National Midget fast time during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying. The decade-plus veteran of the series set the top time and established a track record on the same night he made his 68th career series feature start. Bright knows these banks of Bridgeport Motorsports Park well. He played a major role in the reconstruction of the track by operating the bulldozer that carved out the high banks in 2020.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2021 – Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Swedesboro, New Jersey – 4/10-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Alex Bright, 25m, Malloy-16.275 (New Track Record); 2. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-16.311; 3. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-16.327; 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-16.342; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-16.378; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-16.383; 7. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-16.413; 8. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-16.443; 9. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-16.468; 10. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-16.521; 11. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.521; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-16.524; 13. Jonathan Shafer, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.566; 14. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.569; 15. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.588; 16. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.730; 17. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-16.770; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-16.799; 19. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-17.121; 20. Kevin Woody Jr., 25B, Buckwalter-17.382; 21. Jimmy Glenn, 7G, Glenn-17.675; 22. Shawn Jackson, 7J, Jackson-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Jonathan Shafer, 6. Travis Buckley, 7. Chase Randall. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Taylor Reimer, 6. Hayden Williams, 7. Kevin Woody Jr. 2:14.20 (New Track Record)
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Justin Grant, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Jimmy Glenn. 2:15.84
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (4), 2. Thomas Meseraull (3), 3. Buddy Kofoid (7), 4. Chris Windom (5), 5. Emerson Axsom (1), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (14), 7. Cannon McIntosh (2), 8. Alex Bright (6), 9. Chase Randall (9), 10. Justin Grant (11), 11. Daison Pursley (8), 12. Hayden Williams (17), 13. Logan Seavey (10), 14. Taylor Reimer (13), 15. Jonathan Shafer (15), 16. Ethan Mitchell (18), 17. Hayden Reinbold (16), 18. Kevin Woody Jr. (20), 19. Travis Buckley (19), 20. Jimmy Glenn (21), 21. Zach Daum (12). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Emerson Axsom, Laps 5-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1386, 2-Chris Windom-1367, 3-Emerson Axsom-1339, 4-Tanner Thorson-1255, 5-Justin Grant-1240, 6-Daison Pursley-1212, 7-Thomas Meseraull-1146, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1145, 9-Logan Seavey-1135, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1031.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-113, 2-Justin Grant-113, 3-Brady Bacon-110, 4-Chris Windom-105, 5-Thomas Meseraull-103, 6-Robert Ballou-97, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-94, 8-Logan Seavey-82, 9-Kyle Cummins-68, 10-Buddy Kofoid-67.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 6, 2021 – Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Cannon McIntosh
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Alex Bright
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Kevin Thomas Jr. (14th to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
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TWICE IS NICE: THORSON GOES BACK-TO-BACK AT BLOOMSBURG
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania (August 6, 2021)………For the second consecutive night, a first-time venue on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail produced a familiar result for Tanner Thorson.
Twenty-four hours after trouncing the field by half a lap in the series’ debut at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Speedway, the Minden, Nevada native found a slightly different route to victory on Friday night in the first-ever series event at the newly-renovated Bloomsburg Fair Raceway in Pennsylvania.
With 10 laps remaining, Thorson found himself a distant second while Thomas Meseraull ruled the roost up front. However, a tangle that ensued as Meseraull was attempting to lap Glenn Waterland signaled the end of Meseraull’s victory ambitions.
As the new leader, Thorson never relented down the stretch to earn his series-leading sixth USAC National Midget feature win of the season in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – The Healing Tree – Eddie Gilstrap Motors/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
Thorson’s win was the 26th of his USAC National Midget career, elevating him past Darren Hagen, Parnelli Jones and Dave Strickland for sole possession of 16th on the all-time list, and just one win behind Gary Bettenhausen and Tony Stewart for 14th.
Friday night at Bloomsburg marked Thorson’s fourth career Eastern Midget Week feature score, tying him with Chad Boat for the most all-time in the seven-year history of the series. The win was also the fourth time in Thorson’s USAC National Midget career that he’s won consecutive feature events, and the second time this year alone.
Thorson has won feature races in a variety of different ways throughout his career. In that period of time, he’s learned to not be picky about how a win comes along. You take them any way you can get them. The main ingredient to it all is putting yourself into position in the chance that things do go awry, and you’re right there to capitalize on the situation at hand.
How it played out wasn’t quite exactly how Thorson drew it up, but it was he who wrapped it up once again for his ninth overall USAC National feature win of the season between Midgets and Sprint Cars, which has already made 2021 Thorson’s most successful USAC season of his career.
“It’s definitely better to be lucky than good sometimes,” Thorson admitted. “I feel bad for Thomas and his crew. They were really, really fast. I don’t know if we would’ve had anything for him. My car was getting better and better there on that long green flag run, but I don’t know. Thomas was good; there’s no doubt about that. I’m really happy for my team. This Reinbold-underwood team is awesome. I switched over to them, and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my racing career.”
Thorson started the 30-lap feature from the sixth position after earlier notching his 21st career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time with the USAC National Midgets, tying him for 19th all-time with Tony Stewart, Don Branson and Shorty Templeman.
Pennsylvanian Alex Bright broke out to the early lead from his pole starting position, but fourth-starting Thomas Meseraull was initially the show, bulleting by Kevin Thomas Jr. and Daison Pursley amid a three-car tussle for the runner-up position, gaining the second spot in a harrowing manner when Pursley got loose on the high side exit of turn four. Meseraull ramped his own right rear tire over Pursley’s left front and continued onward as Pursley faltered back to fifth in the order.
Meseraull ultimately tracked down Bright on the eighth lap off the bottom exit of turn four to occupy the lead where he’d remain a sole proprietor of throughout the middle stages of the event, checking out to a commanding 1.6 second lead until 12th running Chase Randall slowed to a stop with a rear-end issue on lap 13.
With his lead erased, Bright found his second wind on the lap 13 restart, sliding deep past Meseraull into turn three. Yet, Meseraull countered back under to retake the lead at the line by a car length before withstanding another Bright punch to the body on lap 14 in the same spot that Meseraull thwarted.
All along, lurking on the bottom just behind Meseraull and Bright was Thorson, performing similarly to the manner in which he did the previous night at Bridgeport, circling the bottom to lunge forward, underneath and past Bright on lap 17. By that point, though, Meseraull had reestablished his 1.5 second lead and was in total command as he began to work through traffic.
Within Meseraull’s sight as he worked turns one and two on the 21st lap was 19th running Glenn Waterland. As Waterland occupied the middle lane, Meseraull swept up from the bottom of turn one on entry toward the top, contact was made between Meseraull’s front bumper and Waterland’s rear bumper, sending both into a 180-degree spin before stopping.
It was a bitterly disappointing conclusion for Meseraull who returned to the fold and climbed back to 11th at the checkered flag while Waterland was 18th.
On the ensuing restart, and for the final nine lap run, Thorson maintained control of the race. Although second-running Justin Grant was able to keep Thorson right within his crosshairs, he was unable to draw any closer to the 2016 USAC National Midget driving champion who closed out with a 0.223 second victory over Grant, Cannon McIntosh, Bright and Emerson Axsom.
“It’s always great when you can win at least one of the races on a swing like this. To be able to win two is pretty special,” Thorson said. “The competition is really stout. It used to be where you’re competing with about only five, six or seven guys that could win the race, but now I feel like the top-12 to 15 on almost any given night are in contention to win.”
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) finished as the runner-up in USAC National Midget competition for the fourth time this season in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Sill looking for his first USAC National Midget feature win for RMS, Grant is joyous to “not be wadded up in a big ball” after a trying week which saw him endure a wild opening lap flip at Action Track USA and was in the thick of contact during Bloomsburg’s accompanying USAC East Coast Sprint Car feature that sent him into a spin while leading. Grant hoped for one more opportunity to get at Thorson late, but a win was not in the cards for the reigning USAC Silver Crown champ.
“That last restart was a great opportunity for us to try to close the gap and win the race, but I got goobered up on the berm off four and spun my tires down the front stretch,” Grant recalled. “This series is tough, and these guys are really tough. When you spin the tires like that, you can’t leave the entry open, so I had to protect on the first lap to not get mugged into one. That kind of killed my chance to really get ringing around the top and make some momentum to throw a slider on Tanner into three. From there, we were just trying to run him down. We were good, but he was good as well and it was just hard to close that gap.”
Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) flashed from 5th to 3rd during a late-race stretch that provided him his first podium finish with the series since a second-place result at Paragon Speedway during Indiana Midget Week on June 3 in his Dave Mac Motorsports/DriveWFX.com – SBS Shocks – D.A. McIntosh/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“We had a really good car, so I was able to put it wherever I needed to there at the end,” McIntosh remembered. “I knew the car deserved to be up a couple more spots, so I just drove it as hard as I could at the end to try and get us on the podium, and it’s good to be back here. This team deserves it; everybody works pretty hard and, hopefully, that gets us closer to where we want to be, which is a win.
Every time we’ve had speed lately, things just haven’t gone our way to show how much speed we’ve really built up,” McIntosh continued. “It’s been there recently. We just haven’t been able to make it happen. It’s good to show it tonight. We obviously wanted to be a couple spots higher, but we can’t complain about being on the podium.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 6, 2021 – Bloomsburg Fair Raceway – Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-15.600 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-15.653; 3. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-15.711; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.748; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.808; 6. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.858; 7. Alex Bright, 25m, Malloy-15.872; 8. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.883; 9. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-15.899; 10. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.986; 11. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.026; 12. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-16.041; 13. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-16.058; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.145; 15. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-16.197; 16. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-16.470; 17. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-16.859; 18. Michael Markey, 7, Markey-16.875; 19. Kevin Woody Jr., 25B, Buckwalter-17.163; 20. Jimmy Glenn, 7G, Glenn-17.211; 21. J.R. Booth, 5A, Mausteller-17.518; 22. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-17.526; 23. Dan Bennett, 5J, Bennett-17.609; 24. Shannon Mausteller, 21m, Mausteller-18.375; 25. Randy Mausteller, 21, Mausteller-18.819; 26. John Heydenreich, 22, Givens-NT; 27. Bobby Butler, 12, Glenn-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Kenney Johnson, 7. Kevin Woody Jr., 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Randy Mausteller. 2:42.345
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Taylor Reimer, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Eric Heydenreich, 5. Jimmy Glenn, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Dan Bennett, 8. Buddy Kofoid, 9. Bobby Butler. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Chase Randall, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Michael Markey, 7. J.R. Booth, 8. Shannon Mausteller. 2:45.484
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Kenney Johnson, 4. Kevin Woody Jr., 5. Michael Markey, 6. Glenn Waterland, 7. Shannon Mausteller, 8. J.R. Booth, 9. John Heydenreich (#21), 10. Dan Bennett. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (6), 2. Justin Grant (5), 3. Cannon McIntosh (7), 4. Alex Bright (1), 5. Emerson Axsom (10), 6. Daison Pursley (2), 7. Logan Seavey (8), 8. Chris Windom (12), 9. Buddy Kofoid (9), 10. Taylor Reimer (11), 11. Thomas Meseraull (4), 12. Hayden Reinbold (14), 13. Ethan Mitchell (15), 14. Kenney Johnson (16), 15. Kevin Woody Jr. (21), 16. Michael Markey (18), 17. Eric Heydenreich (17), 18. Glenn Waterland (20), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 20. Jimmy Glenn (19), 21. Shannon Mausteller (22), 22. Chase Randall (13). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Alex Bright, Laps 8-20 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 21-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1435, 2-Chris Windom-1424, 3-Emerson Axsom-1404, 4-Tanner Thorson-1336, 5-Justin Grant-1317, 6-Daison Pursley-1273, 7-Logan Seavey-1196, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1194, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1180, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1103.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-118, 2-Justin Grant-116, 3-Brady Bacon-110, 4-Chris Windom-109, 5-Thomas Meseraull-103, 6-Robert Ballou-97, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-94, 8-Logan Seavey-83, 9-Kyle Cummins-68, 10-Buddy Kofoid-67.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 7, 2021 – Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Newmanstown, Pennsylvania – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Kevin Woody Jr. (21st to 15th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: J.R. Booth
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FIRST THINGS FIRST: GRANT GETS FIRST USAC MIDGET WIN OF THE YEAR AT LANCO
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Newmanstown, Pennsylvania (August 7, 2021)………Finishing second on any given night can be considered a solid result in the high majority of circumstances.
Finishing second four times without a win when the season is more than halfway complete. Now, that can start to get on your nerves a little bit.
Justin Grant entered Saturday night’s Eastern Midget Week finale at Newmanstown, Pennsylvania’s Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in that exact scenario. With a large number of quality runs throughout this year’s campaign, it’s been a matter of being good, but not good enough for their liking.
With four second place finishes throughout the 2021 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season, Grant and RMS Racing found the perfect formula to put them on top at Lanco with the Ione, Calif. driver banging the rails around the high-banked, 1/8-mile dirt oval, leading the final 18 circuits and fending off point leader Buddy Kofoid down the stretch to win the 40-lap feature.
Grant’s breakthrough also made him the first driver of the season to win in all three USAC National series – Silver Crown, National Sprint Car and National Midget – all cars in which he’s won in during the last 17 days.
Four second-place finishes is enough to test the patience of any team that expects to win. Grant and RMS had been in contention all year long, posting runner-up results in four different months: April at Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway, June at Kokomo Speedway, July at Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway and August at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway, the latter of which came just 24 hours prior to his Lanco triumph.
A victory a long time coming, perhaps, with an occasion that was cause for both a celebration and a sigh of relief for all involved with the RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota number 2J.
“It feels great to get this car into victory lane, finally,” Grant exhaled. “Everybody really works really hard on this car, and they’ve given me a great car all year long. We’ve run second a ton and I was just getting frustrated and getting tired of not getting these guys a win. It feels really good to do it for them.”
Grant began his race from the pole position but didn’t stay there too long as outside front row starter, and winner of the two most recent Eastern Midget Week races, Tanner Thorson, motored away to the lead for the opening two trips.
Outside second row starter Emerson Axsom, meanwhile, burst to the head of the field by dipping under Thorson between turns one and two on the third lap. Axsom then countered Thorson’s slide job attempt moments later in turn three to secure the position for the time being.
The first stoppage of the feature came on lap six when 10th running Cannon McIntosh launched like a missile into the turn one catchfence. He walked away without injury after the vicious flip, but his night was ended prematurely, relegating him to a finish of 22nd in the final rundown.
While Axsom remained in control on the 19th lap, Grant and Daison Pursley were in the midst of a manic duel for second. Grant made an attempt for the position underneath while Pursley attempted to eke around the outside of Grant. Pursley ran out of room at the exit and ramped up the guardrail with his right side wheels before coming back down on all fours.
Pursley crunched the outside wall once more mere seconds later in turn three, then again in turn one. Slowing in the middle of the groove on the back straightaway, Pursley was nailed in the tail tank by Brett Wanner who stopped following the contact and was subsequently tagged by Chase Randall. Wanner exited the race, credited with finishing 20th, while Randall resumed to finish 8th.
The third try proved to be the charm for Grant following the restart. Between turns three and four on the 20th lap, Grant fired his first shot by slide jobbing Axsom, but Axsom quickly cut down and reemerged at the front of the field. Grant proceeded with another try in turn one on lap 21 with the same result. Grant tucked in behind Axsom and followed in three and four, setting up the clincher with a slider in turn one that stuck, and also stuck him into the lead on the 22nd lap.
Axsom took one more grasp at the lead, briefly getting by Grant in turn one on lap 24, but Grant buckled down, passed him back underneath and took off in a race that was plagued by a bevy of cautions early on.
The yellow flag struck again on the 25th lap when Thomas Meseraull backed into the turn three wall, collecting Taylor Reimer, Hayden Reinbold and Kevin Woody Jr. in the process. Meseraull and Reimer bowed out with extensive damage while Reinbold and Woody continued onward with Woody ultimately earning KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors for a second consecutive race, advancing from 20th to a career best 11th place finish at Lanco.
Just three laps after Grant spurted away with a fantastic lap 25 restart in which he exploded out to a 1.265 sec. lead, trouble found fifth running Kevin Thomas Jr. who slowed with a puff of smoke emanating from the headers and a trail of fluid showering the track behind him. That necessitated a red flag in order for the track crew to bring out the tiller to help clean up the oiled down surface between turns one and two.
With nine laps remaining, Kofoid had tracked down Axsom and raced by for second in turn one, while Grant held a near insurmountable advantage ahead of Kofoid, 2.5 seconds in front, an interval which was soon erased when the night’s third red flag was displayed for Hayden Reinbold (11th) and Kenney Johnson (12th) who both flipped down the front straightaway. Johnson exited the battle with a 15th place result while Reinbold resumed to finish out the race and collect a career-best series finish of 10th.
The plethora of yellows threw a monkey wrench into Grant’s visions of triumph at Lanco, making him have to withstand restart after restart from a precarious position, in the lead, where anything can, may and will happen at any time.
“You never know how good you’re going to get away on the restart,” Grant explained. “These little places are so susceptible to receiving a big bomb into one. Then, it all goes out the window. It doesn’t matter how good your car is. Then, it becomes a matter of playing the sliders and the crossover. Fortunately, we didn’t have to do any of that. This car was awesome, it would just drive away on the restarts.”
Now with Kofoid on his rear bumper for the restart with eight laps to go, Grant dug deep and laid down a perfect restart once again, distancing himself from Kofoid almost instantaneously while carrying a five car length lead ahead of Kofoid as he crossed the stripe to complete the 33rd lap.
Any visions Kofoid had of tracking down Grant were for naught as Grant kept Kofoid in check, an arm’s length away, during the final restart run. The only hiccup came as Grant clobbered the turn three guardrail coming to the white flag, but it ultimately became a prime case for “no harm, no foul.”
Grant closed out his sixth career USAC National Midget feature win by a 0.670 second margin with Buddy Kofoid second, Emerson Axsom third, Chris Windom fourth and Daison Pursley fifth.
For Grant, enduring the season-long wait for the win and the near hour it took to complete Saturday night’s feature, were met with much the same response from Grant – not a moment too soon.
“By the end of that thing, I had the brakes burned off it and I think the motor was blowing up,” Grant revealed. “I’m pretty sure I packed the right rear wheel. We were limping her home there at the end.”
A test of will and patience was on full display this evening with Grant conquering a venue in which he previously possessed a best finish of 7th in both 2018 and 2020. With a fondness for Lanco’s elbows up style, the desired result didn’t come to Grant until this night, on a track and surface that was right within his wheelhouse.
“I’ve always really liked this place; it’s always a ton of fun,” Grant stated. “It’s a lot of work around here. I was hustling for all 40 laps there. The track was cool. I love a curb on the wall where you get to put on a show and go as fast as you can go for all the fans.”
One year ago this weekend, Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) served as the spotter for Grant in a USAC Silver Crown race at Selinsgrove Speedway. One year later, Kofoid repeated his runner-up finish from Lanco in 2020 by finishing second again in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – IWX/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, his best result since breaking his wrist and foot in a stock car crash on July 24 at Elko Speedway in Minnesota, as he continues the healing process and trying to get as comfortable as humanly possible with a cast on his right arm.
“You just had to be perfect on the top, but even the best make mistakes,” Kofoid said. “I saw Justin make a mistake, and right when he’d make one, I would follow him and make the same mistake. I’d stay with him, make a mistake, and he’d pull away, then I’d get back to him, but I couldn’t quite get close enough to get a shot at him.”
Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) finished all five of his Eastern Midget Week starts within the top-five with two second-place results at Grandview and Action Track USA, followed by two fifths at Bridgeport and Bloomsburg, and rounding out the mini-series with a 3rd at Lanco in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“For my second year in a midget, I still consider myself a rookie,” Axsom said. “It’s super tough to do well on these types of tracks and it sucks to be so fast all week and not get a win, but we’ll get there. This car is so good.
I wanted to get to the lead early and set the pace,” Axsom continued. “I felt like every time I got a good lead, a caution would come out or a red would come out. It made it really tough on me to get back in a rhythm. Justin’s a veteran and is used to this kind of stuff and is used to putting it up against the wall. But I think, overall, we did really well tonight.”
In Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying, Daison Pursley became the first driver ever to reach the 9-second bracket at Lanco with a new track record time of 9.972 seconds. His personal first career quick time with the series continued a trend which saw a new one-lap track record at all five events and venues consecutively throughout Eastern Midget Week.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 7, 2021 – Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Newmanstown, Pennsylvania – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.972 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-10.025; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-10.084; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-10.121; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.184; 6. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-10.298; 7. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-10.372; 8. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-10.414; 9. Hayden Williams, 1NZ, BSL-10.429; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-10.445; 11. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-10.484; 12. Alex Bright, 25m, Malloy-10.491; 13. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.525; 14. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-10.579; 15. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-10.592; 16. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-10.621; 17. Brett Wanner, 00, Speers-10.874; 18. Jimmy Glenn, 7G, Glenn-11.188; 19. Mark Sokol, 50, Sokol-11.605; 20. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-11.634; 21. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-11.999; 22. Kevin Woody Jr., 25B, Buckwalter-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Kevin Woody Jr., 7. Mark Sokol, 8. Taylor Reimer. 1:50.172
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Brett Wanner, 7. Kenney Johnson. 1:46.508 (New Track Record)
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Hayden Williams, 5. Jimmy Glenn, 6. Glenn Waterland, 7. Cannon McIntosh. 1:47.477
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Buddy Kofoid (3), 3. Emerson Axsom (4), 4. Chris Windom (10), 5. Daison Pursley (6), 6. Tanner Thorson (2), 7. Logan Seavey (5), 8. Chase Randall (7), 9. Hayden Williams (11), 10. Hayden Reinbold (15), 11. Kevin Woody Jr. (20), 12. Jimmy Glenn (21), 13. Ethan Mitchell (13), 14. Glenn Waterland (19), 15. Kenney Johnson (18), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 17. Thomas Meseraull (8), 18. Taylor Reimer (22), 19. Mark Sokol (17), 20. Brett Wanner (16), 21. Alex Bright (14), 22. Cannon McIntosh (9). NT
**Cannon McIntosh flipped on lap 6 of the feature. Hayden Reinbold & Kenney Johnson flipped on lap 32 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Tanner Thorson, Laps 3-22 Emerson Axsom, Laps 23-40 Justin Grant.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1511, 2-Chris Windom-1490, 3-Emerson Axsom-1476, 4-Tanner Thorson-1398, 5-Justin Grant-1395, 6-Daison Pursley-1344, 7-Logan Seavey-1257, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1231, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1215, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1132.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-118, 2-Justin Grant-116, 3-Chris Windom-115, 4-Brady Bacon-110, 5-Thomas Meseraull-103, 6-Robert Ballou-97, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-94, 8-Logan Seavey-83, 9-Buddy Kofoid-68, 10-Kyle Cummins-68.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 18-19, 2021 – The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Indiana – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Driven2SaveLives BC39 Powered By NOS Energy Drink
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Daison Pursley
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Daison Pursley
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chase Randall
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Kevin Woody Jr. (20th to 11th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell
=====================
UNDENIED: LARSON THRILLS IN SPECTACULAR BC39 VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (August 19, 2021)………It was chaos. It was mayhem. It was heart palpitating. But, in the end, the third running of the USAC Driven2SaveLives BC39 Powered By NOS Energy Drink will best be remembered by a one word description - “Larson.”
One night after capturing victory in the Stoops Pursuit at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson warded off a continuous onslaught of haymakers, bombs and sliders, all while simultaneously wheeling his way to the front, enduring the mental gymnastics along the way, then holding off challenges from the likes of USAC national champions Justin Grant and Brady Bacon during the final five lap stint to win the $15,000 prize.
