2020 USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET SEASON LOG
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
A USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season unlike any other wound up as the closest championship race in series history – one single point between champion Chris Windom and runner-up Tyler Courtney in the final tally for 2020.
A season that began with a two-and-a-half-month absence from the racetrack between March and May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finished with Windom (Canton, Ill.) completing his career Triple Crown with USAC’s three national divisions by earning the midget championship after collecting prior titles with Silver Crown in 2016 and AMSOIL National Sprint Cars in 2017.
Comparatively, early in his career, Windom was an instant success in Silver Crown and Sprints where he has ultimately become one of the winningest drivers of his era. But that wasn’t exactly the case in midgets. After capturing the 2006 USAC Kenyon Midget championship, the then-16-year-old set forth on his USAC National racing career and competed in Midgets full-time right out of the box, finishing an impressive eighth in the feature his first time out at Arizona’s Manzanita Speedway, which featured a field of 62 drivers in total.
However, few drivers ever had to wait as long as Windom to reach victory lane for the first time in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, 102 starts to be exact. Finally, that night arrived for him in June of 2019 during Indiana Midget Week at Lawrenceburg. The triumph, as Windom stated at the time, put him at a “loss for words” in victory lane.
He’d win once more in 2019 for Clauson-Marshall Racing, but during the offseason, made the decision to embark on a new venture with Tucker-Boat Motorsports, a rising team with the series that needed a wheelman like him to anchor their ascent toward the top of the standings in the Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota No. 89.
“(TBM) runs a top-notch operation,” Windom said at the time. “They pay close attention to detail, as does everyone at the top of the midget standings, but I just felt like I’ve always gotten along great with (team co-owner) Chad (Boat), and at this point I’m at in my career, this is the right move for me.”
The move paid dividends early on for Windom and Tucker-Boat, winning in just their second time out on the 2020 USAC schedule at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. Throughout the year, no driver and team led the points more often than Windom and TBM, holding the advantage for 20 of the 28 events while winning a total of four features, with additional scores in June at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind., July at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Neb. and September at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
However, the tide began to turn late when a couple subpar performances by Windom were checkmated by strong results for 2019 series champ Courtney, who vaulted to the series point lead following the final race in the Midwest at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway on Oct. 10, then extended his lead after the first night of Western World at Arizona Speedway on Nov. 13.
When the following night resulted in engine trouble for Courtney, knocking him out of the race early, Windom stormed back to the point lead by an 11-point margin entering the final “full” points race of the year on Nov. 17 at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.
Having to finish within three spots of Courtney in the feature to snare the title, Windom found himself in quicksand from the start after beginning from the 20th spot on the grid. While Courtney started third and remained near the front throughout, a 25th place qualifying time shuffled Windom back to the outside of the 10th row for the 30-lap main event, forcing him to have to make up a ton of ground in a short amount of time around the 1/3-mile dirt oval.
Courtney ran fourth as Windom was mired in 13th for the final restart with 10 laps remaining when Windom turned up the wick and elevated himself to seventh by the final lap. With Courtney picking up one more position to reach third with four laps to go, Windom needed one more spot in order to outjoust Courtney for the point lead.
That’s when Windom engaged in a seesaw, all-out war between he and sixth-running Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Courtney’s Clauson-Marshall Racing teammate – for the coveted 6th spot on the final lap in turn four, as described by Windom himself.
“I slid Ricky on the white flag lap, and he crossed me over and dove to the bottom,” Windom recalled. “(On the last lap), I was going to the bottom as hard as I could and drove into the back of him and he spun around. I got into him there, but I saw the position, and that was what I needed, one more spot to secure a triple crown. It was a split-second decision and that’s what happened.”
As a result, Windom clinched the series title by a single position, a single point, tying the previous closest final margin for the series championship when Cole Whitt defeated Tracy Hines by the same amount in 2008. By doing so, Windom became the seventh member of the career Triple Crown club of drivers who’ve won USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint and National Midget driving championships along with Pancho Carter, Tony Stewart, Dave Darland, J.J. Yeley, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines.
“This is what I’ve worked my whole career for,” Windom said. “The way the racetrack was tonight, we buried ourselves by not qualifying well. It was so hard to pass in the feature without throwing huge slide jobs on guys, and that’s what I had to do to get to the front and get us back into contention.”
While Windom had essentially claimed the crown following Bakersfield, he couldn’t quite enter full celebration mode yet with two “appearance points” races at Merced (Calif.) Speedway closing out the campaign, awarding 50 points across the board to all USAC National Midget licensed drivers and teams as soon as they were pushed off for hot laps. When Windom’s wheels began to roll on the final night, that officially wrapped it up.
“This year, I was fortunate enough to team up with Tucker-Boat Motorsports with the support of NOS Energy Drink to chase the ultimate goal of the Triple Crown,” Windom stated. “Chad, Billy, Colton, Eric, Corey and Cam brought the best cars night and night out to put us in position to accomplish that. This championship was not only about me, as it was a huge accomplishment for TBM to capture their first (of many to come) USAC championship. I will be forever grateful for all the hard work that went into their preparation and fast race cars. Thank you to Lauren Albano, NOS Energy Drink, Toyota, Pristine Auction and all the great partner on TBM.”
Courtney’s bid to become the first repeat series champion since Bryan Clauson in 2010-11 came up narrowly short, but along the way, he did collect five victories, including series debut visits to Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. in May and at Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kan. during July. Victories also followed for Courtney at Jefferson County in July, plus a two-night “sweep” of Eastern Midget Week in August at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. and Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Newmanstown, Pa.
Tanner Thorson (Minden, Nev.), who made a late surge to put himself in the mix for the championship, finished just 28 points out of the lead in the final standings. The 2016 series champ won the 2020 season opener in February at Bubba Raceway Park, and also captured the victory in the final race of the year. He, Parnelli Jones (1964), Rich Vogler (1984), Billy Boat (1996), Jason Leffler (1999), Tony Stewart (2000) all share the distinction as the only drivers to win both the first and last race during a USAC National Midget season.
It was a 2020 season unlike any other for Thorson who took third in the standings, and a season unlike most for any driver in the course of USAC National Midget racing history over the past 65 years. His first four victories this year came for Hayward Motorsports at Bubba Raceway Park in Feb., Southern Illinois Center in March, Kokomo Speedway in June and Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway in July.
In late September, Thorson joined Tom Malloy’s team where he reeled off three more wins in October at Wayne City, Ill. and in November at Arizona Speedway and Merced, making him one of just five drivers to win at least three races for two different teams in a single season in USAC National Midget history.
Parnelli Jones was the first to do the deed in 1963 for Marv Edwards and Howard Linne. Mike McGreevy is the only driver to accomplish the feat twice, first in 1965 for both Jack London and the Kenyon Brothers, then again in 1969 for owners Howard Linne and Ed Lark. Rich Vogler’s 1988 championship season include 11 wins for Wilke Racers and five for Jonathan Byrd. Jay Drake had been the most recent with three each for Ralph Potter, then Keith Kunz in 2000.
Kyle Larson’s tour of the dirt tracks during the 2020 season was a sight to behold, as it was during June’s Indiana Midget Week where he won four times in six races at Paragon, Gas City, Putnamville and Lawrenceburg en route to capturing the mini-series title for the first time while also tying Bryan Clauson as the winningest IMW driver of all-time with nine victories. Equally impressive was Larson’s streak of 10 top-two finishes with the series, a stretch that started in November 2019 and continued through November 2020.
The presence of Buddy Kofoid with the series in 2020 was exceptional for the Rookie of the Year as he turned in one of the most impressive first-year drives in series history. The Penngrove, Calif. native had pounded on the door all throughout the year with four second-place finishes leading into his long-anticipated first career victory in September at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
Once the dam finally broke, more wins flooded in for Kofoid who closed out the final week of the year with a pair of wins – Western World at Arizona Speedway and the November Classic at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway and a fourth-place finish in the standings.
Fifth in the standings was Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.), who won twice, both in the month of September, at Sweet Springs, Mo. and Gas City, Ind. The Sweet Springs victory was quite memorable with McIntosh erasing a late-race one-second lead held by Windom in traffic. On the final lap, McIntosh ripped around the outside of turn four to nip Windom at the stripe by a half-car length for the victory – the only corner, the only lap McIntosh led throughout the evening, to earn his first victory since joining Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports at the beginning of the season, and the first overall for the team with USAC since August of 2019, 13 months prior.
Speaking of long periods without a win, in his two-plus decades of racing with USAC, one piece of the puzzle had been surprisingly absent from Thomas Meseraull’s resume – a NOS Energy Drink National Midget points-paying feature victory. After many a close call throughout his career, Meseraull finally sealed the deal during Harvest Cup at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway in October with an overheating engine and smoke pouring from the headers during the final laps in traffic, then withstood a last lap, last corner surge from Thorson to win by a single car length at the line.
While the San Jose, Calif. driver had previously won at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in 2004 and at the Southern Illinois Center in 2018, both victories were non-championship, special events for USAC Midgets, making this a long-awaited night for Meseraull to mark his initial tally in the series’ win column after making 89 feature starts since his 1999 debut. Furthermore, he provided RMS Racing with its first ever USAC National Midget feature win in one fell swoop.
Meseraull’s coveted first points-paying race victory was two decades in the making, but just a month and change later, Meseraull was celebrating victory number two in the series’ first ever event at California’s Merced Speedway. It was the San Jose, Calif. native’s first career USAC National points feature triumph that occurred in his home state.
Justin Grant ran his streak of consecutive years of winning a USAC National Midget feature to four when he notched victory on the final night of the inaugural T-Town Midget Showdown at Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway in May.
Not to be overlooked is the impressive debut season by Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.), a sixth-place finisher in the standings and the second-best Rookie in the points behind KKM teammate Kofoid. Series veterans Tanner Carrick, 7th (Lincoln, Calif.), Grant, 8th, Andrew Layser, 9th (Collegeville, Pa.) and Cole Bodine, 10th (Rossville, Ind.) rounded out the top-ten in the final points.
Inside the top-ten, for Windom, Kofoid, McIntosh, Pursley, Layser and Bodine, it was each driver’s best career finish in the final USAC National Midget point standings.
Also of note is 11th place points finisher Kaylee Bryson of Muskogee, Okla. who turned heads in her Rookie season with the series. She made headlines in July at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas by earning a personal best third-place feature finish. Bryson became just the seventh female driver to record a top-five finish in a USAC National Midget feature event that night, joining the late Jeri Rice, Bev Griffis, Sarah McCune Stephanie Mockler, Taylor Ferns and Holly Shelton as the only ones to accomplish the feat.
Bryson’s first career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time came during time trials at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex in September. By doing so, Bryson became just the fifth female to accomplish the feat in the 65-year history of the USAC National Midget division along with McCune, Sarah Fisher, Mockler and Shelton.
Courtney led all drivers with 178 laps led and was tied for mast qualifying times with Thorson at five. Thorson not only led the series with the most feature wins, but also in top-fives (20), and top-tens (24). Windom snagged a series-high eight heat race wins and was one of just five drivers to start all 28 feature events in 2020 along with Courtney, Kofoid, McIntosh, Pursley and Windom.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) advanced the most positions in a single feature race, charging from the 19th starting position to finish 2nd at Port City in May.
In the end, the 28-point margin between first through third in the 2020 final standings was the second closest of all-time in series history behind the 24-point separation between Tracy Hines, Thorson and Kevin Thomas Jr. in 2015. Ironically, that year marked the most recent season before Windom that a driver earned the final leg of the USAC career Triple Crown.
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THORSON THRIVES IN OCALA USAC MIDGET OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Fla. (February 7, 2020)………A new year and a new beginning are just the things Tanner Thorson was seeking with the outset of the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season.
A highway crash last March sidelined the 2016 series champion with serious injuries. His eventual comeback was a mixed bag of highlight reel moments as well as an up-and-down closing to the campaign that left him without a full-time drive.
A Chili Bowl prelim victory in January was just a prelude to Friday night’s splendid drive by the Minden, Nev. native that witnessed him zip to the front in spectacular fashion just prior to and following a mid-race restart where he exchanged multiple sliders with series Rookie Buddy Kofoid to snare the lead and control the final 16 laps to score the win in the series season-opening Winter Dirt Games XI feature at Bubba Raceway Park.
Thorson’s 14th career USAC National Midget feature win in his Hayward Motorsports/OILFIRE – Factory Kahne – Walker Filtration – Smith Titanium/Spike/Stanton SR-11x moved him into the top-50 and in a four-way tie for 48th on the all-time series win list alongside Chuck Arnold, Jack Turner and Leroy Warriner.
The victory also provided Hayward Motorsports its third career USAC National Midget victory as a team, and first since August of 2016 with driver Bryan Clauson at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kans.
In his third consecutive year of competing in a midget at the 3/8-mile D-shaped track, Thorson finally found his groove. He finished 9th and 7th there in 2019, but this year, made a few small mechanical changes and transitioned to Hayward Motorsports for whom he made two USAC starts at the conclusion of 2019 and was slated to do a part-time schedule for this season.
With a superb beginning to 2020, Thorson hopes that this run of success can translate into something even more.
“We were obviously way better than we were here last year,” Thorson recalled. “We’ve got the same package here, minus a couple little things that don’t matter. I’ve been very fortunate to get with Brodie and Sarah Hayward. They’ve kind of just let me do whatever I really needed and to get what I needed as far as shocks, motors, cars and just everything. It helps to have people behind me like that and allows me to kind of take my mind off the whole thing that happened last year. This is a good start to the season for us and maybe we can see about talking the car owner into running points.”
Thorson began the 30-lapper from fifth and steadily moved his way toward the front of the pack while USAC Triple Crown champ Jerry Coons Jr. held the top spot for the first ten circuits and last season’s Ocala sweeper Tyler Courtney gripped his talons on the bottom to inch closer to Coons.
Coons nipped Courtney by a nose at the line at the conclusion of lap four, then gapped the defending series champ by four car lengths. Suddenly, the newcomer on the scene was one of the newcomers to the series in Kofoid who raced around the outside of Courtney off turn four and continued to haul the mail ripping the high line while Coons worked the bottom out front.
On the 11th lap, Kofoid maneuvered around the outside of Coons exiting turn two. Rapidly closing on the lapped car of first-time USAC feature starter Dennis Misuraca, the elusive Kofoid ducked low into turn three to snag the lead for the time being.
Three laps later, Thorson was the man on the move, slipping under Coons at the bottom entry to turn one for second. Coons fought back on the inside and the two touched, forcing Coons sideways at the exit of the second turn.
Moments later, the caution fell for Jesse Colwell who slowed to a stop in turn two while running in the eighth position.
Now lined up right on Kofoid’s tail tank for the restart, Thorson used a massive run into turn one to slide up in front of Kofoid for the lead. Proving to be a quick-study, Kofoid answered the bell by turning down and returning the favor with a slider of his own in turn three to reobtain the point. However, as Kofoid slid up across turns three and four, that simply opened the door once more for Thorson to drive under off the fourth turn and slide his way back by Kofoid for good at the entry to turn one.
Thorson credited the formation of his success on the experience factor and a set of equipment that helped make the job a tad easier for him.
“I think a lot of it has to do with just having laps around here,” Thorson pointed to. “I’ve watched a lot of races here and I’ve been here the last three years. I think that helps a lot and I’ve watched a lot of non-wing races here as well. It helped to have really good shocks that allowed me to maneuver anywhere I really needed to, and it paid off.”
Two laps later, on the 17th trip around, Windom scooted by Kofoid for second and put his plan into place to chase down Thorson in the throes of lapping the tail end of the field.
A yellow flag for 14th running Robert Dalby following an apparent engine issue brought about the final stoppage, thus setting up a seven-lap sprint to the finish. Third place Kofoid split the gap between Thorson and Windom on the restart briefly into turn one before falling back behind Windom and into third.
Meanwhile, all that action did was provide Thorson more breathing room as he steadily built his lead up to a 1.969 sec. margin at the checkered over Windom, Kofoid, Courtney and Cannon McIntosh.
“We have a really good piece and we’ve had a good piece all the way since the Chili Bowl and even the Gateway race last December,” Thorson reiterated. “I just can’t thank everybody that’s involved enough. It’s really made it fun and easy.”
Chris Windom took a distant second behind Thorson in the Canton, Ill. driver’s USAC debut aboard the Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Obviously, you want to come out and win the first race of the year, but we’ve been good all week so far,” Windom explained. “Tanner was just a little bit better than us there. I could get to him, but it was like we were the same speed after that restart. I just couldn’t quite do anything to gain on him and make a move on him. When we got to lapped cars, it would hurt him one car and I’d get hurt the next car. We kind of just stayed in the same spot.”
A career best third-place finish was the result for Penngrove, California’s Buddy Kofoid, leading four laps in just his fifth career series start piloting the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 – JBL Audio – TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“We’ve come a long way since practice yesterday and qualified well today,” Kofoid recapped. “I was okay in the heat race, made some changes and was extremely fast in the main. I think we were really first early, then could hang with those guys. I think I kind of messed myself up on that restart and kind of fell apart a little bit at the end. I was good finding the top early; I just wish we could’ve gone green to checker.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 7, 2020 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XI
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.901; 2. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.908; 3. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.971; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.044; 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry-14.045; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.099; 7. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-14.103; 8. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-14.119; 9. Jesse Colwell, 21K, Reynolds-14.133; 10. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.140; 11. Logan Seavey, 21KS, Reynolds-14.143; 12. Zeb Wise, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.212; 13. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-14.219; 14. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-14.231; 15. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.323; 16. Chase Jones, 7K, Irwin-14.370; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-14.527; 18. Dennis Misuraca, 92, Davis-16.111; 19. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-16.191; 20. Mark Cole, 6x, Cole-16.816; 21. Mike Magic, 4m, Magic-NT; 22. Ethan Mitchell, 21, Reynolds-NT; 23. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Chase Jones, 7. Oliver Akard. 1:55.647
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Steve Buckwalter, 7. Mark Cole. 1:54.193 (New Track Record)
AUTOMETER/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Zeb Wise, 4. Jesse Colwell, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Michael Magic (#4m), 7. Dennis Misuraca. 1:56.602
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (5), 2. Chris Windom (7), 3. Buddy Kofoid (3), 4. Tyler Courtney (1), 5. Cannon McIntosh (10), 6. Zeb Wise (12), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 8. Jerry Coons Jr. (2), 9. Daison Pursley (15), 10. Andrew Layser (13), 11. Tanner Carrick (8), 12. Logan Seavey (11), 13. Steve Buckwalter (17), 14. Dennis Misuraca (20), 15. Oliver Akard (18), 16. Mark Cole (19), 17. Michael Magic (21), 18. Chase Jones (16), 19. Robert Dalby (14), 20. Jesse Colwell (9), 21. Cole Bodine (4), 22. Ethan Mitchell (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Jerry Coons Jr., Laps 11-14 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 15-30 Tanner Thorson
KSE RACING PRODUCTS / PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Zeb Wise (12th to 6th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steve Buckwalter
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-82, 2-Chris Windom-75, 3-Buddy Kofoid-72, 4-Tyler Courtney-70, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-66, 6-Cannon McIntosh-64, 7-Zeb Wise-61, 8-Jerry Coons Jr.-57, 9-Daison Pursley-53, 10-Tanner Carrick-48.
NEW WINTER DIRT GAMES PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Zeb Wise-6, 2-Daison Pursley-6, 3-Dennis Misuraca-6, 4-Chris Windom-5, 5-Cannon McIntosh-5, 6-Tanner Thorson-4, 7-Steve Buckwalter-4, 8-Michael Magic-4, 9-Andrew Layser-3, 10-Oliver Akard-3.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Zeb Wise-6, 2-Daison Pursley-6, 3-Dennis Misuraca-6, 4-Chris Windom-5, 5-Cannon McIntosh-5, 6-Tanner Thorson-4, 7-Steve Buckwalter-4, 8-Michael Magic-4, 9-Andrew Layser-3, 10-Oliver Akard-3.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: February 8, 2020 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XI
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
KSE Racing Products / ProSource Hard Charger: Zeb Wise
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Steve Buckwalter
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WINDOM WINS FIRST FOR NEW TEAM IN OCALA
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Fla. (February 8, 2020)………Chris Windom’s second race as a member of Tucker-Boat Motorsports began much the same as his first the night before by having to quickly make up ground and dig his way into contention after starting behind the eight ball, and the first three rows.
Saturday night in the Winter Dirt Games XI finale for the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Windom immediately shed his starting spot of 10th with the snap of finger, climbing into the top-five by lap two and, ultimately, into the lead with six laps remaining, capitalizing on a golden opportunity that arose following engine trouble for race leader Tanner Thorson.
The victory provided a third career series feature win for the Canton, Ill. driver who joined TBM for the 2020 campaign and admitted to gaining an extra sense of personal motivation for he and his NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I think I was just kind of pissed that I had to start 10th, so I was driving as hard as I could from the start of the race,” Windom said. “I knew our cars were good enough to be up there. With the format change this year, it moved us back a row and we had to come from 10th there. We’ve been good here all week, especially in the features, and (car owner) Chad (Boat) has brought some badass racecars for us this year.”
