DRIVERS HOPE TULSA SUCCESS TRANSLATES TO PORT CITY MAY 22-23
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Tulsa, Oklahoma (May 17, 2020)………Port City Raceway and the River Spirit Expo Center (home of the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals) have a few resemblances to each other. They’re both dirt, they’re both bullrings, and they both produce breathtaking midget racing.
The other part of the equation lies in the fact that the two tracks reside just 15 minutes apart from each other in Tulsa, Okla., literally a hop, step and a stone’s throw away down I-244 and you’ve reached your destination at Port City where the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets make their debut on Friday and Saturday, May 22-23 at the inaugural Werco Manufacturing T-Town Showdown presented by NOS Energy Drink.
T-Town Midget Showdown tickets are now on sale at https://usacracing.ticketspice.com/2020-t-town-midget-showdown.
The Chili Bowl basically serves as the official start of the dirt track racing season, but who’d have thought that on May 22-23, the 1/8-mile of Port City just down the road would be serving as the re-kickoff of the 2020 season, but here we are.
January’s Chili Bowl seems like just a couple races ago, and in actuality, it really kind of was, even though it’s been four months. But going down the list of the 2020 Saturday night A-Main finish reveals many of the same individuals trying to match their most recent Tulsa success.
Cannon McIntosh, a Port City star in the micros from Bixby, Okla., won his qualifying night at the Chili Bowl this year, then translated that into a spot on the podium beside winner Kyle Larson and 2nd place finisher Christopher Bell as the 3rd place driver in Saturday night’s A-Main.
Likewise, 2016 USAC National Midget champ Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.) captured the victory on his Chili Bowl qualifying night, but misfortune befell him on Championship Night for a 22nd place result.
Logan Seavey ran 4th on Chili Bowl Championship Night where the 2018 USAC Midget champ from Sutter, Calif. finished just ahead of Jonathan Beason (Broken Arrow, Okla.) in 6th. Seavey ran 4th on his qual night while Beason took 2nd.
Penngrove, California’s Buddy Kofoid’s first Chili Bowl resulted in an impressive 3rd on his qualifying night and 7th in the Saturday feature while Blake Hahn (Sapulpa, Okla.) earned hard charger honors for his 18th to 8th advancement on Saturday. Both ran 3rd on their respective qualifying nights.
Ryan Bernal, a multi-time champion with USAC’s former Western Classic Sprint Car series, ran 9th on the final night, but was 2nd in the thriller behind Thorson during the Chili Bowl qualifying night four months ago.
Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), coming off a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship in 2019, ran 11th in the finale while Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) took 12th in the event after both finished as the runner-up in each of their qualifying nights.
Past USAC Silver Crown and AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ Chris Windom advanced from 21st to 14th while Zach Daum moved up seven spots from 23rd to 16th after each ran top-five on their qualifying nights at the 2020 Chili Bowl.
Perhaps nothing translates, perhaps it does, but quality drivers in quality rides are certain to do well in most circumstances. The connection they have is midget success in Tulsa, with the hope to recreate that magic here this coming week just down the road when they're living on Tulsa Time. And you thought you were going to get through the entire article without that reference.
Both nights at Port City will include full series points-paying events with a complete program each night that culminates with a feature event. Cars hit the track each night at 6:30pm central. A practice night on Thursday, May 21, will precede the event.
Both nights of the T-Town Midget Showdown at Port City will be shown live on FloRacing.