Larson’s BC39 victory was the 24th win of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, moving him inside the top-20 on the all-time list in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall – Billy Boat Performance Exhaust/Spike/Speedway.
“These midgets are so fun and fun on a track like this,” Larson said of the quarter-mile dirt track inside turn three of the famed 2.5-mile IMS oval. “This is the perfect midget track. They did such a good job building this place, the size, the dimensions, the banking, the dirt, everything, the track prep is great. Hats off to the whole crew here. That was so much fun.”
Starting fourth, Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.) remained relatively status quo as he remained hovering in the fourth and fifth positions for the majority of the first half of the race while a succession of leaders took their turns at the front with Grant controlling the opening circuit before Pursley got a drive off the fourth corner to race past and into lead on the second lap.
Grant didn’t surrender easily, however, reassuming the top spot back under Pursley between turns one and two. Yet, Pursley secured the position for good by the time the two reached turns three and four moments later.
Barging onto the scene in short order was fifth starting Thomas Meseraull who surpassed Grant, then immediately began his assault on Pursley for the lead, which saw him come within a foot of leading at the line on lap seven when eighth running Chris Windom dug into the third turn cushion and tumbled. He was okay.
Holding a one-second lead throughout the next several laps, Pursley connected with the cushion multiple times, resulting in Meseraull closing right to the rear bumper of Pursley. On the 17th lap, Pursley snagged the turn four curb with a mighty force, knocking him off his course and giving free reign to Meseraull to charge under for first while Larson elevated from fourth to third to second in a two-lap span between laps 17-19.
Larson worked the high side while Meseraull hammered his stake to the bottom. On the 22nd lap, Larson used the fence to surge ahead of Meseraull by a wheel at the line. The next time around, the infield tire-dwelling Meseraull drifted from bottom to top at the exit of four. Larson was prepared, and immediately swung to the bottom off turn four, straight-lining to the entry of one with the top spot in his possession.
Over the next handful of laps, the pair swapped their lines. Anywhere they could do to find a shot to get passed, the opportunity was taken. Banging the cushion or bouncing off the wall, nothing was out of bounds in this endless tug of war that saw Meseraull rise back to the top of rung while simultaneously drifting side-by-side up to the top of turn four when Larson clobbered the curb, knocking him askew and taking the door off the hinges for Meseraull to revisit the front yet again with 15 laps remaining.
Extending his lead up to 1.118 seconds with five laps remaining, Meseraull seemed to be in tip-top shape, all things considered, possessing his biggest lead yet while Larson and Grant both lost ground while engaging in their own thrill show for the runner-up spot.
With that being said, everything you thought you knew about this race up until that point had all turned to a figment of the past when seventh running Cannon McIntosh spun and stopped with five laps to go in turn three.
On the lap 35 restart, Larson utilized a massive drive off the bottom of turn two to overtake Meseraull, then aimed straight for the top of turn three while Meseraull took the slider line through the middle, and Grant took a variation of a slider line off the bottom, all at full-slide, three-wide, up to the turn four wall. Meseraull and Larson subsequently banged right rear to left rear wheels, sending Larson bouncing off the wall and Meseraull into a 180-degree spin with his front end knocked out.
That signified “game over” and instant heartbreak for Meseraull after leading 16 laps, the second consecutive BC39 feature in which he’s led the most laps, after heading the field for 18 in 2019.
“It’s hard to get away from people here,” Larson explained. “The entry is so long around, and the bottom is so far in, that they can throw sliders. I got by TMez there, and I tried to shut the door in one and two, but I didn’t get down there low enough. He obviously knew to get to the top at that point and I thought the race was over, but we got some restarts there and I did an okay job. Then, we just got to sliding each other. It was chaos, but a lot of fun from my seat.”
Upon the resumption, Larson began sliding himself into turns one and three where he intended to enter on the bottom, then slide up to the curb at the top of the turn on exit. But that proved perilous and troublesome for Larson coming to three to go when he snaggled the turn four cushion, sending him stumbling for balance. Seemingly coming from off the grid was Brady Bacon who exploded into second on the low side, a half car length behind Larson at the line with a mere half car length back at the stripe.
On the back straight of lap 37, the race was now three-wide with Bacon on the bottom, Larson in the middle of the sandwich and Grant riding the wave up against the concrete. Larson and Grant touched wheels at the entry of turn three while Bacon ducked under both to put himself momentarily with a car length lead until Larson gathered it back up and nipped Bacon at the line by a slim, slim margin.
With Tom Hansing’s white flag just within sight, Grant made a monster run at Larson in turn three, sliding all the way across the nose or Larson, bouncing his right rear tire off the outside wall as Larson crossed over, drove back under Grant as well as Bacon who still remained down in the trenches, securing the line around the infield tires.
Akin to breathing through a straw at this point in time, Larson found no breathing room whatsoever as he used the momentum off the top on the final lap to put away Bacon on the bottom of turns one and two while Grant was just a tad too far back to make one more banzai run into turn three.
Larson sped under the checkered flag 0.220 of a second – a single car length – ahead of Grant, with Bacon third, Pursley fourth and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Emerson Axsom rounding out the top-five after starting 19th on the grid.
“I had a lot of thoughts running through my head on what to do, but I kind of screwed it all up that whole last restart,” Larson recalled. “I slid myself a few times, and I shouldn’t have been doing that, but I knew Justin was running the top of one and two there. I slid myself and slammed the curb every time in four, and then Brady got to my inside. Justin was there and slid us, or something. It was wild. I did not do a good job that last restart but, thankfully, I put a decent last lap together and snuck away with the win. I’ll take it. It’s cool to win this race in honor of Bryan (Clauson). This event’s grown into something really big and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) freely admitted he wasn’t all that great early in the feature, but once it got on the fence, he felt he was pretty equal with Larson, but in the end, came up a little bit short to earn his third consecutive top-two feature finish with the series in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management. Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Man, I hate running second to this guy,” Grant said of Larson. “I tell you what. I don’t have to tell you he’s good. But man, he’s good. Playing the slider game, and doing that back and forth, he does it as good or better than anybody. It’s tough to get him beat. We had a couple chances there and didn’t get them played quite right. I had to take a pretty big bomb to get out in front of him there in three and four and I killed the motor; I hit the cushion. Just a ton of fun, but I hate running second. I don’t care who it’s too. It really bums me out. I like winning races.”
Brady Bacon’s bid to become the first two-time winner of the BC39 came in a third-place performance in his TKH Motorsports/Dahmer Powertrain – Fatheadz Eyewear – Champion Oil/Triple X/Stanton SR-11x. Settling in on the low line, the 2018 race winner nearly pulled it off after deciding early on that the high line wasn’t going to be his thing on this night.
“I tried the top a couple times and I’m like ehhhh, I don’t think I’m going to get it done up there, so I started making some adjustments, trying to make my line good on the bottom. We actually started keeping up and, when they were racing with each other, we could gain ground. I think I almost led a lap there, and almost snuck in for the win. That was my game plan and I think if we could’ve run a couple better laps there at the end, I might’ve had a shot. They can slide or die all they want, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to try and outsmart everybody, and we came close tonight.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 18-19, 2021 – The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Driven2SaveLives BC39 Powered By NOS Energy Drink
SIMPSON RACE PRODCUTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Cole Bodine (#39BC Clauson Marshall), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (#85 Central), 3. Karter Sarff (#21K Sarff), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 5. Bryant Wiedeman (#01 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 7. Blake Brannon (#40 Brannon), 8. Kevin Woody Jr. (#10 Dave Mac).
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 2. Chase Elliott (#9 May), 3. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Chris Windom (#89 CBI), 5. Hayden Williams (#1NZ BSL), 6. Carson Garrett (#15x Garrett), 7. Jacob Denney (#35 Petry), 8. Justin Dickerson (#21D Dickerson), 9. Tommy Kouns (#98 Kouns). NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson Marshall), 2. Kaylee Bryson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Chase Briscoe (#5B Briscoe), 4. Zac Taylor (#71T Henry), 5. Jason McDougal (#4 Klatt), 6. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 7. Chance Crum (#26 Rudeen), 8. Ben Varner (#25v Gladish), 9. Jeff Schindler (#11 Martin).
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Aiden Purdue (#11m Martin), 2. Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy), 3. Brady Bacon (#21H TKH), 4. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), 5. Maria Cofer (#57 Abacus), 6. J.J. Yeley (#51 Ware), 7. Robert Bell (#71B Bell), 8. Kameron Gladish (#4K Gladish), 9. Randi Pankratz (#8 Pankratz).
SIMPSON RACE PRODCUTS FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Justin Grant (#2J RMS), 2. Kyle Larson (#86x CBI), 3. Taylor Reimer (#25K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Austin Barnhill (#17B Johnson), 5. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold-Underwood), 7. Russ Gamester (#46 R & G), 8. Rylan Gray (#81G Gray), 9. Trevor Casey (#2c Casey).
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Ryan Timms (#85T CBI), 2. Daison Pursley (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Tanner Berryhill (#17 Berryhill), 4. Shane Cottle (#86 Stamper), 5. Carson Kvapil (#2MD Dailey), 6. Ronnie Gardner (#43 Arnold), 7. Tyler Edwards (#36x Dragonfly), 8. Billy Lawless (#17L Lawless), 9. Jeff Wimmenauer (#15J Wimmenauer).
INDY METAL FINISHING SEVENTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Corey Day (#47BC Clauson Marshall), 2. Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), 3. Bryan Stanfill (#75AU Griffiths), 4. Gary Taylor (#32 Dunlap), 5. Daniel Robinson (#57D McCreery), 6. Conor Daly (#47D DiaEdge), 7. Ryan Newman (#6BC Clauson Marshall), 8. Aaron Leffel (#11L Taylor), 9. John Heydenreich (#22 Givens).
INDY RACE PARTS EIGHTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres), 2. Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), 3. Spencer Bayston (#84 CBI), 4. Zeb Wise (#37 Wood), 5. Sam Johnson (#72J Johnson), 6. Glenn Waterland (#11c Waterland), 7. Jonathan Shafer (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 8. Ian Creager (#36 Creager), 9. Riley Kreisel (#19 Cox).
STOOPS PURSUIT: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (16), 2. Tanner Thorson (18), 3. Brady Bacon (22), 4. Justin Grant (12), 5. Zeb Wise (24), 6. Kyle Cummins (4), 7. J.J. Yeley (23), 8. Chase Briscoe (5), 9. Emerson Axsom (20), 10. Tyler Courtney (14), 11. Daison Pursley (10), 12. Cole Bodine (2), 13. Conor Daly (26), 14. Jerry Coons Jr. (1), 15. Chase Randall (6), 16. Aiden Purdue (3), 17. Corey Day (7), 18. Spencer Bayston (8), 19. Ryan Timms (9), 20. Buddy Kofoid (11), 21. Logan Seavey (13), 22. Thomas Meseraull (15), 23. Chris Windom (17), 24. Chase Elliott (19), 25. Kaylee Bryson (21), 26. Ryan Newman (25). NT
SIMPSON RACE PRODCUTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Brady Bacon (#21H TKH), 2. Justin Grant (#2J RMS), 3. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Jason McDougal (#4 Klatt), 5. Kaylee Bryson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Zac Taylor (#71T Henry), 7. Carson Kvapil (#2MD Dailey), 8. J.J. Yeley (#51 Ware), 9. Conor Daly (#47D DiaEdge), 10. Ben Varner (#25v Gladish), 11. Russ Gamester (#46 R & G).
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. SECOND QUALIFIER: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), 2. Cole Bodine (#39BC Clauson Marshall), 3. Spencer Bayston (#84 CBI), 4. Hayden Williams (#1NZ BSL), 5. Gary Taylor (#32 Dunlap), 6. Sam Johnson (#72J Johnson), 7. Daniel Robinson (#57D McCreery), 8. Jonathan Shafer (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 9. Tommy Kouns (#98 Kouns), 10. Kameron Gladish (#4K Gladish), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (#01 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 12. Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy).
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD QUALIFIER: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson Marshall), 2. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), 3. Kyle Larson (#86x CBI) 4. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres), 5. Shane Cottle (#86 Stamper), 6. Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 7. Chance Crum (#26 Rudeen), 8. Carson Garrett (#15x Garrett), 9. Jeff Schindler (#11 Martin), 10. Justin Dickerson (#21D Dickerson), 11. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 12. Aaron Leffel (#11L Taylor).
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFIER: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (#85 Central), 3. Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), 4. Aiden Purdue (#11m Martin), 5. Zeb Wise (#37 Wood), 6. Trevor Casey (#2c Casey), 7. Maria Cofer (#57 Abacus), 8. Rylan Gray (#81G Gray), 9. Randi Pankratz (#8 Pankratz), 10. Austin Barnhill (#17B Johnson), 11. Robert Bell (#71B Bell), 12. Jacob Denney (#35 Petry).
FIFTH QUALIFIER: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 2. Ryan Timms (#85T CBI), 3. Corey Day (#47BC Clauson Marshall), 4. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 5. Karter Sarff (#21K Sarff), 6. Chase Elliott (#9 May), 7. Ryan Newman (#6BC Clauson Marshall), 8. Ian Creager (#36 Creager), 9. Tanner Berryhill (#17 Berryhill), 10. Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold-Underwood).
SIXTH QUALIFIER: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Chris Windom (#89 CBI), 2. Daison Pursley (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Taylor Reimer (#25K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Chase Briscoe (#5B Briscoe), 5. Tyler Edwards (#36x Dragonfly), 6. Ronnie Gardner (#43 Arnold), 7. Kevin Woody Jr. (#10 Dave Mac), 8. Bryan Stanfill (#75AU Griffiths), 9. Blake Brannon (#40 Brannon), 10. Glenn Waterland (#11c Waterland), 11. Billy Lawless (#17L Lawless).
FIRST D-MAIN: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the C-main) 1. Jacob Denney, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Rylan Gray, 4. Glenn Waterland, 5. Kevin Woody Jr., 6. Ian Creager, 7. Jeff Schindler, 8. Robert Bell, 9. Kameron Gladish, 10. Blake Brannon, 11. Austin Barnhill, 12. Aaron Leffel. NT
SECOND D-MAIN: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the C-main) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Ryan Newman, 4. Jonathan Shafer, 5. Ben Varner, 6. Russ Gamester, 7. Conor Daly, 8. Randi Pankratz, 9. Billy Lawless, 10. Tommy Kouns, 11. Justin Dickerson.
C-MAIN: (15 laps, top-6 transfer to the semi) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Zac Taylor, 3. Chance Crum, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Trevor Casey, 8. Maria Cofer, 9. Jacob Denney, 10. Rylan Gray, 11. Daniel Robinson, 12. Carson Kvapil, 13. Shane Cottle, 14. Ryan Newman, 15. Gary Taylor, 16. Carson Garrett, 17. J.J. Yeley, 18. Hayden Reinbold, 19. Bryan Stanfill, 20. Ronnie Gardner.
SEMI: (20 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Karter Sarff, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Chase Briscoe, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. Zeb Wise, 9. Taylor Reimer, 10. Chase Randall, 11. Bryant Wiedeman, 12. Sam Johnson, 13. Chance Crum, 14. Zac Taylor, 15. Aiden Purdue, 16. Ethan Mitchell, 17. Tyler Edwards, 18. Chase Elliott, 19. Jason McDougal, 20. Brenham Crouch.
FEATURE: (39 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (4), 2. Justin Grant (1), 3. Brady Bacon (6), 4. Daison Pursley (3), 5. Emerson Axsom (19), 6. Ryan Timms (2), 7. Tanner Thorson (21-P), 8. Tyler Courtney (7), 9. Jerry Coons Jr. (9), 10. Buddy Kofoid (13), 11. Chase Briscoe (22), 12. Spencer Bayston (14), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 14. Zeb Wise (25-P), 15. Logan Seavey (20), 16. Cole Bodine (12), 17. Kyle Cummins (16), 18. Karter Sarff (17), 19. Kaylee Bryson (18), 20. Chase Randall (24-P), 21. Chris Windom (8), 22. Cannon McIntosh (10), 23. Hayden Williams (23), 24. Thomas Meseraull (5), 25. Corey Day (15).
(P) represents a provisional starter
ALSO AT THE TRACK: John Heydenreich (#22 Givens) & Jeff Wimmenauer (#15J Wimmenauer)
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Justin Grant, Laps 2-16 Daison Pursley, Laps 17-21 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 22-23 Kyle Larson, Laps 24-34 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 35-39 Kyle Larson.
**Jacob Denney flipped during practice. Brenham Crouch flipped during practice. Bryant Wiedeman flipped during the second qualifier. Gary Taylor flipped during the C-Main. Chase Randall flipped during the semi. Aiden Purdue flipped during the semi. Chris Windom flipped on lap 6 of the feature. Corey Day flipped on lap 18 of the feature.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1554, 2-Emerson Axsom-1534, 3-Chris Windom-1513, 4-Justin Grant-1462, 5-Tanner Thorson-1450, 6-Daison Pursley-1405, 7-Logan Seavey-1290, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1254, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1252, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1155.
FINAL BC39 PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-26, 2-Tanner Thorson-26, 3-Bryant Wiedeman-26, 4-Emerson Axsom-18, 5-Chase Briscoe-16, 6-Chance Crum-15, 7-Jacob Denney-15, 8-Kyle Larson-12, 9-Rylan Gray-11, 10-Brady Bacon-10.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-118, 2-Justin Grant-116, 3-Chris Windom-115, 4-Brady Bacon-114, 5-Thomas Meseraull-103, 6-Robert Ballou-97, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-94, 8-Logan Seavey-91, 9-Buddy Kofoid-71, 10-Kyle Cummins-68.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 5, 2021 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Pepsi Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
BC39 ProSource Passing Master: Logan Seavey
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Tanner Thorson
ProSource Hard Work: Logan Seavey & Hayden Williams
Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner: Brady Bacon
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing Third Qualifier Winner: Tyler Courtney
Indy Race Parts Fourth Qualifier Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Karter Sarff
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Emerson Axsom (19th to 5th)
Saldana Race Products First Non-Transfer: Tanner Thorson
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kevin Thomas Jr.
=====================
SIX YEARS LATER…THORSON GETS REDEMPTION AT ANGELL PARK
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (September 5, 2021)………Six years. That’s how long Tanner Thorson had to wait for his moment of redemption on Sunday night during the 37th running of the Firemen’s Nationals at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway.
During the 2015 Firemen’s Nationals, Thorson led 29 and 3/4 of the 30 laps around the 1/3-mile dirt oval before Rico Abreu slid past on the final corner to steal the win from him by mere inches.
Mind you, Thorson (Minden, Nev.) has been a frequent frontrunner at Angell Park over the years, notching a Badger win on Memorial Day Weekend in 2014. At the Firemen’s Nationals, he’s been 3rd and 2nd on consecutive nights in 2014 and was 3rd at the 2017 Firemen’s Nationals.
However, a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature win at Angell Park had alluded him, largely due to the series’ six-year absence from the venue.
Thorson’s sabbatical lasted until the lap 22 restart on Sunday night when he went third to first in rapid-fire succession, first past Justin Grant for second, then by Thomas Meseraull for the lead with eight laps remaining to score his series-leading seventh victory of the year and coupled with his three USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car scores, became the first driver to reach the double-digit win mark with USAC this season.
The victory, worth $5,000, was the 27th of Thorson’s USAC National Midget career, tying him with none-other-than Tony Stewart and Gary Bettenhausen for 14th all-time.
All of it came following a little bit of a mechanical issue early on, which was rectified, then resolved after the changes in the track surface throughout the 30-lap duration played right into the hands of Thorson and his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – MVT – Smith Titanium/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“We had some motor problems in that heat race,” Thorson revealed. “We helped it a little there and fixed a couple things and it wasn’t quite enough, but it seemed to help us tonight with how slick it got. I don’t really set up my car for the beginning of the race. I knew how good Thomas and Justin were at the start, but I felt like my car was going to come in there at the end.”
Thorson started third while an all RMS Racing front row of Meseraull and Grant jockeyed for position during the initial two laps before Meseraull spurted by on the outside to secure the race lead.
Meseraull remained in total control throughout the first two-thirds of the 30-lapper, upping his lead to nearly a full second just five laps in, then to 1.5 sec. at the halfway mark, as he began to put the tail end of the field a lap down in the running order.
Comfortably on top, Meseraull was forced to the bottom on lap 17 as the lapped car of Jack Routson, making his series debut, occupied the same line. Meseraull drifted back to the top after sliding by Routson and reaffirmed his preferred path without losing a single bit of his advantage as the train of Grant, Thorson and Kevin Thomas Jr. followed in suit on the cushion.
Just then, as Meseraull began to assert his foot on the collective throat of the field with nine laps remaining, 12th running Cannon McIntosh’s car went up a major plume of smoke down the front straightaway, forcing him to a stop and necessitating a yellow.
Without traffic being a contributing factor for the restart, the advantage went straight back to Thorson, third in the line, who had just begun to find his footing in a major way on the bottom line and was in the process of getting into second past Grant when the yellow flag fell.
“I felt like Thomas, Justin and I were all kind of the same speed,” Thorson explained. “I got right on Justin’s bumper for most of the race and just couldn’t really get to him or get to a spot where I could get by him. A couple of those lapped cars we were passing, they were keeping up with us a little bit more on the bottom. But I knew on that restart, I had to go for it.”
And he did, as he resumed his flirtation with the low line and nosed underneath Grant for second in turn two on the lap 22 restart, briefly making it three-wide with he, Grant alongside in the middle, and Meseraull up top, tossing dirt at the National Midget Hall of Fame building as he blitzed past.
Thorson completed his pass of Grant with a slide into turn three, which put him right in lockstep with Meseraull. By the time the two got to turn one and two, it was game over as Thorson forged ahead, clearing Meseraull at the exit of turn two, then proceeded to run away ala Del Shannon, closing out with a 2.555 second margin of victory over Meseraull, Grant, Chris Windom and Logan Seavey.
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) led a race-high 22 laps and earned his best result with the series since a similar runner-up finish exactly one month earlier at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Aug. 5. On Sunday, Meseraull, a Badger Midget winner at Angell Park on July 4 of this year, followed up his second-place USAC run with another Badger win immediately after.
“This thing is always so good,” Meseraull said of his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota. “We kind of killed our tires there and, maybe if I had moved to the bottom, I could’ve held him off, but this thing was so good up top, just letting her eat. I love this place. This is hands down my favorite midget track in the country. I don’t know why. We don’t race here a lot, but when we do get to race here, I love it.”