“To get a win the first weekend out, that’s what you strive for at the start of the year,” Windom added. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling because we’re here to win a bunch of races and win the championship.”
From the get-go, however, it once again looked like it was going to be Thorson’s stage after capturing the prior night’s season opener at the 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track.
The 2016 series champ set a brand new one-lap track record in qualifying, then proceeded to carve his way from sixth to second on the opening lap, splitting between Petry teammates Kevin Thomas Jr. and Tanner Carrick in turn two, then sliced beneath pole sitter Tyler Courtney for second between turns three and four.
Cannon McIntosh controlled the field from the start but was rapidly encroached by Thorson’s blitz that carried him into the race lead under McIntosh entering turn one on the fourth circuit.
The first yellow of the night arrived on lap 11 when seventh-running Tanner Carrick clipped an infield tire in turn three while negotiating lapped traffic, causing the car to stall to a stop in turn four. The 2019 USAC National Most Improved Driver restarted from the tail but came back to finish 10th.
The ensuing restart was where Windom turned up the wick, driving by McIntosh for third on the 14th lap, then underneath Courtney for second on the back straightway on lap 15.
Windom’s motive was now right in front of his visor and within a reasonable striking distance. However, the gap between the two wasn’t about to close at this rate with Thorson ripping several of his fastest laps of the race through the mid-section to construct a 1.5 second advantage with just 10 laps remaining.
However, with six laps remaining, just when you thought Thorson had all but sewn up a weekend sweep of Winter Dirt Games XI, his evening and his ride went up in a cloud of smoke, prematurely ending a superb weekend and handing the lead over to Windom, who felt like his car was just as good as Thorson’s but may not have had enough to run him down if the race went clean and green the remainder of the way.
“I knew he was going to be good again,” Windom admitted of Thorson. “I felt like we were just as good as him once we got to second. We probably didn’t have the speed to run him down and pass him because it’s just such a wide-open track. When there’s that caliber of cars out there, you’re not going to be a lot better than the next guy. You’ve got to put yourself in position to get there and that’s what we did.”
From that point forward, Windom was undeterred like a vapor trail in the empty air, distancing himself from Courtney by a 1.134 second margin at the checkered to earn the first USAC National Midget victory for a car numbered 89 since Parnelli Jones’ 100-mile triumph at the Milwaukee Mile on August 12, 1961, for car owner Chuck Benda.
“To get a win the first weekend out, that’s what you strive for at the start of the year,” Windom said. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling because we’re here to win a bunch of races and win the championship.”
In the process, Windom earned KSE Products/ProSource Hard Charger Award for the night, advancing nine positions from 10th to 1st and also collected the most cumulative passes over the course of the two nights of feature racing with 14, earning a $200 Passing Master bonus from ProSource in the process.
Tyler Courtney came out of Ocala last year with two victories in two nights. Although 2020 didn’t find the exact same winning results, the Indianapolis, Ind. driver and his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x exited Winter Dirt Games XI with a fourth on Friday and a runner-up finish on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, when you start on the pole, you want to win because that’s the best place to start,” Courtney said. “It just wasn’t in the plans this weekend. We came down here and won both races last year but weren’t able to get it done this year. We’re still learning a bit on the cars and stuff like that. We’ve got a really good racecar, but there’s just a few things to do here and there. I’m really happy with (our car) and our whole Clauson-Marshall team. We’re looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Fresh off earning 2019 USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year honors, Collegeville, Pennsylvania’s Andrew Layser stepped up his game to earn his best career series finish Saturday night with a third-place result in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Friedman-Schuman – Top To Bottom Solutions/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I can’t thank (my crew) enough for all their hard work,” Layser praised. “They’re so precise on everything to make sure (teammate) Chris (Windom) and I have great cars every time. It’s really exciting to put together my first podium finish and hopefully many more. Last year, I struggled with confidence a lot. To start off the season as well as we have is really huge. It started at the Chili Bowl where we had a lot of speed. I knew we were good last night, and it showed tonight.”
In addition to Thorson’s new one-lap track record earlier on Saturday night, Zeb Wise established the new standard for eight laps in a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget around Bubba Raceway Park at 1:52.636 during the first heat race.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 8, 2020 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XI
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.724 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.818; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.866; 4. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.926; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.930; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.948; 7. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.958; 8. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.979; 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry-13.981; 10. Logan Seavey, 21KS, Reynolds-14.028; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.030; 12. Jesse Colwell, 21K, Reynolds-14.088; 13. Zeb Wise, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.139; 14. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.162; 15. Dennis Misuraca, 92, Davis-15.489; 16. Michael Magic, 4m, Magic-15.548; 17. Mark Cole, 6x, Cole-15.556; 18. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-15.679; 19. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Zeb Wise, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Michael Magic. 1:52.636 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Mark Cole. 1:54.200
AUTOMETER/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Jesse Colwell, 4. Dennis Misuraca, 5. Oliver Akard, 6. Jerry Coons Jr. 1:53.516
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (10), 2. Tyler Courtney (1), 3. Andrew Layser (9), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 5. Cannon McIntosh (2), 6. Buddy Kofoid (5), 7. Zeb Wise (7), 8. Daison Pursley (12), 9. Jesse Colwell (13), 10. Tanner Carrick (3), 11. Cole Bodine (8), 12. Logan Seavey (11), 13. Tanner Thorson (6), 14. Oliver Akard (17), 15. Michael Magic (15), 16. Mark Cole (16), 17. Steve Buckwalter (19), 18. Dennis Misuraca (14), 19. Jerry Coons Jr. (18). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 4-24 Tanner Thorson, Laps 25-30 Chris Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (10th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Tanner Thorson
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-152, 2-Tyler Courtney-146, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-138, 4-Buddy Kofoid-137, 5-Tanner Thorson-132, 6-Cannon McIntosh-128, 7-Zeb Wise-121, 8-Andrew Layser-117, 9-Daison Pursley-108, 10-Tanner Carrick-99.
FINAL WINTER DIRT GAMES PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-14, 2-Daison Pursley-10, 3-Andrew Layser-9, 4-Zeb Wise-6, 5-Dennis Misuraca-6, 6-Steve Buckwalter-6, 7-Oliver Akard-6, 8-Cannon McIntosh-5, 9-Tanner Thorson-4, 10-Jesse Colwell-4.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-14, 2-Daison Pursley-10, 3-Andrew Layser-9, 4-Zeb Wise-6, 5-Dennis Misuraca-6, 6-Steve Buckwalter-6, 7-Oliver Akard-6, 8-Cannon McIntosh-5, 9-Tanner Thorson-4, 10-Jesse Colwell-4.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: March 7, 2020 – Southern Illinois Center – Du Quoin, Illinois – Shamrock Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Zeb Wise
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
AutoMeter / Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
KSE Racing Products / ProSource Hard Charger: Chris Windom
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Thorson
ProSource Passing Master: Chris Windom
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THORSON THRILLS WITH 15TH TO 1ST CHARGE AT SHAMROCK CLASSIC
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Du Quoin, Ill. (March 7, 2020)………As Tanner Thorson recollected over his first three starts of the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season, one of his first thoughts was, “we should be three for three.”
Instead, the 2016 series champ has had to settle for winning two out of three on the year thus far following Saturday night’s Shamrock Classic victory at the Southern Illinois Center. And like a common refrain from a song you might’ve heard in the past, ‘two out of three ain’t bad.’
After capturing a season opening victory in Ocala during February, then dominating the second night at Ocala until an engine issue stifled a surefire victory, Thorson entered the Shamrock Classic with a plan to return to his winning ways, but that plan, and the confidence, went slightly askew early in the evening.
“After the qualifier, I thought I was about to load this thing up and get out of here,” Thorson admitted. “This place has never been really too good to me.”
Yet, Thorson and team remained tactful and honed in on the details that allowed him to drive from his 15th starting spot to victory lane, the furthest back in the field a winning driver has started with the series since himself, also from 15th at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. in June of 2019.
“We just kept at it all night,” Thorson said. “I was really fast the last time I was here and we kind of brought the same set up here, but it didn’t work. We just had to change some things and go through some stuff and it paid off.”
In doing so, Thorson kept the streak intact of consecutive different USAC Midget winners to emerge at the Southern Illinois Center to nine and the run of different Shamrock Classic victors to five years running.
Furthermore, Thorson’s 15th career series win elevated the Minden, Nev. driver to 46th all-time on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature win list, equaling him with Don Branson and Larry Rice.
The resilient Thorson had unfinished business to attend to after missing last year’s Shamrock Classic due to the serious injuries he suffered in a California highway crash. His two most recent visits to the 1/6-mile dirt oval netted him a 7th place finish in 2016 and a 21st place result in 2017.
On Saturday, Thorson began his quest from the last quarter of the field while defending race winner Cannon McIntosh controlled the race from the front with series Rookie Buddy Kofoid in close quarters just behind in second.
On the 12th lap, leader McIntosh clipped the turn three infield berm, forcing him to check up and leave teammate Kofoid no room to maneuver and no time to react. Kofoid tapped McIntosh’s rear bumper as a result, sending himself into a spin toward the turn three outside wall and out of contention for the win.
The ensuing restart saw the infield berm rear its ugly head at the opposite end of the track for McIntosh on the lap 13 restart. McIntosh clipped it with his left front, sliding him to a stop and collecting second running Courtney in the fracas, ending both racers their bid for a win on this night.
Nearing the midway point, 2018 Jason Leffler Memorial winner Tyler Thomas was the man on the move, sending it to third by Cole Bodine on the inside of turn three on lap 21 and to second underneath Jake Neuman on the 26th circuit.
With less than 20 to go, it was Thorson’s turn to rise to the occasion as he tussled within the top-five and was battling for the third position with Jake Neuman on lap 32 when the two made contact. Neuman received the smaller piece of the wishbone on the deal, spinning to a stop in turn one, while Thorson continued on.
“It’s just short track racing,” Thorson chalked it up to. “I had a bunch of speed going in there. He got up on the berm and I just got into his back bumper a little bit.”
On the ensuing restart, Thorson immediately went to work on Thomas for the runner-up position, ultimately snagging the spot on the 33rd lap. Thorson instantly slashed into Windom’s advantage, and two laps later, slid underneath Windom off the fourth corner to secure the lead, finally sticking the right rear tire to the surface, something that he admitted to struggling with all night.
From there onward, Thorson went virtually unchallenged. He clipped the turn one berm with his left front wheel on the lap 40 restart, but it was no harm, no foul as he carried on to a 0.837 second victory aboard his Hayward Motorsports/Oilfire – Factory Kahne – Walker Filtration – Smith Titanium/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“This race team is just a big group that works really hard and it helps,” Thorson said. “The overall package we have from our shocks to motors to cars, just everything. It’s cool to watch the things we do work. Sometimes they don’t, obviously, but we’re doing a lot of little things that no one probably even thinks about that all add up. We’ve got a really good team and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
Thomas took second over series point leader Windom while career best series performances were turned in by Robert Dalby, who finished fourth, and Kyle Simon who collected a fifth in his first career USAC National Midget feature start.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: March 7, 2020 – Southern Illinois Center – Du Quoin, Illinois – Shamrock Classic presented by Dooling Machine
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Tanner Carrick (#35 Petry), 2. Andy Bishop (#91 Harris), 3. Trey Robb (#08 Dave Mac), 4. Sam Johnson (#72 Johnson), 5. Kyle Simon (#23s Simon), 6. Gage Rucker (#19G Hayward). NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson/Marshall), 2. Brady Bacon (#21H Hinck), 3. Ronnie Gardner (#7m Moonshine), 4. Logan Faucon (#52F Casson), 5. Kyle May (#39 May), 6. Tyler Robbins (#35T Robbins), 7. Michael Klein (#10A MWR). NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Chris Windom (#89 Tucker/Boat), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 4. David Budres (#31 Manic), 5. Anthony Nicholson (#5o Hagar/Proctor), 6. Robert Bell (#71B Bell), 7. Thomas Chandler (#1T Chandler), 8. Tyler Nelson (#88 Nelson). NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Trey Gropp (#54G Mounce), 3. Robert Dalby (#4 Dalby), 4. Andrew Layser (#82 Tucker/Boat), 5. Aiden Purdue (#57D McCreery), 6. Austin Yarbrough (#13A McGee), 7. Matt Durbin (#12D Durbin), 8. Mark Chisholm (#3 Neuman). 1:50.410
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Ace McCarthy (#28 Dave Mac), 2. Cole Bodine (#39BC Clauson/Marshall), 3. Tanner Thorson (#19 Hayward), 4. Riley Kreisel (#56AP Young), 5. Chris Urish (#77u Casson), 6. Kendall Ruble (#11m Martin). 1:49.218 (New Track Record)
SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Daison Pursley (#9 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Tyler Thomas (#91T Thomas), 3. Jake Neuman (#3N Neuman), 4. Justin Grant (#4A RAMS), 5. Kyle Jones (#7R Moonshine), 6. Craig Oakes (#91x Oakes), 7. Sean Robbins (#53 Robbins). 1:50.231
ALSO AT THE TRACK: Derek Hagar (#9JR Hagar/Proctor) & Chris Andrews (#95 Miller)
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-40 overall in passing points transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Sam Johnson, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Austin Yarbrough, 6. Thomas Chandler, 7. Trey Robb, 8. Kyle Jones, 9. David Budres, 10. Daison Pursley. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-40 overall in passing points transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Ace McCarthy, 4. Andy Bishop, 5. Aiden Purdue, 6. Riley Kreisel, 7. Mark Chisholm, 8. Ronnie Gardner, 9. Gage Rucker, 10. Matt Durbin, 11. Kyle May. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-40 overall in passing points transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Anthony Nicholson, 3. Kyle Simon, 4. Robert Bell, 5. Trey Gropp, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Tanner Carrick, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Tyler Robbins, 10. Michael Klein. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-40 overall in passing points transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Neuman, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Tyler Thomas, 5. Kendall Ruble, 6. Logan Faucon, 7. Andrew Layser, 8. Sean Robbins, 9. Craig Oakes, 10. Chris Urish. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING FIRST SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Simon, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Aiden Purdue, 6. Austin Yarbrough, 7. Kyle Jones, 8. Thomas Chandler, 9. Tyler Robbins, 10. David Budres, 11. Gage Rucker, 12. Michael Klein, 13. Tanner Carrick. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SECOND SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Trey Gropp, 2. Trey Robb, 3. Robert Bell, 4. Kendall Ruble, 5. Anthony Nicholson, 6. Ronnie Gardner, 7. Riley Kreisel, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Chris Urish, 10. Logan Faucon, 11. Matt Durbin, 12. Mark Chisholm. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (15), 2. Tyler Thomas (10), 3. Chris Windom (5), 4. Robert Dalby (7), 5. Kyle Simon (13), 6. Cole Bodine (8), 7. Buddy Kofoid (2), 8. Tanner Carrick (21), 9. Daison Pursley (17), 10. Trey Robb (16), 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. (19), 12. Kendall Ruble (20), 13. Ace McCarthy (9), 14. Justin Grant (11), 15. Cannon McIntosh (1), 16. Jake Neuman (6), 17. Brady Bacon (4), 18. Sam Johnson (12), 19. Robert Bell (18), 20. Tyler Courtney (3), 21. Trey Gropp (14). NT
**Tyler Nelson flipped during the third heat. Thomas Chandler flipped during the third heat. Daison Pursley flipped during the first qualifier. Kyle May flipped during the first qualifier. Craig Oakes flipped during the third qualifier.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 13-34 Chris Windom, Laps 35-50 Tanner Thorson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Tanner Thorson (15th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ace McCarthy
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Aiden Purdue & Anthony Nicholson
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-202, 2-Tyler Courtney-196, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-188, 4-Buddy Kofoid-187, 5-Tanner Thorson-182, 6-Cannon McIntosh-178, 7-Andrew Layser-167, 8-Daison Pursley-158, 9-Tanner Carrick-149, 10-Cole Bodine-130.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-18, 2-Daison Pursley-18, 3-Chris Windom-17, 4-Brady Bacon-16, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-11, 6-Andrew Layser-9, 7-Tyler Thomas-8, 8-Mario Clouser-8, 9-Anton Hernandez-7, 10-Dave Darland-7.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: April 10-11, 2020 – Riverside International Speedway – West Memphis, Arkansas
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner: Buddy Kofoid
AutoMeter Third Qualifier Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Race Parts Fourth Qualifier Winner: Jake Neuman
KSE Racing Products / ProSource Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ace McCarthy
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfers: Aiden Purdue & Anthony Nicholson
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner: Buddy Kofoid
AutoMeter Third Qualifier Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Race Parts Fourth Qualifier Winner: Jake Neuman
KSE Racing Products / ProSource Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ace McCarthy
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfers: Aiden Purdue & Anthony Nicholson
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COURTNEY CORRALS PORT CITY'S USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK NATIONAL MIDGET DEBUT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Tulsa, Oklahoma (May 22, 2020)………It’s been quite a while since Tyler Courtney and the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship were last in competition – 76 nights to be exact.
A little rust here and a few cobwebs to knock out there, the quarantine period during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world has knocked anybody and everybody off their normal routines.
But what has become routine over the last several years is a Courtney feature victory and the defending champ once again nestled into that routine Friday night for his first series victory of the year in the inaugural Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by B & H Contractors at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla.
While it wasn’t exactly a rough start to the season by any stretch for the Indianapolis, Ind. driver with a 4th, a 2nd and a 20th in his first three series starts, Courtney and the Clauson-Marshall Racing team dug deep during the time off to find that little bit of “extra” to propel them back to victory lane where they had resided eight times a year ago, including three of the first four, with the series.
“We made a few changes during quarantine and I think we found some stuff,” Courtney admitted after capturing the victory in his NOS Energy Drink Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. “I was a little rusty on the cushion there at the end of the race, and I need to get a little better at that. I saw those guys coming on the bottom, but I was kind of committed to the top by that point.”
Courtney was referring to his late-race execution there, but first, he had to charge from the sixth starting position after establishing a track record earlier in the night during Fatheadz Eyewear/MSW Motorsports time trials, a lap of 9.444 seconds around the 1/8-mile dirt bullring, the first sub-10-second qualifying quick time lap in a USAC National Midget points race since John Andretti at the Toronto Skydome in 1993.
It was Courtney’s CMR teammate Cole Bodine who established the early lead from the pole after an early side-by-side scuttle with outside front starter Chris Windom. Windom remained up top and eventually drove by on lap five for the race lead.
Courtney moved into the top-five on lap 10, passing second quickest qualifier Thomas Meseraull for the position. Moments later, Meseraull’s bid for a frontrunning result came to an abrupt halt when he contacted Courtney’s rear bumper and slid to a stop. Meseraull restarted and finished 13th.
Nearing midway, Courtney had closed in on a three-car tussle for second, which also involved Tanner Thorson and Buddy Kofoid. On the 21st lap, Courtney emerged from the herd with the runner-up spot, although Windom still held a hefty lead of nearly two seconds ahead of him.
That advantage was erased on the following lap when 15th running Daison Pursley stopped at the top of turn four, thus bringing out the yellow flag and bunching up the field for the restart. Courtney gripped low while Windom ran the top, but on the 25th lap, Windom’s slight stumble on the turn one curb gave Courtney the crack in the door he needed to get through as he jolted to the race lead.
Windom remained in touch with his former CMR teammate Courtney just prior to a yellow for first-time USAC starter Emerson Axsom who spun between turns three and four.
Following a restart with 10 to go, Windom ultimately recharged the figurative batteries and made his bid to overtake Courtney, successfully sliding past in turn two with eight laps remaining. Courtney instantly ducked to the inside of Windom exiting turn two, and to Courtney’s left, both Logan Seavey and Thorson created two more lanes of space on the bottom to briefly make it four-wide for the lead.
Courtney escaped the jam and entered turn three on the bottom with the lead with Windom going topside back to second and Thorson and Seavey getting momentarily shuffled out. Windom took one more run at Courtney in turn three to no avail just as the red flag flew on lap 34 when Hank Davis and Clinton Boyles made contact in turn one, sending Boyles flipping near the outside wall. He was uninjured.
On the ensuing restart, Courtney utilized a quality start on the opening lap to carve out some distance between he and Windom. A hard-charging Seavey, who started all the way back in 19th, picked his way to second past Windom on the bottom with four to go and tried to hunt down Courtney, but time was short his hourglass was out of sand.
The checkered flag was Courtney’s for the 14th time in his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, tying him with Chuck Arnold, Jack Turner and Leroy Warriner for 49th all-time.
“It feels really good, especially being the first time back,” Courtney said. “It’s cool to come to these races when your friends Xia Xianna and Brady (Bacon) are promoting it, and stepping up, especially in a hard time like this. Thanks to them and Mike and Megan Eubanks who’ve done a hell of a job with this place.”
Courtney competed in a micro sprint in his only previous Port City racing experiences, but this marked his first visit in a midget at the track, and after Friday’s triumph, he’s looking for even more on Saturday night.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a tough one,” Courtney continued when speaking of Saturday’s night two of the T-Town Midget Showdown. “All these guys are going to keep getting better, so you can’t slouch off. Hats off to my whole team who’ve worked their tails off with nothing really to do; they haven’t backed down.”
Sutter, California’s Seavey made his debut in the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports Midget a memorable one, driving from 19th to 2nd to earn Hard Charger honors courtesy of KSE Racing Products and Jerry Medlin in his AME Electrical Contracting – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“We just had a heck of a racecar there,” Seavey exclaimed. “I feel like we’ve struggled the past couple of days, but finally got the car gripped up to where I could drive through the slick and keep the car straight. That’s really what you need on a track like this.”
“I feel so good,” the 2018 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ stated. “I really wish we could’ve gotten by Sunshine (Courtney) there. He’s passed me a lot driving through the slick while I’m up there pounding the curb, and I was hoping we could reverse the roles tonight but didn’t quite get it done. I needed to make a few better moves once I got into the top-five; I just wasn’t quite pouncing on the opportunities like I needed to. That’s kind of what ended it for me once Sunshine got out to a little bit of a lead, I could close a little bit, but I knew there wasn’t enough to get all the way there.”
Windom (Canton, Ill.) led a race-high 20 laps, and after losing the lead with 16 laps remaining, came back with a strong second effort, although he fell to third at the conclusion after admitting to needing to “make a few less mistakes” in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“We got the lead and I started hitting the curb a little bit and getting tight on entry and Tyler got by us,” Windom recalled. “We had a hell of a race back to the lead, but (Courtney) was just a little better at the end than I was. Obviously, we’ve got a really fast racecar and these guys are at the top of their game.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 22, 2020 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by B & H Contractors
FATHEADZ/MSW MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-9.444 (New Track Record); 2. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-9.448; 3. Jesse Love, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.481; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.486; 5. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.502; 6. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-9.508; 7. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-9.520; 8. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-9.558; 9. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-9.615; 10. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-9.619; 11. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-9.629; 12. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-9.635; 13. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-9.652; 14. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-9.686; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-9.687; 16. Hank Davis, 42, Franklin-9.700; 17. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-9.703; 18. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-9.706; 19. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-9.707; 20. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.727; 21. Jonathan Beason, 8K, Hard Eight-9.742; 22. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-9.743; 23. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-9.745; 24. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-9.759; 25. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-9.773; 26. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-9.788; 27. Matt Moore, 85, Central-9.810; 28. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-9.815; 29. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.870; 30. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-9.872; 31. Matt Sherrell, 10J, Hunt-9.880; 32. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-9.882; 33. Blake Hahn, 52, Hahn-9.887; 34. Jake Neuman, 21KS, Reynolds-9.892; 35. David Budres, 31, Manic-9.912; 36. Presley Truedson, 71x, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.953; 37. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-10.166; 38. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-10.240; 39. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-10.348; 40. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-10.488.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Blake Hahn, 8. Emilio Hoover, 9. Gage Rucker. 1:38.966 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles. 2. Ace McCarthy, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Robert Dalby, 8. Cody Brewer, 9. Jake Neuman, 10. Noah Gass. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Trey Marcham, 6. Jesse Love, 7. Matt Moore, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. David Budres, 10. Matt Sherrell. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Hank Davis, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Presley Truedson, 8. Trey Gropp, 9. Curtis Spicer, 10. Tyler Nelson. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Blake Hahn, 2. Jake Neuman, 3. Matt Sherrell, 4. Tyler Nelson, 5. Presley Truedson, 6. Cody Brewer, 7. Gage Rucker, 8. Curtis Spicer, 9. Hayden Reinbold. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Hank Davis, 3. Jesse Love, 4. Jonathan Beason, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Trey Marcham, 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Blake Hahn, 10. Trey Gropp, 11. Matt Sherrell, 12. Jake Neuman, 13. Kaylee Bryson, 14. Noah Gass, 15. Tyler Nelson, 16. Emilio Hoover, 17. Zach Daum, 18. Matt Moore. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Logan Seavey (19), 3. Chris Windom (2), 4. Tanner Thorson (3), 5. Cannon McIntosh (9), 6. Andrew Layser (13), 7. Justin Grant (10), 8. Cole Bodine (1), 9. Tanner Carrick (22), 10. Tyler Thomas (17), 11. Buddy Kofoid (4), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (8), 13. Thomas Meseraull (5), 14. Dave Darland (15), 15. Jonathan Beason (20), 16. Kaylee Bryson (23), 17. Hank Davis (18), 18. Jake Neuman (24), 19. Daison Pursley (12), 20. Emerson Axsom (14), 21. Jesse Love (11), 22. Ethan Mitchell (16), 23. Clinton Boyles (7), 24. Ace McCarthy (21). NT
**Matt Sherrell flipped during the third heat. Clinton Boyles flipped on lap 34 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Cole Bodine, Laps 5-24 Chris Windom, Laps 25-40 Tyler Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/JERRY MEDLIN IN HONOR OF DONNIE RAY CRAWFORD HARD CHARGER: Logan Seavey (19th to 2nd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Thomas Meseraull
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Trey Marcham
PROSOURCE HARD WORK: Tanner Carrick
JERRY MEDLIN LAST CAR RUNNING IN HONOR OF LEON GENTRY: Ethan Mitchell
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-277, 2-Chris Windom-271, 3-Tanner Thorson-249, 4-Cannon McIntosh-244, 5-Buddy Kofoid-238, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-235, 7-Andrew Layser-224, 8-Tanner Carrick-201, 9-Daison Pursley-189, 10-Cole Bodine-185.
NEW PROSOURCE T-TOWN MIDGET SHOWDOWN PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-17, 2-Tanner Carrick-13, 3-Matt Sherrell-12, 4-Jonathan Beason-12, 5-Tyler Thomas-8, 6-Blake Hahn-8, 7-Andrew Layser-7, 8-Tyler Courtney-6, 9-Cannon McIntosh-5, 10-Hank Davis-5.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-18, 2-Daison Pursley-18, 3-Chris Windom-18, 4-Logan Seavey-17, 5-Brady Bacon-16, 6-Andrew Layser-16, 7-Tyler Thomas-15, 8-Tanner Carrick-13, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-11, 10-Cannon McIntosh-9.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: May 22-23, 2020 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by B & H Contractors
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/MSW Motorsports Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products / Jerry Medlin Hard Charger in Memory of Donnie Ray Crawford: Logan Seavey
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Thomas Meseraull
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Trey Marcham
ProSource Hard Work: Tanner Carrick
Jerry Medlin Last Car Running in Honor Of Leon Gentry: Ethan Mitchell
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FAST TIMES AT PORT CITY; GRANT RIDES WAVE TO T-TOWN MIDGET SHOWDOWN VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Tulsa, Oklahoma (May 23, 2020)………In any instance, you take inspiration from anywhere you can gather it up.
For Justin Grant, it was he who channeled his inner Jeff Spicoli from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High to score Saturday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature win in the inaugural Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by B & H Contractors at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway.
“This track was a ton of fun, just right on the fence, banging the curb,” Grant colorfully explained. “We were watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High this morning and Spicoli said, ‘It’s a way of looking at that wave and saying, hey bud, let’s party.’ That’s how I felt tonight. You always want it to end when you’re leading, but I almost wish that thing was 80 laps, I was having such a good time.”
To steal (paraphrase) another line from Spicoli while we’re at it, “Racing's not merely a sport, it's a way of life, it's no hobby.” Grant has made winning a way of life in USAC competition, but this was just the fifth career series win for the Ione, Calif. native and second for the RAMS Racing team with whom he joined at the beginning of the 2019 season.
“About time I got this (car) back in victory lane,” Grant exclaimed after wheeling the RAMS Racing/NOS Energy Drink – Rockwell Security – Veterans Community Projects/Bullet/Stanton SR-11 to his first triumph of the season. These guys have been spending money like crazy and I haven’t been getting them to victory lane. Glad I could, finally.”
Grant began the 40-lap feature from the third spot as a flurry of activity surrounded him on the racy 1/8-mile dirt oval. Pole sitter Kevin Thomas Jr. led the opening lap on the bottom, but Chris Windom rode the rim up top, then split across and between both Thomas and Grant to scurry to the bottom of turn one, sliding up in front of Thomas to put his name on top of the leaderboard while Grant secured the low lane to move to second.
Following a restart due to sixth-running Daison Pursley getting sideways and stopping in turn one, the 11th lap saw Grant make his move to slip by Windom, leading at the stripe by a mere car length. Windom wasted no time trying to return the favor as he slid past Grant utilizing the bottom entering turn one. Nearing turn two, the pair made contact, with Grant’s right front wheel hopping over Windom’s left rear.
The duo kept the train a rollin’ and Grant recovered a half-lap later when he took his chances on a turn three slider that successfully prevailed and instantly jettisoned Grant to an advantage he wasn’t soon going to lose, that is if it went clean and green the rest of the way.
The story for Grant became as repetitive as the lyrics to “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen. Grant got a great start, steadily built up his lead while an incredible race for position occurred behind him between Windom, Thomas, Jason McDougal, Cole Bodine and Thomas Meseraull, among others, in a relentless boxing match where the combatants traded jab after jab. Then, a yellow flag would ultimately fly for a caution, erasing Grant’s lead.
On the 26th lap, Kevin Thomas Jr. reloaded and went on the attack for second, trying to slide past Windom entering turn one. However, halfway up the banking, the car locked up and Thomas skidded to a stop, ending his fine run, and relegating him to a 14th place finish at race’s end.
That dismantled Grant’s two-second lead, and on the ensuing restart, he reconstructed a 1.6-second advantage before Presley Truedson, making her second career series start, stopped along the wall in turns three and four.
Grant got back on the horse again, and within two laps, had another gargantuan 1.879 lead. Gargantuan, considering Cannon McIntosh’s track record run in qualifying stopped the watches at a ripping 9.398 second clip. Speaking of McIntosh, he was the subject of the next yellow on the 31st lap as he jumped the cushion and got into the turn four wall and stopped while contesting for the second position with Windom.
In just five more laps after the lap 31 restart, Grant’s lead ballooned to over three seconds when series Rookie Jesse Love flipped in turn two on the 36th circuit. That reset and re-racked the lineup once more as Grant shot away on the restart and was primed and headed for the promised land, but as he approached the white flag, Clinton Boyles took a second tumble in as many nights in the fourth turn. He was uninjured.
In the final two-lap sprint, Windom took a run at Grant, but didn’t have enough oomph to slide past Grant who ripped the lip to pull away for a 1.322 second victory over Windom who did his best Teflon impression to withstand every single challenge thrown at him throughout the feature. Tyler Courtney, Cole Bodine and Logan Seavey rounded out the top-five.
Priority Aviation added $1,000 to Grant’s winner’s share to make it a $4,000 night for the victor. Beaver Stripes also stepped up with an extra $1,000 added to the night’s total prize money.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/MSW Motorsports Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Metal Finishing / DDR / L & T’s Bar & Grill Semi Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Saldana Racing Products / Gary Phillips First Non-Transfer: Blake Hahn
KSE Racing Products / Jerry Medlin Hard Charger in Memory of Donnie Ray Crawford: Andrew Layser (21st to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jason McDougal
ProSource Hard Work: Trey Marcham
Jerry Medlin Last Car Running in Honor Of Leon Gentry: Ethan Mitchell
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 23, 2020 – Port City Raceway – Tulsa, Oklahoma – Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown presented by B & H Contractors
FATHEADZ/MSW MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.398 (New Track Record); 2. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-9.507; 3. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-9.534; 4. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-9.580; 5. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.585; 6. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-9.615; 7. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-9.622; 8. Jesse Love, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.629; 9. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-9.660; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-9.688; 11. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-9.711; 12. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-9.712; 13. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-9.719; 14. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-9.722; 15. Presley Truedson, 71x, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.724; 16. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-9.733; 17. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-9.749; 18. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-9.752; 19. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-9.795; 20. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.796; 21. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.800; 22. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-9.826; 23. Jonathan Beason, 8K, Hard Eight-9.832; 24. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-9.842; 25. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-9.858; 26. David Budres, 31, Manic-9.869; 27. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-9.874; 28. Blake Hahn, 52, Hahn-9.904; 29. Matt Sherrell, 10J, Hunt-9.914; 30. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-10.084; 31. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-10.151; 32. J.D. Black, 7JR, SevenJR-10.221; 33. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-10.329; 34. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-10.376; 35. Matt Moore, 85, Central-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Trey Marcham, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Noah Gass, 8. Matt Sherrell, 9. Curtis Spicer. 1:41.943
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. 3. Justin Grant, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. David Budres, 8. Emilio Hoover, 9. Gage Rucker. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Jonathan Beason, 3. Presley Truedson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Tyler Nelson, 8. Tyler Thomas. 1:43.246
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Blake Hahn, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Jesse Love, 8. J.D. Black. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Robert Dalby, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Jesse Love, 7. Blake Hahn, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Matt Sherrell, 10. J.D. Black, 11. Tanner Carrick, 12. Tyler Nelson, 13. Emilio Hoover, 14. Curtis Spicer, 15. Gage Rucker, 16. Noah Gass, 17. Hayden Reinbold, 18. David Budres. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (3), 2. Chris Windom (2), 3. Tyler Courtney (8), 4. Cole Bodine (7), 5. Logan Seavey (16), 6. Andrew Layser (21), 7. Thomas Meseraull (6), 8. Buddy Kofoid (10), 9. Daison Pursley (4), 10. Tanner Thorson (15), 11. Tyler Thomas (12), 12. Tanner Carrick (23), 13. Jason McDougal (5), 14. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 15. Robert Dalby (14), 16. Trey Marcham (22), 17. Emilio Hoover (24), 18. Cannon McIntosh (11), 19. Clinton Boyles (9), 20. Kaylee Bryson (19), 21. Presley Truedson (17), 22. Ethan Mitchell (18), 23. Jesse Love (13), 24. Jonathan Beason (20). NT
**Noah Gass flipped during the semi. Jesse Love flipped on lap 36 of the feature. Clinton Boyles flipped on lap 39 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 2-10 Chris Windom, Lap 11 Justin Grant, Lap 12 Chris Windom, Laps 13-40 Justin Grant.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-349, 2-Chris Windom-343, 3-Buddy Kofoid-295, 4-Tanner Thorson-294, 5-Andrew Layser-285, 6-Cannon McIntosh-281, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-277, 8-Cole Bodine-254, 9-Daison Pursley-244, 10-Tanner Carrick-240.
FINAL PROSOURCE T-TOWN MIDGET SHOWDOWN PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-29, 2-Andrew Layser-22, 3-Matt Sherrell-16, 4-Blake Hahn-15, 5-Tanner Carrick-13, 6-Tyler Courtney-12, 7-Tanner Thorson-9, 8-Tyler Thomas-9, 9-Jonathan Beason-9, 10-Justin Grant-7.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Andrew Layser-31, 2-Logan Seavey-28, 3-Tanner Thorson-23, 4-Chris Windom-18, 5-Daison Pursley-18, 6-Brady Bacon-16, 7-Tyler Thomas-16, 8-Tanner Carrick-13, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-11, 10-Tyler Courtney-10.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 16, 2020 – Paragon Speedway – Paragon, Indiana – Indiana Midget Week
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UNSTOPPABLE LARSON WINS PARAGON INDIANA MIDGET WEEK OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Paragon, Indiana (June 16, 2020)………When you’re hot, you’re hot, and Kyle Larson is absolutely untouchable at the moment.
Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.) won Tuesday’s opening round of the 16th annual Indiana Midget Week at Paragon Speedway with a late-race pass of Tanner Thorson four laps from the finish to claim his sixth consecutive win behind the wheel between World of Outlaws, All Star and USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition over the past couple of weeks.
The victory also marked Larson’s eighth-straight victory when competing in a midget inside the United States, with victories in the final three USAC National Midget features to conclude the 2019 season in California at Placerville, Bakersfield and Ventura, then both nights of the Gateway Dirt Nationals in St. Louis, Mo. during the month of December. He then promptly won his first two starts of 2020 in January with a prelim win and a final night triumph at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Okla.
Larson’s sixth career Indiana Midget Week win, which ranks second all-time behind Bryan Clauson’s nine, was also the 20th of his USAC National Midget career, tying him with A.J. Foyt for 32nd all-time. And it came in the first USAC National Midget race held at Paragon since 1985.
Prior to Tuesday night, only once had Larson visited Paragon Speedway. That occasion came as a spectator of a sprint car race at the 3/8-mile several years ago.
“I’ve been waiting a long to come here to Paragon to get my chance to race,” Larson said. “I’m glad I could add my name to the winner’s list here.”
In Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying, Larson laid down a new one-lap track record for the series at Paragon in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway-powered machine, setting the new mark of 14.813 seconds and shattering the former record held by seven-time USAC National Midget champ Mel Kenyon for three-and-a-half decades at 16.442.
That placed Larson in the third row for the 30-lap feature while pole sitter Gio Scelzi, the last driver to beat Larson head-to-head in a USAC Midget race, jut out to an early five-car length lead in the beginning stages over outside front row starter Thorson.
Thorson closed the gap on Scelzi, and on lap six, made his first attempted slider for the lead in turn one, to no avail. The move ultimately cost Thorson substantial ground in the immediate aftermath, dropping him back 10 lengths before regrouping and incrementally began to reel Scelzi back in.
On the 11th lap, Thorson hit the slide to perfection on his second shot, slinging past Scelzi to take over the race lead.
One lap later, USAC western standout Chase Johnson flipped off the turn two banking in his first series start of the year. He walked away without injury.
One lap into the ensuing restart, now third-running Larson put Scelzi on notice with a slider on both ends of the racetrack, in both turn one and three. Each time, however, Scelzi masterfully cut back under to retain the position while Thorson opened up his advantage at the head of the field.
A yellow on lap 14 for a Brady Bacon turn two spin reset the deck, and on the following lap, Larson stuck the slider in turn one to corral the second position from Scelzi. At that point – the halfway mark – Thorson’s advantage was 1.1 second, but that margin dwindled with each tick of the clock down to half a second when third-running Scelzi met his race’s demise when he flipped in turn two, emerging uninjured.
With just nine to go, leader Thorson went on the defensive, sliding himself into turn one, thus trying to prevent Larson from doing the job himself. But Larson stuck to his instincts and went even lower than Thorson in turn one and the two made very slight contact as they drifted in unison to the top of turn two.
The pair kept each other in check, and with six to go, Larson took another run at Thorson in turn one, diving to the bottom and sliding up in front of Thorson by the time the two reached the second turn. Thorson ducked underneath and there, Thorson’s right rear wheel and Larson’s left front wheel had a meeting of the minds, knocking Larson askew and allowing Thorson to open his lead back up to 10 car lengths.
It took but just one lap before Larson was right back on Thorson’s tail tank, following the 2016 series champ for a full circuit before changing up his approach.
There, Larson utilized a line which he had found just a few laps earlier as he drove it in a bit over the turn one cushion, then drove downhill off the banking and met wheel-to-wheel with Thorson exiting turn two, likewise leaving Thorson little room off the corner as they made slight contact similar to what had transpired just two laps prior with the roles now reversed.
From there, Larson quest for victory was undisputedly undenied as he extended the interval to 1.696 seconds over Thorson at the checkered to win his first Indiana Midget Week event since the 2018 opener at Montpelier Motor Speedway.
Thorson finished second ahead of NASCAR Cup Series regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chris Windom with Justin Grant rounding out the top-five.