Justin Grant’s only previous Angell Park experience prior to Sunday night came in a sixth place performance during a 2015 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National feature event. Grant (Ione, Calif.) put the second RMS Racing car on the podium on this night in what was first ever midget appearance at the famed track aboard his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Mgmt. Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I had a good car, but we just weren’t quite as good as Tanner and Thomas,” Grant admitted. “Those guys were really good. They were dialed in. We were close, but just not quite good enough. I struggled to get hooked around the bottom. We were pretty good, but we just felt like we were a third-place car and that’s where we ended up.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 5, 2021 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – 37th Firemen’s Nationals
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.463; 2. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.503; 3. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-15.571; 4. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-15.588; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.602; 6. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-15.622; 7. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-15.695; 8. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-15.802; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.817; 10. Chase McDermand, 40, McDermand-15.853; 11. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-15.858; 12. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.893; 13. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.973; 14. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-16.127; 15. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce/Stout-16.360; 16. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-16.387; 17. Jack Routson, 57A, RAB-16.453; 18. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.454; 19. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-16.846; 20. Jeff Zelinski, 18, Engstrom-16.874; 21. Matt Rechek, 38, Shoestring-16.913; 22. Brandon Waelti, 3w, Martin-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Chase McDermand, 6. Daniel Robinson, 7. Brandon Waelti, 8. Glenn Waterland. 2:47.36
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Jeff Zelinski, 7. Jack Routson. 2:47.54
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Trey Gropp, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Matt Rechek. 2:45.90
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (4), 2. Thomas Meseraull (2), 3. Justin Grant (1), 4. Chris Windom (3), 5. Logan Seavey (11), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 7. Emerson Axsom (5), 8. Daison Pursley (6), 9. Buddy Kofoid (13), 10. Chase Randall (9), 11. Brandon Waelti (22), 12. Hayden Reinbold (18), 13. Jack Routson (17), 14. Chase McDermand (12), 15. Jeff Zelinski (20), 16. Matt Rechek (21), 17. Glenn Waterland (19), 18. Ethan Mitchell (14), 19. Cannon McIntosh (8), 20. Zach Daum (10), 21. Trey Gropp (15), 22. Daniel Robinson (16). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-22 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 23-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1607, 2-Emerson Axsom-1598, 3-Chris Windom-1582, 4-Justin Grant-1532, 5-Tanner Thorson-1530, 6-Daison Pursley-1466, 7-Logan Seavey-1352, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1329, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1315, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1188.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-137, 2-Brady Bacon-130, 3-Justin Grant-123, 4-Tanner Thorson-121, 5-Robert Ballou-109, 6-Logan Seavey-106, 7-Thomas Meseraull-103, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-102, 9-Kyle Cummins-79, 10-Buddy Kofoid-75.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: September 10-11-12, 2021 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, South Dakota – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Brandon Waelti
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Daison Pursley
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Randall
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Brandon Waelti (22nd to 11th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jack Routson
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T-MEZ'S HUSET'S HEROICS NET SOUTH DAKOTA USAC MIDGET SCORE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Brandon, South Dakota (September 10, 2021)………With the checkered flag in his sight, Thomas Meseraull resigned himself to a third-place finish in Friday night’s Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals feature for the NOS Energy Drink National Midgets in Brandon, South Dakota.
Running inside the top-five throughout the first 29 laps, Meseraull saw his hopes of victory dashed on the final lap as leader Chris Windom and a surging Mitchel Moles raced into the distance on the back straightaway while Meseraull seemed destined for a third-place fate.
However, divine intervention swept over the speedway in the form of a yellow flag for Meseraull due to Cannon McIntosh’s stop in turn two which brought about not only a halt to the race, but also sent Meseraull back to second and provided him another shot with a green-white-checkered bout waiting ahead for the first series race at the track since 1996.
Meseraull assaulted the cushion as Windom altered his route by taking the low line into turn one on the lap 30 restart. Without hesitation, Meseraull stuck to his guns and charged around Windom, ultimately completing the pass at the exit of turn four coming to the white flag.
Not to be denied, Meseraull locked it up on the final lap by turning his best lap of the contest on the 31st and final lap to win the $5,000 prize by a 0.672 second margin in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
The San Jose, Californian led 16 laps of the BC39 at The Dirt Track at IMS before an incident knocked him out of the event while racing for the lead with less than five laps to go. In his most recent start last Sunday at Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway, Meseraull led the first 22 before giving way to Thorson to whom he finished second.
After leading 38 of the 69 laps in his last two USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget starts, all Meseraull was asking for was a little luck, a bit of a break, to help guide him to a long-awaited checkered flag. Just like he drew it up. Well, maybe not exactly.
“We had a little bit of luck go our way,” Meseraull proudly stated. “We’ve been so good lately; we were second last week, and we’ve just been plugging away. The last five nights, I feel like we had the fastest car and, tonight, I felt like we were going to run third. We opted for a harder tire, and it looks like it played out to our advantage. Hats off to my guys for making the right calls tonight.”
While the ending belonged to Meseraull, the first two-thirds of the race was all Kevin Thomas Jr.’s, who boasted a solid lead early on from his outside front row starting position. His Petry Motorsports teammate, Emerson Axsom, however, fell to trouble early while running 10th as his car went up smoke before one lap was even completed, dropping him from nine points down in the series championship race to 47 behind point leader Buddy Kofoid.
As Thomas was controlling the head of the pack, Meseraull was charging up through the field from his sixth starting position, sliding Kofoid for fourth on lap nine in turn one, then subsequently drifting by Daison Pursley for the third position exiting turn four on lap 11.
At the midway point, Windom swarmed Thomas Jr. and the two exchanged the lead multiple times for a two-lap span on both ends of the racetrack with Windom sliding Thomas and Thomas countering each and every uppercut by racing back by to resume his position in the lead.
Finally gaining a semblance of breathing room from Windom over the ensuing laps, Thomas maintained a four to five car length advantage over Windom as he entered on the turn three cushion, just as he had done to perfection the previous 21 trips this evening around the 1/3-mile dirt oval.
This time, however, was something quite different. Thomas’ right rear tire went down on the entry, sending him into the outside wall. Now driving on just the rim, Thomas coasted to a stop, putting him out of the race with a 19th place finish.
Lurking behind Windom just prior to the yellow was Meseraull who was now elevated to second for the restart, but not for long, as it turned out, when Fatheadz Fast Qualifier and new one-lap track record holder Shane Golobic charged under to move into second.
Meseraull tapped Golobic’s rear bumper on the back straight with five to go, just to let him know he had no intentions of going away. A lap later, Meseraull delivered by ripping around the outside of Golobic at thee exit of turn four on lap 27.
On the final lap, Meseraull took one last shot at Windom in turn one with a slider, coming up just a tad short in his bid before falling back into line. Meanwhile, the two Matt Wood Racing cars driven by Golobic and Moles were firmly planted on the bottom and digging.
Moles, quite appropriately, was the one who hit paydirt by getting a drive past both Golobic and Meseraull in turn two, then quickly ran down the high-riding Windom in turn three just as the initial call from race control came over the radio to throw the yellow for the stopped car of ninth running Cannon McIntosh in turn two.
With the field re-racked for a final two-lap dash to the checkered, Windom was the leader with Meseraull second, Golobic third and Moles back to fourth due to the running order being reverted back to the last completed lap.
When action resumed, Windom altered course and shot right to the bottom of turn one while Meseraull carried onward on the top, gliding by around the outside to occupy the lead once and for all to get the victory over Windom, Golobic, Kofoid and Daison Pursley, while Moles slipped back to sixth.
“I was kind of surprised to see him go to the bottom other than the Wood guys who were working on getting us, but that’s what those guys do. They’re good on the bottom everywhere, every year. But momentum is key, and I just ripped the lip.”
It was a tough pill to swallow for Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) who seemed to be in position to win his fourth of the year aboard the CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota. Yet, he chose to alter his path on the final restart, heading to the bottom after being right on top practically all throughout.
“I just completely gave that one away,” Windom admitted. “I tried to save my tire on the top, then the Matt Wood Racing cars started making the bottom work. I thought that, on a restart, it might work for one lap down there as we were coming to green-white-checkered. I just screwed myself and I should’ve stayed on the top where I was good. I’m pretty disappointed leading all that, saving my tires and losing it. But it is what it is.”
Shane Golobic (Fremont, Calif.) finished third in his Matt Wood Racing/NOS Energy Drink – Elk Grove Ford – Royal Truck Body/Spike/Stanton SR-11x, his best series finish since finishing third at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway in November of 2018. Earlier in the evening, Golobic broke Tracy Hines’ long-standing 25-year-old one-lap USAC National Midget track record of 13.923. Golobic’s time of 12.923 was exactly one second faster than the former record set a quarter of a century ago.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 10, 2021 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, South Dakota – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals
FLIGHT ONE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.923 (New Track Record); 2. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.052; 3. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.088; 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.096; 5. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.114; 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.115; 7. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-13.134; 8. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.195; 9. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-13.230; 10. Jody Rosenboom, 14x, Rosenboom-13.426.
FLIGHT TWO FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.021; 2. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.044; 3. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-13.062; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.091; 5. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.164; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.234; 7. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-13.244; 8. Chad Frewaldt, 4c, Frewaldt-13.438; 9. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-NT.
FLIGHT THREE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-13.001; 2. Jason McDougal, 19, Hayward-13.122; 3. Brady Bacon, 21H, TKH-13.157; 4. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.196; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.234; 6. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.302; 7. Aaron Werner, 11w, Peterson-13.913; 8. Lance Bennett, 91, Mason-13.933; 9. Brant O'Banion, 9, McDonald-13.936; 10. Casey Hicks, 5H, Hicks-14.047.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-5 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Chance Crum, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Shane Golobic, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Jody Rosenboom, 10. Austin Barnhill. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-5 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Chad Frewaldt, 9. Blaze Bennett. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-5 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Brant O’Banion, 7. Lance Bennett, 8. Casey Hicks, 9. Aaron Werner, 10. Justin Grant. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chance Crum, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Austin Barnhill, 5. Brant O’Banion, 6. Chad Frewaldt, 7. Casey Hicks, 8. Aaron Werner, 9. Blaze Bennett, 10. Jody Rosenboom, 11. Lance Bennett. NT
FEATURE: (31 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (6), 2. Chris Windom (4), 3. Shane Golobic (5), 4. Buddy Kofoid (7), 5. Daison Pursley (1), 6. Mitchel Moles (12), 7. Logan Seavey (13), 8. Jason McDougal (9), 9. Chase Randall (3), 10. Chance Crum (17), 11. Brenham Crouch (16), 12. Maria Cofer (20), 13. Ethan Mitchell (18), 14. Hayden Reinbold (19), 15. Austin Barnhill (22), 16. Cannon McIntosh (11), 17. Brady Bacon (8), 18. Ryan Timms (15), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 20. Chad Frewaldt (24), 21. Tanner Thorson (14), 22. Justin Grant (21), 23. Brant O'Banion (23), 24. Emerson Axsom (10). NT
**Justin Grant flipped during the third heat. Lance Bennett flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 22-29 Chris Windom, Laps 30-31 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1668, 2-Chris Windom-1649, 3-Emerson Axsom-1621, 4-Justin Grant-1555, 5-Tanner Thorson-1553, 6-Daison Pursley-1524, 7-Logan Seavey-1404, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1399, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1340, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1219.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-139, 2-Brady Bacon-130, 3-Justin Grant-123, 4-Tanner Thorson-121, 5-Robert Ballou-114, 6-Logan Seavey-109, 7-Thomas Meseraull-108, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-102, 9-Kyle Cummins-84, 10-Buddy Kofoid-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: September 11-12, 2021 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, South Dakota – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Thomas Meseraull
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Shane Golobic
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Maria Cofer (20th to 12th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Casey Hicks
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WINDOM FINDS HIS MIDGET GROOVE TO WIN HUSET'S SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONALS NIGHT TWO
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Brandon, South Dakota (September 11, 2021)………For the second consecutive evening, Chris Windom found himself taking over the lead just nine laps from the finish of the 30-lap USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature event at Brandon, South Dakota’s Huset’s Speedway.
On Friday, however, Windom’s mercurial move to the bottom while leading left the top open and resulted in an unhappy Windom finishing second and champing at the bit to right the wrongs the next time he hit the track.
The Canton, Ill. driver was beside himself at the moment, and made a pledge to himself that given the same scenario, he’d certainly not change course on his own accord in round number two of the Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals.
Come Saturday night, Windom found himself in a similar spot. Starting sixth, he climbed to second by lap four, stalked leader Daison Pursley throughout the first two-thirds of the race, then slid his way into the lead on lap 22 of the 30-lap distance, staying loyal to the topside throughout the duration.
Windom ultimately scored his redemptional fourth USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory of the year in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Saturday night’s $5,000 triumph was the 10th of Windom’s USAC National Midget career, tying him for 69th all-time with Allen Heath, Doug Kalitta, Brad Kuhn, Steve Lotshaw, Jerry McClung and Chuck Weyant.
Following a large range of emotions over the past two nights, Windom made it abundantly clear his preference for the result that came in his “green-to-checker” run over his “green-white-checkered” finish that came just 24 hours earlier.
“(Car owner) Chad (Boat) had this car so good the last two nights,” Windom said. “I was really frustrated after losing last night. I was definitely not coming off the top tonight and I felt like I was not going to lose this race.”
Windom took his first shot at Pursley for the lead in turn one just past the halfway mark on lap 16, diving to the bottom briefly to slide his way by Pursley. Unable to make the move stick, Windom tucked into line behind Pursley as Logan Seavey posed a brief challenge to Windom for the second position.
Moments later, in turn one on the 17th lap, series point leader Buddy Kofoid saw a glimpse of daylight to slot in between Windom and Seavey for the third position as he dove his way into turn one. While sliding up the racetrack in front of Seavey, Seavey banged his right rear tire off the cushion, and subsequently got on the bike by lifting both left side tires. When his car came back to all fours, Seavey’s left front tire landed atop Kofoid’s right rear. As Seavey gathered up his car and his senses, Kofoid had sped away with the third position for his own taking.
As Pursley drew closer to lapped traffic, he found himself coerced into leaving the comfort of the topside to cut below 19th running Hayden Reinbold. As soon as Pursley traveled to the low groove in turns three and four, Windom quickly ate up all the ground Pursley left unguarded up top.
When Pursley drifted back uphill to the top on the front straight behind Reinbold, Windom had a full head of steam and zeroed in on the opportunity, driving downhill from the top of turn four to the bottom of turn one, completing the pass as he broad slid into the lane located a few feet from the outside wall just ahead of the chrome on Pursley’s front bumper.
All the right moves in all the right places, that’s how Windom’s race was going to go down on this night.
“When you’re running second, you can kind of tell where you’re gaining a little time on the guy who’s leading,” Windom explained. “I’d get him coming off each corner a little bit, but the midgets are so close in speed here, it’s really hard to close up on a guy, so when you get there, you’ve got to make the right move. I made one early and I wasn’t close enough. I had to rebound and run him back down.”
Once Windom cleared Reinbold while utilizing a turn one slider just eight laps from the close, it was lights out for the rest of the field as Windom separated himself from Pursley to collect the win by a 0.977 second margin. Pursley finished in the second position with Kofoid third, Seavey fourth and Shane Golobic fifth.
Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) led a race-high 22 laps before finishing as the runner-up in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/IWX – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, which marked his second consecutive top-five finish at Huset’s after finishing fifth on Friday, along with his eighth top-10 in his last nine starts.
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Okla.) upped his Huset’s performance from fourth on Friday to third on Saturday in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, which helped him maintain a slight 13-point advantage over Windom in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings.
Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) recorded his first career fast time with the series during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying with a new Huset’s Speedway USAC National Midget one-lap track record of 12.776 in his Matt Wood Racing/Southern Pacific Farms – Elk Grove Ford/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. Moles finished 12th in the night’s feature.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 11, 2021 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, South Dakota – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals
FLIGHT ONE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-12.776 (New Track Record); 2. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.847; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-12.856; 4. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-12.877; 5. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.910; 6. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.989; 7. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-13.179; 8. Aaron Werner, 11w, Peterson-13.731; 9. Casey Hicks, 5H, Hicks-13.794.
FLIGHT TWO FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.908; 2. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-12.961; 3. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.967; 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.987; 5. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.032; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.043; 7. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-13.079; 8. Chad Frewaldt, 4c, Frewaldt-13.795; 9. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-13.953.
FLIGHT THREE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.850; 2. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.989; 3. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-13.011; 4. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.026; 5. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.097; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.106; 7. Jason McDougal, 19, Hayward-13.127; 8. Lance Bennett, 10, Mason-13.636.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-5 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Austin Barnhill, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Aaron Werner, 9. Casey Hicks. 2:20.08
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-5 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Chase Randall, 7. Chad Frewaldt, 8. Blaze Bennett, 9. Ethan Mitchell. 2:17.91
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-5 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Golobic, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Lance Bennett. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (6), 2. Daison Pursley (1), 3. Buddy Kofoid (7), 4. Logan Seavey (3), 5. Shane Golobic (12), 6. Justin Grant (13), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 8. Thomas Meseraull (16), 9. Cannon McIntosh (10), 10. Chance Crum (5), 11. Emerson Axsom (8), 12. Mitchel Moles (11), 13. Tanner Thorson (15), 14. Chase Randall (18), 15. Ryan Timms (14), 16. Jason McDougal (17), 17. Maria Cofer (19), 18. Brenham Crouch (2), 19. Hayden Reinbold (20), 20. Chad Frewaldt (21), 21. Austin Barnhill (4), 22. Aaron Werner (23), 23. Casey Hicks (25), 24. Lance Bennett (22), 25. Blaze Bennett (24). 7:31.12 (New Track Record)
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Daison Pursley, Laps 22-30 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1732, 2-Chris Windom-1719, 3-Emerson Axsom-1662, 4-Justin Grant-1610, 5-Daison Pursley-1591, 6-Tanner Thorson-1590, 7-Logan Seavey-1465, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1448, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1392, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1265.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-144, 2-Brady Bacon-137, 3-Justin Grant-131, 4-Tanner Thorson-123, 5-Thomas Meseraull-116, 6-Robert Ballou-114, 7-Logan Seavey-112, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-108, 9-Kyle Cummins-84, 10-Buddy Kofoid-79.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 12, 2021 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, South Dakota – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Shane Golobic
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Austin Barnhill
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Shane Golobic
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (16th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Thorson
=====================
WINDOM BANKS 20-GRAND AS 100-LAP HUSET'S USAC NATIONALS MIDGET WINNER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Brandon, South Dakota (September 12, 2021)………In a race where multiple leaders fell by the wayside, Chris Windom found himself in a seemingly envious position with 15 laps to go in Sunday night’s $20,000-to-win, 100-lap USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature at the inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals in Brandon, South Dakota.
However, Windom had already been entrenched in this scenario multiple times throughout the weekend with varying degrees of success.
With just less than five laps left in the preceding, accompanying USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature, for just a brief, fleeting moment, Windom thought he had the $20,000 prize just within his grasp.
When the yellow flag fell, it negated Windom’s pass for the lead, with the end result putting him third in the final order, necessitating the Canton, Ill. native to hit the reset button for the ensuing long-distance midget feature up next.
Taking the lead with just 15 laps remaining in the midget feature after leader Chase Randall’s flat right rear tire drama, subsequent turn one wall contact and flip, Windom experienced no interruptions and no technical difficulties en route to finally grabbing the $20,000 victory Sunday night in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“This definitely makes up for not winning the sprint car race,” Windom said with a grin. “That was a fun race. This thing was so good. I didn’t feel really good the first 50 laps, but I felt like we were maintaining. The next 50, when the track kind of moved to the top, I could run that diamond line down there. It was just so good.”
Windom had experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in USAC Midget competition throughout the weekend at Huset’s. On Friday, he was leading late, but was passed as he changed lines during the green-white-checkered finish, knocking him back to second in the final results. On Saturday, Windom reversed his fortunes by leading the final nine laps to reign victorious.
The reigning series champ started seventh in Sunday night’s finale, which was dominated early by top series Rookie and pole sitter Randall for the first 13 laps and Kevin Thomas Jr. between laps 14 through 19.
Eighth starting Cannon McIntosh’s first name was aptly fitting as he stormed around the outside of Thomas Jr. to the lead between turns three and four on lap 20 when Thomas Jr. became stifled in traffic behind the car of Casey Hicks, which aided McIntosh in his rush to the front.
McIntosh’s raid of the field was just as breathtaking as the lightning quick pace of the race in the first half as the first 42 laps clicked off in the blink of an eye without a stoppage. But that’s where the heartache and heartbreaks began.
With everything seemingly going to perfection and possessing a four second lead, McIntosh began to slow dramatically on the back straightaway with a completely flat right rear tire. That initiated the first yellow flag period, which ultimately led into the previously scheduled eight-minute red flag break for the field to add fuel and make adjustments.
Jason McDougal assumed his role as the new race leader when action resumed on lap 50, which proved to be short-lived. Fourth running Thomas Meseraull spun on his own between turns one and two, setting off a chain reaction of events behind him which resulted in ninth-place Mitchel Moles flipping upside down in an incident from which he walked away.
Also caught up in the melee were Daison Pursley who continued onward after slight contact with the rear bumper of the already-in-the-process-of-spinning Meseraull. Shane Golobic, meanwhile, contacted the spinning Meseraull square in the side of his nerf bar. After repairs, Golobic returned to the fray to finish seventh.
The first race leader of the night became the first race leader of the second half of the 100-lapper with Randall blitzing his way around the outside of McDougal on the lap 50 restart (part two). Thomas Jr. occupied the bottom as he waged war for second with McDougal up top while Windom slotted into fourth.
Another turn one incident halted activity on lap 56 as a tangle in turn one saw Chance Crum, Justin Grant, Austin Barnhill and a backwards facing Meseraull all parked on the banking. Barnhill became the only driver to restart with the remaining three cars suffering terminal damage or mechanical issues.
A steadily surging Windom took the third position from Thomas Jr. on lap 68, then four laps later, snagged second from McDougal with a turn three slider on lap 72.
Windom then chased down Randall for the lead, taking multiple shots, sliding even and sliding past the young Texan, but Randall had an answer each and every time. Randall was prepared once again in turns three and four when Windom dove low into turn three, blazing past Randall, who succinctly turned his car downhill and raced back underneath and ahead of Windom off turn four.
Mere moments later, disaster struck Randall whose right rear tire went flat prior to his entry on the cushion in turn one, forcing him into the outside wall and sending him flipping down the banking. The stunning result ended Randall’s bid to become the first driver to win his first career USAC National Midget feature in a 100-lap race since Zach Daum at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway in the 2011 Hut 100.
With clear sailing ahead, new race leader Windom was not going to be denied over the final 15-lap stretch, instantaneously posting a half-straight lead as a furious battle between Buddy Kofoid, Thomas Jr. and Pursley swarmed in the distance despite a lap 91 tangle between Austin Barnhill and Lance Bennett in turn two, which created one more final restart opportunity with five to go.
Windom put all challengers to rest once more, opening a six car length advantage and closing with a final margin of victory of 0.751 at the checkered flag with Buddy Kofoid, Daison Pursley, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tanner Thorson (from 18th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. rounding out the top-five.
Windom has been a master tradesman at the 30-lappers with all 10 of his previous USAC National Midget victories prior to Sunday night coming at that distance. The USAC Triple Crown champ admitted he needed all the allotted time, and then some, as he didn’t begin to make much headway until the 50-lap mark on his way to his fifth series win of the season and 11th of his career.
“I didn’t really get there until the second half of the race,” Windom explained. “Chase was running a really good race. He shouldn’t hang his head and there’s nothing he could’ve done. I just kept putting pressure on him and, unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything about his tire blowing. I felt, hopefully, we would’ve been able to get by him.
I felt like we had the best car,” Windom continued. “I felt like the line I was running through one and two was good; and I felt like I was making really good speed through three and four over the last 30-40 laps. I felt like, if I didn’t screw up, it was going to be tough to get around us. That’s how it was, and we get to take that $20,000 home.”
Like Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, which Windom has won at on four occasions in his USAC career, Windom feels now like Huset’s Speedway is a home-away-from-home in South Dakota.
“You could run the bottom for the first 50 laps, but it seems like the line gravitated up to the top every night for every race,” Windom noted. “This place is so fun running the top. It’s like a mini-Eldora and I love Eldora. This is pretty sweet and I’m proud of all my guys.”