“That was a fun race there,” Larson exclaimed. “(Turns) one and two were a lot of fun, throwing slide jobs like that and getting to race hard with a lot of my friends was cool. My car just kept getting better and better throughout the race, especially there at the end when it got a little bit of patchiness of rubber at the exit of both ends. I happened to open my entry there on the last restart in one and could make up a lot of time on Tanner there. I threw a slider on him with four or five laps to go, and he didn’t leave me much room, so when I got my opportunity, I didn’t leave him any at all either.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2020 – Paragon Speedway – Paragon, Indiana – Indiana Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-14.813 (New Track Record); 2. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.089; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.159; 4. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-15.359; 5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson/Marshall-15.401; 6. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-15.441; 7. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.495; 8. Gio Scelzi, 84, Tucker/Boat-15.519; 9. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-15.574; 10. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.744; 11. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-15.793; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.816; 13. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-15.816; 14. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-15.829; 15. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.853; 16. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-15.878; 17. Noah Gass, 08, Dave Mac-15.894; 18. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.001; 19. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-16.022; 20. Ryan Hall, 2, Bush-16.023; 21. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.077; 22. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-16.083; 23. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-16.097; 24. Jadon Rogers, 4J, 4J-16.130; 25. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-16.162; 26. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.198; 27. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-16.205; 28. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-16.236; 29. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-16.295; 30. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-16.297; 31. Jake Swanson, 73T, Ford-16.316; 32. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.380; 33. Max McLaughlin, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.432; 34. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-16.461; 35. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-16.504; 36. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-16.574; 37. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.599; 38. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-16.605; 39. Russ Gamester, 46, Gamester-16.654; 40. Jeff Wimmenauer, 15J, Wimmenauer-16.686; 41. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-16.833; 42. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-16.942; 43. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-17.181; 44. Shane Cottle, 86c, Stamper-17.440; 45. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-NT; 46. Zeb Wise, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Noah Gass, 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Max McLaughlin, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Dylan Ito, 10. Jake Neuman, 11. Kaylee Bryson, 12. Hayden Reinbold. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Rico Abreu, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Ethan Mitchell, 10. Ace McCarthy, 11. Brody Roa. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Steve Buckwalter, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Jason McDougal, 8. Ronnie Gardner, 9. Justin Dickerson, 10. Jake Swanson, 11. Russ Gamester. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Gio Scelzi, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Zeb Wise, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Ryan Hall, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Maria Cofer, 10. Andrew Layser, 11. Jeff Wimmenauer. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Ace McCarthy, 4. Zeb Wise, 5. Russ Gamester, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Dylan Ito, 9. Jeff Wimmenauer, 10. Brody Roa, 11. Hayden Reinbold, 12. Justin Dickerson, 13. Max McLaughlin, 14. Kyle Cummins, 15. Robert Dalby. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Rico Abreu, 6. Jake Neuman, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Jadon Rogers, 11. Cole Bodine, 12. Jason McDougal, 13. Jake Swanson, 14. Zeb Wise, 15. Ronnie Gardner, 16. Ace McCarthy, 17. Ryan Hall, 18. Maria Cofer. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (6), 2. Tanner Thorson (2), 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (3), 4. Chris Windom (12), 5. Justin Grant (7), 6. Tanner Carrick (4), 7. Tyler Courtney (9), 8. Logan Seavey (22), 9. Buddy Kofoid (5), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (8), 11. Thomas Meseraull (21), 12. Rico Abreu (11), 13. Zach Daum (19), 14. Shane Golobic (15), 15. Jake Neuman (14), 16. Daison Pursley (20), 17. Cole Bodine (24), 18. Brady Bacon (13), 19. Noah Gass (17), 20. Gio Scelzi (1), 21. Andrew Layser (23), 22. Chase Johnson (16), 23. Steve Buckwalter (18), 24. Cannon McIntosh (10). NT
**Cannon McIntosh flipped during practice. Zeb Wise flipped during qualifying. Jake Swanson flipped during the third heat. Robert Dalby flipped during the C-Main. Max McLaughlin flipped during the C-Main. Chase Johnson flipped on lap 12 of the feature. Gio Scelzi flipped on lap 22 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Gio Scelzi, Laps 11-26 Tanner Thorson, Laps 27-30 Kyle Larson.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-409, 2-Chris Windom-408, 3-Tanner Thorson-369, 4-Buddy Kofoid-350, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-328, 6-Cannon McIntosh-312, 7-Andrew Layser-308, 8-Tanner Carrick-305, 9-Cole Bodine-283, 10-Daison Pursley-280.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-83, 2-Tanner Thorson-75, 3-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-71, 4-Justin Grant-66, 5-Chris Windom-65, 6-Tanner Carrick-65, 7-Tyler Courtney-60, 8-Buddy Kofoid-55, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-51, 10-Logan Seavey-50.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-14, 2-Thomas Meseraull-10, 3-Chris Windom-8, 4-Zach Daum-6, 5-Kyle Larson-5, 6-Daison Pursley-4, 7-Justin Grant-2, 8-Tyler Courtney-2, 9-Shane Golobic-1.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-43, 2-Chris Windom-31, 3-Andrew Layser-31, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 5-Tanner Thorson-23, 6-Daison Pursley-22, 7-Brady Bacon-20, 8-Mario Clouser-19, 9-Tyler Courtney-18, 10-Tyler Thomas-16.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – Indiana Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chris Windom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Clinton Boyles
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Logan Seavey (22nd to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Zach Daum
ProSource Hard Work: Logan Seavey
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LARSON 2-FOR-2 IN INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WITH GAS CITY SCORE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (June 17, 2020)………Wednesday morning began with a bounty being placed upon Kyle Larson’s head. At the end of the day, he remained elusive to all his challengers vying to catch him.
Larson took over the lead with 13 laps remaining after charging from the 14th starting position to the front in rapid fire succession to win the second round of the 16th annual Indiana Midget Week series Wednesday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
The victory was Larson’s second-in-a-row at Indiana Midget Week after winning the series opener on Tuesday at Paragon Speedway. And, going back to last year, it’s the fifth USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory he’s earned in his last five series starts.
He entered Gas City seeking his seventh-straight victory between World of Outlaws, All Star and USAC competition, thus earlier in the day, Richard and Jennifer Marshall of Priority Aviation put up a $1,000 bounty on Larson for the remainder of Indiana Midget Week.
The deal is that anybody who can beat Larson and win a feature this week will collect a minimum extra $1,000 bonus. If Larson does win the feature, the money will be donated to the Indiana Donor Network in Larson’s name.
On this night, it appeared at first that the bounty might have a glimmer of hope of being collected by another driver. That came after Larson missed the transfer spot in his heat, then finished third, but still transferred to the feature where he’d have to start on the outside of row seven for the 30-lap feature.
It’s a tall task to ask of any driver to accomplish, to pass that many cars in such a short timeframe against such stout competition.
But, then again, haven’t we learned time-after-time to never doubt what the Elk Grove, Calif. native can do?
Defending USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion Tyler Courtney jumped to the lead at the start of the feature and held the top spot convincingly from his pole starting position. However, as you glanced back a few cars into the field, two mid-pack starting cars in particular had made a heady charge to the front: Cannon McIntosh and Larson.
McIntosh sprinted from 12th to 4th by the second lap and was in the top-three by lap four while Larson followed suit into the top-six by the fifth lap and into the top-five by lap eight. Larson was observant in mimicking what McIntosh had found of the track surface, and ultimately helped himself in advancing up through the running order in a hurry.
“Coming from 14th like we did there, that was a lot of fun,” Larson exclaimed. “I saw Cannon (McIntosh) get a really good start at the beginning, and I was like, ‘man, I’ve got to get aggressive here.’ I saw him work the middle that first lap and pass everybody, so I was able to make that work for me the next few laps and really get by a lot of people there.”
On the 11th lap, Larson’s Tucker-Boat teammate, Gio Scelzi, slid wide at the exit of turn four and allowed Larson the crack in the door to capitalize underneath for the fourth position. One lap later, Larson ran down McIntosh in turn two, slipping underneath last year’s Gas City IMW runner-up finisher for third in the running order.
Moments later, however, McIntosh began to slow dramatically, coasting to a stop between turns three and four. Simultaneously, in the same area of the track, Thomas Meseraull flipped wildly while running in the 17th position – a tumultuous night for the defending Gas City Sprint Car track champion who had flipped earlier in qualifying as well.
When racing resumed, Larson went on the attack toward series Rookie Buddy Kofoid for the runner-up spot, but the 18-year-old Kofoid became one of the few to find an answer for Larson. After being slid by Larson, Kofoid slid him back, then successfully defended his position by keeping his foot on the throttle and retaking the second spot at the start/finish line just prior to a lap 16 caution for a turn two tangle involving Brady Bacon and Shane Golobic, thus reverting the order back to the previous complete lap and sending Larson back in front of Kofoid.
On the following restart, Larson sized up Courtney for the first two circuits, then set up for his winning move entering the bottom of turn three on the 18th lap. Larson blew by, slid up to the middle, found the traction, and launched off the exit of turn four to secure the spot as he cut to the bottom to protect himself from a retaliation slider from Courtney in turn one.
Once hitting turn two, Kofoid pounced to take second away from Courtney and inched his way back to Larson in the final third of the race. Kofoid remained within a half second of Larson around the quarter mile, not losing any ground as the laps wound down, but also not gaining much of anything either in the way of closing the interval.
Even when sort of boxed in by Bacon and Robert Dalby on the tail end of the lead lap with just a handful of laps remaining, Larson never turned a wheel wrong and Kofoid was left with peanuts to capitalize on.
Larson’s flawless 30-lap run closed out yet another patented masterful performance as he raced to a 0.263 second victory over Kofoid who, with a 2nd place finish, had his best result with the series. Courtney, Tanner Thorson and Gio Scelzi rounded out the top-five.
The seventh career IMW feature victory for Larson brings him to within two of the series’ all-time winningest driver, Bryan Clauson with nine. Furthermore, Larson’s 21st career USAC National Midget feature triumph elevated him to 28th on the all-time series win list alongside Steve Cannon, Jimmy Caruthers, Rex Easton and Ken Schrader.
In just his second ride in the Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway powered No. 86, Larson remains an undefeated two-for-two in IMW with the Gas City win, the second of his career there and first since 2013.
“That car was really, really good,” Larson said. “It surprised me. I knew we’d be good; Chad’s cars are always good. I didn’t know we’d be that good right there in the feature. I got to third by lap 12 and I knew I had a good shot. I got by Buddy and the caution came out, and I got the spot there. I knew I could get runs on people down the backstretch because they weren’t sliding all the way to the edge down the backstretch. I could get a little grip to slide them into three. That was my move that worked for me the second half of the race.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.360; 2. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-12.386; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.444; 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson/Marshall-12.446; 5. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.462; 6. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.473; 7. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-12.486; 8. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.515; 9. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.517; 10. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.535; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.577; 12. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-12.606; 13. Daryn Pittman, 21, Pittman-12.644; 14. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-12.669; 15. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.688; 16. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.702; 17. Gio Scelzi, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.703; 18. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-12.710; 19. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-12.730; 20. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-12.790; 21. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-12.809; 22. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.820; 23. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.820; 24. Carson Macedo, 21T, Tarlton-12.836; 25. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.868; 26. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-12.880; 27. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.880; 28. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-12.894; 29. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-12.937; 30. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-12.944; 31. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-12.962; 32. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.997; 33. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.065; 34. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-13.099; 35. Jake Swanson, 73T, Ford-13.174; 36. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-13.194; 37. Russ Gamester, 46, Gamester-13.209; 38. Noah Gass, 08, Dave Mac-13.248; 39. Jeff Wimmenauer, 15J, Wimmenauer-13.321; 40. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.330; 41. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.407; 42. Ryan Hall, 2, Bush-13.487; 43. Kameron Gladish, 20, Nolen-13.553; 44. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.576; 45. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.671; 46. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-14.190; 47. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.458; 48. Max McLaughlin, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Gio Scelzi, 2. Daryn Pittman, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. Chase Johnson, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Dylan Ito, 10. Andrew Layser, 11. Russ Gamester, 12. Hayden Reinbold. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Jake Neuman, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Ace McCarthy, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Ryan Hall, 10. Kyle Cummins, 11. Noah Gass, 12. Oliver Akard. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Zach Daum, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Cannon McIntosh, 7. Jason McDougal, 8. Clinton Boyles, 9. Jake Swanson, 10. Kameron Gladish, 11. Jeff Wimmenauer, 12. Justin Dickerson. 2:12.881
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Steve Buckwalter, 7. Brody Roa, 8. Maria Cofer, 9. Tyler Nelson, 10. Ronnie Gardner, 11. Robert Dalby. 2:13.862
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Andrew Layser, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Russ Gamester, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Tyler Nelson, 7. Ronnie Gardner, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Kameron Gladish, 10. Justin Dickerson, 11. Oliver Akard, 12. Jake Swanson, 13. Jeff Wimmenauer, 14. Ethan Mitchell, 15. Ryan Hall, 16. Steve Buckwalter. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Jake Neuman, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Daison Pursley, 10. Jason McDougal, 11. Clinton Boyles, 12. Kyle Cummins, 13. Brody Roa, 14. Ace McCarthy, 15. Robert Dalby, 16. Dylan Ito, 17. Andrew Layser, 18. Russ Gamester. 2:43.872
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (14), 2. Buddy Kofoid (2), 3. Tyler Courtney (1), 4. Tanner Thorson (7), 5. Gio Scelzi (8), 6. Jake Neuman (11), 7. Logan Seavey (6), 8. Carson Macedo (10), 9. Tanner Carrick (4), 10. Kaylee Bryson (3), 11. Rico Abreu (13), 12. Justin Grant (19), 13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5), 14. Daryn Pittman (16), 15. Chris Windom (18), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 17. Daison Pursley (23), 18. Shane Golobic (22), 19. Zach Daum (17), 20. Robert Dalby (24), 21. Brady Bacon (20), 22. Cole Bodine (21), 23. Cannon McIntosh (12), 24. Thomas Meseraull (15). NT
**Max McLaughlin flipped during practice. Thomas Meseraull flipped during qualifying. Noah Gass flipped during the second heat. Ryan Hall flipped during the C-Main. Jake Swanson flipped during the C-Main. Thomas Meseraull flipped on lap 12 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Tyler Courtney, Laps 18-30 Kyle Larson.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-478, 2-Chris Windom-448, 3-Tanner Thorson-438, 4-Buddy Kofoid-424, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-367, 6-Tanner Carrick-357, 7-Cannon McIntosh-340, 8-Logan Seavey-332, 9-Andrew Layser-318, 10-Cole Bodine-312.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-155, 2-Tanner Thorson-144, 3-Buddy Kofoid-129, 4-Tyler Courtney-129, 5-Tanner Carrick-117, 6-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-116, 7-Logan Seavey-114, 8-Justin Grant-111, 9-Chris Windom-105, 10-Jake Neuman-97.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-18, 2-Logan Seavey-14, 3-Chris Windom-11, 4-Thomas Meseraull-10, 5-Justin Grant-9, 6-Zach Daum-6, 7-Jake Neuman-5, 8-Shane Golobic-5, 9-Daison Pursley-4, 10-Tanner Thorson-3.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-43, 2-Chris Windom-34, 3-Andrew Layser-31, 4-Tanner Thorson-26, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 6-Daison Pursley-22, 7-Brady Bacon-20, 8-Mario Clouser-19, 9-Tyler Courtney-18, 10-Tyler Thomas-16.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 18, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Gio Scelzi
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Carson Macedo
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Rico Abreu
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Maria Cofer
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Kyle Larson (14th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
ProSource Hard Work: Shane Golobic
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LARSON STAYS UNBEATEN AT IMW; WINS 3RD STRAIGHT AT LPS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (June 18, 2020).........Just when a little doubt crept in that maybe a 15th place starting spot just might be too much to overcome, Kyle Larson was there to prove that notion wrong. Again.
The Elk Grove, Calif. native is now 3-for-3 at Indiana Midget Week following Thursday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget triumph in round three of the series at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.
It was Larson's third consecutive Indiana Midget Week victory in as many nights and was his eighth consecutive feature win across USAC, World of Outlaws and All Star competition in less than a two-week span.
Furthermore, Larson became the series’ first driver to win three consecutive feature events since, well, himself. He won the final three races of the 2019 season and has now won six USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races in his last six starts.
Two nights after winning the opener at Paragon Speedway and one night after charging from 14th to the win at Gas City I-69 Speedway, Larson did it again, already becoming the first driver to win three races in a single Indiana Midget Week, but this one in particular made him most proud.
“To come from 15th like that on a super technical racetrack is very special to me,” Larson said. “I had a good line working in three and four. People would enter in and turn across, and I felt like I could run above the cushion the whole way and be good. It got some holes developing over there. It was a little tricky.”
Relatively speaking, of course, Larson dug himself a hole he would have to drive himself out of, much as he did one night prior at Gas City. He qualified 9th, then missed the transfer in the heat race, and finished a ho-hum 3rd in the semi-feature, which placed him inside of row eight for the start of the feature.
Cannon McIntosh led the first third of the 30-lapper, repealing repeated challenges from fourth-starting Tanner Thorson who slid past McIntosh on multiple occasions throughout the first nine laps, with McIntosh denying him the position each time, for the time being.
That is, until the 10th lap, when Thorson found grip on the bottom of turns one and two to pull even with McIntosh exiting turn two. Thorson out-drag raced McIntosh into the third corner, slid up and ripped away the position for the race lead. McIntosh brought the heat to in retaliation, sliding his way past from bottom to top in three and four, but Thorson dipped low and nipped McIntosh by a single strand of hair at the line before pulling away on the back straight as McIntosh hiccupped at the exit of two.
By the 14th circuit, a familiar name had popped up on the radar with Larson occupying 6th and now closing in on a gaggle in a close-knit battle for 3rd. Larson took matters into his own hands, splitting between Buddy Kofoid and fast qualifier Chris Windom midway down the back straightaway of the 5/16-mile dirt oval before utilizing the bottom to slide up in front of Zach Daum for third place at the exit of turn four.
Moments later, on the 16th lap, 11th running Jason McDougal got upside down atop the banking in turns three and four, from which he emerged unscathed, but saw his race end.
All that did was help close the gap for Larson between his 3rd position and the leaders. A spectacular high/low pass of McIntosh for 2nd was negated by a yellow for a Kevin Thomas Jr. spin in the second turn on lap 17. But, on the following restart, it didn’t long for Larson to resume his craftwork, submitting a 2-for-1 slide job in turn three that sent him past both McIntosh and Thorson for the lead momentarily as Thorson ducked back under to nip Larson at the line and retain the lead.
Larson fired another shot on the 21st lap, powering past Thorson on the bottom of turn three, only to slide up at the exit of four as Thorson shot back under to beat Larson at the stripe by a wheel.
With 9 to go, Thorson’s car hopped off the bottom of turn two, opening a clear lane on the bottom for Larson to skate on by and snag the race lead. Thorson promptly came back at Larson in turn three on consecutive laps, trying to slide on by but was not able to get enough mustard on the fastball to slide in front of him, only to pull side-by-side before Larson scooched away.
A clear lane to victory for Larson was interrupted by the stopped car of 12th running Carson Macedo, who came to a halt on the back straight with smoke pouring out from under the hood. Under the caution, Thomas Meseraull, who had worked his way to 4th, pulled off and into the work area due to a flat right rear tire. That sequence of events orchestrated a final three-lap shootout where Larson was not to be denied.
“I felt like, when I slid Tanner and Cannon a couple times in three and four, I could actually make up ground, and they would only get to my inside. I felt like if I just ran that line the last few laps, I could carry enough speed to the exit that they wouldn’t have a run to get to my back bumper inside down the front stretch.”
From there, Larson closed out a masterpiece performance with a 1.285 second margin of victory over Thorson, McIntosh, Windom and Shane Golobic.
The victory was Larson’s 8th of his Indiana Midget Week career, putting him just one victory shy of Bryan Clauson’s all-time mark of nine wins with the series. Furthermore, the win was the 22nd of Larson’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, equaling him with past series champions Bobby East and Shorty Templeman for 26th all-time.
“(I had) just a really great car once again,” Larson said of his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway. “(It’s) cool to be the first to win three Indiana Midget Week races (in a week), and in a row too, that’s special. Hopefully, there’s many more the rest of the week. It’s been a lot of fun.”
For Thorson, it was his second runner-up finish to Larson in a three-night span after finishing 2nd at the Paragon opener. Ironically, it was he who started 15th and won at the Lincoln Park round of IMW in 2019. Thorson made no bones about his motivation in the upcoming final three rounds of Indiana Midget Week, to find an answer on how to stop Larson.
“It just sucks being a sitting duck,” Thorson exclaimed regarding leading a restart. “That’s what happened at Paragon (too). He’s (Larson) the best there is. There’s no two ways about it. To run second to him, I guess it’s saying something, but damn, I want to win. I need to stop this guy.”