With a cast on his hand, Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) got progressively better each night throughout his weekend at Huset’s finishing 4th on Friday, 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I don’t feel like I’ve gone away,” Kofoid stated. “Part of it has been figuring out how to run with the cast and I’ve got less of a cast now, so I can grip the wheel a little bit better. We fell off a little bit, then we got the car back to going really good. We had three good runs this weekend but none of them were wins, unfortunately. Before that last red, I felt like I was the best car and was catching those guys. That red didn’t really help me.”
Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) finished the Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals as the driver who accumulated the most total points in USAC National Midget competition throughout the three nights of racing, finishing 3rd on Sunday night in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/IWX – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“One-hundred laps is a long time, and when you knock off those first 50 in one stretch, it’s pretty tiring, to say the least,” Pursley admitted. “A lot of guys did fall out, but I got by Chris (Windom) pretty quickly, and then we had that fuel stop and you could change a little bit of stuff. He got really, really good. But we’ll take a third and keep on digging.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 12, 2021 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, South Dakota – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Inaugural Huset’s Speedway USAC Nationals
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 3. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 4. Ryan Timms (#85T CBI), 5. Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy), 6. Shane Golobic (#17w Wood), 7. Mitchel Moles (#07w Wood), 8. Aaron Werner (#11w Peterson). 2:12.56 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Daison Pursley (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), 3. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 5. Chance Crum (#26 Rudeen), 6. Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold/Underwood), 7. Austin Barnhill (#17B Dave Mac), 8. Lance Bennett (#10 Mason), 9. Brant O’Banion (#9 McDonald). 2:15.12
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Justin Grant (#2J RMS), 2. Jason McDougal (#19 Hayward), 3. Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), 4. Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 5. Chad Frewaldt (#9F Frewaldt), 6. Casey Hicks (#5H Hicks), 7. Chris Windom (#89 CBI). NT
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (7), 2. Buddy Kofoid (11), 3. Daison Pursley (12), 4. Tanner Thorson (18), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 6. Logan Seavey (6), 7. Shane Golobic (10), 8. Jason McDougal (4), 9. Brenham Crouch (15), 10. Emerson Axsom (2), 11. Ryan Timms (16), 12. Chad Frewaldt (20), 13. Brant O'Banion (24), 14. Austin Barnhill (19), 15. Aaron Werner (21), 16. Casey Hicks (22), 17. Chase Randall (1), 18. Lance Bennett (23), 19. Chance Crum (13), 20. Justin Grant (14), 21. Thomas Meseraull (9), 22. Mitchel Moles (5), 23. Cannon McIntosh (8), 24. Hayden Reinbold (17). NT
**Mitchel Moles flipped on lap 50 of the feature. Chase Randall flipped on lap 86 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Chase Randall, Laps 14-19 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 20-42 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 43-49 Jason McDougal, Laps 50-85 Chase Randall, Laps 86-100 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1799, 2-Chris Windom-1789, 3-Emerson Axsom-1705, 4-Daison Pursley-1655, 5-Tanner Thorson-1651, 6-Justin Grant-1633, 7-Logan Seavey-1520, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1471, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1450, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1288.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-154, 2-Tanner Thorson-148, 3-Brady Bacon-143, 4-Justin Grant-131, 5-Thomas Meseraull-119, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-117, 7-Logan Seavey-115, 8-Robert Ballou-114, 9-Buddy Kofoid-88, 10-Kyle Cummins-84.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 23, 2021 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – James Dean Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Chase Randall
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (18th to 4th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Brant O’Banion
=====================
COURTNEY COMPILES ELDORA HISTORY WITH 3RD STRAIGHT USAC MIDGET WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio (September 24, 2021)………Prior to Tyler Courtney, no driver had ever won five consecutive USAC National Sprint Car races at Eldora Speedway.
Prior to Tyler Courtney, no driver had ever won three-straight USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races at Eldora Speedway.
The former was achieved back in May and the latter on Friday night as the Indianapolis, Ind. native tracked down race leader Chris Windom near the halfway point of the non-stop, green-to-checker 25-lapper to win Friday night’s #BeFourTheCrowns presented by NKT.TV feature event, backing up his two previous wins at the Big E in 2018 and 2019.
Courtney’s unprecedented achievements allowed him to become just the fifth driver to reach double figures in terms of USAC National feature wins at the Rossburg, Ohio half-mile, joining Jack Hewitt (24 wins), Dave Darland (14), Rich Vogler (12) and Tracy Hines (11) in the exclusive club. Courtney now possesses five sprint wins, three midget and two Silver Crown victories under the USAC banner at the track.
The 2019 USAC National Midget champion’s 19th career series victory equaled him for 35th on the all-time list alongside Jerry Coons Jr., Stan Fox and Jason Leffler.
“This is only our second time running the midget this year and (car owner/crew chief) Tim (Clauson) was on it,” Courtney praised. “It’s cool to put this car back in victory lane, especially here at Eldora. This is a tough weekend, especially with everything I’m trying to do. To get it off on the right foot is definitely really special.”
Making just his second series appearance of the year in his Clauson Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink Turbo – ZMax Race Products/Spike/Stanton SR-11x, Courtney started his race from the third position and remained stagnant in the position while Windom pulled out to the lead from the pole and outside front row starter Emerson Axsom waged a battle on the bottom of the surface.
Windom continued to work up high, right rear tire right up on the outside wall, while Axsom put his left rear to the wall on the bottom to close within a car length of Windom at the start/finish line at the conclusion of lap five.
In the meantime, Courtney had been making steady and gradual inroads on Axsom. As Axsom shifted his focus to the top at the flag stand on the ninth lap, Courtney instantaneously undercut Axsom and shot to the bottom of turn one, gliding past the Eldora first timer for the runner up position.
Henceforth, Courtney put the scope on Windom, rattled the rubber against the outside wall as he pursued his prey. That moment came on lap 12 when Courtney lunged forth on the bottom of turn three, drifted upward to the wall, then subsequently slid himself through the middle in the first turn a half-lap later to prevent any sort of an attempted comeback from Windom.
“It’s a big momentum thing, so I knew he was probably going to try and come back,” Courtney admitted. “I felt really good going across there when I slid him the first time. I know I needed to close the door on him so he couldn’t slide me back. I really love racing with Chris, and I haven’t gotten to do it a whole lot this year.”
Within just a few laps, Courtney constructed a demonstrative 10-car length lead that proved to be insurmountable down the stretch as he threaded through the tail-end of the field without any hiccups, as smooth and steady as the constant stream of water at Ludlow Falls.
Courtney’s final winning margin of 2.987 seconds came over a late-surging Logan Seavey with Windom, point leader Buddy Kofoid and Fatheadz Fast Qualifier Spencer Bayston rounding out the top-five.
For Courtney, and those who came before him who are the best of the best at Eldora, the high line is where it’s at. It’s what sells T-shirts, makes race fans swoon, and what makes legends out of mere mortals. And it makes winners, as evidenced by Courtney who once again became just that on this night in a fourth different type of car at Eldora all within the last four-and-a-half months: USAC Midget, USAC Sprint, USAC Silver Crown car and World of Outlaws winged sprint car.
“I wasn’t quite sure there at the beginning of the race, but I knew, if it kept getting higher over there, (the track) was going to keep coming to us,” Courtney explained. “We were a little tight at the beginning, so I knew it was going to come to us at the end there. Luckily, I caught Chris and Emerson there at the right time where I passed them and didn’t have to worry about them passing me back.”
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) turned up the wick late, charging under, past and by Windom for the runner-up position coming to the white flag after working on him for the entire second half of the race in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. The end result turned out to be his third top-three USAC Midget finish at Eldora in three career starts.
“I felt like, in open track, I needed to clear him in three and four, and I could just never do that,” Seavey detailed of his pursuit of Windom. I was really good through the middle, but then it made me struggle to get across the front stretch to get back to the top to get into one. I was giving up a lot getting into one with what I was doing, but a lapped car backed it down at the perfect time and I was able to hit the bottom there off four and go by him.
I definitely didn’t expect to move down off the wall at all,” Seavey continued. “But my car was really good on the top in one and two and right through the middle in three and four. This is the first time for these guys even seeing this racetrack and we ran second and I think we were really close. We were really close all day, just a tiny bit off quick time and second again in the feature.”
Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) led 11 laps and finished inside the top-four for the fifth consecutive feature in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, which marked his best career midget finish at Eldora. The result whittled the series championship point race down to a mere seven points behind point leader Kofoid.
“I felt like I was pretty good the first part of that race, then I think my tire went away a little more than these guys after looking at them in victory lane,” Windom observed. “Obviously, Tyler is really good here and those two factors didn’t help us at all. I think we’ll be good for tomorrow night, though. This car is rolling; we’ve got to be a little better to beat him, but I think we’ll be there.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 24, 2021 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – #Be4TheCrown/39th 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKT.TV
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 84, CBI-16.862; 2. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-16.869; 3. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-16.913; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson Marshall-16.928; 5. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-16.954; 6. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-16.965; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-16.971; 8. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.046; 9. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-17.060; 10. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-17.109; 11. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.111; 12. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-17.204; 13. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.249; 14. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.282; 15. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-17.327; 16. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.336; 17. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-17.431; 18. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-17.563; 19. Greg Mitchell, 001, Mitchell-18.555; 20. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Spencer Bayston, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Greg Mitchell. 2:21.90
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Chance Crum, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Hayden Reinbold. 2:23.21
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Austin Barnhill. 2:21.72
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (3), 2. Logan Seavey (5), 3. Chris Windom (1), 4. Buddy Kofoid (7), 5. Spencer Bayston (6), 6. Tanner Thorson (8), 7. Daison Pursley (11), 8. Emerson Axsom (2), 9. Chase Randall (4), 10. Bryant Wiedeman (9), 11. Justin Grant (13), 12. Brenham Crouch (16), 13. Chance Crum (17), 14. Thomas Meseraull (15), 15. Hayden Reinbold (20), 16. Cannon McIntosh (12), 17. Kaylee Bryson (14), 18. Greg Mitchell (19), 19. Austin Barnhill (18), 20. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10). 7:43.13
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-11 Chris Windom, Laps 12-25 Tyler Courtney.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1868, 2-Chris Windom-1861, 3-Emerson Axsom-1760, 4-Tanner Thorson-1714, 5-Daison Pursley-1712, 6-Justin Grant-1677, 7-Logan Seavey-1598, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1512, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1480, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1323.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-154, 2-Chris Windom-154, 3-Brady Bacon-150, 4-Justin Grant-136, 5-Robert Ballou-131, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-120, 7-Thomas Meseraull-120, 8-Logan Seavey-118, 9-Buddy Kofoid-91, 10-Kyle Cummins-84.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 25, 2021 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 39th 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKT.TV
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Logan Seavey
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Spencer Bayston
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Bryant Wiedeman
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Hayden Reinbold (20th to 15th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chance Crum
ProSource Hard Work: Justin Grant
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WINDOM WEARS ANOTHER CROWN WITH FIRST ELDORA USAC MIDGET WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio (September 25, 2021)………Chris Windom had already checked off a couple of the boxes at the 4-Crown Nationals in his illustrious USAC career.
First, there was a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win added to his resume in 2013 followed by victories in the USAC Silver Crown division in both 2013 and 2016.
However, the one that had long eluded the Canton, Ill. native was a score in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.
After Saturday night’s 39th running of the event, the reigning series champion could now check that one off the list as well, leading all 25 laps in a highwire, wire-to-wire thrill show in which he successfully fended off a barrage of bullets from challengers Spencer Bayston and Logan Seavey during the final laps of the non-stop, green-to-checker feature, which took less than eight minutes to complete.
By doing so, Windom became just the sixth driver to win all three of USAC’s open wheel divisions at the 4-Crown Nationals in his career, joining Jack Hewitt, Dave Darland, Tyler Courtney, Jerry Coons Jr. and Kyle Larson in that regard.
The victory was the 12th of Windom’s USAC National Midget career, equaling him with Danny Caruthers, Gene Force, Russ Gamester, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Grim and Ron Shuman for 57th on the all-time list, and successfully avenged his performance in Friday night’s opener in which he led 11 laps before fading to third at the end.
Out of his 12 career USAC National Midget triumphs, this one, at the Big E, was a biggie for the USAC Triple Crown champion.
“I’ve wanted to win here in a midget pretty bad,” Windom exclaimed. “Turns three and four were sketchy on the fence for 25 laps, but I just knew I had to run the heck out of it down there. Coming off the top in one and two, I felt like was gaining there instead of following it around.
I had to use a little more tire than I expected to after that one,” Windom continued. “I had to run super hard to stay out front. The midgets are so tight on competition right now. All these guys are so good.”
Windom started fourth in the main event, but already found himself in the lead by turn three of the opening lap as he charged around the outside of pole sitter Tanner Thorson, then withstood outside front row starter Spencer Bayston’s side-by-side challenge down the entire length of the back straightaway before emerging in front of the pack to lead the first circuit of the $6,000-to-win affair.
Throughout the middle stages, Windom held a steady three-four-five car length lead over 2017 4-Crown Midget winner Bayston for a majority of the run as the cushion essentially became the wall, with Windom briefly kissing the outside concrete between turns three and four on multiple occasions as he knifed his way through the backend of the 20-car field.
With four laps remaining, the second, third and fourth place cars of Bayston, Seavey and Buddy Kofoid began to clamp down on Windom with just a single car length acting as the separation between the top-four cars as they freight-trained their way around the half-mile dirt oval.
On lap 23, Bayston found a kick in his step as he took a surge of momentum and utilized it to peek outside Windom at the exit of turn two. Unfortunately, for Bayston, that’s where the racetrack ended and the outside wall met, with Bayston pounding his right rear tire off the perimeter, knocking him sideways, and forcing him to re-wrangle his machine which glanced off the wall once more for good measure before he was able to gather it up just as both Seavey and Kofoid raced by to his inside, dropping him to fourth.
Windom subsequently gained a bit of battleground for his own use as he upped his advantage to six car lengths once again now with Seavey in hot pursuit. Like he had been perfecting all weekend, Seavey carved through the middle groove to catch up to Windom and was a single car length behind entering the first turn just after seeing the white flag fly when he too saw his winning dreams dashed when his right rear tire met face-to-face with the outside wall on entry.
As a result, Seavey lost his ground, and was unable to throw one more jab at Windom during his final voyage through turns three and four.
Windom ultimately prevailed by 2.5 car lengths – a 0.304 second margin – with Seavey second, Bayston third, Kofoid fourth and Friday night’s winner Tyler Courtney rounding out the top-five.
Windom’s victory shot him ahead of Kofoid in the season-long USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings with a narrow two-point advantage in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota while Kofoid now resides in second.
For the second straight evening, Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) finished a close second aboard his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. In now four USAC National Midget starts at Eldora, Seavey possesses a third-place finish in both 2018 and 2019, and a second on back-to-back nights in 2021.
Bayston (Lebanon, Ind.) nearly pulled off his first USAC National Midget win since a 2018 victory at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway, running second until a late-race mishap initially cost him two positions, from second to fourth, but he was able to find his way back to the “podium” a lap later, finishing third in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 25, 2021 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 39th 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKT.TV
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), 2. Daison Pursley (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson-Marshall), 5. Bryant Wiedeman (#01 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Chance Crum (#26 Rudeen), 7. Austin Barnhill (#17B Dave Mac). 2:22.94
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy), 2. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 3. Justin Grant (#2J RMS), 4. Spencer Bayston (#84 CBI), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 6. Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), 7. Kaylee Bryson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian). 2:23.95
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold-Underwood), 2. Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 3. Chris Windom (#89 CBI), 4. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 5. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 6. Greg Mitchell (#001 Mitchell). 2:25.45
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (4), 2. Logan Seavey (5), 3. Spencer Bayston (2), 4. Buddy Kofoid (3), 5. Tyler Courtney (6), 6. Daison Pursley (8), 7. Cannon McIntosh (7), 8. Justin Grant (12), 9. Tanner Thorson (1), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (20), 11. Emerson Axsom (9), 12. Chase Randall (10), 13. Thomas Meseraull (15), 14. Bryant Wiedeman (11), 15. Hayden Reinbold (16), 16. Brenham Crouch (13), 17. Chance Crum (14), 18. Kaylee Bryson (17), 19. Austin Barnhill (19), 20. Greg Mitchell (18). 7:47.17
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1931, 2-Buddy Kofoid-1929, 3-Emerson Axsom-1801, 4-Daison Pursley-1767, 5-Tanner Thorson-1760, 6-Justin Grant-1726, 7-Logan Seavey-1665, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1549, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1523, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1375.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-157, 2-Tanner Thorson-154, 3-Brady Bacon-150, 4-Justin Grant-140, 5-Robert Ballou-131, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-130, 7-Thomas Meseraull-122, 8-Logan Seavey-121, 9-Buddy Kofoid-91, 10-Kyle Cummins-84.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 9, 2021 – Wayne County Speedway – Wayne City, Illinois – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Jason Leffler Memorial
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
ProSource 4-Crown Nationals Passing Master: Logan Seavey (22)
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Spencer Bayston
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Kevin Thomas Jr. (20th to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Thomas Meseraull
ProSource Hard Work: Brenham Crouch
Rosewood Machine Precision Move of the Race: Logan Seavey
=====================
HE’S A WINNER: MESERAULL HANDLES TRI-STATE’S USAC MIDGET HARVEST CUP
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana (October 9, 2021)………Throughout the past calendar year, Thomas Meseraull has made a habit of changing the narratives at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway.
One day shy of a full year ago, the San Jose, California driver erased two decades of frustration by scoring his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory.
During Saturday night’s Harvest Cup, Meseraull, henceforth, became the first driver ever to score multiple USAC National Midget victories at the track, ending a string of 12 series races held at the 1/4-mile dirt oval since 1969 in which a different winning driver emerged each and every time.
However, Meseraull possessed a vision of victory on this evening, tracking down and passing racelong leader Kevin Thomas Jr. with just seven laps remaining for his fourth series victory of the season and the sixth of his career, tying himself with Donnie Beechler, George Benson, Dana Carter, Bob Cicconi, Robby Flock, Nick Fornoro Jr., Justin Grant, Arnie Knepper, Ricky Shelton, Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland Jr., Kevin Thomas Jr. and Roger West.
“I thought before the race that we could win this; we’re going to win this, but then I also thought, I can come back on the hook too,” Meseraull pondered. “I’m super pumped we didn’t come back on the hook with the RMS Racing number 7x. It’s the last race of the year in the Midwest; we won it last year and we picked it off again.”
Meseraull started seventh in the 22-car field aboard his EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota, initially dropping back to ninth on the opening lap before making a methodical march through the pecking order, one position per lap, to slide into the top-five by lap five.
“It’s so tricky,” Meseraull observed. “It’s tough because I started peddling it there and I moved back a couple spots. Then I burned it in there wide open and got the right rear to stick and then just started doing that. When in doubt, stand on it.”
Nearing midway, Thomas Jr. maintained full control up front after starting his race from the outside of the front row alongside pole sitter, Daison Pursley, all while a Haubstadt-style shuffle was raging for second, third and fourth among Buddy Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh and Meseraull.
McIntosh handily slid past Kofoid for the runner-up spot on laps 12 and 13 in turn three while Kofoid was able to regain the second position with a similar cadence on the turn one and two end of the track.
On lap 14, however, the jockeying came to a head after Kofoid returned the favor in turn three by executing a slide job of his own on McIntosh, successfully drifting up to the cushion in turn four. But when McIntosh crossed over to the inside of Kofoid, and a surging Meseraull used a momentous run of the bottom, it created a sandwich effect which resulted in congestion and indigestion as McIntosh and Kofoid came together, sending Kofoid nose first into the outside wall before tumbling down the front straightaway.
Kofoid was more than okay as his car was taken to the work area and quickly repaired by the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports crew which sent him back onto the track for the restart, after which he promptly drove back into the top-10, ultimately finishing 9th but putting a slight dent in his pursuit of the series championship, falling 13 markers behind point leader Chris Windom after trailing by just two coming in.
As soon as the race resumed, Meseraull went nose to the grindstone, following the path of Daison Pursley who sprinted past McIntosh for second while Meseraull slotted into third.
Shortly thereafter, on lap 21, 13th running Ethan Mitchell walked away from a vicious flip between turns three and four. The Mooresville, N.C. driver had just picked up his fifth heat race win of the season earlier in the night.
At the head of the field, Thomas Jr. was in full pursuit of his first USAC National Midget feature victory triumph since the Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway in November of 2019, a span of 64 series events, yet Meseraull proved to be the naysayer in that regard as he posted his bid underneath Thomas at the exit of turn four on lap 23 with both slightly banging wheels, sending Meseraull scurrying sideways as he passed the stripe, still on the gas and still on the prowl.
Meseraull never ran astray from the bottom, and on lap 25, the persistence paid off as he launched past Thomas Jr. for the lead coming off turn two, just like he drew it up and how he figured it would all pan out.
“I’ve run second here enough to know that the bottom kind of comes back,” Meseraull explained. “What a great race (Thomas Jr.) ran, but he was out front. He couldn’t really see, and it’s hard to make changes when you’re out there. You just keep doing what you do.”
Meseraull just kept doing what he does best, making the event exponentially exciting. But a yellow flag one lap later found three cars – Brenham Crouch (8th), Emerson Axsom (10th) and Sam Johnson (12th) – tangled up and stopped atop turn three.
On the final restart, the final five laps saw Meseraull treading the bottom while Thomas Jr. ringed the outside but was unable to make up any ground as he simultaneously fought to fend off Justin Grant for the runner-up spot. Meseraull finished his endeavor a car length and a half in front of Thomas Jr. at the checkered, 0.207 seconds ahead, with Grant third, Daison Pursley fourth and point leader Chris Windom fifth.
Meseraull pocketed the $4,000 winner’s share while Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) led a race-high 24 laps in his Petry Motorsports/West Side Tractor Sales – Gray Auto/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, explaining that he just couldn’t stick the bottom as good as Meseraull could at the end. In the end, Thomas Jr. equaled his best result of the year, a 2nd place finish which he also achieved on two previous occasions this year.
Grant’s night was a true roller coaster ride from start to finish. The Ione, California native broke something in the valve train as he was being pushed off for hot laps. A spare car was rolled out of the trailer, which Grant put in the main event by transferring through the heat.
Subsequently, Grant captured the accompanying Midwest Sprint Car Series feature held just before the midget main event where he started 17th and finished 3rd in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota, earning himself KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors for his efforts.
In qualifying, Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) earned his 22nd career Fatheadz fast qualifying time with the series, passing Don Branson, Tony Stewart and Shorty Templeman for 18th on the all-time list. His time of 13.266 seconds also surpassed the former track record held by Chris Windom, which was set in June of 2021 at 13.377.
Furthermore, Meseraull’s time of 2:17.42 in Competition Suspension, Inc. heat race two broke his own decade-old 10-lap USAC National Midget track record at Tri-State Speedway. The time bested the former record of 2:20.38, which had been in the books since 2011 courtesy of Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 9, 2021 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Harvest Cup
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-13.266 (New Track Record); 2. Jace Park, 87, CBI-13.457; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-13.490; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.533; 5. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.538; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.571; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.586; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.603; 9. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.605; 10. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.636; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.658; 12. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.683; 13. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-13.700; 14. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-13.706; 15. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.711; 16. Stephen Schnapf, 11m, Martin-13.789; 17. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.820; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.821; 19. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.850; 20. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.865; 21. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-13.901; 22. Shane Cottle, 86, Stamper-14.125; 23. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.210; 24. Jeff Schindler, 11, Martin-14.240; 25. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-14.349; 26. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffiths-14.456; 27. Tyler Rust, 3x, Neuman-15.007; 28. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-15.247; 29. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-NT (Time of 14.186 disallowed due to missing the scales).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Stephen Schnapf, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Jake Neuman, 9. Shane Cottle, 10. Glenn Waterland. 2:17.78
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Justin Grant, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Bryant Wiedeman, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Jace Park, 8. Austin Barnhill, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Bryan Stanfill. 2:17.42 (New Track Record)
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Tyler Rust, 9. Jeff Schindler. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Jace Park, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Carson Garrett, 5. Jake Neuman, 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Tyler Rust, 8. Bryan Stanfill, 9. Hayden Reinbold 10. Jeff Schindler, 11. Glenn Waterland, 12. Stephen Schnapf, 13. Shane Cottle, 14. Austin Barnhill. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (7), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 3. Justin Grant (17), 4. Daison Pursley (1), 5. Chris Windom (14), 6. Kyle Cummins (10), 7. Logan Seavey (5), 8. Bryant Wiedeman (20), 9. Buddy Kofoid (3), 10. Tanner Thorson (6), 11. Kaylee Bryson (16), 12. Jace Park (9), 13. Carson Garrett (19), 14. Emerson Axsom (18), 15. Chance Crum (15), 16. Sam Johnson (12), 17. Tyler Rust (22), 18. Cannon McIntosh (4), 19. Brenham Crouch (11), 20. Ethan Mitchell (8), 21. Jake Neuman (21), 22. Chase Randall (13). NT
**Stephen Schnapf & Shane Cottle flipped during the semi. Buddy Kofoid flipped on lap 14 of the feature. Ethan Mitchell flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 25-30 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1996, 2-Buddy Kofoid-1983, 3-Emerson Axsom-1840, 4-Daison Pursley-1834, 5-Tanner Thorson-1814, 6-Justin Grant-1796, 7-Logan Seavey-1725, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1627, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1597, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1409.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-174, 2-Justin Grant-165, 3-Tanner Thorson-160, 4-Brady Bacon-158, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-134, 6-Logan Seavey-133, 7-Thomas Meseraull-133, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-91, 10-Shane Cottle-91.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 12-13, 2021 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Western World Championships
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Tyler Rust
Fatheadz Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Ethan Mitchell
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jace Park
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Justin Grant
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Carson Garrett
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Bryan Stanfill
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ICING ON THE CAKE: GRANT CAPS BIRTHDAY WITH WIN IN USAC MIDGET WESTERN WORLD OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 12, 2021)………Friday night at Arizona Speedway, Justin Grant made it his personal mission to dispel an old, idiomatic proverb by proving that, yes indeed, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Grant’s 31st birthday happened to fall on the same day as the opener for the 54th annual Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford, opening the biggest and most prized present with seven laps remaining in the feature event.
It was there where the Ione, Calif. native charged around racelong leader Cory Eliason, then fended off Buddy Kofoid down the stretch to snag his second USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory of the year in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Celebrating his seventh career series win was sweet and getting the opportunity to ride the steer in victory lane was just the icing on the cake, all fit for a driver who felt he was overdue for a follow-up triumph after last winning more than three months prior at Lanco in Pennsylvania.
“I haven’t won nearly enough in it, so it feels good to get a win tonight,” Grant exclaimed. “This thing was awesome, and I could just go to town, pounding the cushion there. It got pretty far around and pretty curby there in one and two. Buddy was running the bottom there and kinda showed me, and I was able to get back by him and get to the bottom. This thing could go anywhere.”
Before the 24-car field even reached turn one on lap one, eighth starting Emerson Axsom launched into a moon shot, gaining major altitude after flipping into the catchfence between turns one and two before landing hard on the track surface of the 3/8-mile dirt oval. Axsom managed to climb out and walk away under his own power.
Grant started from the pole position but found himself relegated to second on the opening lap to Eliason and, ultimately, to third just before the midway point as Logan Seavey pulled alongside on the back straightaway, then counterpunched Grant’s turn three slider by cutting a diamond back under at the exit of four to move into the runner-up position.
“I got off the bottom there on the start and I felt like, ‘man, this thing is pretty good,’” Grant recalled. “But the top got cleaner and faster than I thought it was going to. I tried to slide (Eliason) on a restart and got to bouncing and let Logan go by us.”
With just eight laps remaining, heartbreak hit the second-place car of Seavey whose right rear tire went flat entering the cushion in turn one. Seavey was unable to make the call for the restart, seeing his bid for victory end abruptly with a non-indicative 20th place showing, subsequently placing Grant back in the hunt in second place for the final eight lap flourish.
“I got to the top and just tried to pick my spots on the cushion there and see what made speed and what didn’t to start trying to track Cory down,” Grant explained. “I’m always better when the cushion gets cleaned off. Once it gets slick below, I can usually find some speed, so I just bided my time waiting for that slick line to get cleaned up to where I could pick and choose my marks and try to get this car to victory lane.”
That moment had its foundations rooted on the lap 23 restart when Grant followed Eliason through turns one and two, then dove to the bottom in three and four only to see Eliason counter back underneath and stave off Grant’s advance at the line by a single car length.
On this night, Eliason was making his first career USAC National Midget feature start, and the 2020 and 2021 All Star Circuit of Champions series runner-up looked the part of a seasoned midget racing vet 24 hours after turning the quickest overall lap in an open practice at the track on Thursday night.
But the seed had been planted within Eliason’s subconscious. Eliason immediately invaded the groove one lane off the bottom of turn one on lap 24, sending his car trampolining up the racetrack, allowing Grant, Kofoid and Kevin Thomas Jr. to zip by and occupy the top-three positions while Eliason free-fell to fourth.
Kofoid attempted to pounce immediately, charging to the low side of turn three and sliding past Grant only to see Grant cross over and motor back by. In turn one on the following lap, Kofoid flashed low, but Thomas Jr. got even lower, so low in fact that the infield photographers even felt the need to take a step back.
Clearing Thomas Jr. was Kofoid who regrouped, regathered and returned for another run at Grant with four laps remaining, sliding across the nose of Grant once more turn three, but only momentarily, as Grant answered the challenge, cut back under and regained the position at the exit of four, then beelined to the bottom of turn one, thus preventing a retaliating slide job courtesy of Kofoid.
That sequence ultimately sealed the fate for both Grant and Kofoid on the opposite sides of the coin. Thereafter, Grant stretched his lead out to eight car lengths over Kofoid, whose race transformed into a quest to keep Thomas Jr. behind him on the final lap, which he did quite successfully.
Henceforth, Grant was by his lonesome on the way to victory, like a vapor trail in the empty air, blowing out the candles with a 0.917 second victory ahead of Kofoid, Thomas Jr., Eliason and Tanner Thorson.
With his runner-up result, Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) erased a 13-point deficit to 6th place finisher Chris Windom for the lead in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings. He now finds himself tied with Windom atop the standings at 2,061 points with eight races remaining in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) earned his first USAC National Midget podium finish since a race four months earlier this season at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Neb. on July 16, finishing 2nd in his Petry Motorsports/West Side Tractor Sales – Gray Auto/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 12, 2021 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – 54th Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.828 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.960; 3. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.031; 4. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-15.066; 5. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-15.086; 6. Cory Eliason, 26, Rudeen-15.099; 7. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-15.099; 8. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-15.106; 9. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-15.120; 10. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.130; 11. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.150; 12. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.184; 13. Tanner Carrick, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.205; 14. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.219; 15. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.295; 16. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.321; 17. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.330; 18. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.372; 19. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.420; 20. Jade Avedisian, 84, CBI-15.421; 21. Chance Crum, 26R, Rudeen-15.481; 22. Kevin Woody Jr., 10, Dave Mac-15.948; 23. Trevor Casey, 00, Mounce/Stout-16.485; 24. Daylin Perreira, 8, Keliinoi-16.717; 25. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-17.225.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Kevin Woody Jr., 9. Jim Vanzant. 2:03.95
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Jade Avedisian, 8. Trevor Casey. 2:03.65 (New Track Record)
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Cory Eliason, 6. Chase Randall, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Daylin Perreira. 2:04.46
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Buddy Kofoid (5), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 4. Cory Eliason (2), 5. Tanner Thorson (12), 6. Chris Windom (4), 7. Chase Randall (10), 8. Zach Daum (11), 9. Tanner Carrick (7), 10. Daison Pursley (15), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (16), 12. Cannon McIntosh (6), 13. Thomas Meseraull (20), 14. Chance Crum (23), 15. Ethan Mitchell (14), 16. Jade Avedisian (19), 17. Brenham Crouch (13), 18. Taylor Reimer (17), 19. Kevin Woody Jr. (21), 20. Logan Seavey (3), 21. Kaylee Bryson (18), 22. Trevor Casey (22), 23. Jim Vanzant (24), 24. Emerson Axsom (8). NT
**Emerson Axsom flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Cory Eliason, Laps 24-30 Justin Grant.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-2061, 2-Buddy Kofoid-2061, 3-Daison Pursley-1882, 4-Tanner Thorson-1879, 5-Emerson Axsom-1871, 6-Justin Grant-1870, 7-Logan Seavey-1754, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1670, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1669, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1459.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-197, 2-Tanner Thorson-169, 3-Justin Grant-167, 4-Brady Bacon-158, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-147, 6-Logan Seavey-140, 7-Thomas Meseraull-140, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Shane Cottle-98, 10-Buddy Kofoid-94.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 13, 2021 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – 54th Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Justin Grant
Fatheadz Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chance Crum (23rd to 14th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Thomas Meseraull
=====================
ON TOP OF THE WORLD: WINDOM RETURNS TO USAC MIDGET POINT LEAD AS WESTERN WORLD WINNER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 13, 2021)………Time and time again, it seems when Chris Windom is against the proverbial ropes, he’s able to fight his way out of the corner, dig in and find something within himself that elevates him to another level, especially when it comes to “winning time” in the latter part of the year.
The Canton, Ill. native and USAC Triple Crown champion found himself in a similar position once more during Saturday night’s 54th annual Western World Championships finale at Arizona Speedway.
One night after seeing his 13-point advantage vanish in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings, the reigning series titlist rose to the occasion and put his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota back in victory lane for the seventh time this season, equaling Tanner Thorson as the winningest driver with the series thus far in 2021.
Windom’s performance also elevated him back to the top of the standings by the same exact margin he came into the weekend with, 13, with the final seven races of the year in California taking place over the next couple of weeks.
“We’re in a championship battle here, so it makes it even sweeter,” Windom acknowledged of his 13th career series victory, which tied Steve Knepper, Don Meacham, Ryan Newman and Stevie Reeves for 53rd all-time. “But (team owner) Chad (Boat) and I want to win races too. This is our seventh USAC win this year, so that’s pretty cool. That’s what we’re here for; we want to win a championship and we want to win as many races as possible. We had a lot of smack talkers after we won the championship last year, so I’d like to shut them up and go win another one.”
Windom’s performance the night before was one that just didn’t quite satisfy himself or the team, especially in a championship fight when every single inch and every single yard becomes of utmost importance, and a victory is as satisfying as it gets, no matter how you slice it.
“Any time you can get a win, it’s a big momentum swing,” Windom admitted. “I was frustrated after running sixth last night. To come here and back it up with a win is a testament to all these guys. All these guys on CB Industries gave me such a good racecar.”
Windom fired off from the outside of the front row for the start of the $4,000-to-win, 30-lap main event, immediately finding a jewel of a line early on. Diamonding from top on entry to the bottom off exit, Windom stepped away from the rest of the field to the tune of 2.757 seconds in the first third of the event until the margin was erased by a yellow flag for 22nd running Kevin Woody Jr. who spun backward in turn one but returned to finish 18th.
Under yellow, 20th running Chase Randall also pulled to the infield work area. Randall started the feature 23rd in a backup Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports machine after damaging the primary via rear-end contact with the turn one outside wall in his heat race. Randall restarted and took the backup all the way to a 9th place finish, earning both KSE Racing Product Hard Charger honors and the GSP Quality Driving Performance of the Race.
Upon resumption on the 11th lap, Windom found beside him a challenger in Zach Daum, who pulled even with the leader at the exit of turn two. Daum’s initial charge was short-lived, for the time being, as 8th running Tanner Thorson, the defending Western World Midget winner, slowed to bring out the caution. After a brief foray in the work area, Thorson returned, then promptly drove from the back of the pack to finish 6th.
For the five successive laps following the stoppage, Daum proved to be a thorn in Windom’s side, pulling ahead to the lead briefly at the exit of turns two and four each lap until Windom blew by with the momentum firmly in hand, subsequently slamming the door on Daum and regaining all of his battleground on the straightaways.
Windom successfully staved off Daum’s advances throughout the mid-section of the event with Daum’s pursuit of a first USAC National Midget feature victory since 2014 going up in a cloud of smoke just 10 laps from the finish, relegating the Pocahontas, Ill. driver back to a disappointing 21st place finish in the final rundown.
Cannon McIntosh assumed the second position and mimicked Windom’s line around the 3/8-mile dirt oval, but Windom was near perfect down the stretch, a run that was interrupted only by 4th place running Kevin Thomas Jr.’s mechanical demise on lap 22.
There was no answer for Windom, leaving no question to the final result on this evening as the laps waned during the final USAC National Midget event at the venue before its closure later this month. Despite being comfortably in control from an outside vantage point, Windom took preventative measures into his own hands and switched lanes while constructing an eight-car-length lead.
“It felt like the track moved around a little bit,” Windom pointed out. “It felt like I was slowing down quite a bit down there in one and two toward the end. I kind of changed my line a little bit and moved to the bottom, and it was kind of sketchy in three and four.”
Unfettered and untouched, Windom glided to victory once again at the San Tan Valley, Ariz. track by a 2.015 second margin to earn his third career Western World final night triumph after previously capturing a USAC National Sprint Car victory in 2016 and a USAC Southwest 360 Sprint Car score in 2017.
Windom was followed to the line by Cannon McIntosh in second with Thomas Meseraull third, Tanner Carrick fourth and Buddy Kofoid fifth.
McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) had his throttle hung wide open for practically the entire second half of the feature but managed to race to his best result since the Indiana Midget Week opener at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway on June 3, scoring a second-place finish at Arizona in his Dave Mac Motorsports/DriveWFX.com – D.A. McIntosh – Smith Titanium/Spike/Speedway Toyota. Earlier in the evening, McIntosh recorded his second consecutive fast time during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying.
Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) took a solid third-place finish in the midget feature and was the only driver to finish inside the top-ten in both the midget and sprint car main events on Saturday night, the latter of which he finished fourth in. Meseraull delivered with a fine performance in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota, which came 24 hours following a 13th place finish the night before.
The most serious accident of the night occurred during the third heat race when Daison Pursley was involved in a vicious flip at the entrance to the the high side of turn three while battling for fourth alongside Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate, Buddy Kofoid. After several flips and somersaults, Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) was removed from the car and transported to an area hospital for further observation. Initial reports from the scene were that Pursley was awake and alert.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 13, 2021 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – 54th Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-15.264; 2. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.299; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-15.335; 4. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-15.336; 5. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-15.357; 6. Cory Eliason, 26, Rudeen-15.404; 7. Tanner Carrick, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.409; 8. Jade Avedisian, 84, CBI-15.445; 9. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.455; 10. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.470; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.472; 12. Daison Pursley, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.491; 13. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.516; 14. Chance Crum, 26R, Rudeen-15.569; 15. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.578; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.583; 17. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.587; 18. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-15.587; 19. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-15.590; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.655; 21. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.870; 22. Trevor Casey, 00, Mounce/Stout-16.007; 23. Kevin Woody Jr., 10, Dave Mac-16.426; 24. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-17.493.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Trevor Casey, 8. Chase Randall. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Jade Avedisian, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Taylor Reimer, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Kevin Woody Jr. 2:06.40
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Cory Eliason, 7. Jim Vanzant, 8. Daison Pursley. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (2), 2. Cannon McIntosh (6), 3. Thomas Meseraull (7), 4. Tanner Carrick (1), 5. Buddy Kofoid (11), 6. Tanner Thorson (12), 7. Justin Grant (17), 8. Logan Seavey (4), 9. Chase Randall (23), 10. Cory Eliason (9), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (16), 12. Emerson Axsom (8), 13. Kaylee Bryson (19), 14. Chance Crum (15), 15. Brenham Crouch (14), 16. Jade Avedisian (10), 17. Taylor Reimer (5), 18. Kevin Woody Jr. (21), 19. Trevor Casey (20), 20. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 21. Zach Daum (3), 22. Ethan Mitchell (18), 23. Jim Vanzant (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Chris Windom.
**Daison Pursley flipped during the third heat.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-2138, 2-Buddy Kofoid-2125, 3-Tanner Thorson-1942, 4-Justin Grant-1926, 5-Emerson Axsom-1918, 6-Daison Pursley-1893, 7-Logan Seavey-1814, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1742, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1699, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1537.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-198, 2-Justin Grant-186, 3-Tanner Thorson-183, 4-Brady Bacon-160, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-147, 6-Thomas Meseraull-144, 7-Logan Seavey-140, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Shane Cottle-106, 10-Buddy Kofoid-100.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 16, 2021 – Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, California – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – November Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Chase Randall
Fatheadz Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chase Randall (23rd to 9th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kaylee Bryson
=====================
BAKO-TO-BAKO: KOFOID WINS 2ND STRAIGHT USAC MIDGET NOVEMBER CLASSIC AT BAKERSFIELD
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bakersfield, California (November 16, 2021)………One year earlier at California’s Bakersfield Speedway, Buddy Kofoid’s pursuit of victory required a late-race duel that went right down to the wire.
On Tuesday night, Kofoid made it imperative to put closure on his latest Bakersfield duel early and decisively at the 1/3-mile dirt oval.
Kofoid stalked racelong leader Emerson Axsom before making the attack, then reloaded for a second shot, which sent him straight into the lead for good 13 laps from the finish.
From there, Kofoid withstood three separate restarts following a late avalanche of cautions, which he successfully navigated to earn his fifth USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory of the season, and his first since all the way back on June 11 during Indiana Midget Week at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
“I knew getting off to a good start would be critical, but (Axsom) got me both times,” Kofoid remarked, referring to the initial aborted start followed by a complete restart at the green. “I tried a little bit of something the second time and it was still just a little hard to get going on the outside. He’s running the top on both ends, so I decided I’ll just try the middle/bottom in one and two and it kept sticking good. Early on, I felt like I wanted to flip over backwards because it was gripped up so much.”
In the big picture, Kofoid’s victory thrusted him into the series point lead over Chris Windom with six events remaining as he seeks his first USAC championship in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
It was certainly a victory that had been a longtime coming for the Penngrove, Calif. native who picked up his eighth career series win, placing him 80th on the all-time list alongside Brady Bacon, Merle Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Hank Butcher, Kevin Doty, Dan Drinan, Ronnie Duman, Brian Gerster, Kenny Irwin Jr., Eddie Johnson, Michael Lewis, Andy Michner and Josh Wise.
Interestingly enough, Kofoid became the first driver to win USAC National Midget features at Bakersfield in consecutive years since current KKM team manager/driver coach Jay Drake captured two-straight in 1997 and 1998.
Furthermore, the win was the 121st for car owner Keith Kunz who now stands just 12 behind Steve Lewis for the most all-time. It was the first victory for the KKM team since Daison Pursley reached victory lane on August 4 at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.
In victory lane, Kofoid dedicated the victory to teammate Daison Pursley who remains hospitalized following a crash during a USAC National Midget heat race last Saturday night at Arizona Speedway, as well as injured team member Shane Marquez.
Kofoid began his venture from the outside of the front row and had an inkling that time and track position were of utmost importance right from the get-go and not something to let go to chance. However, Axsom got the upper hand through the middle early on in a contentious side-by-side battle that saw Kofoid able to edge ahead on the bottom of turn two each lap throughout the first third of the race only to fall short with Axsom’s outside momentum able to carry him back to the front.
Axsom, driving the blue-colored mobile instead of his normal red colored No. 15 after crashing it during a flip during last weekend’s Western World at Arizona, hele steady with a two-car length lead over Kofoid as the race crossed over the halfway mark and moved into the thick of lapped traffic.
On lap 17, Axsom became a tad too sideways on his entry into turn three, allowing Kofoid to subsequently shoot past underneath. Axsom, steaming right rear tire and all, countered and cut back underneath to reclaim the lead at the exit of turn four. Exactly one trip around Bakersfield Speedway later, Axsom clung to a slim advantage, and when sliding from the bottom of turn three to the cushion atop turn four, his car became slightly askew, which was the crack in the window Kofoid needed to establish himself as the leader when he raced by to lead at the stripe with a single car length of separation between he and Axsom.
“I was just kind of biding my time, waiting for traffic, and I feel like I can contend with people or snooker them a little bit in traffic if I’m there, and I was able to do that,” Kofoid explained. “Then, after that point, I just needed to move back to the top of one and two and just start running laps.”
Kofoid was, for all intents and purposes, became unattainable at that point, especially without a bevy of traffic to contend with out in front following a barrage of cautions, beginning on lap 22 with 14th running Ethan Mitchell’s ride going up in an eruption of white smoke.
World of Outlaws star and 2016 USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year Carson Macedo became the next victim of circumstance on lap 25 when the 12th running driver biked in turn three, then plowed into the outside wall and the catchfence with the right side of his car before coming to a rest on all fours.
Jade Avedisian was the final contestant to find trouble, doing so while she competed for the 11th position alongside Chase Randall with the white flag right in their sights, which wound up with her in the wall and the car tipped over on its side.
Although his 1.669 second lead was abruptly erased, Kofoid found no issue whatsoever resuming his voyage during the final green-white-checkered restart which he engaged without issue as he raced away to a 1.130 second victory at the checkered over Axsom, who used a last corner crossover to gain back the runner-up spot ahead of Grant in third. Tanner Thorson was fourth with Cannon McIntosh fifth.
Axsom’s second-place result was the Franklin, Indiana driver’s first top-ten finish in his past five starts with the series in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota. His second-place finish was his highest finishing position since Action Track USA back in early August.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) felt a little more racy toward the end of the 30-lapper in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota as the track became more technical, barely missing the second position in the final corner as Axsom raced back by to claim the spot.
Two track records were broken during the evening with Cannon McIntosh earning his third consecutive Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time with the series, the most recent of which broke Bakersfield’s 26-year-old record for USAC Midgets at the track. McIntosh’s lap of 12.347 was just a tick quicker than Billy Boat’s time of 12.349, set in November of 1995.