Meanwhile, a turn four flip involving defending Indiana Midget Week champion Logan Seavey was the most serious accident of the night. Seavey climbed out of his crashed ride with assistance from the medical crew, but was later transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Ind. for observation.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 18, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.982, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.177, 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.181, 4. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-13.208, 5. Carson Macedo, 21T, Tarlton-13.212, 6. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.233, 7. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.234, 8. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.254, 9. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-13.257, 10. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.274, 11. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.292, 12. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.302, 13. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.324, 14. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.344, 15. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.346, 16. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.393, 17. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.405, 18. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.430, 19. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.491, 20. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-13.503, 21. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.504, 22. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-13.505, 23. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.509, 24. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.518, 25. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.522, 26. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.528, 27. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-13.552, 28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson/Marshall-13.554, 29. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.572, 30. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.577, 31. Ryan Hall, 2, Bush-13.608, 32. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-13.636, 33. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.659, 34. Terry Babb, 37, Felker-13.659, 35. Jadon Rogers, 4J, 4J-13.661, 36. Jake Swanson, 73T, Ford-13.704, 37. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.708, 38. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-13.728, 39. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.746, 40. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.889, 41. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-13.923, 42. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.968, 43. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-13.972, 44. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.995, 45. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-14.375, 46. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-14.416.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Carson Macedo, 6. Kyle Larson, 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Ace McCarthy, 10. Carson Garrett. 2:16.860
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Jake Neuman, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Ethan Mitchell, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Logan Seavey, 12. Hayden Reinbold. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Jadon Rogers, 9. Noah Gass, 10. Ryan Hall, 11. Steve Buckwalter. 2:16.244
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Maria Cofer, 5. Rico Abreu, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Jake Swanson, 9. Karter Sarff, 10. Dylan Ito, 11. Ronnie Gardner. 2:17.260
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Karter Sarff, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Terry Babb, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Dylan Ito, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Justin Dickerson, 12. Carson Garrett, 13. Ace McCarthy. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Carson Macedo, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. Andrew Layser, 8. Daison Pursley, 9. Kyle Cummins, 10. Brody Roa, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 13. Dave Darland, 14. Robert Dalby, 15. Sam Johnson, 16. Karter Sarff, 17. Ryan Hall, 18. Ethan Mitchell. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (15), 2. Tanner Thorson (4), 3. Cannon McIntosh (1), 4. Chris Windom (6), 5. Shane Golobic (13), 6. Zach Daum (2), 7. Justin Grant (18), 8. Chase Johnson (11), 9. Buddy Kofoid (5), 10. Clinton Boyles (8), 11. Rico Abreu (14), 12. Tyler Courtney (10), 13. Tanner Carrick (17), 14. Jake Neuman (3), 15. Daison Pursley (23), 16. Kaylee Bryson (20), 17. Cole Bodine (19), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 19. Maria Cofer (22), 20. Thomas Meseraull (7), 21. Carson Macedo (12), 22. Jason McDougal (9), 23. Brady Bacon (21). NT
**Logan Seavey flipped during the second heat and was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for observation. Jason McDougal flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 10-21 Tanner Thorson, Laps 22-30 Kyle Larson.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-525, 2-Chris Windom-522, 3-Tanner Thorson-511, 4-Buddy Kofoid-482, 5-Cannon McIntosh-412, 6-Tanner Carrick-400, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-399, 8-Justin Grant-356, 9-Cole Bodine-348, 10-Logan Seavey-342.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-227, 2-Tanner Thorson-217, 3-Buddy Kofoid-187, 4-Chris Windom-179, 5-Tyler Courtney-176, 6-Justin Grant-169, 7-Tanner Carrick-160, 8-Jake Neuman-138, 9-Zach Daum-134, 10-Rico Abreu-134.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-32, 2-Justin Grant-20, 3-Logan Seavey-14, 4-Chris Windom-13, 5-Shane Golobic-13, 6-Thomas Meseraull-10, 7-Zach Daum-6, 8-Tanner Thorson-5, 9-Jake Neuman-5, 10-Rico Abreu-5.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-43, 2-Chris Windom-36, 3-Andrew Layser-31, 4-Tanner Thorson-28, 5-Justin Grant-27, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 7-Daison Pursley-22, 8-Brady Bacon-20, 9-Mario Clouser-19, 10-Tyler Courtney-18.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 19, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Jason McDougal
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tyler Courtney
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Andrew Layser
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Kyle Larson (15th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Carrick
ProSource Hard Work: Maria Cofer
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WINDOM LEADS TUCKER-BOAT 1-2 FINISH AT LINCOLN PARK
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (June 19, 2020).........On a night where a throng of watchful eyes were affixed on whether Kyle Larson could continue his unbeaten streak at Indiana Midget Week, it wound up as the continuation of another ongoing streak – the dominance of Tucker-Boat Motorsports, as Chris Windom captured the team’s fourth-straight USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory of the week with a one-two Tucker-Boat sweep led by Windom and Larson on Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway.
Windom stole the show, dominating the final half of Friday night’s 30-lap feature event to become the third multi-time winner of the season with the series after earlier winning in February at Ocala, Fla. during Winter Dirt Games, joining two-time victor Tanner Thorson and three-time winner Larson, each of whom would play a starring role up front on this night at LPS.
Larson was aiming to become the first driver to win four consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races since he, himself, did it in 2012-2013. However, Windom (Canton, Ill.) had his own plan to abide by, winning his second career Indiana Midget Week race after capturing his first IMW win just a little over a year ago.
In doing so, Windom collected an extra $1,000 by claiming the bounty set forth by Priority Aviation throughout Indiana Midget Week for anybody who could defeat Larson, something that hadn’t been accomplished by anybody between USAC, the World of Outlaws, the All Stars over the past couple of weeks.
“It’s pretty cool to dethrone him because he’s probably the best racecar driver maybe to ever live,” Windom said. “It’s pretty awesome to come here with this Tucker-Boat team, and every single night, we’ve had a win. I just can’t thank all these guys enough on this team for all the hard work they do running three or four cars every night.”
Larson had earlier recorded his second Fatheadz Eyewear fast qualifying time of 2020 IMW, then proceeded to win his heat race and was vying to sweep the night’s program from the sixth starting spot in the feature with the inversion.
With the average starting spot for a feature winner with the series this year being 9.25 throughout the first eight races to begin the year, no driver had yet to win a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature from the front row in this season.
Starting on the outside of the front row in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - Pristine Auction - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, Windom fought for the lead in a hardcore feud with polesitter Buddy Kofoid. After Windom led the first two, Kofoid crossed Windom over exiting turn four on the third lap, leading Windom to the stripe a single car length up front.
Windom immediately came back at Kofoid with a barrage of haymakers on each end of the racetrack, sliding past Kofoid on entry three consecutive times, but Kofoid ultimately closed the path of the slider line on Windom in turn three to secure the position on lap four.
On the seventh lap, fourth-running Tyler Courtney spun sideways at the top of turn one and into the path of Larson, who promptly T-boned Courtney in close proximity. Appearing to briefly remain connected to Courtney, Larson stayed on the gas and was able to untangle himself from the web and continue onward with seemingly little in the way of wear and tear.
Meanwhile, Courtney stopped on the top of the banking, and was forced to restart from the tail where he drove back to a 14th place finish, dropping from first to third in the season long USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget standings of which he is a defending champion.
On the 13th lap, Windom returned the favor on Kofoid, ducking to the bottom of turn one and sliding up in front of Kofoid for the lead. Kofoid came right back after Windom in turn three a half-lap later, sliding past the two-time USAC National champ who turned down and drove right past the top-performing series Rookie thus far to snare the position and the race lead with 17 laps remaining.
With eight to go, Larson was still mired in fourth, but a late charge saw him lunge past Kofoid for third on the bottom, then by Thorson for second in quick succession. However, thwarted in traffic with the lapped cars of Robert Dalby and Maria Cofer, Thorson surged back past Larson for the position, first high, then low, as needed. to reclaim the spot, seemingly for good.
Meanwhile, the coast was clear for Windom as he closed out his fourth career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory by a 1.825 second margin of victory.
Thorson, who appeared headed for a solid second-place finish, had an engine failure coming out of turn four, dropping him back to seventh at the finish line. Larson collected a second-place finish with Kofoid, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tanner Carrick rounding out the top-five.
Windom became the new overall USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point leader by 27 markers over Courtney and admitted that it was a physical 30 laps, but he knew he had to do everything he could to beat Larson, Kofoid and a host of others just a little over a year following his first career series win during IMW.
“Damn, I’m worn out after that,” Windom said with a laugh in victory lane. “The track was giddy up. Once we got to the lead there, I knew I could maintain speed as long as I didn’t make any mistakes through three and four.”
For Larson, it was a magical run that lasted nearly two weeks and encompassed a string of eight victories across three series, a performance that won’t soon be forgotten. However, the streak came to an end Friday at Lincoln Park, although it did help him enhance his IMW point lead to 28.
“I didn’t do a great job there,” Larson admitted. “Everybody was kind of going places and I felt like maybe I spent too long trying to hit the bottom of three and four. Every streak comes to an end eventually. It was nice to get eight. I’ve got seven in a row before, so to beat that was pretty special.”
“We were trying to run above the cushion (in turns one and two) and exit low,” Larson continued. “It was kind of hard to cross over the cushion and keep your rear tires underneath you. To run the bottom, I felt like that was coming in, and I was trying to get myself lower and lower and got myself into the grease and I think that allowed Tanner (Thorson) to get by me. Then, I didn’t do a great job in traffic, so I felt like if I would’ve cleared those two cars when I got to them, I would’ve had a really good shot at Chris, but he ran a great race and didn’t make any mistakes.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 19, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-13.039; 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17s, Clauson/Marshall-13.102; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.138; 4. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.194; 5. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-13.212; 6. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.272; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.279; 8. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.279; 9. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-13.362; 10. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.368; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.381; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-13.394; 13. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.400; 14. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.400; 15. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-13.440; 16. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.487; 17. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.519; 18. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.531; 19. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.536; 20. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.545; 21. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.562; 22. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.571; 23. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.592; 24. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-13.598; 25. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-13.620; 26. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-13.684; 27. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.690; 28. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.699; 29. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.712; 30. Dave Darland, 2ND, Harris-13.724; 31. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.731; 32. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.771; 33. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.778; 34. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.787; 35. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-13.788; 36. Jake Swanson, 73T, Ford-13.805; 37. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.833; 38. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-13.964; 39. Ryan Hall, 2, Bush-14.034; 40. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-14.065; 41. Kameron Gladish, 20, Nolen-14.131; 42. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-14.168; 43. Jadon Rogers, 4J, 4J-14.190; 44. Kendall Ruble, 11m, Martin-14.338; 45. Terry Babb, 37, Felker-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Karter Sarff, 7. Kameron Gladish, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Thomas Meseraull, 10. Ace McCarthy, 11. Dylan Ito.
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Ronnie Gardner, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Matt Sherrell, 8. Brody Roa, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Oliver Akard, 11. Brady Bacon. 2:19.039
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Steve Buckwalter, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Ryan Hall, 11. Justin Dickerson. 2:19.488
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Jake Neuman, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Robert Dalby, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Noah Gass, 11. Kendall Ruble. 2:19.184
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Brody Roa, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Kendall Ruble, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Ace McCarthy, 10. Ryan Hall, 11. Justin Dickerson, 12. Oliver Akard, 13. Kameron Gladish. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Johnson, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Ronnie Gardner, 8. Brody Roa, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Steve Buckwalter, 11. Matt Sherrell, 12. Robert Dalby, 13. Jake Swanson, 14. Andrew Layser, 15. Karter Sarff, 16. Ethan Mitchell. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (2), 2. Kyle Larson (6), 3. Buddy Kofoid (1), 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5), 5. Tanner Carrick (9), 6. Cannon McIntosh (13), 7. Tanner Thorson (3), 8. Clinton Boyles (17), 9. Justin Grant (7), 10. Thomas Meseraull (21), 11. Shane Golobic (10), 12. Zach Daum (16), 13. Chase Johnson (8), 14. Tyler Courtney (4), 15. Jason McDougal (22), 16. Jake Neuman (15), 17. Daison Pursley (11), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 19. Cole Bodine (18), 20. Kaylee Bryson (19), 21. Robert Dalby (23), 22. Maria Cofer (20), 23. Kyle Cummins (14). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Chris Windom, Laps 3-12 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 13-30 Chris Windom.
**Chase Johnson flipped during qualifying.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-601, 2-Tanner Thorson-574, 3-Tyler Courtney-570, 4-Buddy Kofoid-553, 5-Cannon McIntosh-474, 6-Tanner Carrick-465, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-431, 8-Justin Grant-410, 9-Cole Bodine-378, 10-Daison Pursley-374.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-308, 2-Tanner Thorson-280, 3-Chris Windom-258, 4-Buddy Kofoid-258, 5-Tanner Carrick-225, 6-Justin Grant-223, 7-Tyler Courtney-221, 8-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-198, 9-Cannon McIntosh-193, 10-Zach Daum-180.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-36, 2-Thomas Meseraull-21, 3-Justin Grant-20, 4-Chris Windom-14, 5-Logan Seavey-14, 6-Shane Golobic-13, 7-Zach Daum-10, 8-Clinton Boyles-9, 9-Tanner Carrick-8, 10-Cannon McIntosh-7.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-43, 2-Chris Windom-37, 3-Andrew Layser-31, 4-Tanner Thorson-28, 5-Justin Grant-27, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 7-Daison Pursley-22, 8-Tanner Carrick-21, 9-Thomas Meseraull-21, 10-Brady Bacon-20.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 20, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kyle Larson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chase Johnson
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Ronnie Gardner
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (21st to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chase Johnson
ProSource Hard Work: Thomas Meseraull
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LARSON WINS AT THE BURG, TIES BC AS WINNINGEST IMW DRIVER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (June 20, 2020).........A one-race “losing” streak was more than enough for Kyle Larson to endure as he got back on the winning track and returned to victory lane Saturday night in the penultimate round of Indiana Midget Week at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
The Elk Grove, Calif. native had won eight features in a row across USAC, World of Outlaws and All Star competition over the past couple of weeks prior to finishing as the runner-up on Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway’s Indiana Midget Week event.
Larson’s impressive victory at “The Burg” came on a late-race restart with four laps remaining as he slid by leader Thomas Meseraull for the pinnacle position to earn his fourth Indiana Midget Week score in the last five nights and his ninth career victory at IMW, tying him atop the all-time list for most IMW wins with Bryan Clauson.
The triumph was also Larson’s 23rd in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget division, moving him into the top-20 all-time alongside Christopher Bell, Tom Bigelow, Pancho Carter, Tommy Copp, Kevin Olson and Billy Vukovich.
Though Larson’s personal win streak was interrupted just once this week, the roll continued for Tucker-Boat Motorsports who now stands an unblemished five-for-five in the IMW series this year and is just one win away from becoming the second team ever to sweep the entire slate of Indiana Midget Week races in a single year (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports in 2016).
“That was a fun race,” Larson exclaimed. “You had to work for that one and, once again, (we had) a good enough car to keep us in contention. Chad Boat and everybody there, they prepare such nice cars, probably the nicest midgets in the pits.”
Larson’s workload began from the third position for the 30-lap feature, his best starting position thus far in this 2020 Indiana Midget Week. Meanwhile, pole sitter Tyler Courtney encountered a bit of trouble on the first turn of the opening lap as he bounced up the racetrack, losing three positions and dropping to fourth as series Rookie Buddy Kofoid took advantage to shoot out to the front from the outside of the front row and built an early 1.5 second lead.
The action came to a halt on the sixth lap as last year’s series Rookie of the Year Andrew Layser barrel-rolled on the high side between turns three and four. The night’s first heat race winner escaped unscathed.
On the ensuing restart, second running Thomas Meseraull was on the loudpedal as he sprinted to the inside of Kofoid for the race lead entering the first turn. A half lap later, Larson used the high line to drive around Kofoid for second and was an instant challenger to Meseraull up front, taking a few swings for the race lead, albeit unsuccessfully, as Meseraull rode the wave of momentum up top.
The trio went three-wide on a lap 11 restart following the stoppage of 2017 Indiana Midget Week champion Shane Golobic in turn two. Larson was able to get wheel-to-wheel to the inside of Meseraull in turns one and two directly following the restart while Kofoid reemerged as a contender, doing likewise on the bottom to the inside of Larson as he made a bid to get to the front.
Meseraull held serve at the head of the pack with both Larson and Kofoid falling into line over the next 11 laps until a yellow flag flew for Jason McDougal, who lost a right rear tire before coming to a stop at the top of turn one. McDougal was making his debut in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team’s No. 97 driven earlier in the week by Zeb Wise and had worked his way up to fifth by the time of the caution. He’d restart from the tail and finish ninth with new rubber.
On the lap 22 restart, Larson made his move, sliding underneath Meseraull entering turn one. Meseraull answered the bell and drove downhill off the turn two banking to the inside of Larson to retake the position. The following lap, second-running Larson and quickly approaching, third-running Kofoid served up a double slider on Meseraull with both scooting past in turn one, yet Meseraull took on both of them simultaneously, and outpaced them into turn three as he drag raced and bested both as the first to reach turn three just before 16th place running Justin Grant stopped at the top of turn four to bring out the yellow.
Kofoid, now scored in second on the restart with nine to go, took a couple shots at Meseraull to no avail and was soon challenged by Larson for the second position with Larson ultimately prevailing using a turn one slider with six laps remaining. Larson immediately clamped down on Meseraull for the lead but was unable to get by each time he stuck a nose to the inside of Meseraull at each end of the 3/8-mile. Meseraull utilized the topside “mo” to pull away to a six-car length lead.
Suddenly, with four to go, contact at the back half of the top-ten sent ninth-running Clinton Boyles into a 360-spin exiting the second turn. By rule, the yellow flag is automatically displayed following a 360-degree spin, resetting the deck for the final four-lap stanza.
Larson, in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway, knew that time was running out and was fully aware that his time was now or never, and he had to throw the kitchen sink at Meseraull on the final restart if he was going to win this deal.
“I couldn’t really run the top like I wanted to because I’d bounce a lot, then I’d get in the cushion and I’d be bogging,” Larson explained. “I knew I had to try and make something else work. I slid T-Mez there one time and I felt there was a lot of grip at the entry of one. Once I got clear of Buddy there after he got by me on the one restart, I was able to just run that line to protect any sliders that might get thrown at me. At the same time, I could make up a little ground on him and I knew that, on that next caution I got, I had to do everything I could because we only had like four laps to go.”
With that opportunity, Larson capitalized on the chance, sticking the turn one slide job past Meseraull for the lead. Meseraull remained in Larson’s shadow and the duo went toe-to-toe into turn three, but “T-Mez” was unable to slide past, falling into line behind Larson at the exit of turn four where he was then subsequently challenged and, ultimately, overtaken for second by Kofoid in turn one with two laps remaining.
Up front, however, Larson had checked out, finishing off his fourth victory of the week by 1.704 sec. over Kofoid, Meseraull, and series point leader Chris Windom with Courtney rounding out the top-five.
It was another sterling performance from Kofoid, the series Rookie out of Penngrove, Calif., who equaled his best career finish of second in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 – JBL Audio – TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I couldn’t really get my car to take off that good,” Kofoid admitted. “As the race went on, it actually got better. I was hoping that yellow where we were going three-wide was going to stick, but then Kyle got back by me. I knew that cushion was getting a little treacherous getting into one and really to the center. Sliding yourself, you can make speed and kind of catch it off, and I started doing that at the end. I was really good at the top of three and four and could carry a lot of speed through the center.”
It was a heartbreaker for San Jose, California’s Meseraull who led a race-high 21 laps as the popular veteran driver sought his first career USAC National Midget points-paying victory but wound-up finishing third in his Response Management Services/EnviroFab – Guess Performance Parts/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“At the end there, on the starts, I was just struggling on the starts,” Meseraull lamented. “If I could get the momentum rolling, the thing was just bad to the bone. Hats off to these guys. They’ve really stuck behind me. I’ve torn up a bunch of stuff this week. We’ve had a tough time, but we’ve got the speed. We were quick time tonight, battling it out with two of the best guys out here. It’s a little disheartening sitting here after leading a bunch of the laps. My guys needed that. We needed that win. But you know what, we’ll go to Kokomo tomorrow, hang it to the floor and try to rip the lip.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 20, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.095; 2. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.120; 3. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-15.182; 4. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-15.204; 5. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-15.276; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.288; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.296; 8. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-15.343; 9. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-15.376; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.391; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-15.408; 12. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-15.419; 13. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-15.451; 14. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.465; 15. Jason McDougal, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.559; 16. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-15.586; 17. Landon Simon, 2, Bush-15.598; 18. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-15.603; 19. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-15.638; 20. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-15.653; 21. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-15.666; 22. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.689; 23. Terry Babb, 37, Felker-15.698; 24. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-15.705; 25. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-15.713; 26. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-15.779; 27. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.784; 28. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.817; 29. Jake Swanson, 73, Ford-15.823; 30. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-15.989; 31. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.075; 32. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-16.082; 33. Greg Mitchell, 001, Mitchell-16.896; 34. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-NT; 35. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Andrew Layser, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Noah Gass, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Landon Simon, 7. Greg Mitchell, 8. Tanner Thorson.
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Ace McCarthy, 8. Carson Garrett. 2:03.892
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Jake Neuman, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Terry Babb, 8. Ronnie Gardner. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Matt Sherrell, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Robert Dalby. 2:08.229
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Ronnie Gardner, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Landon Simon, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 8. Zach Daum, 9. Ace McCarthy, 10. Matt Sherrell, 11. Terry Babb, 12. Carson Garrett, 13. Hayden Reinbold, 14. Greg Mitchell, 15. Robert Dalby. 3:16.373
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (3), 2. Buddy Kofoid (2), 3. Thomas Meseraull (6), 4. Chris Windom (12), 5. Tyler Courtney (1), 6. Cannon McIntosh (22), 7. Kaylee Bryson (5), 8. Cole Bodine (15), 9. Jason McDougal (8), 10. Tanner Carrick (16), 11. Jake Neuman (18), 12. Noah Gass (19), 13. Zach Daum (23), 14. Clinton Boyles (9), 15. Daison Pursley (20), 16. Ronnie Gardner (13), 17. Brady Bacon (10), 18. Maria Cofer (4), 19. Justin Grant (11), 20. Brody Roa (21), 21. Landon Simon (17), 22. Shane Golobic (14), 23. Andrew Layser (7). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 6-26 Thomas Meseraull, Laps 27-30 Kyle Larson.