Chase Randall, meanwhile, set a new 12-lap track record during the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature, with his time of 2:31.417 breaking Brady Bacon’s record of 2:35.690 from 2017.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 16, 2021 – Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, California – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – November Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-12.347 (New Track Record); 2. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.454; 3. Jade Avedisian, 84, CBI-12.511; 4. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-12.528; 5. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-12.528; 6. Jason McDougal, 4, Dalby-12.560; 7. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.574; 8. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-12.582; 9. Chance Crum, 26R, Rudeen-12.595; 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.600; 11. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.601; 12. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.602; 13. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.607; 14. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.608; 15. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-12.616; 16. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.616; 17. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-12.646; 18. Tony Gomes, 73x, Ford-12.660; 19. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.664; 20. Cory Eliason, 26, Rudeen-12.674; 21. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.688; 22. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.742; 23. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.752; 24. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-12.796; 25. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-12.825; 26. Kevin Woody Jr., 10, Dave Mac-12.847; 27. Ben Worth, 5K, Alexander-12.890; 28. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-12.890; 29. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-12.941; 30. Chase Johnson, 7NZ, BSL-12.957; 31. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.999; 32. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.092; 33. Blake Bower, 9, Boscacci-13.149; 34. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-13.224.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Chase Johnson, 8. Kevin Woody Jr., 9. Jake Andreotti. 2:07.787
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Tony Gomes, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Ben Worth, 8. Jason McDougal. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Jade Avedisian, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Dylan Ito. 2:06.941
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cory Eliason, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Michael Faccinto, 5. Ryan Timms, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Blake Bower, 8. Zach Daum. 2:05.251
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Ryan Timms, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Kevin Woody Jr., 10. Dylan Ito, 11. Ben Worth, 12. Maria Cofer, 13. Jake Andreotti, 14. Blake Bower, 15. Hayden Reinbold. 2:31.417 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (2), 2. Emerson Axsom (1), 3. Justin Grant (4), 4. Tanner Thorson (5), 5. Cannon McIntosh (11), 6. Cory Eliason (8), 7. Chris Windom (7), 8. Bryant Wiedeman (3), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 10. Logan Seavey (17), 11. Thomas Meseraull (22), 12. Tanner Carrick (20), 13. Brenham Crouch (15), 14. Kaylee Bryson (19), 15. Ryan Timms (13), 16. Tony Gomes (18), 17. Taylor Reimer (16), 18. Chase Randall (12), 19. Jade Avedisian (6), 20. Carson Macedo (10), 21. Ethan Mitchell (14), 22. Michael Faccinto (21). NT
**Jade Avedisian flipped on lap 29 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Emerson Axsom, Laps 18-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-2202, 2-Chris Windom-2198, 3-Tanner Thorson-2010, 4-Justin Grant-1996, 5-Emerson Axsom-1991, 6-Daison Pursley-1893, 7-Logan Seavey-1864, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1788, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1753, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1604.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-201, 2-Justin Grant-188, 3-Tanner Thorson-184, 4-Brady Bacon-170, 5-Thomas Meseraull-159, 6-Logan Seavey-148, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-147, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Shane Cottle-106, 10-Buddy Kofoid-101.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: November 18-19-20, 2021 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Thomas Meseraull
Fatheadz Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Carson Macedo
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cory Eliason
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Chase Randall
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (22nd to 11th)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chance Crum
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Brenham Crouch
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TIMMS BECOMES YOUNGEST USAC MIDGET WINNER IN HANGTOWN 100 OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Placerville, California (November 18, 2021)………At just 15 years, 3 months and 12 days old, Ryan Timms made history Thursday on night one of the Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100 at California’s Placerville Speedway by becoming the youngest feature winner in the history of the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship.
The Oklahoma City, Okla. native rewrote the record books just a mere five months after Corey Day’s triumph during Indiana Midget Week at Circle City Raceway, which he accomplished at 15 years, 6 months and 12 days old.
Although the victorious occasion marked Timms’ first career series win, his performance also produced a déjà vu moment that harkened back to the opening night of the most recent Hangtown 100 in 2019.
It was then and there two years ago that a Chad Boat-owned car started on the outside of the front row, took the lead at the drop of the green flag, and led all 30 laps en route to a first career USAC National Midget feature victory, that driver being Gio Scelzi.
One day shy of exactly two years later, a Chad Boat-owned car started on the outside of the front row, took the lead at the drop of the green flag, and led all 30 laps en route to a first career USAC National Midget feature victory, this time that driver being Ryan Timms.
In just his 12th career USAC National Midget feature start, Timms earned not only his first career win, but also his first career top-five finish after a previous best result of 6th in August’s BC39 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Full of potential, talent and poise, Timms’ has earned 16 total sprint car and midget victories this season, including his first with USAC that arrived sooner than he would’ve even thought.
“It’s just really unexpected,” Timms admitted. “I got a really good start and I figured if I could just keep my momentum up on the top, they wouldn’t have anything for me.”
Timms ran roughshod through the field, never wavering from the high line in a non-stop feature that went green to checkered in a mere six minutes and 7.97 seconds in his CB Industries/Western Flyer Express – DriveWFX.com – PristineAuction.com/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
By lap seven, Timms had constructed a full-straightaway lead and was already on the cusp of sailing through the tail end of the field. Shortly thereafter, fifth starting Cannon McIntosh slid his way into the third position in turn three past Justin Grant, then a half a lap later, made the same maneuver on the opposite end of the racetrack to streak by Zeb Wise for second.
With the combination of Timms’ fight through traffic and McIntosh now being in the clear and possessing a full head of steam, the naked eye could undoubtedly tell that Timms’ advantage was sheared in half from a full-straightaway to just a half.
Timms made his escape through the jungle of machinery, clearing Colby Copeland in turn four on lap 24 to put him a lap down, then promptly stretching his lead to a full straightaway without a bit of traffic in his view and only six laps remaining. McIntosh quickly disposed of Copeland as well and quickly carved into Timms’ lead in half once again, from a half-straightaway to a quarter-straightaway and closing.
With McIntosh now standing just a single car length back of Timms’ coming to the white flag, the sands were filling the bottom of the hourglass. Timms stayed tried and true to the high line while McIntosh, who shadowed him up on the cushion, was forced to hatch a plan for an alternate path in order to get by.
In the final set of corners in turns three and four, Timms worked to the outside of 19th running Chase Randall, who occupied the bottom. McIntosh dove toward the infield berm but ran out of room in which to toss a possible slide job with Randall occupying the groove. Meanwhile, up top, Timms maintained the momentum and, subsequently, delivered victory number one.
McIntosh took second, three car lengths and 0.347 seconds behind Timms at the finish line, with Justin Grant third, Shane Golobic fourth and Emerson Axsom fifth.
Two nights after starting off his California Midget swing with a 15th place result at Bakersfield, Timms felt the swing of momentum, and the swing of emotion, take a path in his direction on this night, as one Oklahoman beat another Oklahoman for the $5,000 top prize.
“There was a bunch of lapped traffic and I figured he’d be right there, but I never saw his nose,” Timms recalled of his battle to the finish with McIntosh. “It’s been a pretty humbling trip. We’ll have a great run then run dang near last the next night. So, to get this one is just awesome.”
Of late, Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) has been among the quickest and most consistent in the series in his Dave Mac Motorsports/DriveWFX.com – D.A. McIntosh – Smith Titanium/Spike/Speedway Toyota. Although his streak of three consecutive Fatheadz Fast Qualifying times came to an end Thursday, he did record his second runner-up finish in his last three outings as he gets ever closer to his first series win of the season, but just ran out of time.
“I was really driving it hard,” McIntosh said. “I honestly thought we had more laps left, then I saw the white and we just ran out of time there. It would’ve been nice to get a yellow and see what we could’ve done with the field bunched up without traffic but, sometimes, that’s how it goes. I felt like we had a shot to win tonight. We have two more nights and I’m really excited because I feel like we have a really good racecar.”
For the second consecutive race, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) rounded out the podium with a third-place finish in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota. Located about 30 miles or so from his hometown of Ione, Calif., for Grant, Placerville served as a homecoming of sorts, conjuring up memories of his early days of competition with the Bay Cities Racing Association, where he was the 2007 series champ.
“We want to get to victory lane every night, but if we can’t win, coming out with a good solid run is a bonus, especially on a three-day event like this,” Grant said. “We want to win Saturday and we’re doing everything we can to put ourselves in a good position to do that. We’re going to have to be a little better to beat those guys, though. They were ripping around there pretty good.”
Four new track records were set on Thursday night at Placerville with Tanner Thorson recording the 23rd Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time of his career in USAC National Midget competition, moving him past Stan Fox for sole possession of 17th on the all-time list. Thorson’s time of 11.397 broke the former one-lap track record of 11.979 seconds, set by Dillon Welch in 2019.
Thomas Meseraull’s time of 1:57.13 in Simpson Race Products broke his own track record by more than 11 seconds during Simpson Racing heat one, completely demolishing his former mark of 2:08.68, set in 2019.
Thorson posted a second new track record of the evening for himself in the second of two Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Features. His time of 2:25.95 set the new standard for the 12-lap distance at the 1/4-mile dirt oval.
Timms’ winning time of 6:07.97 signaled the fifth green-to-checker USAC National Midget feature this season and, by far, the fastest. Preceding non-stop races this season occurred on Aug. 3 at Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway; Sept. 11 at South Dakota’s Huset’s Speedway; and Sept. 24 and Sept. 25 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.
With his seventh-place feature finish, Chris Windom reclaimed the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship point lead by a 13-point margin over Buddy Kofoid, who scored a 14th place result. Five races now remain this season.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 18, 2021 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100
FLIGHT ONE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-11.463, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.464, 3. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-11.533, 4. Jade Avedisian, 86, CBI-11.571, 5. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-11.600, 6. Ryan Robinson, 71R, Morris-11.620, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.624, 8. Chance Crum, 26R, Rudeen-11.640.
FLIGHT TWO FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-11.605, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.672, 3. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.818, 4. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-11.870, 5. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-11.951, 6. Carson Sousa, 00, Mounce/Stout-12.311, 7. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-12.721, 8. Robert Carson, 99, Segur-NT.
FLIGHT THREE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.436, 2. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.456, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-11.546, 4. Michael Faccinto, 14s, Graunstadt-11.647, 5. Jake Andreotti, 00A, Davis-11.785, 6. Chase Johnson, 7NZ, BSL-11.854, 7. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.143, 8. Tony Gomes, 73x, Ford-NT (Time of 11.831 disallowed due to bypassing the scales).
FLIGHT FOUR FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-11.397 (New Track Record), 2. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.570, 3. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-11.612, 4. Blake Bower, 9, Boscacci-11.627, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.710, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.733, 7. Ben Worth, 5K, Alexander-11.778, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.813.
FLIGHT FIVE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-11.546, 2. Zeb Wise, 37w, Wood-11.561, 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.594, 4. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-11.644, 5. Ben Wiesz, 21w, Wiesz-12.501, 6. Jake Morgan, 45, Luke OB-12.702, 7. Beau Lemire, 14, Lemire-NT.
FLIGHT SIX FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.590, 2. Cory Eliason, 26, Rudeen-11.685, 3. Colby Copeland, 25m, Malloy-11.709, 4. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-11.722, 5. Jason McDougal, 5T, Alexander-11.738, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.765, 7. Chase Johnson, 7NZ, BLS-11.785, 8. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.959.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull (T), 2. Shane Golobic (T), 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Cannon McIntosh (T), 5. Chance Crum, 6. Maria Cofer, 7. Jade Avedisian, 8. Ryan Robinson. 1:57.13 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch (T), 2. Carson Sousa, 3. Chris Windom (T), 4. Bryant Wiedeman (T), 5. Dylan Ito, 6. Austin Barnhill, 7. Randi Pankratz. 2:01.21
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Colby Johnson (T), 2. Michael Faccinto, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Justin Grant (T), 5. Chase Randall (T), 6. Jake Andreotti, 7. Tony Gomes, 8. Caden Sarale. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson (T), 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Ryan Timms (T), 4. Emerson Axsom (T), 5. Blake Bower, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Ben Worth, 8. Hayden Reinbold. 1:58.21
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey (T), 2. Ryan Bernal, 3. Kyle Larson (T), 4. Zeb Wise (T), 5. Ben Wiesz, 6. Jake Morgan, 7. Beau Lemire. NT
SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick (T), 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Colby Copeland (T), 5. Jason McDougal, 6. Mitchel Moles, 7. Taylor Reimer (T), 8. Cory Eliason. NT
FIRST ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Michael Faccinto, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Maria Cofer, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Carson Sousa, 8. Ben Worth, 9. Dylan Ito, 10. Austin Barnhill, 11. Chance Crum, 12. Beau Lemire, 13. Jade Avedisian. NT
SECOND ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Ryan Bernal, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Blake Bower, 6. Cory Eliason, 7. Jason McDougal, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Jake Andreotti, 11. Caden Sarale, 12. Ben Wiesz, 13. Jake Morgan, 14. Randi Pankratz. 2:25.95 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ryan Timms (2), 2. Cannon McIntosh (5), 3. Justin Grant (6), 4. Shane Golobic (8), 5. Emerson Axsom (3), 6. Kyle Larson (12), 7. Chris Windom (10), 8. Zeb Wise (4), 9. Thomas Meseraull (17), 10. Logan Seavey (11), 11. Brenham Crouch (9), 12. Kaylee Bryson (14), 13. Tanner Carrick (18), 14. Buddy Kofoid (22), 15. Bryant Wiedeman (1), 16. Tanner Thorson (20), 17. Taylor Reimer (16), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (19), 19. Chase Randall (7), 20. Colby Copeland (13), 21. Michael Faccinto (21), 22. Colby Johnson (15), 23. Carson Macedo (23), 24. Hayden Reinbold (25-P), 25. Cory Eliason (26-P), 26. Ryan Bernal (24). 6:07.97 (New Track Record)
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Ryan Timms.
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
(T) represents a heat race transfer
**Beau Lemire flipped during qualifying.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-2250, 2-Buddy Kofoid-2237, 3-Justin Grant-2060, 4-Emerson Axsom-2049, 5-Tanner Thorson-2041, 6-Logan Seavey-1907, 7-Daison Pursley-1892, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1834, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1780, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1671.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-204, 2-Justin Grant-191, 3-Tanner Thorson-188, 4-Brady Bacon-170, 5-Thomas Meseraull-167, 6-Logan Seavey-149, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-148, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-109, 10-Shane Cottle-106.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: November 19-20, 2021 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Carson Macedo
Fatheadz Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Brenham Crouch
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Colby Johnson
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
First Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
First Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Tanner Thorson
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (17th to 9th)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfers: Maria Cofer & Ethan Mitchell
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Carrick
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KYLE LARSON HANGS ‘EM HIGH WITH WIN ON HANGTOWN 100 NIGHT #2
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Placerville, California (November 19, 2021)………It was only a matter of time before Kyle Larson found his way back to USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory lane at California’s Placerville Speedway.
Following the 2019 Hangtown 100 winner’s sixth-place finish in Thursday’s opener, the Elk Grove, Calif. native reacclimated himself to the track of his youth, where he honed his racing skills as a young phenom more than a decade earlier.
He put those attributes on full display during Friday’s second event of the three-night Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100, starting seventh in the field for the 30-lap feature before rising his way up to the front, making the winning move nine laps from the finish with a dive under Emerson Axsom in turn four to score his second victory of the series’ season in just three starts.
Larson’s 25th career USAC National Midget feature victory moved him past Billy Engelhart on the all-time series win list. Larson now stands tied for 17th all-time alongside Darren Hagen, Parnelli Jones and Dave Strickland.
The triumph elevated Larson to the top of the overall Hangtown 100 points standings as well, which the accumulation of will ultimately set the lineups for Saturday night’s $20,000-to-win, 100-lap main event.
Seemingly any car Larson steps into, it’s instantly a top-flite favorite to succeed. The combination of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion behind the wheel and his Kyle Larson Racing owned, FloRacing and HendrickCars.com sponsored Silva chassis with a Speedway engine required some ironing out on night one, but on night two, the combination had already proven itself as a winner.
“Thanks to everybody who took the time to build this car,” Larson praised. “Nobody’s got a car like it in the field, so it’s neat to win out in our second race.”
Larson spoke of the ability to be confident enough in the car to drive it deeper into the corner than his competition, a characteristic that certainly aided in his rapid advancement throughout the second half of the race.
“I was finally able to carry speed on entry and have grip and be confident with it,” Larson explained. “That helped me kind of stay low in the center of three and four and when I could hit it right in one and two and exit low. My car got better and better throughout the race. I didn’t want any cautions there at the end, but we were able to get good launches and kind of pull away a little bit.”
Larson’s outlook was in jeopardy early on, not by any of his own doing, but because of Mother Nature. A misty and rainy early afternoon delayed the program by well more than an hour, which resulted in a smothering and lingering fog which encompassed the 1/4-mile dirt oval during the preliminary events.
While a little digging was a must Larson could not avoid in his path to the front of the field from his inside row four starting position, USAC National Midget point leader Chris Windom was on a relatively easy street early in the going as he spurted out to a six-car-length lead from the outside of the front row.
However, lap three was the base of the first feature stoppage of the evening when Maria Cofer (10th) flipped in turn four. Caden Sarale (17th) attempted to avoid the upside-down Cofer but made slight contact with her idle machine before also coming to a stop himself. Both drivers restarted the event with Cofer 14th and Sarale 25th in what was his initial USAC feature start.
On the sixth lap, one of the most uncharacteristic events came via one of the most unlikely sources for such an incident. Series point leader, defending champion and race leader Chris Windom got sideways all by his lonesome on entry to turn one. As he tapped the brakes to righten the ship and avoid spinning all the way around, the car locked up, the engine shut off, and Windom was completely stopped.
Windom subsequently returned to the lineup to finish 15th while his point lead dwindled from 13 points up to 12 points down in an instant flash with just four races remaining.
The new race leader became series Rookie Bryant Wiedeman who led the field to the green on the lap six restart. However, his lead proved to be short-lived as Axsom charged around the outside of Wiedeman two laps later in turn four to lead lap eight and take control of the top spot, where he’d remain for the bulk of the event.
By midway, Larson had moved his way into third, using a variety of attack angles, first up top above the cushion, then a slice toward the bottom, which he used to carve his way past Wiedeman for the second position on lap 17, slotting himself squarely between the now third-running Wiedeman and race leader Axsom.
Lap-after-lap-after-lap, Larson swung to the top side of turns one and two, then made a beeline from the top of turn two to the bottom of turn three where he slid side-by-side with Axsom repeatedly, rinse, lather and repeat. However, time and time again, Axsom got enough of a drive in three and four to thwart Larson’s exhaustive pursuit, but Larson remained hungry and confident that his persistence would pay off in droves soon enough.
“It was difficult,” Larson acknowledged. “The track was so fast there. I got to third by a couple cars at the top of three and four. The momentum of the yellows, and when they fell, kind of helped me out. I found the line there in three and four right before one of the cautions and was able to really use that to my advantage with Emerson and Bryant running the top. That worked out, and I was thankful that Emerson didn’t move down after I’d showed my nose so many times.”
On the 22nd lap, Larson’s constant hounding of Axsom paid dividends when he got the drive he so desired through turns three and four to slide up across and clear the chrome horn of Axsom at the exit of the fourth turn, all while the sizable crowd sent up a deafening roar of approval from under the covered grandstands.
Meanwhile, Cannon McIntosh escaped injury following the 14th place driver’s flip along the front straightaway with just two laps remaining. He’d walk away from the incident unscathed.
The green-white-checkered finish presented a two-lap dash in which Larson went unheeded, unmatched and unbeatable as he reached the finish line first by a 0.663 second margin of victory over Axsom in second with Wiedeman third, Jason McDougal fourth and new point leader Buddy Kofoid in fifth.
Emerson Axsom’s fine California stretch has been buttery smooth thus far with the Franklin, Ind. driver earning his second runner-up finish in the past three races in the Golden State after leading a race-high 14 laps in his Petry Motorsports/FK Rod Ends – Iron Born Studio/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, a “T car” the team constructed following a major crash last weekend at Arizona Speedway.
“This is a backup car, and it took us a minute to get used to it, but I think we got it figured out after running second to Kyle. It’s pretty cool, and I’m kind of out there fan-girling when the 1K goes by, but not really,” Axsom said, accompanied by a sizable grin. “It’s pretty cool because it’s my dad and I working on this car. We got our speed back and now we’ve got one more night.”
Bryant Wiedeman (Colby, Kan.) led the first two laps of his USAC National Midget career early in Friday’s feature and carried on to record the best finish of his young USAC career, a 3rd, behind Larson and Axsom in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Coleman Power Sports – Yerf Dog/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“It was definitely a good run for our team,” Wiedeman noted. “I goofed up last night pretty bad on my part. I had a chance at Bakersfield for a podium but made a couple mistakes there at the end. I’m glad to be on the podium, especially with a couple of the best USAC Midget drivers there are. I didn’t really know where to run early on and let Axsom by me, then Larson got me on the restart. We’re just going to keep clicking off these nights and keep working towards that first win.”
Furthermore, two more of Weideman’s Kunz/Curb-Agajanian teammates posted special nights. Taylor Reimer set fast time during Fatheadz Qualifying for the first time in her USAC National Midget career while Brenham Crouch set a new 10-lap record during his heat race at a time of 1:56.949.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 19, 2021 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100
FLIGHT ONE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.569; 2. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.668; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-11.696; 4. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.742; 5. Colby Copeland, 25m, Malloy-11.752; 6. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.776; 7. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.814; 8. Jake Andreotti, 00A, Davis-11.843; 9. Mike Snider, 6K, Snider-12.552.
FLIGHT TWO FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.622; 2. Chance Crum, 26R, Rudeen-11.700; 3. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-11.760; 4. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.772; 5. Colby Johnson, 17K, Morris-11.800; 6. Carson Sousa, 00, Mounce/Stout-11.851; 7. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.113; 8. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-12.197.
FLIGHT THREE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-11.627; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.646; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.697; 4. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-11.699; 5. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-11.736; 6. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.880; 7. Blake Bower, 9, Boscacci-11.942; 8. Ben Worth, 5K, Alexander-11.973.
FLIGHT FOUR FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-11.572; 2. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-11.592; 3. Zeb Wise, 37w, Wood-11.688; 4. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-11.769; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.809; 6. Michael Faccinto, 14, Graunstadt-11.833; 7. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-12.453; 8. Anthony Esberg, 1x, Esberg-NT.
FLIGHT FIVE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.590; 2. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.623; 3. Ryan Robinson, 71R, Morris-11.708; 4. Jade Avedisian, 86, CBI-11.776; 5. Chase Johnson, 7NZ, BLS-11.792; 6. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-11.879; 7. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-12.001; 8. Ben Wiesz, 21w, Wiesz-12.659.
FLIGHT SIX FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.553; 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.687; 3. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-11.706; 4. Jason McDougal, 5T, Alexander-11.768; 5. Cory Eliason, 26, Rudeen-11.963; 6. Chase Elliott, 9E, Larson-12.069; 7. Jake Morgan, 45, Luke OB-13.298; 8. Thomas Esberg, 8x, Esberg-14.335.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch (T), 2. Colby Copeland (T), 3. Justin Grant, 4. Jake Andreotti, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (T), 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Mike Snider. 1:56.949 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Caden Sarale (T), 2. Colby Johnson, 3. Chris Windom (T), 4. Chase Randall, 5. Emerson Axsom (T), 6. Chance Crum, 7. Dylan Ito, 8. Carson Sousa. 1:59.97
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo (T), 2. Shane Golobic, 3. Buddy Kofoid (T), 4. Maria Cofer (T), 5. Blake Bower, 6. Mariah Ede, 7. Cannon McIntosh, 8. Ben Worth. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Michael Faccinto (T), 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Ryan Timms, 4. Zeb Wise (T), 5. Kyle Larson (T), 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Randi Pankratz, 8. Anthony Esberg. 1:59.883
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Johnson (T), 2. Logan Seavey (T), 3. Jade Avedisian, 4. Ethan Mitchell (T), 5. Ryan Robinson, 6. Ryan Bernal, 7. Ben Wiesz, 8. Austin Barnhill. NT
SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-2 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal (T), 2. Taylor Reimer (T), 3. Cory Eliason, 4. Bryant Wiedeman (T), 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Chase Elliott, 7. Thomas Esberg, 8. Jake Morgan. NT
FIRST ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Golobic, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Cory Eliason, 4. Ryan Robinson, 5. Jade Avedisian, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Jake Andreotti, 8. Blake Bower, 9. Ben Worth, 10. Kaylee Bryson, 11. Cannon McIntosh, 12. Jake Morgan, 13. Ben Wiesz, 14. Anthony Esberg, 15. Carson Sousa. NT
SECOND ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Colby Johnson, 8. Mariah Ede, 9. Austin Barnhill, 10. Dylan Ito, 11. Chase Elliott, 12. Mike Snider, 13. Hayden Reinbold, 14. Randi Pankratz, 15. Thomas Esberg. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (7), 2. Emerson Axsom (6), 3. Bryant Wiedeman (4), 4. Jason McDougal (8), 5. Buddy Kofoid (9), 6. Carson Macedo (3), 7. Zeb Wise (1), 8. Logan Seavey (11), 9. Taylor Reimer (12), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 11. Justin Grant (24), 12. Ethan Mitchell (5), 13. Brenham Crouch (17), 14. Maria Cofer (10), 15. Chris Windom (2), 16. Colby Copeland (13), 17. Ryan Timms (20), 18. Tanner Carrick (25-P), 19. Shane Golobic (19), 20. Tanner Thorson (22), 21. Chase Johnson (15), 22. Michael Faccinto (14), 23. Cory Eliason (23), 24. Cannon McIntosh (26-P), 25. Caden Sarale (18), 26. Thomas Meseraull (21). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Chris Windom, Laps 6-7 Bryant Wiedeman, Laps 8-21 Emerson Axsom, Laps 22-30 Kyle Larson.
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
(T) represents a heat race transfer
**Cannon McIntosh flipped during the third heat. Ryan Robinson flipped during the fifth heat. Bryant Wiedeman flipped during the sixth heat. Maria Cofer flipped on lap 3 of the feature. Cannon McIntosh flipped on lap 28 of the feature.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-2295, 2-Chris Windom-2283, 3-Emerson Axsom-2116, 4-Justin Grant-2101, 5-Tanner Thorson-2064, 6-Logan Seavey-1956, 7-Daison Pursley-1892, 8-Thomas Meseraull-1857, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1823, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1694.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-204 & Justin Grant-204, 3-Tanner Thorson-190, 4-Brady Bacon-170, 5-Thomas Meseraull-167, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-154, 7-Logan Seavey-152, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-113, 10-Shane Cottle-106.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 20, 2021 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Justin Grant
Fatheadz Fast Qualifier: Taylor Reimer
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Brenham Crouch
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Caden Sarale
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Carson Macedo
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Michael Faccinto
First Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Shane Golobic
First Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Ryan Timms
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Justin Grant (24th to 11th)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfers: Ryan Robinson & Mitchel Moles
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Brenham Crouch
=====================
HOMECOMING KING: IT’S A $20,000 PAYDAY FOR GRANT AT HANGTOWN 100
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Placerville, California (November 20, 2021)……… “This is where I grew up; this is where I fell in love with racing; this is the place where I decided I wanted to be a racecar driver.”
Justin Grant fondly remembers those days of yesteryear at California’s Placerville Speedway which set the course for his life’s journey in the arena of auto racing – a path which has taken him from a teenage upstart BCRA Midget champion in 2007 to a USAC Silver Crown titlist in 2020 and as one of today’s biggest USAC stars.
All those winding roads throughout the decades since weaved its way back to his stomping grounds, back to the 1/4-mile dirt oval located just a half hour away from his Ione, Calif. home and to the most lucrative victory of his racing career on Saturday night in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Grant tracked down USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship point leader Buddy Kofoid in front of a standing-room only crowd 14 laps from the finish of the 100-lapper, then slid past with authority and garnered himself a monumental victory worth $20,000 on the final night of the Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100.
His third series victory of the year moved him into a tie for 80th on the all-time USAC National Midget feature win list alongside Brady Bacon, Merle Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Hank Butcher, Kevin Doty, Dan Drinan, Ronnie Duman, Brian Gerster, Kenny Irwin Jr., Eddie Johnson, Buddy Kofoid, Michael Lewis, Andy Michner and Josh Wise.
Winning at Placerville is meaningful in so many ways to Grant. It was there as a child where he once played in the dirt with his own toy racecars while watching from afar and dreaming of a day when he too could become one of those heroes he looked up to at a young age.
“My dad would bring me here and buy me diecast cars in turn one, and we’d sit up there and watch sprint car races,” Grant revealed. “I have a lot of family here and it’s close to home in front of all these fans. It’s just a really special win.”
Grant began his quest from the seventh position in the 28-car field, looking on as outside front row starter Zeb Wise slotted into the early race lead.
Prior to the feature, Friday night’s Hangtown 100 prelim winner and top point driver, Kyle Larson, had his son, Owen, draw the inversion number with 12, 14 and 16 being the only available options. Owen pulled out a 12, meaning Larson would have to start the main event from the 12th position while the 12th place driver in weekend points, Taylor Reimer, started from the pole.
Larson’s first bump in the road came on the 12th lap when he, Brenham Crouch (11th) and Tanner Carrick (18th) all tangled and stopped in between turns one and two. Larson went to the work area briefly then restarted as did Carrick, while Crouch was finished for the evening.
The top-two of Wise and sixth-starting Kofoid formed a two-car breakaway in the ensuing laps with Kofoid perusing the bottom of turns one and two while scouring the top of three and four as he studied his path to get by Wise. Kofoid passed the test and passed Wise as he dove past on the bottom of turn three 21 laps into the event.
Mere moments later, on lap 24, Grant and Wise banged wheels entering turn three with Grant forging way past and into the second spot.
From there on, the chase was on as Grant relentlessly pursued Kofoid for the lead, shadowing him low in turns one and two and on the top in turns three and four all while being encapsulated by the traffic that surrounded them as they encroached the halfway mark.
However, on lap 54, Michael Faccinto and Thomas Meseraull were engaged in a tussle for the 20th spot on the back straightaway, which resulted in Faccinto spinning right in the middle of the racetrack and in the direct path of the leaders. Kofoid swerved to miss as did Grant. However, Bryant Wiedeman (3rd) and Shane Golobic (4th) were the misfortunate ones caught up in the melee, as they both smashed into the front end of Faccinto. Wiedeman continued onward, but Golobic slid to a stop, requiring a right rear tire change.
The scheduled midway stop for fuel was signaled at that moment and, under open red conditions, teams topped off with fuel and made tweaks and adjustments to prepare for the final 47 laps.
Running 12th at the time of the red, Larson became one of the prime movers as soon as action resumed. Just six laps after the drop of the green, Larson ran sixth and was hauling. Just as soon as Larson put himself back into contention, heartbreak hit the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ on lap 67 when he drifted sideways on entry to turn one on the cushion, which sent him barrel-rolling over the banking. He was okay, and after quick repairs, returned to the fray.
Up front, lap after lap of pulling to the outside of Kofoid in one and two and to the inside in turns three and four finally paid off for Grant on lap 87 as he slid across the nose of Kofoid in turn three, drifting to the top of turn four, then promptly nipping Kofoid by a wheel at the line before slicing to the bottom of turn one to deny Kofoid a chance at retaliation.
“The track was really kind of momentum based there,” Grant explained. “You got on a long run, and it was harder and harder to capitalize the more a guy could get in his rhythm. Buddy was killing us on the starts there early but this car really came around late. I kind of figured out in one and two I could enter outside his right rear a little bit and not lose any team and have way better angle up off two and then stay in the moisture down the backstretch.”
On the ensuing restart following a turn two spin by 2019 race winner Larson, who finished 18th, Grant steadily constructed a two car lengths lead, which stretched out to four, then to six with just five laps remaining and nary a morsel of traffic or obstructions awaiting ahead.
Grant rounded the final corner with both eyes on the prize as he passed under the double checkers to win by a 0.959 second margin over Kofoid in second with Logan Seavey third, Chris Windom fourth and Carson Macedo rounding out the top-five.
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) didn’t shy away from expressing his disappointment in finishing second after leading a race high 66 laps in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota. While the disappointment of letting a win slip away took its immediate effect, Kofoid could also take some solace in the fact that he extended his USAC National point lead from 12 to 18 over Windom with just three races now remaining this season.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” Kofoid admitted. “I guess, at the end of the day, it was a good points night. It sucks to lead that many laps and lose it. Justin was just better on the long runs at the end, and I faded at the end. I was probably too good too early, but a second is nothing to hang your head about.”
A late charge to a third-place finish paid off in a big way for Logan Seavey and his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. But it was his total accumulation of points throughout the weekend that truly paid off with a $12,000 bonus being paid out as the overall Hangtown 100 points champion.
“I was really trying to give it away the first half of the race,” Seavey recalled. “I just kept making mistakes, but I started coming on strongly at the end. My car kept getting better as the race went on and that’s what you’ve got to do here in these 100 lap races. I think I may have hurt my tires a little too much at the beginning of the race which may have hurt me those last few laps. We were charging really hard those last 30 laps and I could really make the middle work in one and two and that’s where I was gaining a lot of speed, then I was able to clear a slider down into three. That’s really where I could make ground, and when the middle cleaned off, this thing came to life right when I needed to make some moves and win this point championship.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 20, 2021 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-20 in overall points transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Colby Copeland (#25m Malloy), 3. Mitchel Moles (#07w Wood), 4. Ryan Timms (#85T CBI), 5. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), 6. Kyle Larson (#1K Larson), 7. Bryant Wiedeman (#01 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 9. Mariah Ede (#71E Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 10. Caden Sarale (#32 Sarale), 11. Ben Worth (#5K Alexander), 12. Austin Barnhill (#17B Dave Mac), 13. Anthony Esberg (#1x Esberg). NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-20 in overall points transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson (#19T Reinbold-Underwood), 2. Blake Bower (#9 Boscacci), 3. Shane Golobic (#17w Wood), 4. Carson Macedo (#21 Tarlton), 5. Justin Grant (#2J RMS), 6. Michael Faccinto (#14 Graunstadt), 7. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 8. Colby Johnson (#17K Morris), 9. Chase Elliott (#9E Larson), 10. Chance Crum (#26R Rudeen), 11. Dylan Ito (#73 Ford), 12. Ben Wiesz (#21w Wiesz). 2:04.455
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-20 in overall points transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 2. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Logan Seavey (#25 Malloy), 4. Chase Johnson (#7NZ BLS), 5. Jade Avedisian (#86 CBI), 6. Maria Cofer (#57 Abacus), 7. Chris Windom (#89 CBI), 8. Jake Andreotti (#00A Davis), 9. Thomas Meseraull (#7x RMS), 10. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 11. Jake Morgan (#45 Luke OB), 12. Thomas Esberg (#8x Esberg). NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-20 in overall points transfer to the feature) 1. Cory Eliason (#26 Rudeen), 2. Cannon McIntosh (#08 Dave Mac), 3. Kaylee Bryson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Ryan Robinson (#71R Morris), 5. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Jason McDougal (#5T Alexander), 7. Taylor Reimer (#25K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 8. Ryan Bernal (#87w Wood), 9. Zeb Wise (#37w Wood), 10. Carson Sousa (#00 Mounce-Stout), 11. Mike Snider (#6K Snider), 12. Randi Pankratz (#8 Pankratz). NT
C-MAIN: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Dylan Ito, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Mariah Ede, 4. Jake Morgan, 5. Ben Worth, 6. Chase Elliott, 7. Ben Wiesz, 8. Mike Snider, 9. Randi Pankratz, 10. Austin Barnhill, 11. Ryan Bernal, 12. Thomas Esberg. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (20 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Michael Faccinto, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Cory Eliason, 7. Chase Johnson, 8. Jade Avedisian, 9. Mitchel Moles, 10. Jake Andreotti, 11. Caden Sarale, 12. Carson Sousa, 13. Jake Morgan, 14. Dylan Ito, 15. Blake Bower, 16. Chance Crum, 17. Ryan Robinson, 18. Colby Johnson, 19. Hayden Reinbold, 20. Mariah Ede. NT
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (7), 2. Buddy Kofoid (6), 3. Logan Seavey (11), 4. Chris Windom (3), 5. Carson Macedo (13), 6. Tanner Thorson (14), 7. Cory Eliason (25-P), 8. Emerson Axsom (10), 9. Tanner Carrick (22), 10. Shane Golobic (9), 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 12. Thomas Meseraull (23), 13. Colby Copeland (15), 14. Kaylee Bryson (24), 15. Bryant Wiedeman (4), 16. Taylor Reimer (1), 17. Zeb Wise (2), 18. Kyle Larson (12), 19. Cannon McIntosh (17), 20. Chase Elliott (28-O), 21. Jade Avedisian (27-O), 22. Ethan Mitchell (19), 23. Michael Faccinto (21), 24. Ryan Timms (8), 25. Jason McDougal (18), 26. Maria Cofer (20), 27. Carson Sousa (26-P), 28. Brenham Crouch (5). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Zeb Wise, Laps 21-86 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 87-100 Justin Grant.
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
(O) = represents a promoter’s option
**Mariah Ede flipped during the semi. Hayden Reinbold flipped during the semi. Colby Johnson flipped during the semi. Ryan Robinson flipped during the semi. Blake Bower flipped during the semi. Kyle Larson flipped on lap 67 of the feature.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-2362, 2-Chris Windom-2344, 3-Justin Grant-2171, 4-Emerson Axsom-2165, 5-Tanner Thorson-2119, 6-Logan Seavey-2020, 7-Thomas Meseraull-1896, 8-Daison Pursley-1892, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1864, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1719.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-210, 2-Chris Windom-204, 3-Tanner Thorson-198, 4-Thomas Meseraull-178, 5-Brady Bacon-170, 6-Logan Seavey-160, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-159, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-117, 10-Shane Cottle-106.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: November 23-24, 2021 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Hangtown 100 Points Champion: Logan Seavey
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Cory Eliason
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Chase Randall
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cory Eliason
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Michael Faccinto
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Carrick (22nd to 9th)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chase Randall
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Colby Copeland
=====================
NO STOPPING GRANT IN NON-STOP MERCED USAC MIDGET OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Merced, California (November 23, 2021)………Throughout the month of November, Justin Grant has repeatedly shown how the west is won.
Traveling south, east and north throughout the first 31 races on the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship schedule this season, the Ione, Calif. driver managed just one single victory.
In the past seven races, Grant has quadrupled his total to four wins on the season, including three of the last seven, and each of the last two.
The latest of those triumphs came Tuesday night in the first of two consecutive evenings at California’s Merced Speedway where Grant tussled to-and-fro with Tanner Thorson throughout the entire 30-lap distance, securing the spot on lap six, then taking control of the preferred line to stave off the frequent challenges posed by Thorson.
Grant, for the first time in his career, won back-to-back USAC National Midget feature events, and he did it in record fashion during a non-stop, green-to-checkered race that was completed in 6:14.35, demolishing the former 30-lap track record for the series at the quarter-mile dirt oval, a 7:18.810 set by Tanner Thorson in 2020.
The victory, in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota, was the ninth of Grant’s USAC National Midget career, tying him with Billy Boat, Chad Boat, Tony Elliott and Chuck Gurney for 76th place on the all-time list.
Speaking of wins, it was Grant’s 12th overall in USAC National competition this season, tying himself with Thorson for the most in the series. Grant has 4 Midget, 7 Sprint and 1 Silver Crown. Thorson has 7 midget and 5 sprint.
As for the recent flurry of additions to the win column for Grant, he chalks it up to good ol’ fashioned momentum. Once the ball got rolling with an opening night win at Western World on November 12, followed by a 100-lap victory at Placerville on Nov. 20, the air of confidence became paramount for both driver and team, a self-assurance which carried over to even more success at Merced, where the team similarly won last year’s opening night with driver Thomas Meseraull.
“I’ve had a great car all year, but I really think we just finally got a little bit of momentum,” Grant explained. ‘’This series is so tough; everybody’s so, so close. Just catching a little bit of momentum can change your whole year; it can turn your whole year around, and we’ve seen that here.”
Grant began his race from the outside of the front row, alongside Thorson who jumped out to the early advantage at the drop of the green. However, Grant landed a barrage of sliders on Thorson that Thorson was able to counteract three different times throughout the first five circuits.
On lap six, Grant finally found the upper hand when he took a diamond approach between turns three and four. As Thorson slid through the middle, Grant dug in and powered underneath the 2016 USAC National Midget champ at the exit of turn four to lead by a half car length at the stripe.
“The first 10 laps, I had what was probably the best car I’ve ever driven,” Grant revealed. “This thing was just wide open, and I was hardly moving my hands.”
At the halfway point, Grant was in the midst of enjoying the relative comfort of a one-plus second lead as he navigated the topside of turns one and two and the bottom of turns three and four. However, as it goes on long green flag runs, a clear view out in front of him was on the brink of extinction as he continued his rapid descent on lapped traffic.
“Just watching lapped traffic, I was kind of running the top down there, then entering in the middle and coming off the bottom, and it got to where I couldn’t catch lapped cars anymore,” Grant explained. “I wasn’t closing on them and I couldn’t really get around them even if they were slow or just on the bottom, so I knew if I just stayed on the bottom, he was going to have to be a lot better than me to get around me, and I thought our car was good enough, so it wasn’t going to be a problem.”
Down to two car lengths by lap 19 and down to one car length by lap 20, Thorson was now wheel-to-wheel with Grant coming off the fourth corner with eight laps remaining, missing out on the lead by a mere half-car length at the line.
Thorson briefly appeared to have the bottom line to himself as the two entered turn one, but caught a crumb of the berm, and pushing him slightly up the track, erasing all the ground he had deleted from Grant. Five laps later, however, Thorson had caught back up to Grant in turn three, clipping the same pesky berm that wrote the epitaph for Thorson’s second-straight Merced winning bid.
“I tried to run the top a little bit when I was leading down in three and four and tried to peel off,” Thorson stated. “The fastest lane was on the bottom, so it would’ve taken a lot. I got to him at one point getting into turn three and got the left front on the berm and shot my chances right there.”
Grant sensed the pressure and subsequently realized he had to safeguard his position ever so subtly as the laps ticked down.
“We were a little free at the end and I knew I had to protect,” Grant remembered. “I figured Tanner would be getting better; his stuff digs up through the slick pretty good.”
For the most part, Grant’s path to victory down the stretch was unaffected as the lappers went straight to the top while Grant buckled in on the low line, keeping up his momentum through the turns, and in turn, the season, as was the theme of the night.
“I caught a lot of breaks with the lappers moving high and I was able to roll by,” Grant recalled. “I didn’t really break my momentum, which was huge. You don’t want to get into a dogfight with Tanner. He’s pretty good at dogfighting, but so am I. Between he and I, they usually get pretty rowdy. But we avoided that, and we ended up in victory lane.”
With one more clip of the berm between turns three and four by Thorson, Grant was on easy street from there on out as he opened his lead up to seven car lengths by races’ end, eventually closing the evening with a 0.515 second margin of victory over Thorson, Buddy Kofoid, Emerson Axsom and Cannon McIntohs.
“I’ve got to be the luckiest guy in the world, I tell you what,” Grant exclaimed. “I’ve got a smoking hot wife, I’ve got great kids, I get to come out here and drive racecars and lappers just seem to move out of the way. I’m catching inverts all the time. I might be the luckiest guy in the world. I’ll take them how I can get them anyway and I’ll take all the help I can get. I love driving midgets and I love racing this car.”
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) finished second for his best result since winning at Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway on September 5. Thorson acknowledges he felt Grant was better at the start but did his best to fend him off at the start to lead the opening five laps in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – MVT – Smith Titanium/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
Buddy Kofoid’s third-place result, coupled with Chris Windom’s 11th place finish, put Kofoid up on Windom in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings by a relatively wide 41-point margin in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota with now just two races remaining.
Furthermore, new track records were rampant throughout the event with the one, 10, 12 and 30-lap records for USAC National Midgets at Merced falling.
The main man in Tuesday night’s Fatheadz Qualifying was Carson Macedo, who set quick time and a new USAC National Midget track record with a blistering lap of 11.714 seconds, which broke the previous record of 11.838, set by Kyle Larson in 2020.
Chris Windom's time of 2:00.07 in Simpson Race Products Heat Race One obliterated the previous 10-lap record of 2:06.569, which was set by Thomas Meseraull in 2020.
Macedo’s second track record of the night came during the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi-Feature, when he paced the field for 12 laps in 2:28.240.
Merced’s former one-lap track record holder and newly crowned NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Kyle Larson suffered engine woes during hot laps and qualifying. He returned for his heat race, driving from 8th to 5th which put him one spot out of a transfer position. In the semi-feature, Larson made a valiant charge from 15th to 8th, missing the final transfer spot and a position in the feature starting lineup by two positions.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 23, 2021 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Midget Madness
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-11.714 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.738; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.826; 4. Zeb Wise, 37w, Wood-11.884; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.932; 6. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-11.947; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.969; 8. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.989; 9. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.997; 10. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-12.001; 11. Jason McDougal, 5T, Alexander-12.016; 12. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.020; 13. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.020; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.026; 15. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.053; 16. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-12.056; 17. Jade Avedisian, 86, CBI-12.092; 18. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.100; 19. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-12.115; 20. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-12.116; 21. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-12.141; 22. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.141; 23. Jake Andreotti, 00A, Davis-12.148; 24. Chase Johnson, 7NZ, BLS-12.198; 25. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.215; 26. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.243; 27. Chase Elliott, 9, Larson-12.321; 28. Carson Sousa, 00, Mounce/Stout-12.421; 29. Kyle Beilman, 31, Beilman-12.527; 30. Santino Ferrucci, 16, Dave Mac-12.560; 31. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-NT; 32. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-NT; 33. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT (Time of 11.996 disallowed).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Carson Macedo, 6. Taylor Reimer, 7. Jade Avedisian, 8. Bryant Wiedeman, 9. Kyle Beilman. 2:00.070 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Santino Ferrucci. 2:01.960
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Golobic, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Maria Cofer, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Jake Andreotti, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Chase Elliott. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Carson Sousa. 2:01.820
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Zeb Wise, 6. Jade Avedisian, 7. Jake Andreotti, 8. Kyle Larson, 9. Taylor Reimer, 10. Chance Crum, 11. Chase Elliott, 12. Hayden Reinbold, 13. Bryant Wiedeman, 14. Kyle Beilman, 15. Santino Ferrucci, 16. Chase Randall. 2:28.240 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (1), 3. Buddy Kofoid (3), 4. Emerson Axsom (6), 5. Cannon McIntosh (5), 6. Shane Golobic (7), 7. Mitchel Moles (4), 8. Logan Seavey (11), 9. Carson Macedo (10), 10. Jason McDougal (14), 11. Chris Windom (9), 12. Zeb Wise (12), 13. Tanner Carrick (16), 14. Thomas Meseraull (13), 15. Ryan Bernal (18), 16. Kaylee Bryson (8), 17. Kevin Thomas Jr. (17), 18. Ryan Timms (21), 19. Jade Avedisian (19), 20. Maria Cofer (20), 21. Chase Johnson (22), 22. Brenham Crouch (15), 23. Bryant Wiedeman (23-P), 24. Hayden Reinbold (24-P). 6:14.35 (New Track Record)
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Tanner Thorson, Laps 6-30 Justin Grant.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-2434, 2-Chris Windom-2393, 3-Justin Grant-2247, 4-Emerson Axsom-2236, 5-Tanner Thorson-2193, 6-Logan Seavey-2074, 7-Thomas Meseraull-1931, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1898, 9-Daison Pursley-1892, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1786.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-211, 2-Chris Windom-204, 3-Tanner Thorson-198, 4-Thomas Meseraull-178, 5-Brady Bacon-170, 6-Logan Seavey-163, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-159, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-117, 10-Shane Cottle-106.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 24, 2021 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Jade Avedisian
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Carson Macedo
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Shane Golobic
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Carson Macedo
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Jason McDougal (14th to 10th)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jake Andreotti
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Carrick
=====================
KOFOID MAKES CHAMPIONSHIP STATEMENT WITH USAC MIDGET VICTORY AT MERCED
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Merced, California (November 24, 2021)………In crunch time, you’ve got to deliver the goods if you want to reap the awards.