**Andrew Layser flipped on lap 6 of the feature.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-666, 2-Tyler Courtney-633, 3-Buddy Kofoid-626, 4-Tanner Thorson-586, 5-Cannon McIntosh-532, 6-Tanner Carrick-514, 7-Justin Grant-442, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-441, 9-Cole Bodine-429, 10-Daison Pursley-414.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-388, 2-Buddy Kofoid-331, 3-Chris Windom-323, 4-Tanner Thorson-292, 5-Tyler Courtney-284, 6-Tanner Carrick-274, 7-Justin Grant-255, 8-Cannon McIntosh-251, 9-Jake Neuman-223, 10-Thomas Meseraull-221.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-38, 2-Thomas Meseraull-24, 3-Cannon McIntosh-23, 4-Chris Windom-22, 5-Justin Grant-20, 6-Tanner Carrick-14, 7-Logan Seavey-14, 8-Shane Golobic-13, 9-Jake Neuman-12, 10-Zach Daum-10.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Logan Seavey-43, 3-Cannon McIntosh-32, 4-Andrew Layser-31, 5-Tanner Thorson-28, 6-Justin Grant-27, 7-Tanner Carrick-27, 8-Daison Pursley-27, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 21, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Andrew Layser
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Jason McDougal
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chris Windom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart/Irvin King Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh (22nd to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Zach Daum
ProSource Hard Work: Cannon McIntosh
7th Place Feature Finisher in Memory of Sandra Farris: Kaylee Bryson
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THORSON MOTORS TO PHOTO FINISH VICTORY AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (June 21, 2020)………Two nights, two blown engines. Those were the cards Tanner Thorson, and his Hayward Motorsports team were dealt in the two races leading up to Sunday’s Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway.
Out of powerplants and out of options, the team received a lifeline in the 11th hour from none other than a fellow competitor. A middle-of-the-night scramble ensued, and a borrowed Toyota engine was installed under the OilFire – FK – Walker Filtration – Smith Titanium/Spike 4-Coil car.
Despite the lack of sleep, the thrashing and the unknowns that were unloaded from their trailer Sunday night, Thorson still believed that all signs pointed to victory.
“For some reason, I felt like it was going to be the day to win. I don’t know why,” Thorson admitted. “I went to bed about 4:30 or 5 this morning and got back up at 8. Dave McIntosh, Cannon Mcintosh’s father, is the reason why were able to race tonight – he and Cody Cordell, who takes care of all of Cannon’s personal equipment. I can’t thank them enough for allowing us to borrow a motor and be able to race.”
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) and Team Hayward defied all the odds that were stacked against them to claim their third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory of the season with a slip underneath on a late-race restart with three laps remaining, then outlasting 2020 Indiana Midget Week champion Kyle Larson to beat him to the line in a photo finish by half a car length – 0.065 of a second.
Thorson’s 16th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory moved him into the top-40 all-time alongside Rico Abreu, George Amick, Billy Cantrell, Lee Kunzman, Bobby Olivero and Henry Pens.
Thorson started seventh in the 22-car field for the 30-lap feature event, but instead of an instantaneous charge, Thorson dropped back to ninth and then to 10th in the early stages of the race. In fact, Thorson was still right where he started (7th) at the halfway point.
On a lap 19 restart, race-long leader Tyler Courtney bounced through turn one and flipped in an incident in which 3rd running Thomas Meseraull also spun. Courtney walked away from the accident, which sent him to a disappointing 21st place finish. Meseraull restarted and raced his way back to 9th.
Thorson was elevated to fourth on the restart, and although Thorson didn’t appear to be a challenger for victory early on, this just happened to be the point where Thorson decided to turn up the wick. He now knew he mustn’t be impatient or overzealous in his pursuit for victory because he also knew that, at this point with 12 laps remaining, his car was just beginning to come to him.
“My whole race started off kind of slow,” Thorson explained. “The last few nights, I’ve been backing up at the start of the race, but my car comes in so good at the end of the race, I knew just to stay patient and not get too crazy cranking on the shocks and just let my car come to me.”
“I kept seeing everyone blow the exit off of two, and a little bit off of four, and I knew that was going to be my speed because I was stuck with what we have going on right now,” Thorson continued. “So stuck and being able to drive off so straight and so fast and keeping my momentum up even though I was kind of chocking the car up, I knew that was going to be my time to get there.”
The two-car Tucker-Boat Motorsports juggernaut of teammates Chris Windom and Larson now occupied the top-two positions. Those two drivers aimed to provide the Tucker-Boat team a complete sweep of the entirety of Indiana Midget Week feature wins, a feat that had only been accomplished once before in 2016 by Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.
But with Windom a one-time victor at 2020 IMW and Larson already claiming a record four wins and already having this year’s IMW title in hand, the two appeared to be odds-on favorites to dominate the top-two spots down the stretch. However, Thorson, the 2016 USAC National Midget champ, had other plans in the hopper, as he tracked down Larson and made his move for second with an inside turn two pass of him with five laps to go to move to second.
“Once I got to Larson on that restart, I kept seeing his left front tire locking up and pushing out, pushing out, and I knew I needed to get in there hard and be able to beat him at the exit because he was blowing his exit way too much,” Thorson recalled. “I was able to watch both of them. They weren’t getting as close to the infield tires as I was. A couple times, I actually even brushed it and felt it barely tap the wheels. It’s crazy how precise you have to be to be able to run down there.”
Now with only Windom standing between he and victory, Thorson still had nearly a full second of ground to make up in less than five laps around the half-mile, but received another lifeline when 19th running Ethan Mitchell clipped an infield tire in turn two, which then proceeded to roll into the middle of the racing surface, forcing a yellow flag and a restart with three to go.
It was just what Thorson needed and, as the green flag dropped, Thorson ducked to the inside of Windom exiting turn two and moved to the lead as third-running Larson headed topside and got the groove working just in time to make one last patented charge that saw him pass a series-high total of 41 cars in features throughout Indiana Midget week, including his emergence ahead of Windom on the white flag lap.
On the final lap, Windom attempted to return to the fray up front a car length back of Thorson midway down the back straightaway while Larson held the same social distance length at the top, with Thorson occupying the middle. Thorson closed the lane on the bottom of turns three and four from Windom and came off the final corner to defeat a rocketing Larson on the high line to the stripe by a half-car length in the closest finish of 2020 Indiana Midget Week.
Behind Thorson and Larson, Windom took third while Clinton Boyles secured a career-best 4th place finish and Kyle Cummins was an impressive 5th after starting 15th.
All the work and time that comes into preparing cars to win USAC National Midget races can be taxing, but for Thorson, he considers his role on this team as one that has helped his resurgence in the 2020 season in becoming already a three-time series winner through the first 11 events.
“I think there’s a lot to say about being able to do your own car,” Thorson said. “Nothing against Keith Kunz and his whole team, but there’s something about that, for my satisfaction, to be able to do my car. I get to build it throughout the week and set it up and there’s nothing that means more to me than being able to do that, and I think it drives me even harder. I want to win more than anybody out here and I think a lot of that is because I kind of need to. I make a living off what I make here whether I blow up or not. I might walk out with 5 bucks or I might walk out with 3-grand. It’s just a matter of pushing myself as hard as I can. We’ve been one of the fastest cars all week but just haven’t been in the right situations. (We’ve been) sitting ducks, kind of like those two were tonight. I was able to finally take advantage of that tonight and pull off the win.”
For Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), his first time running the full Indiana Midget Week schedule since 2011 was a major success, winning four of the six events, and finishing second place in the other two, including Kokomo, to claim his first IMW title by a 73-point margin, trouncing the previous record 44-point margin set by Darren Hagen in 2012.
But, on Sunday night at Kokomo, Larson very narrowly missed the equivalent of a walk-off home run by winning the final race and the Indiana Midget Week title in one fell swoop such as Bryan Clauson in 2009, Brad Kuhn in 2010, Christopher Bell in 2013 and Rico Abreu in 2015.
“The last restart was really exciting,” Larson recalled. I wish I would’ve got the top going a little sooner. I felt like we were running an okay pace around the bottom where the top wouldn’t keep up. There, we got to that last caution, and I said, ‘screw it,’ I got to try something else.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 21, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 86, Tucker/Boat-13.027; 2. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.224; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.226; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.232; 5. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.238; 6. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.242; 7. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.256; 8. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.284; 9. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.338; 10. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.347; 11. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.355; 12. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.367; 13. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.395; 14. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Yeley-13.405; 15. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-13.412; 16. Spencer Bayston, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.421; 17. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.423; 18. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.437; 19. Carson Garrett, 15, Garrett-13.454; 20. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.465; 21. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-13.482; 22. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.485; 23. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.491; 24. Landon Simon, 2, Bush-13.503; 25. Jerry Coons Jr., 5, Petry-13.510; 26. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.526; 27. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.571; 28. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.591; 29. Brady Bacon, 4B, Klatt-13.630; 30. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-13.631; 31. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-13.636; 32. Brody Roa, 7m, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.647; 33. Noah Gass, 5T, Dave Mac-13.729; 34. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.812; 35. Ronnie Gardner, 7R, Iron Dome/Moonshine-13.954; 36. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.059; 37. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Matt Sherrell, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Noah Gass. 2:15.155
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Jake Neuman, 9. Ace McCarthy. 2:18.087
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Carson Garrett, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Robert Dalby, 8. Ronnie Gardner, 9. Tyler Nelson. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Rico Abreu, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Landon Simon, 7. Brody Roa, 8. Justin Dickerson, 9. Spencer Bayston. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Spencer Bayston, 6. Jake Neuman, 7. Landon Simon, 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Chase Johnson, 11. Matt Sherrell, 12. Brody Roa, 13. Maria Cofer, 14. Tyler Nelson, 15. Carson Garrett, 16. Ace McCarthy, 17. Noah Gass, 18. Ronnie Gardner, 19. Hayden Reinbold, 20. Justin Dickerson. 2:51.405
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (7), 2. Kyle Larson (5), 3. Chris Windom (2), 4. Clinton Boyles (3), 5. Kyle Cummins (15), 6. Rico Abreu (1), 7. Shane Golobic (13), 8. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 9. Thomas Meseraull (9), 10. Buddy Kofoid (22), 11. Justin Grant (19), 12. Cannon McIntosh (8), 13. Spencer Bayston (17), 14. Jake Neuman (21), 15. Daison Pursley (10), 16. Andrew Layser (12), 17. Kaylee Bryson (18), 18. Cole Bodine (11), 19. Ethan Mitchell (14), 20. Jason McDougal (16), 21. Tyler Courtney (4), 22. Tanner Carrick (6). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Tyler Courtney, Laps 19-27 Chris Windom, Laps 28-30 Tanner Thorson.
**Tyler Courtney flipped on lap 19 of the feature.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-738, 2-Buddy Kofoid-674, 3-Tyler Courtney-667, 4-Tanner Thorson-664, 5-Cannon McIntosh-580, 6-Tanner Carrick-545, 7-Justin Grant-489, 8-Cole Bodine-462, 9-Daison Pursley-455, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-441.
FINAL INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-468, 2-Chris Windom-395, 3-Buddy Kofoid-379, 4-Tanner Thorson-370, 5-Tyler Courtney-318, 6-Tanner Carrick-305, 7-Justin Grant-302, 8-Cannon McIntosh-299, 9-Thomas Meseraull-275, 10-Shane Golobic-260.
FINAL INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-41, 2-Justin Grant-28, 3-Thomas Meseraull-24, 4-Cannon McIntosh-23, 5-Chris Windom-22, 6-Shane Golobic-19, 7-Jake Neuman-19, 8-Tanner Carrick-14, 9-Logan Seavey-14, 10-Buddy Kofoid-12.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Logan Seavey-43, 3-Justin Grant-35, 4-Tanner Thorson-34, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Tanner Carrick-27, 8-Daison Pursley-27, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 17, 2020 – Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Midwest Midget Championship
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Cole Bodine
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Landon Simon
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Jerry Coons Jr. (20th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Spencer Bayston
ProSource Hard Work: Buddy Kofoid
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WINDOM WRANGLES UP WIN AT JEFFERSON COUNTY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Fairbury, Nebraska (July 17, 2020)………Chris Windom withstood Buddy Kofoid’s repeated, relentless challenges down the stretch, including during a hellacious final four lap trophy dash to the finish, to capture his third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory of the season in Friday night’s Riverside Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Meats & Schmidt’s Sanitation at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway.
In a 30-lap feature that was stop-and-start throughout, with a number of cautions and a pair of red flags impeding the proceedings, Windom worked his way to the lead just prior to midway after pole sitter Ethan Mitchell led the first four laps of his USAC career while Cannon McIntosh controlled the front of the pack from lap five until Windom worked his way by on the 12th circuit just following a restart.
Windom found it much easier to catch rather than pass at the 1/5-mile dirt oval on this particular night. However, Windom felt that door was being left open on restarts, which allowed him to get a run to take the top spot from McIntosh after multiple attempts in turn three on back-to-back laps. Windom officially claimed the number one position just prior to a caution for the stopped car of Cole Bodine in turn four on lap 13.
A rhythm was difficult to find as the laps clicked away on the southeastern Nebraska metronome, but Windom was right on beat as he opened up his lead to 1.5 seconds and encroached on the tail of the field in the waning stages.
Yet, as Windom began to track down traffic that was running three and four-wide at times, Kofoid was right on his trail, closing to within a couple car lengths of Windom with four laps remaining.
In the thick of the battle, third running Tanner Thorson, who had earlier set Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time, spun to a stop in turn two to bring out the final yellow. While another stoppage wasn’t ideal for the rhythm section of the equation, Windom wasn’t all that bummed to see the yellow light.
“I was really happy to see that caution because, actually, under the last caution, I had leaned the car down and I forgot to turn the fuel back on. I felt like we were running on six cylinders and thought we were blowing up. It was really just my own fault there, so luckily, we got that figured out.”
Now without traffic as a hindrance, Windom had another battle to wage, the one under his helmet, where he had to decide where on the track to go in order to keep a hungry, first win-seeking Kofoid behind him.
“The restart, and a couple of laps after the restarts, were the toughest part, really,” Windom explained. “You could get such a big run if you threw a slider into one. It was hard to decide, as the leader, whether to go to the top or slide yourself and lose momentum. At the end of the day, it all worked out, but it was definitely a hellacious last couple of laps.”
It worked out A-Okay for Windom during the first couple of laps following the restart, but Kofoid was setting up his next move that he ultimately made with two laps remaining, sliding by Windom entering the first turn with little room to spare. Windom made contact with the rear bumper of Kofoid, elevating all four wheels of Windom’s Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota off the racing surface.
“He ran us hard there, and when he slid me in one and two, I just ran him hard back,” Windom recalled. “That’s how you have to pass guys here, though. No fault of him, really, sliding me hard. I felt like I had taken control of the race, though, and I was really not going to let that slip away at the end, so I did what I had to do to keep the win.”
Once Windom landed on all fours, he took off straight for the bottom of turn three as Daison Pursley stuck a nose into the battle to briefly make it three-wide on the back straightaway. Windom got to the bottom first, exited off turn four and, as he sped underneath the white flag, attempted to jet back to the bottom of turn one, resulting in contact between Kofoid’s front chrome and Windom’s rear bumper.
That move slowed up Windom’s momentum off turn two, but Kofoid was only able to get half a car length under Windom as Windom made a beeline back to the bottom of turn three, forcing Kofoid and Pursley to try high as a last-ditch effort, to no avail, as Windom sprinted to the checkered flag for the fifth time in his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career by two car lengths over Kofoid, Pursley, Tyler Thomas and Cannon McIntosh.
While Windom came into Jefferson County as the point leader, he has been a force all year with top-five finishes in all but one of his 12 series starts. Despite that fact, the Canton, Ill. driver readily admitted that it was during Indiana Midget Week, where they won five of six races, that the individuals on the crew and behind the wheel realized how much potential they had.
“Having (Kyle) Larson come in and run with us, it definitely made everyone step their game up a little bit,” Windom revealed of the four-time IMW 2020 winner and champion. “He gets 100 percent out of the racetrack every single night and makes you be better. We had already won a race and run up front, but he definitely showed how much speed there really is in these cars. It’s nice to be able to keep showing it and keep picking off the wins.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 17, 2020 – Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Meats & Schmidt’s Sanitation / Chad McDaniel Night
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-10.772; 2. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-10.773; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.812; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-10.849; 5. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-10.867; 6. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-10.898; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.909; 8. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.911; 9. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-10.918; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.924; 11. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-10.931; 12. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.956; 13. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-11.000; 14. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.001; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.002; 16. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.004; 17. Keith Rauch, 27B, Bourke-11.198; 18. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-11.234; 19. Tony Rossi, 14, Rossi-11.282; 20. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-11.419; 21. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-11.462; 22. Zac Taylor, 71T, Henry-11.525; 23. Chris Sheil, 91, Mason-11.577; 24. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-11.865; 25. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-11.964; 26. Collin Rinehart, 6, Rinehart-12.006; 27. A.J. Valim, 4T, Valim-12.180; 28. J.R. Ewing, 2c, Ewing-12.878; 29. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Andrew Layser, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Sam Johnson, 7. Tony Rossi, 8. Zac Taylor, 9. Curtis Spicer, 10. J.R. Ewing. 1:58.120
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Keith Rauch, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Chris Sheil, 7. Collin Rinehart, 8. Kyle Jones, 9. Kaylee Bryson. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Emilio Hoover, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Lance Bennett, 9. A.J. Valim. 1:59.652
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Emilio Hoover, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Chris Sheil, 6. Zac Taylor, 7. Tony Rossi, 8. Lance Bennett, 9. Collin Rinehart, 10. A.J. Valim, 11. Curtis Spicer, 12. J.R. Ewing, 13. Kyle Jones. 2:24.855 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (5), 2. Buddy Kofoid (8), 3. Daison Pursley (12), 4. Tyler Thomas (9), 5. Cannon McIntosh (4), 6. Ethan Mitchell (1), 7. Andrew Layser (15), 8. Emerson Axsom (13), 9. Sam Johnson (19), 10. Jerry Coons Jr. (3), 11. Tanner Carrick (11), 12. Tanner Thorson (6), 13. Cole Bodine (14), 14. Keith Rauch (16), 15. Chris Sheil (22), 16. Zac Taylor (21), 17. Emilio Hoover (17), 18. Tony Rossi (18), 19. Kaylee Bryson (10), 20. Carson Garrett (20), 21. Robert Dalby (2), 22. Tyler Courtney (7). NT
**Robert Dalby flipped on lap 8 of the feature. Tony Rossi flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Ethan Mitchell, Laps 5-11 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 12-30 Chris Windom.
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-820, 2-Buddy Kofoid-749, 3-Tanner Thorson-714, 4-Tyler Courtney-698, 5-Cannon McIntosh-648, 6-Tanner Carrick-593, 7-Daison Pursley-525, 8-Cole Bodine-503, 9-Justin Grant-489, 10-Andrew Layser-460.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-64, 2-Tanner Thorson-57, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-41, 5-Andrew Layser-39, 6-Daison Pursley-36, 7-Cannon McIntosh-32, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 9-Brady Bacon-29, 10-Chase Stockon-28.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 18, 2020 – Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Midwest Midget Championship
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Tyler Thomas
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Sam Johnson
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Lance Bennett
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Sam Johnson (19th to 9th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Cole Bodine
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COURTNEY COMES BACK WITH AUTHORITY TO WIN AT JEFFERSON COUNTY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Fairbury, Nebraska (July 18, 2020)………After 21st and 22nd place finishes in his two most recent USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget outings, Tyler Courtney simply wasn’t going to be stopped Saturday night at Jefferson County Speedway.
Literally, he was unable to stop as he drove by victory lane without the aid of brakes.
A late caution following a 35-lap green flag run around the 1/5-mile dirt oval, however, nearly thwarted the team’s resilient effort as he withstood a hailstorm of challenges from Buddy Kofoid, then a hard-charging Emerson Axsom, during the final laps to become the first multi-time victor of the Riverside Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Meats & Schmidt’s Sanitation.
In becoming a winner of the event in back-to-back years at Jefferson County after notching victory on the final night of the 2019 event, Courtney scored his 15th career series win, tying himself with Don Branson and Larry Rice for 47th all-time.
For Courtney, whose run of luck in the midget of late included flipping while leading in the Indiana Midget Week finale in June at Kokomo as well as an early race wheel hop 24 hours prior at Jefferson County that derailed his evening early on in Friday night’s feature, he felt as if this was time to prove a point that are still a force to behold.
Simply put, Courtney felt he and his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x needed this one.
“Not only for myself but as a team, I feel like we needed this to get our mojo back, so to speak,” Courtney said. “We’ve just been struggling. All Indiana Midget Week, we just didn’t have any speed. Then, we were leading at Kokomo and had an unfortunate end to our night there. Last night, we made it two laps in the feature before something else happened. Tonight, starting on the pole, we were in a good spot. I feel like we capitalized on that. It’s been trying for sure, but that’s what this sport is all about. It’s not always roses, but you try to make the most out of every night you can.”
Courtney, of Indianapolis, Ind., made the most of the night early on as he initially rode the low line to lead lap one before outside front row starter Kofoid crossed over at the stripe and tried to slide by Courtney, now on the top side, into turn one, to no avail, before falling back into line behind Courtney on the high line.