Buddy Kofoid brought the hammer and nail to California’s Merced Speedway on Wednesday night and, ultimately, arrived one step closer to sealing up the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship in the penultimate round of the series.
The Penngrove, Calif. native took control of the feature with 14 laps remaining, then prevailed following a bevy of late-race restarts to score his sixth series victory of the season in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Kofoid’s ninth career USAC National Midget feature triumph equaled Billy Boat, Chad Boat, Tony Elliott, Justin Grant and Chuck Gurney for ninth on the all-time win list.
Most importantly, though, Kofoid extended his lead to 47 in the series’ title race entering the season finale this Saturday night at southern California’s Ventura Raceway for the Turkey Night Grand Prix where another standard Kofoid performance would cement a championship season.
Kofoid maximized his effort, and point total, to open and close the curtain on the evening at Merced, earning his long-awaited first career USAC National Midget fast time during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying with a new one-lap track record run of 11.635, erasing the mark of 11.714 set by Carson Macedo 24 hours earlier.
Winning and winning often are two traits that make championship seasons easier to come by. After going more than five months sans a feature win, Kofoid broke through with a score at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway on Nov. 16 and one more for good measure, five races later.
And, speaking of breaking through, Kofoid’s Merced win included a hurdle that had stood in his way for over a calendar year after finishing 2nd in both of his two most recent USAC National Midget feature starts at the track dating back an entire calendar year.
“It’s really cool to get my sixth win,” Kofoid said. “We were close here last year, so I’m glad that we could be one spot better and pick up another win. We got some more points, which is crucial going into Ventura. But there’s nothing like winning; it’s pretty damn cool.”
Kofoid started his race from sixth while CB Industries teammates Jade Avedisian and Kofoid’s championship challenger, Chris Windom, occupied the front row. Windom nailed the start and tore around the outside of Avedisian to take over the top spot.
By lap seven, Kofoid had clawed his way to second with a slider of Avedisian between turns three and four. Avedisian, the 15-year-old Californian making just her sixth career series start, wasn’t gunshy on trading barbs with Kofoid as she countered Kofoid’s move with one of her own in turn one on the eighth lap, retaking the lead briefly before Kofoid got the last word a half-lap later in turns three and four on the cushion.
A lap past halfway of the 30-lap distance, Kofoid tracked down Windom, diving underneath the defending champ in turn three to occupy the spot briefly, but Windom turned down with great zeal and blitzed past Kofoid off the fourth corner to maintain the lead by a half-car length.
Suddenly, on lap 17, seventh starting Tanner Carrick became a player in the game, crawling the bottom to position himself in third place alongside Windom in turn two. However, Kofoid kicked a shine and split between the pair at the exit of two, promptly shooting out the other side and into the lead while Carrick slotted into second ahead of Windom.
“When Chris gets out front, he can set a really good pace himself and, sometimes, it’s hard to beat them when they’re in clear air,” Kofoid explained. “I felt like I could run the top really hard in turns one and two. If anything, I thought we were kind of even in three and four, then it just got too far around, so I just started sliding myself and picking it up off and it started to work. Luckily, (the track surface) started getting dark and I could see it taking rubber, so I got back up at the right time.”
Carrick’s thrill ride came to a crashing conclusion while running second, 1.1 ticks behind Kofoid, with only seven laps to go. At that moment, Carrick snagged the turn one cushion, sending him spiraling upside down over the banking and through turns one and two, to grandmother’s house we go. Carrick walked away unscathed.
While Kofoid decidedly had everything check at the front of the field, Avedisian cut in between the championship contenders on the lap 24 restart to put herself into second and in a prime position with a shot at becoming the first woman to ever win a USAC National Midget feature event.
Thomas Meseraull (17th) walked away from a lap 26 flip in turn two, setting up a restart with five laps remaining that saw Kofoid once again establish the alpha role as the leader of the pack while Avedisian and Windom tussled it out for second, each taking their respective turns in front of the other until both Windom (top) and Grant (bottom) simultaneously jetted by Avedisian for second and third at the exit of turn two.
Meanwhile, those two were just a distant note to Kofoid during the final stretch, stretching out to a comfortably pleasant 1.529 second victory over Windom, Grant, Avedisian and Logan Seavey.
Windom’s title defense now sees just a small glimmer of hope following Kofoid’s recent tear. Windom makes note of the little things that have compounded of late in comparison to point leader Kofoid throughout USAC’s western tour in November following the Canton, Illinois driver’s runner-up finish in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“They’re just on their game now,” Windom said of Kofoid and KKM. “We aren’t on top of it. I made a couple mistakes at Placerville, and we just haven’t been that good here. I felt really good the first part of that race, then we ran out of tire, and I was just barely hanging on for second at the end. Luckily, we still ended up second to keep it alive going into Ventura, but Buddy and his crew are on top of their game. They deserve where they’re at. We’ll go to Ventura, and you never know what can happen; we’ll give it our best.”
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) followed up Tuesday night’s Merced victory with a third-place result on Wednesday night after starting 17th on the grid in his RMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – EnviroFab – Response Management Services/Spike/Speedway Toyota. He’s now finished five of the last six races on the podium and his 13-place advancement in the feature earned him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors.
“We were really just rolling the infield berm right from the get-go,” Grant recalled. “Our car was really good again, but we just got a little behind the eight-ball in qualifying, didn’t win our heat race and started pretty deep. My car would dig up off the corners really really hard. As we got to the front, those guys would start sliding each other, and when they killed their momentum off the corner, we could get them there and just go after the next one. The bottom kind of went away the last two laps and we weren’t able to get off turn four like we had earlier. But it was good night for us and everybody on this team.”
With her fourth-place finish, Jade Avedisian (Clovis, Calif.) became the fifth female driver to record a top-five finish in a dirt USAC National Midget feature event. She joins the late Jeri Rice, Sarah McCune, Holly Shelton and Kaylee Bryson as the only ones to accomplish the feat.
Tucson, Arizona’s Rice recorded a 5th place finish at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway in 1988. Perrysburg, Ohio’s Sarah McCune was a 5th place finisher at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois in 2003. Shelton raced to a pair of 3rd place results in 2017 at both Lawrenceburg Speedway during Indiana Midget Week and at Solomon Valley Speedway in Kansas.
Other top-fives earned by ladies throughout the history of USAC National Midget racing that occurred on pavement include Zionsville’s Bev Griffis, who finished 3rd at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in 1991, and Westfield, Indiana’s Stephanie Mockler who took a 3rd at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2006 and 5th at Toledo (OH) Speedway in 2007. Taylor Ferns from Shelby Township, Michigan, took 5th at Fountain, Colorado’s Pikes Peak International Raceway in 2013.
No woman has ever won a USAC National Midget, National Sprint Car or Silver Crown feature. The best ever finish for a woman in a USAC National event was a 2nd, earned by Sarah McCune at a midget race at Winchester in 1999.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 24, 2021 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Midget Madness
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.635 (New Track Record); 2. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-11.754; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.760; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.775; 5. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.789; 6. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-11.798; 7. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-11.800; 8. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.830; 9. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-11.866; 10. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.866; 11. Jade Avedisian, 86, CBI-11.873; 12. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-11.875; 13. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-11.906; 14. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.915; 15. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.933; 16. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.933; 17. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-11.945; 18. Chase Johnson, 7NZ, BLS-11.947; 19. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.969; 20. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-11.975; 21. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.982; 22. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.015; 23. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-12.020; 24. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.037; 25. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.053; 26. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.066; 27. Jason McDougal, 5T, Alexander-12.081; 28. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.167; 29. Kyle Beilman, 31, Beilman-12.192; 30. Chase Elliott, 9, Larson-12.299; 31. Santino Ferrucci, 16, Dave Mac-12.440; 32. Zeb Wise, 37w, Wood-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Ryan Bernal, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Bryant Wiedeman, 8. Kyle Beilman. 2:01.46
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Carson Macedo, 3. Jake Andreotti, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Chase Elliott. 2:03.06
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Jade Avedisian, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Jason McDougal, 8. Santino Ferrucci. 2:03.02
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Maria Cofer, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Taylor Reimer, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Hayden Reinbold. 2:02.10
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Golobic, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Taylor Reimer, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Chase Johnson, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Ryan Bernal, 10. Chase Randall, 11. Chance Crum, 12. Hayden Reinbold, 13. Chase Elliott, 14. Kyle Beilman, 15. Santino Ferrucci. 2:31.74
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (6), 2. Chris Windom (2), 3. Justin Grant (17), 4. Jade Avedisian (1), 5. Logan Seavey (5), 6. Emerson Axsom (9), 7. Bryant Wiedeman (11), 8. Shane Golobic (12), 9. Tanner Thorson (8), 10. Ryan Timms (16), 11. Taylor Reimer (13), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (23-P), 13. Maria Cofer (18), 14. Chance Crum (24-P), 15. Jake Andreotti (20), 16. Cannon McIntosh (4), 17. Mitchel Moles (14), 18. Kaylee Bryson (19), 19. Brenham Crouch (15), 20. Carson Macedo (3), 21. Thomas Meseraull (21), 22. Tanner Carrick (7), 23. Jason McDougal (22), 24. Kyle Larson (10). NT
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Tanner Carrick flipped on lap 24 of the feature. Thomas Meseraull flipped on lap 26 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Chris Windom, Laps 17-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-2515, 2-Chris Windom-2468, 3-Justin Grant-2317, 4-Emerson Axsom-2299, 5-Tanner Thorson-2247, 6-Logan Seavey-2141, 7-Thomas Meseraull-1959, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1937, 9-Daison Pursley-1892, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1826.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-225, 2-Chris Windom-204, 3-Tanner Thorson-198, 4-Thomas Meseraull-178, 5-Brady Bacon-170, 6-Logan Seavey-163, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-159, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-122, 10-Shane Cottle-106.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 27, 2021 – Ventura Raceway Speedway – Ventura, California – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – 80th ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Thomas Meseraull
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Buddy Kofoid
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Shane Golobic
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Justin Grant (17th to 3rd)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chase Johnson
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Maria Cofer
=====================
SEAVEY TAKES TURKEY NIGHT; KOFOID IS USAC MIDGET CHAMP
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ventura, California (November 27, 2021)………Logan Seavey knows how to close the curtain, fade to black and roll credits in style.
On Saturday night, Seavey slammed the door on the 2021 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship campaign with a monumental score in Saturday’s 80th running of the 98-lap ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix.
The season closing victory with the series at southern California’s Ventura Raceway allowed Seavey to become the first driver to win the season finales on dirt for all three of USAC’s National divisions.
In September of this year, he etched his name as the winner of the final USAC Silver Crown race of the year on dirt at Eldora Speedway. In mid-November, he shut down the Arizona Speedway dirt oval for the final time with a triumph in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season finale.
For a born and bred California racer such as Seavey, the best truly was saved for last.
The Sutter, Calif. native and his California based team led three different times for a total of 70 laps in the Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota, but their third time in the lead proved to be the charm.
Seavey swapped the lead with newly crowned USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Champion Buddy Kofoid a total of four times in a 25-lap span with Seavey taking the lead for good on the 42nd circuit, then controlling the remainder of the way with Kofoid in close quarters just behind.
The second victory of the year, and eighth of Seavey’s USAC National Midget career, moved him into a tie for 80th on the all-time series win list alongside Brady Bacon, Merle Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Hank Butcher, Kevin Doty, Dan Drinan, Ronnie Duman, Brian Gerster, Justin Grant, Kenny Irwin Jr, Eddie Johnson, Buddy Kofoid, Michael Lewis, Andy Michner and Josh Wise.
However, for Seavey, this particular win was, by far, the one they’ll most cherish.
“Turkey Night has basically been number one on the list for our whole team,” Seavey explained. “I’m from California, crewmen Jerome Rodela and Chris Tramel are both from California and (car owner) Tom Malloy is from California. This is the race we’ve been looking at all year and this is the race we’ve been preparing for. This is the biggest race of the year for us.”
Saturday night’s race was chock-full of historical USAC moments. Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.) recorded Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time to become the first woman to win the pole in Turkey Night’s grand history, which dates back to its inaugural running in 1934.
Her Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports counterpart, Taylor Reimer (Bixby, Okla.), qualified second and started alongside Bryson, making it the first time in USAC National Midget history that two women qualified first and second.
The duo led the field to the green with Bryson controlling the pace early on, leading the initial 17 laps of the event, which were the first ever in Turkey Night history led by a woman.
The action was interrupted early on by a crash in turn three on the 15th lap which involved both Brenham Crouch and Thomas Meseraull while they tussled for the 27th spot. Crouch was the unluckiest victim, getting upside down.
Meseraull started the race via provisional after falling ill earlier in the day, arriving at the track just about an hour before feature time. Both drivers were okay, although both dropped out early after initially returning to the track following the incident.
Just before the red, Seavey, who started the race from the ninth position, had surged from fifth to third in one fell swoop on lap 15. After the red, he remained on a rapid advance to the second spot on lap 17 around the outside of Reimer for second, then around the outside of Bryson for the race lead just moments later on lap 18.
Following Seavey through the grapevine was Kofoid who utilized a slider to gravitate into the lead in turn three on lap 26. Seavey subsequently returned the favor and powered around the outside of Kofoid in turn four to regain the lead on lap 28.
Back and forth, back and forth, they went with Kofoid charging back into the lead on lap 33, using the topside to make the successful maneuver, amid both he and Seavey encountering an intimate meeting with lapped traffic.
Kofoid’s run proved to be short-lived yet again as, nine trips around the 1/5-mile dirt oval later, Seavey found a crevice to sneak back under Kofoid for the lead in turn one on lap 41 as the leaders continued to negotiate the endless logjam of lapped cars. It all came just in time, according to Seavey.
“When he went by for the lead, I knew it was going to be tough to get back,” Seavey admitted. “He was really trying to get to the rubber first. Luckily, it wasn’t quite in coming off four and I was able to drive back around him. We put on a decent race for a few laps, then the rubber came, and it was just hold on and save tires.”
A yellow on lap 50 for 22nd running Emerson Axsom’s backwards spin in turn one nearly collected the race leader, Seavey, as he darted right to narrowly avoid catastrophe. No harm, no foul. But the stoppage, as it turned out, would completely change the complexion of the race, something Seavey looked into his crystal ball and foretold.
“I kind of knew early that the rubber was coming, and I was just charging really hard to get to the front,” Seavey detailed. “As soon as I got to the lead, it was full save. But then Buddy got me, and I thought at the time, that was going to be it.
For me, it was just like Silver Crown racing where you get to the lead and try to hold on for the rest of the race,” Seavey continued. “That experience probably helped me a lot right there. I was able to get back by Buddy in lapped traffic and I saw him move down, so I knew he was feeling something on the bottom. As soon as I went by him, I went straight back to the bottom, and I wasn’t moving after that."
And that’s where he stayed throughout the remainder, never meandering from the bottom, which didn’t allow Kofoid any room to search and make an attack even though he was able to get to Seavey’s rear bumper numerous occasions throughout the second half of the race, keeping pace within one to five car lengths throughout.
Following a lap 85 restart in which 21st running Jade Avedisian spun in turn one and ninth-place Cannon McIntosh stopped with a flat right rear on the back straightaway, the 45-minute rule came into effect, forcing the feature to be red flagged and necessitating an open red situation for fuel and additional adjustments as long as tires did not leave the ground.
Mitchel Moles used the late-race restart with 15 laps remaining to blitz underneath and past Kyle Larson for third exiting turn two. One last caution hit with seven to go for a Cannon McIntosh spin between turns three and four, creating one more final restart for Seavey to handle.
Seavey expertly navigated the choppy waters, not allowing Kofoid much of a chance to get a bumper in edgewise. Although, there was once such occasion with five laps to go in which Kofoid got into Seavey, which received the full brunt of Seavey’s attention at that point, even though time was running out on his right rear rubber, and Kofoid’s too.
“Both of our tires were about gone,” Seavey noted of he and Kofoid’s right rears during the final laps. “I felt him bump me off four with a few to go and I knew it was time to go. I knew I had a little bit of tire left and kind of took off a little bit. I don’t know how close he was at the end, but I was nervous. I ran hard the last five laps, and I was praying the last lap that we didn’t blow a tire.”
The tire remained strong and the driver in the seat stood tall. Seavey kept Kofoid at bay in the final round and delivered the final knockout blow with an exhilarating wheelstand as he raced under the checkered flag for his first Turkey Night winning experience with Kofoid, Moles, Larson and Bryson rounding out the top-five.
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) already had knowledge of his USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship when he took the green flag in Saturday night’s feature. The insurmountable 51-point lead allowed Kofoid to play with house money where he led twice for 11 laps to earn a career-best Turkey Night Grand Prix result of second in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Toyota/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) rounded out the podium in his first Turkey Night Grand Prix start, which earned him both a career best USAC National Midget feature finish and Don Basile Rookie of the Race honors to become just the seventh recipient of the award to finish inside the top-three, joining Kody Swanson (2nd in 2006), Levi Roberts (2nd in 2009), Dalton Armstrong (3rd in 2010), Ryan Bernal (3rd in 2012), Carson Macedo (3rd in 2016) and Cannon McIntosh (2nd in 2019).
Kyle Larson’s fourth-place finish was, oddly enough, the lowest finishing position of his Turkey Night Grand Prix career. The Elk Grove, Calif. native also finished fourth in his Rookie year of 2011. However, he did continue his incredible run in the event to nine consecutive top-four finishes in nine career starts.
Prior to Saturday, the best Turkey Night Grand Prix finish by a woman was 13th by Denise Bennet in 1988. In 2021, three drivers finished 13th or better with Kaylee Bryson leading the way in fifth, Taylor Reimer eighth and Macdoel, California’s Maria Cofer 13th.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 27, 2021 – Ventura Raceway Speedway – Ventura, California – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – 80th ARP Turkey Night Grand Prix
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.678; 2. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.724; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.735; 4. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-11.740; 5. Ryan Timms, 85T, CBI-11.758; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.778; 7. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-11.782; 8. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-11.801; 9. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-11.813; 10. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-11.824; 11. Chris Windom, 89, CBI-11.834; 12. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.835; 13. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.845; 14. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.856; 15. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.875; 16. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.915; 17. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-11.923; 18. Chase Elliott, 9, Larson-11.979; 19. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-11.993; 20. Chance Crum, 26R, Rudeen-11.998; 21. Jade Avedisian, 86, CBI-12.022; 22. Chase Randall, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.023; 23. Kaleb Montgomery, 8w, Woodland-12.053; 24. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.062; 25. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.062; 26. Zeb Wise, 37w, Wood-12.068; 27. Cory Eliason, 26, Rudeen-12.103; 28. Matt Mitchell, 37m, Mitchell-12.151; 29. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-12.205; 30. Chase Johnson, 68, Six8-12.227; 31. C.J. Leary, 89x, Ford-12.235; 32. Colby Copeland, 25m, Malloy-12.273; 33. Jarrett Soares, 12, Soares-12.297; 34. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.305; 35. Tyler Dolacki, 35, MF-12.307; 36. Ben Worth, 5K, Alexander-12.322; 37. Max Adams, 7NZ, BSL-12.326; 38. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-12.358; 39. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.536; 40. Robby Josett, 73B, Ford-12.726; 41. Sage Bordenave, 35x, MF-12.730; 42. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-12.912; 43. Terry Nichols, 1p, NP-12.966; 44. Ron Hazelton, 15ws, Hazelton-13.101; 45. Ryan Padgett, 1N, NP-13.282; 46. Joey Bishop, 45, Bishop-13.311; 47. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-NT; 48. Ricky Lewis, 1EM, NP-NT; 49. Jason McDougal, 5T, Alexander-NT; 50. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Chance Crum, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Zeb Wise, 6. Colby Copeland, 7. Dylan Ito, 8. Kaleb Montgomery, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Tyler Dolacki, 11. Sage Bordenave, 12. Ron Hazelton, 13. Randi Pankratz. 2:25.65
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Jade Avedisian, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Cory Eliason, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Chase Elliott, 7. Brody Fuson, 8. Ben Worth, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Ryan Padgett, 11. C.J. Sarna, 12. Jarrett Soares. 2:28.09
INDY METAL FINISHING / INDY RACE PARTS THIRD QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Chase Randall, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. Robby Josett, 8. Max Adams, 9. Caden Sarale, 10. Terry Nichols, 11. Joey Bishop, 12. C.J. Leary. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zeb Wise, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Colby Copeland, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Matt Mitchell, 6. Robby Josett, 7. Kaleb Montgomery, 8. Max Adams, 9. Chase Elliott, 10. Caden Sarale, 11. Hayden Reinbold, 12. Ryan Padgett, 13. Terry Nichols, 14. Tyler Dolacki, 15. Brody Fuson, 16. Ben Worth, 18. Dylan Ito. NT
FEATURE: (98 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (9), 2. Buddy Kofoid (3), 3. Mitchel Moles (4), 4. Kyle Larson (8), 5. Kaylee Bryson (1), 6. Justin Grant (11), 7. Ryan Bernal (10), 8. Taylor Reimer (2), 9. Tanner Thorson (20), 10. Zeb Wise (23), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (13), 12. Chase Randall (26), 13. Maria Cofer (7), 14. Kevin Thomas Jr. (22), 15. Chance Crum (14), 16. Colby Copeland (25), 17. Chris Windom (17), 18. Carson Macedo (19), 19. Cannon McIntosh (6), 20. Tanner Carrick (16), 21. Chase Johnson (24), 22. Chase Elliott (27-O), 23. Jade Avedisian (15), 24. Ryan Timms (5), 25. Brenham Crouch (12), 26. Cory Eliason (21), 27. Emerson Axsom (18), 28. Thomas Meseraull (28-P). NT
(O) represents a promoter’s option
(P) represents a USAC provisional starter
**Jason McDougal flipped during practice. Dylan Ito flipped during the semi. Brenham Crouch flipped on lap 15 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Kaylee Bryson, Laps 18-25 Logan Seavey, Laps 26-27 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 28-32 Logan Seavey, Laps 33-41 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 42-98 Logan Seavey.
FINAL USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-2586, 2-Chris Windom-2497, 3-Justin Grant-2372, 4-Emerson Axsom-2322, 5-Tanner Thorson-2293, 6-Logan Seavey-2211, 7-Thomas Meseraull-1982, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1972, 9-Daison Pursley-1892, 10-Cannon McIntosh-1852.
FINAL OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-230, 2-Tanner Thorson-209, 3-Chris Windom-204, 4-Thomas Meseraull-178, 5-Logan Seavey-171, 6-Brady Bacon-170, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-167, 8-Robert Ballou-131, 9-Buddy Kofoid-123, 10-Shane Cottle-106.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Don Basile Rookie of the Race: Mitchel Moles
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kaylee Bryson
Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner: Brenham Crouch
Indy Metal Finishing / Indy Race Parts Third Qualifier Winner: Bryant Wiedeman
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Zeb Wise
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chase Randall (26th to 12th)
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Matt Mitchell
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Maria Cofer