The top-two of Courtney and Kofoid separated themselves from the rest of the field before immersing themselves into traffic by the 10th lap. Courtney expertly executed through traffic as he kept Kofoid at bay through the mid-stages of the 40-lapper.
Kofoid began to dip low to the bottom of turns three and four as he scoured the surface for an avenue past Courtney. Courtney, meanwhile, was in the midst of trying to slide lapped traffic. That briefly bogged down his momentum exiting turns two and four, thus allowing Kofoid a chance to pulley himself back into contention by taking a run at the reigning series champion in turn one on the 25th lap, which came up short of the mark.
Despite the miss, Kofoid simply wouldn’t let Courtney escape, and with 11 laps to go, Kofoid was once again able to pull even with Courtney at the exit of turn four, putting him in a position to capitalize on any potential misstep Courtney was to encounter in the forthcoming laps.
Less than a half lap later, at the exit of turn two, Courtney snagged a piece of the turn two cushion as he slid past Ethan Mitchell to put him a lap down. Kofoid closed the gap to Courtney on the back straightaway and appeared to be setting up Courtney for the slide job in turn three, but the bottom lane was occupied by Mitchell, thus forcing Kofoid to drift back behind Courtney on the high line and negating a possible golden nugget of an opportunity.
Courtney then ably gapped Kofoid as he separated himself once again by more than a second with the aid of traffic. However, with five laps remaining, seventh-running Tyler Thomas coasted to a stop over the top of the turn two banking with smoke and a little bit of flame coming from the Oklahoma driver’s ride, necessitating a yellow following a lengthy 35-lap caution free run.
“I like racing in lapped traffic,” Courtney admitted. “I feel like I have a little bit of an edge on some guys there. I messed up a couple times, but overall, I knew if we could stay in lapped traffic, it would bode better for me rather than if we went yellow because you never know what’s going to happen on the restart. Restarts get chaotic, especially when you lose your brakes, it gets a little nerve wracking.”
All race long, the expected showdown for the win was presumed to be undertaken by Courtney and Kofoid. However, Axsom, making just his third career series start, quietly minded his own Ps and Qs on the bottom as he restarted fourth on the lap 36 restart. Axsom quickly disposed of Windom for third off turn two, then as Kofoid slid by Courtney for the number one spot in turns three and four, Axsom rolled the bottom on his own path to the lead by a nose with Courtney in the middle and Kofoid up top, three-wide at the line.
Courtney slid past Kofoid into turn one, then moments later, Kofoid skipped along the curb of turn two and dropped to fifth and out of contention, leaving the race for the lead now as a mono y mono duel between Axsom on the bottom and Courtney up top.
“I knew Buddy was going to be coming there on the restart,” Courtney recalled. “He slid me, I got back by him, then all of a sudden, there’s a guy on the bottom and I couldn’t really see who it was. I thought it was (Tanner) Thorson, but it ended up being Emerson there at the end. When I looked up (at the turn one scoreboard) and saw the 15, I thought, ‘well, that’s not what I was expecting.’”
Axsom’s magnificent drive around the infield tires continued with four to go as tripped the scoring loop two car lengths ahead of Courtney at the line with Thorson now joining the fray just a couple steps behind Axsom on the bottom. Courtney knew his precision on the rail had to be as close to absolutely perfect during the last three lap stretch in order for him to win the deal, as it has to be when taking the long road home.
“I felt like I was getting through one and two pretty good,” Courtney said. “Three and four, I was kind of struggling a little bit. I knew I could get through one and two, but just had to maintain over there in three and four and I did. Luckily, we got to the finish line first. It’s still nerve wracking; you don’t know how good that guy is going to hit the bottom on that last corner, especially if you mess up a little bit. So, you just try to be perfect, but it’s really hard to be perfect.”
It took 39-1/4-laps for Courtney to find that final semblance of separation that was required as he launched off turns one and two on the 40th and final lap to reign victorious by a margin 0.434 seconds over Axsom, Thorson, Windom and Kofoid.
Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) nearly pulled off the miraculous late-race charge to the front of the field in his Petry Motorsports/Keizer Aluminum Wheels – Mobil 1 – FK Rod Ends/Bullet/Speedway Toyota. Yet, the 2nd place finish was his result, the best of the 15-year-old driver’s career, as he chose his own distinct path along the way after earlier driving from 7th to 1st in the first heat race.
“I saw everyone else on the top, and I wanted to go up there,” Axsom relayed. “We weren’t terrible up there in lapped traffic, but we weren’t falling back on the bottom, so I tightened up the car with the shocks, which definitely helped on that last restart.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 18, 2020 – Jefferson County Speedway – Fairbury, Nebraska – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – Riverside Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Meats & Schmidt’s Sanitation
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.037; 2. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.074; 3. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.167; 4. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-11.196; 5. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.198; 6. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.212; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.219; 8. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.266; 9. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.270; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-11.386; 11. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.387; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.395; 13. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.410; 14. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-11.418; 15. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-11.487; 16. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.496; 17. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.512; 18. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-11.528; 19. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.538; 20. Keith Rauch, 27B, Bourke-11.630; 21. Chris Sheil, 91, Mason-11.865; 22. Zac Taylor, 71T, Henry-11.947; 23. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-12.045; 24. Tony Rossi, 14, Rossi-12.049; 25. Collin Rinehart, 6, Rinehart-12.126; 26. Kyle Jones, 7u, Tri-Fecta-12.251; 27. A.J. Valim, 4T, Valim-12.272; 28. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-12.304; 29. J.R. Ewing, 2c, Ewing-12.963.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Zac Taylor, 9. Collin Rinehart, 10. Lance Bennett. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Trey Gropp, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Keith Rauch, 8. Curtis Spicer, 9. J.R. Ewing, 10. Kyle Jones. 2:03.331
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Carson Garrett, 7. Chris Sheil, 8. Tony Rossi, 9. A.J. Valim. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Emilio Hoover, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Keith Rauch, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Curtis Spicer, 7. Tony Rossi, 8. Collin Rinehart, 9. A.J. Valim, 10. Lance Bennett, 11. Zac Taylor, 12. J.R. Ewing, 13. Kyle Jones. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. Emerson Axsom (9), 3. Tanner Thorson (4), 4. Chris Windom (3), 5. Buddy Kofoid (2), 6. Daison Pursley (11), 7. Jerry Coons Jr. (13), 8. Cannon McIntosh (6), 9. Sam Johnson (7), 10. Tanner Carrick (14), 11. Robert Dalby (18), 12. Ethan Mitchell (5), 13. Kaylee Bryson (12), 14. Andrew Layser (16), 15. Cole Bodine (8), 16. Carson Garrett (19), 17. Curtis Spicer (21), 18. Keith Rauch (20), 19. Tyler Thomas (15), 20. Trey Gropp (17), 21. Emilio Hoover (10), 22. Tony Rossi (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-35 Tyler Courtney, Laps 36-37 Emerson Axsom, Laps 38-40 Tyler Courtney.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-890, 2-Buddy Kofoid-812, 3-Tanner Thorson-788, 4-Tyler Courtney-773, 5-Cannon McIntosh-709, 6-Tanner Carrick-640, 7-Daison Pursley-584, 8-Cole Bodine-544, 9-Andrew Layser-496, 10-Justin Grant-489.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-64, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-41, 5-Andrew Layser-41, 6-Daison Pursley-41, 7-Cannon McIntosh-32, 8-Tanner Carrick-31, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 10-Brady Bacon-29.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 19, 2020 – Caney Valley Speedway – Caney, Kansas – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Sam Johnson
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tanner Carrick
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Collin Rinehart
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Emerson Axsom (9th to 2nd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kaylee Bryson
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COURTNEY BACKS IT UP WITH 2ND STRAIGHT WIN IN CANEY VALLEY DEBUT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Caney, Kansas (July 19, 2020)………When it rains, it pours. Sometimes that old idiom may involve negative characteristics, but there’s also the positive side of the phrase that Tyler Courtney has experienced of late, a far cry from the former which consumed him prior to his back-to-back USAC NOS Energy National Midget victories.
The latest came Sunday night in the series debut at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas where the Indianapolis, Ind. racer nearly parked it on two separate occasions early before regathering, dusting himself off and trying again to roar back through the pack with a winning pass of Tanner Thorson four laps from the finish to score his third series victory of the year aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
Courtney admitted they had him in the first half, he wasn’t going to lie. But the second half of the 30-lapper was all his as he snared his second victory in as many nights, and the 16th of his career to move to 40th all-time past Don Branson and 1973 USAC National Midget champ Larry Rice.
Courtney’s consecutive victories are a welcome reprieve from two-straight finishes of 21st or worse that lingered itself into the beginning of Mid-American Midget Week. Now he finds himself and his team back in championship form that won them a series title one season ago.
“This sport is probably the most humbling of any sport you could possibly do,” Courtney said. “You have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and you have to ride those highs as long as you can and hopefully not let the lows get you down too badly.”
Courtney started third while series Rookie Kaylee Bryson led the opening lap after dicing it up with Thorson off turn four to head the field on lap one. Thorson ducked under Bryson on the bottom of the first turn to secure the lead where he’d remain for much of the duration.
On multiple occasions, Courtney found himself completely sideways between turns one and two, nearly coming to a stop during both instances before continuing onward, but not before dropping like a stone to the latter half of the top-ten running order, giving him little hope that a victory was still in the cards.
“I thought we were done about lap 10 of that race,” Courtney professed. “I just couldn’t quite get through (turn) one there. Every time I thought I’d do something right, it ended up being the wrong move. Unfortunate for those guys (who contacted his half-spinning car) but it helped me with a couple of guys there to straighten me out. I finally just started slowing down and hitting the bottom of one and two instead of trying to carry my momentum through. That ended up paying huge dividends at the end of the race. I was about the only guy who started doing it and I was able to get a good run off two and down into three and four to slide those guys and put ourselves in a good spot to win that race.”
As Courtney found just a little bit of variation on his line than everybody else, Thorson incrementally elongated his lead over Buddy Kofoid in second place throughout the early stages of the second half. Kofoid, the leading series Rookie in the 22-car field, took a run at Thorson for supremacy on a restart with 11 laps remaining. However, Thorson was able to thwart the challenge of Kofoid, who slipped back, while Courtney scooted to second past Kofoid on the 22nd lap.
On a lap 24 restart following a Daison Pursley turn four spin, the top-three of Thorson high, Courtney middle and Kofoid low became entrenched in a three-wide tussle for position in turn four from which Thorson emerged retaining the lead with Courtney and Kofoid slotted just behind.
One lap later, Courtney took his uppercut to Thorson with a turn three slider, ripping past for the lead momentarily as Thorson darted back underneath at the exit of four, with the two banging wheels, which sent Courtney briefly squirrely as both continued onward without too much detriment. Moments later, at the exit of two, Thorson slid up off the bottom all on his own, allowing Courtney to sprint by underneath. However, it was all for naught as Tyler Thomas spun in turn two to bring out the yellow.
Courtney brought his hard hat and went straight back to work on the resumption of lap 27, recreating the same turn three slider he made just before the yellow. This time, the move stuck, with Courtney snagging the lead from Thorson who followed the procession into turn one behind Courtney but got sideways on entry and was plowed into by the next three cars in line driven by Tanner Carrick, Kofoid and Fatheadz Fast Qualifier Cannon McIntosh, running 3rd, 4th and 5th at the time, all of whom stopped.
With a little bit of a sigh of relief in the afterglow of the aftermath, Courtney closed out a performance in which he became a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget winner at a first-time series venue for the second time this season following his late-May victory at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Point leader Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) finished 2nd to record his 13th top-five finish in 14 series starts in 2020. Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.) earned a career-best 3rd place finish, the best result by a female driver with the series since Holly Shelton’s 3rd place finish at Lawrenceburg during 2017 Indiana Midget Week, and the second best ever behind Sarah McCune’s runner-up finish at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in 1999.
USAC Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) scored his season best of 4th while Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) backed up his runner-up finish from Saturday at Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway with a 5th in just his fourth series start.
Trey Gropp (Lincoln, Neb.) rolled from the 22nd and final starting spot on the feature grid to finish a career-best 6th en route to earning the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 19, 2020 – Caney Valley Speedway – Caney, Kansas – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Mid-America Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.285 (New Track Record); 2. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.366; 3. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.392; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.424; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.434; 6. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.445; 7. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.451; 8. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.526; 9. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.551; 10. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.589; 11. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.594; 12. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.599; 13. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.633; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.663; 15. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-13.754; 16. Noah Gass, 08, Dave Mac-13.778; 17. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.782; 18. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.800; 19. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.801; 20. Steven Shebester, 22x, Williams-13.805; 21. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-13.861; 22. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.875; 23. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-13.892; 24. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-13.913; 25. Wesley Smith, 44, Horn-13.980; 26. Kade Morton, 84m, Morton-14.266; 27. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-14.759; 28. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-15.977; 29. Jesse Shapel, 84, Shapel-16.776.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Shannon McQueen, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Tyler Thomas, 8. Wesley Smith, 9. Shaun Shapel, 10. Noah Gass. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Ace McCarthy, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Steven Shebester, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Kade Morton, 10. Jesse Shapel. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Jonathan Beason, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Chance Morton, 8. Curtis Spicer, 9. Emilio Hoover. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Trey Gropp, 5. Chance Morton, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Noah Gass, 8. Emilio Hoover, 9. Jesse Shapel, 10. Steven Shebester, 11. Curtis Spicer, 12. Shaun Shapel, 13. Jesse Shapel. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (3), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Kaylee Bryson (1), 4. Jerry Coons Jr. (14), 5. Emerson Axsom (11), 6. Trey Gropp (22), 7. Ace McCarthy (17), 8. Robert Dalby (21), 9. Andrew Layser (12), 10. Cole Bodine (9), 11. Daison Pursley (7), 12. Shannon McQueen (19), 13. Ethan Mitchell (8), 14. Sam Johnson (18), 15. Tanner Thorson (2), 16. Tyler Thomas (13), 17. Tanner Carrick (10), 18. Noah Gass (16), 19. Buddy Kofoid (4), 20. Cannon McIntosh (6), 21. Chance Morton (20), 22. Jonathan Beason (15). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Kaylee Bryson, Laps 2-26 Tanner Thorson, Laps 27-30 Tyler Courtney.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-970, 2-Tyler Courtney-849, 3-Buddy Kofoid-847, 4-Tanner Thorson-829, 5-Cannon McIntosh-746, 6-Tanner Carrick-675, 7-Daison Pursley-633, 8-Cole Bodine-589, 9-Andrew Layser-547, 10-Justin Grant-489.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-67, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Andrew Layser-44, 5-Justin Grant-41, 6-Daison Pursley-41, 7-Cannon McIntosh-32, 8-Tanner Carrick-31, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 10-Brady Bacon-29.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 21, 2020 – Red Dirt Raceway – Meeker, Oklahoma – Tuesday Night Thunder – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Cannon McIntosh
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tyler Thomas
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Emilio Hoover
KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Trey Gropp (22nd to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell
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THORSON THUNDERS TO TUESDAY NIGHT TRIUMPH AT RED DIRT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Meeker, Oklahoma (July 21, 2020)………Two nights earlier, Tanner Thorson faced a strikingly similar scenario as he did during Tuesday Night Thunder at Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway.
On Sunday at Caney Valley Speedway in Kansas, a caution with four laps remaining saw Tyler Courtney positioned directly behind Thorson for a late-race restart. The end result had Courtney sliding past Thorson for the lead and the eventual win, while a disgruntled Thorson fell to a 15th place finish after spinning to a stop as he tried to challenge Courtney for the lead.
On Tuesday night’s Mid-America Midget Week finale, though the scene began in the same manner, Thorson made sure his ultimate fate was going to play out differently, this time in his favor.
This time, a late caution stifled Thorson’s near five-second advantage with just three laps remaining. By rule, lapped cars were moved to the tail, and that put, yet again, Courtney, right on his rear bumper for the final restart.
As it turned out, Thorson had to endure three shots at a final restart due to a succession of yellows that halted his quest. On the third and final try, which went clean and green, Thorson wasn’t to be denied on this night, ridding himself of the recent plague of unfavorable fortune to win by 0.598 of a second for the 17th victory of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, tying him with Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley for 38th all-time.
The reversal of fortunes was a welcome change for the 2016 series champion from Minden, Nev. who had finished outside the top-12 in two of his past three starts. Yet, despite a mid-stream change in approach during the night, it was back to normal for Thorson, who earned his fourth feature victory of the year, equaling him with Kyle Larson for most in the series.
“Racing is a head game in itself. It’s about whoever can stay out of their own heads the most in the car and in the pits. We all know in this sport, you can’t win every night,” Thorson reiterated. “We’ve definitely had one of the fastest, if not the fastest car every night (this week). The last few nights, I’ve just been second guessing myself as far as setup. I second guessed myself to start tonight. I changed a little bit of the spring package I was running; it wasn’t working. Then, I got off the coils and went to bars in the rear and I realized why I switched to coils and why I’m going to stay on coils.”
Thorson began his 30-lap race from the pole and led the opening two circuits just before 16th running Kaylee Bryson flipped hard over the banking in between turns one and two. She was shaken up a bit but ultimately exited the car under her own power.
On the ensuing restart, Windom took a run at Thorson for the race lead with a slider in turn three. Thorson ducked back underneath off turn four to snag the lead. However, the driver who was most “on the charge” in the early stages was Cannon McIntosh who used the bottom groove to race past both Windom and Thorson to lead at the stripe on the fourth lap.
Thorson regained the lead from McIntosh a lap later and continuously stretched his lead out over the competition throughout the remainder of the contest. Meanwhile, a tussle behind him waged as Windom and McIntosh exchanged sliders, allowing fourth-place Courtney to gain ground on both, rolling the bottom to make it three-wide at the line on lap 10.
Through the middle stages, leading series Rookie Buddy Kofoid made a surge toward the front all while the numerals on the left side of his car’s tail tank were flapping in the breeze, passing Courtney for third on the 18th lap, then by Windom with an inside move on the following lap for second.
With 11 laps left to go, Windom, Courtney and Kofoid ran bottom to top, three-wide for the runner-up position. Windom slid past Kofoid entering turn three; Kofoid biked the left rear on the cushion simultaneously and the two locked together briefly above the turn four cushion with Kofoid’s front bumper interlocked with Windom’s left nerf bar.
Courtney promptly sped underneath both to grab second while fifth-running McIntosh plowed into the left front of Windom’s car, knocking Windom’s car straight and sending McIntosh’s ride airborne before landing on all fours and continuing onward with a slightly askew right front wheel while dropping to seventh at the checkered.
Now the race was a simple cat and mouse chase between Thorson and Courtney. However, Thorson was serving as the ultimate hide-and-seek champion for the time being with him being out of sight and more than a straightaway ahead of Courtney as he navigated traffic in the closing stages.
Only a caution could disrupt Thorson’s yellow brick road path to a stress-free, dominant triumph. And that radiant yellow piece of cloth became visible just three laps from the end when sixth running Tanner Carrick stopped on the back straightaway, forcing his car to be towed back to the pits.
“When that yellow came out, I was like ‘oh great, here we go again,’” Thorson admitted. “Sunday night, I had a good little lead. We had a bunch of yellows there at the end of that race that cost me. I got in too hard and looped it. I just talked to myself a little bit trying to amp myself up and try not to lose what I had going because I knew I had such a fast racecar.”
The first attempt at a restart saw Courtney briefly slide ahead of Thorson between turns one and two before Thorson shot down off the high side of the turn two banking to re-snag the lead. Moments later, Trey Gropp, running 15th at the time, slowed on the front straight to necessitate a yellow. The following restart too was thwarted after a single lap when 11th running Sam Johnson jumped the curb and landed outside turns one and two on the adjacent go-kart track.
Thorson anticipated Courtney was going to throw the kitchen sink, the kit and kaboodle, and everything else at him on each restart, so he altered his starts to throw a figurative banana peel into the equation.
“I knew Courtney was going to the bottom or slide me or do something,” Thorson predicted. “I tried to screw my starts up a little bit and kind of get the guys off their feet a little bit to get the advantage that I had before, and it worked. Then I saw Tyler (Courtney) there at the bottom on the first restart. The second restart, he went back again, and I knew from running up there early in the race that momentum was going to be the key there at the exit of turn two. I just kept it up there and thought about sliding myself a bunch, but I knew I’d lose ground. I just kept doing what I was doing, and it paid off.”
Paid off it did as Thorson distanced himself from Courtney in the final two-lap shootout, launching himself around on the top shelf of two to race on to the victory in his Hayward Motorsports/Oilfire – Factory Kahne – Walker Filtration/Spike/Stanton SR-11x over Courtney and a hard-charging Jerry Coons Jr. who rolled the bottom to third. Kofoid took fourth while series point leader Chris Windom rounded out the top-five utilizing a backup car following mechanical troubles with his primary during hot laps.
In Fatheadz Qualifying, Jenks, Oklahoma’s Kyle Wilson, making his USAC debut, biked in turn three and flipped over the turn four wall. He continued flipping end-over-end after exiting the racetrack before landing in a pile of brush. He was uninjured.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 21, 2020 – Red Dirt Raceway – Meeker, Oklahoma – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Tuesday Night Thunder – Mid-America Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.108 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.168; 3. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.189; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.197; 5. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.239; 6. Steven Shebester, 22x, Williams-13.288; 7. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.292; 8. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.293; 9. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-13.320; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.351; 11. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-13.403; 12. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.431; 13. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.439; 14. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.450; 15. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-13.548; 16. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-13.556; 17. Emilio Hoover, 21K, Reynolds-13.610; 18. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.645; 19. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.656; 20. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-13.656; 21. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-13.684; 22. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.732; 23. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.781; 24. Noah Gass, 08, Dave Mac-13.820; 25. Mike Goodman, 11G, Jenkins/Gariss-13.883; 26. Austin Wood, 27, Wood-13.989; 27. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-14.248; 28. Dustin Dixon, 7x, Gariss-14.357; 29. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-14.438; 30. Cole Scott, 2s, Scott-14.532; 31. Zac Millikin, 3, Hunt-14.730; 32. Kyle Wilson, 07, Gariss-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Emilio Hoover, 7. Mike Goodman, 8. Cade Cowles. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Steven Shebester, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Austin Wood, 8. Cole Scott. 1:49.816
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Jonathan Beason, 4. Trey Gropp, 5. Shannon McQueen, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Zac Millikin, 8. Curtis Spicer. 1:49.580 (New Track Record)
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Ace McCarthy, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Noah Gass, 6. Chance Morton, 7. Dustin Dixon. 1:51.380
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Andrew Layser, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Steven Shebester, 5. Shannon McQueen, 6. Chance Morton, 7. Emilio Hoover, 8. Cade Cowles, 9. Curtis Spicer, 10. Dustin Dixon, 11. Zac Millikin, 12. Austin Wood, 13. Noah Gass, 14. Cole Scott. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (1), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (8), 4. Buddy Kofoid (5), 5. Chris Windom (3), 6. Emerson Axsom (11), 7. Cannon McIntosh (4), 8. Jonathan Beason (18), 9. Tyler Thomas (9), 10. Andrew Layser (10), 11. Robert Dalby (20), 12. Daison Pursley (13), 13. Ethan Mitchell (2), 14. Sam Johnson (7), 15. Cole Bodine (17), 16. Tanner Carrick (15), 17. Trey Gropp (14), 18. Steven Shebester (12), 19. Shannon McQueen (22), 20. Chance Morton (21), 21. Kaylee Bryson (16), 22. Ace McCarthy (19). NT
**Kyle Wilson flipped over the turn 4 wall during qualifying. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 3 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Tanner Thorson, Lap 4 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 5-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,035, 2-Tyler Courtney-928, 3-Buddy Kofoid-919, 4-Tanner Thorson-906, 5-Cannon McIntosh-809, 6-Tanner Carrick-713, 7-Daison Pursley-677, 8-Cole Bodine-629, 9-Andrew Layser-598, 10-Justin Grant-489.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-67, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Andrew Layser-44, 5-Daison Pursley-41, 6-Justin Grant-41, 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-33, 8-Cannon McIntosh-32, 9-Robert Dalby-32, 10-Tanner Carrick-31.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 4, 2020 – Grandview Speedway – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Jerry Coons Jr.
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Thomas
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Sam Johnson
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Andrew Layser
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Emilio Hoover
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Jonathan Beason (18th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell
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COURTNEY CAPTURES EASTERN MIDGET WEEK OPENER AT ACTION TRACK USA
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kutztown, Pennsylvania (August 5, 2020)………Tyler Courtney and Clauson-Marshall Racing turned around a little bit of misfortune from earlier in the night into good fortune in Wednesday night’s Eastern Midget Week opener at Kutztown, Pa.’s Action Track USA.
Following Courtney's first qualifying lap, a coil went south, preventing him from recording a second lap. However, that first lap and Courtney’s subsequent third-place finish in his heat, provided him a view from the outside of the front row for the 30-lap feature where the Indianapolis, Ind. native led wire-to-wire for his third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory in his last four starts.
The victory was the second consecutive triumph in as many starts for CMR at Action Track USA quarter-mile following Zeb Wise’s triumph in the 2019 debut.
“We had a rough couple of months there on the midget side of things,” Courtney admitted. “But here in the last couple of weeks, we’ve kind of turned things back on and found some things that I think we can keep building onto and, hopefully, keep getting these wins and knocking them off.”
“I just reset mentally, I think we all did as a team,” Courtney continued. “We just hit the reset button and put the first couple of months of the midget season behind us and focused on the second half of the season. We’ve got a really good racecar now and we just got to ride this high as long as we can.”
Not that there was anything he needed to be ashamed of prior to his recent streak of success, but following 21st and 22nd place finishes at Kokomo, Ind. and Fairbury, Neb. in late June/mid-July, the defending series champ stood fourth in the standings, 124 points behind point leader Chris Windom. Now with three wins and a runner-up finish in his last four races, Courtney’s chopped 50 points off his deficit and is now second in the standings.
After seeing his one-year-old Action Track USA one-lap record fall by the wayside to Tanner Thorson in Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying earlier in the night, Courtney found salvage by instantly racing to the lead on the opening lap past pole sitter Robert Dalby. Courtney constructed his advantage to over a second as a scramble for the second position behind him consumed the likes of Dalby, Buddy Kofoid, Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson and others.
Kevin Woody Jr., who has served in a role as an armed government bodyguard, spun in turn one just in front of the head of the pack to bring out the race’s first caution on the ninth lap. Courtney drifted high to avoid the spinning Woody and avoided contact between he and the outside wall.
With the caution resetting track position just prior to encroaching lapped traffic, Courtney resumed his prowess at the front, jumping away from the field at the drop of the green. Second-running Robert Dalby clipped the turn four wall nearly a lap following the lap nine restart, allowing a succession of Kofoid, Grant and Thorson to freight-train under Dalby for the second position, relegating Dalby, the reigning USAC Western States Midget champion, to 5th.
A lap 14 stoppage for a turn two tangle between series point leader Chris Windom (13th), Dillon Welch (15th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (17th), brought out the following caution just as Courtney was within shouting distance of the tail end of the field, thus keeping him out of the throes of traffic for a just a little while longer.
Windom restarted after repairs in the work area under caution while Welch restarted as well and Kevin Thomas Jr., in his debut for Heffner Racing Enterprises, endured the ending to a trying night with heavy right front damage putting an end to his race. In the final tally, Windom finished 13th, Welch 17th and Thomas 21st.
Courtney was once again gonzo on the restart of lap 14, leaving the most ferocious battle to those in his distant past as Thorson went 4th to 3rd shortly thereafter, then waged in a back-and-forth battle of sliders with Kofoid before securing the second position on the 19th circuit.
Christopher Bell, the 2013 USAC National Midget champion, momentarily pulled off a double slider of both Thorson and Kofoid in turn one on the 20th lap before slotting into third behind Thorson. Two laps later, Kofoid was out of the picture of contention when contact between he and Grant for the fourth position sent Kofoid through an agricultural racing experience through the infield, staying on the gas and rejoining the action midway down the front straightaway, now slotted in 7th.
Though Courtney finally did find himself amidst traffic throughout the final five laps, he expertly navigated through with relative ease to pick up a commanding 3.385 second victory over Thorson, Bell, Grant and Cannon McIntosh. For Courtney, the win marked the 17th of his career, tying himself with Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on USAC’s all-time National Midget win list aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) recorded a solid runner-up finish in his Hayward Motorsports/Oilfire – Factory Kahne – Walker Filtration/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. Although he didn’t quite have enough at the end to make a run on Courtney on this particular night, he acknowledged what a solid run it was despite having a minor setback.
“Once I got into second, I tried to run (Courtney) back down but I had nothing,” Thorson recalled. “I hate excuses, but I had no front shock cables there. The steering wheel hit the clips out of them so I couldn’t really turn them. My guys did an awesome job getting this car ready for me.”
Christopher Bell made his one-stop of the Eastern Midget Week tour a good one, finishing 3rd in his first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start of 2020 in a four-car team effort for Tucker-Boat Motorsports alongside Windom, Welch and Andrew Layser, his being the Pristine Auction – Toyota – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“It was a lot of fun to be able to come back and run one race. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do some more throughout the year,” Bell said. “(Car owner Chad Boat) made a lot of changes to all the cars after hot laps. These guys busted their tails for sure. It was a long hard night for them and hopefully for the next couple nights with three cars, it’ll be a little easier.”
An off-night in qualifying sure didn’t deter Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) to performing exquisitely in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD – Mobil1 – JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, earning KSE Racing Products/Irvin King Hard Charger honors for his advancement from 18th to 5th in Wednesday’s feature event.
“I had a really good car tonight,” McIntosh relayed. “It really killed us in the qualifying run. I got a little loose off (turn) four and it cost us both our laps. That really buried us, but we made a good run through the heat race. We started 18th in the feature and we’re just able to get through the field really good, making moves just when we needed to. Glad I could salvage the night with a 5th place finish.”
A pair of new USAC National Midget track records were set during the evening at Action Track USA with Thorson lowering the one-lap mark to 11.146 during Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying. Meanwhile, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) put his name in the record books as the winner of the fastest 10-lap race in series history at the track with a completed event in 1:58.10.
Adam Pierson (East Corinth, Vt.), making his first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget appearance since the beginning of the 2019 season in Ocala, Fla., flipped into the turn four catchfence during the third heat race following contact between he and Tyler Courtney. Pierson escaped without injury.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2020 – Action Track USA – Kutztown, Pennsylvania – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.146 (New Track Record); 2. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.259; 3. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-11.261; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.274; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-11.310; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.320; 7. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.370; 8. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.396; 9. Christopher Bell, 84x, Tucker/Boat-11.404; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.404; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.414; 12. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.455; 13. Alex Bright, 29, Seymour-11.466; 14. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.477; 15. Adam Pierson, 74m, Mancini-11.484; 16. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-11.546; 17. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.561; 18. Alex Yankowski, 19G, Hayward-11.585; 19. Steven Drevicki, 12, Heckman-11.659; 20. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.682; 21. Kevin Thomas Jr., 72, Heffner-11.799; 22. Jeff Champagne, 46x, O'Rourke-11.841; 23. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-12.051; 24. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-12.121; 25. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-12.389.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Alex Bright, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Jeff Champagne, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Steven Drevicki, 9. Dillon Welch. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Cole Bodine, 8. Eric Heydenreich. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Alex Yankowski, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Kevin Woody Jr., 8. Adam Pierson. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Dillon Welch, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Jeff Champagne, 6. Kevin Woody Jr., 7. Eric Heydenreich, 8. Glenn Waterland. 1:58.010 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (6), 3. Christopher Bell (7), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Cannon McIntosh (18), 6. Chase Johnson (5), 7. Buddy Kofoid (4), 8. Tanner Carrick (14), 9. Robert Dalby (1), 10. Daison Pursley (13), 11. Alex Bright (8), 12. Cole Bodine (10), 13. Chris Windom (12), 14. Alex Yankowski (17), 15. Andrew Layser (11), 16. Emerson Axsom (9), 17. Dillon Welch (15), 18. Eric Heydenreich (21), 19. Jeff Champagne (20), 20. Kevin Woody Jr. (22), 21. Kevin Thomas Jr. (19), 22. Ethan Mitchell (16). NT
**Adam Pierson flipped during the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Tyler Courtney.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,079, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,005, 3-Tanner Thorson-985, 4-Buddy Kofoid-979, 5-Cannon McIntosh-873, 6-Tanner Carrick-769, 7-Daison Pursley-724, 8-Cole Bodine-674, 9-Andrew Layser-636, 10-Justin Grant-559.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-62, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Justin Grant-52, 5-Robert Ballou-45, 6-Cannon McIntosh-45, 7-Daison Pursley-45, 8-Andrew Layser-44, 9-Chase Stockon-39, 10-Thomas Meseraull-38.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 6, 2020 – Bridgeport Speedway – Bridgeport, New Jersey – 4/10-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Alex Bright
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Christopher Bell (18th to 5th)
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Glenn Waterland
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chris Windom
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COURTNEY CAPS EASTERN MIDGET WEEK WITH LANCO SCORE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Newmanstown, Pennsylvania (August 8, 2020)………Sometimes, in the ups and downs of life, you just need a bump in the right direction to get you going where you need to go.
In Saturday night’s Eastern Midget Week finale at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, Tyler Courtney received just that early on while running 4th in the 40-lap feature when he encountered a bit of a bumpy road entering turn one.
As Courtney slowly coasted, the trailing car of Justin Grant smacked into the back of Courtney’s car, which then fired back up and Courtney drove away before he ultimately took the lead from Tanner Carrick on the 14th lap, then thwarted off several challenges from Buddy Kofoid to win the event, Courtney’s fourth win in his last five USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget starts.
“I ended up hitting the kill switch and it killed the car,” Courtney revealed of the incident. “When I bounced, I hit the switch, then Grant hit me, and I was looking down to figure out what happened. I flipped the switch back on and kept going, and he stopped there. I got lucky there, but sometimes you’ve got to be more lucky than good and I’ll take it any way I can get it.”
Courtney started 6th in the 22-car field after earlier setting the fastest time in both hot laps and qualifying. Tanner Carrick, meanwhile, raced from his pole starting position to the lead at the start while outside front row starter Chris Windom bounced off the turn two guardrail and slipped to 4th behind Chase Johnson and Courtney.
Shortly after his boost from Grant, Courtney nearly saw positional disaster strike again, nearly spinning out in turn four, as the competition raced by, slipping back from 4th in no time flat. However, a timely stoppage just a tick of the second hand later helped him at just the right time as Kenney Johnson, making his season debut with the series, flipped in turn one. He was okay.
Shortly thereafter, once racing resumed, Courtney pulled off a two-for-one special in turn four on the sixth lap, racing first by Windom then Chase Johnson in one fell swoop to surge from 4th to 2nd. Johnson spun three laps later on lap nine to halt what would’ve been a career-best run, yet he still charged back to finish a respectable 8th in the final rundown.
On the 11th lap, Courtney slid his way past Carrick for the race lead in between turns three and four. Carrick countered back underneath Courtney with Carrick’s right rear and Courtney’s left front brushing sidewalls. Courtney took a couple steps back from Carrick and reloaded for another shot on the 13th lap.
Instead of sliding Carrick, this time, Courtney shadowed Carrick on the topside between turns three and four. Down the front straightaway, Carrick and Courtney were rear bumper to chrome horn. Courtney hopped and skipped off the bottom of turns one and two and launched to the race lead on the 14th circuit past Carrick.
Nearing midway, the top-two of Courtney, and now Buddy Kofoid, separated themselves from the rest of the field by nearly a half-lap as Courtney fished through the back end of the field utilizing the top shelf to work his way around lapped traffic.
On the 31st lap however, series point leader Windom glanced off the turn two wall, ending his evening after running 6th. He’d finish 16th and see his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point lead of 74 dwindle to just 31 at night’s end.
Following a yellow for 7th running Dillon Welch’s turn four spin with seven laps remaining, Kofoid took a major run at Courtney for the number one spot, sliding into turn three with a full head of steam right up into Courtney’s lane up against the outer guardrail in turn four. However, Courtney never blinked, never backed off, and kept his foot on the loudpedal to race his way back around Kofoid to retain the lead for good.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t flinch,” Courtney admitted. “At this point in the season, you’ve got to go for everything when you’re running for the championship. If we would’ve crashed there, it is what it is; we’re going for the win. Once I squeaked by Buddy there, I knew that was going to kill his momentum. So, I knew if I could squeak by him there, he’d be all chocked up getting off four there. There weren’t many laps left there, so I just needed to make those perfect and not make any mistakes and get ourselves to the finish line first.”
The same driver that was 4.5 tenths quicker than everybody else in hot laps and 2.5 tenths quicker in qualifying was 1.074 seconds better than his closest competition Saturday night at Lanco, turning the best lap of the race just three laps from the end to defeat Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh (from 15th), Carrick and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tanner Thorson (from 19th).
The Indianapolis, Indiana native’s 18th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory moved him past Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on the all-time series win list and into a tie for 37th all-time with Dave Steele.
After a rough patch in June and mid-July that saw Courtney tally finishes of 21st and 22nd in consecutive races and fall back to 4th in the series standings, he’s now won four of five, with the only non-winning performance in that stretch being a 2nd place finish, putting him directly in the hunt for another USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship after winning the title last year.
“Coming off two championship, you kind of have a different mindset,” Courtney explained. “During those championships, I’ve had ups and downs like I’ve had this year. You have to take yourself and reset, bring your team together and let them know, ‘hey, this isn’t the end.’ You’ve got to dig down deep and find out how bad you really want it. I think we have.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 8, 2020 – Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway – Newmanstown, Pennsylvania – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Eastern Midget Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.662; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.927; 3. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-10.958; 4. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-10.966; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-11.059; 6. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.103; 7. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.245; 8. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.248; 9. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.325; 10. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.419; 11. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.429; 12. Jeff Champagne, 46x, O'Rourke-11.439; 13. Alex Bright, 29, Seymour-11.495; 14. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.501; 15. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.509; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 72, Heffner-11.509; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-11.564; 18. Steve Buckwalter, 12, Heckman-11.609; 19. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.615; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.656; 21. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-11.809; 22. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-11.956; 23. Jimmy Glenn, 07, Glenn-12.235; 24. Shannon Mausteller, 5A, Mausteller-12.302; 25. Steve Craig, 55, Craig-12.586; 26. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Dillon Welch, 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Kevin Woody Jr., 9. Steve Craig. 1:56.414
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Jimmy Glenn, 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Kyle Cummins. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Kenney Johnson, 6. Jeff Champagne, 7. Shannon Mausteller. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Dillon Welch, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Jimmy Glenn, 7. Jeff Champagne, 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Shannon Mausteller, 10. Steve Craig. 2:21.355
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Buddy Kofoid (5), 3. Cannon McIntosh (15), 4. Tanner Carrick (1), 5. Tanner Thorson (19), 6. Daison Pursley (9), 7. Justin Grant (3), 8. Chase Johnson (4), 9. Cole Bodine (11), 10. Robert Dalby (10), 11. Dillon Welch (8), 12. Kyle Cummins (17), 13. Ethan Mitchell (20), 14. Emerson Axsom (16), 15. Jeff Champagne (13), 16. Chris Windom (2), 17. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 18. Steve Buckwalter (18), 19. Andrew Layser (12), 20. Jimmy Glenn (22), 21. Kenney Johnson (21), 22. Alex Bright (14). NT
**Kenney Johnson flipped on lap 5 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Tanner Carrick, Laps 14-40 Tyler Courtney.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,119, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,088, 3-Buddy Kofoid-1,056, 4-Tanner Thorson-1,047, 5-Cannon McIntosh-944, 6-Tanner Carrick-838, 7-Daison Pursley-783, 8-Cole Bodine-725, 9-Andrew Layser-663, 10-Justin Grant-619.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Cannon McIntosh-57, 5-Justin Grant-52, 6-Daison Pursley-48, 7-Robert Ballou-45, 8-Andrew Layser-44, 9-Kyle Cummins-41, 10-Chase Stockon-39.
NEXT USAC MIDGET RACE: August 22, 2020 – Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis – Brownsburg, Indiana – .686-Mile Paved Oval – 70th Night Before the 500 (Non-Points Special Event)
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Glenn Waterland
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (19th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell
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SANTOS’ RESILIENCE NETS NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 WIN #2
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020)………Bobby Santos admitted that it took him a minute to get reacclimated to midget racing Saturday night at Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Raceway.
Yet, when was all said and done, there was no evidence of rust anywhere to be found as Santos stood up in his seat to celebrate his second career Night Before the 500 victory in the USAC non-points special midget event at the .686-mile paved oval.
The victory for Santos came aboard a car prepared by an all East Coast team, one that has a heritage of success at LOR, including two victories with Ken Schrader behind the wheel of the team’s Silver Crown car in 1986 and 1989.
This particular evening belonged to Santos, however, as he led the first half of the 30-lap feature, lost the lead, then regained it with 11 laps remaining to secure the monumental victory in the Seymour-West/Indy Performance Composites – DTF Performance – Seaman Mechanical/Beast/Stanton SR-11x.
“These guys are awesome,” Santos said of the Seymour-West team. “They put together an unbelievable racecar, Jeff West, IPC, Matt and Bobby Seymour. I drove for them years ago, and it’s pretty awesome to get back into one of their racecars, ‘The Spirit of Boston.’ That means a lot to be driving the 29.”
The Franklin, Mass. native’s first Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years ago in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the event, surpassing the 12 years that passed between Mel Kenyon’s second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.
The win marked Santos’ ninth overall USAC-sanctioned victory at LOR, which ranks fourth all-time in that department. Interesting enough, the battle for victory came down between he and the only other past Night Before the 500 winner in the starting field for the midget feature, 2010 victor Tanner Swanson, who owns seven USAC victories of his own at LOR, including the previous night’s Silver Crown 100-lapper.
Santos broke away from his outside front row starting position to nip pole sitter Kody Swanson at the line and lead the opening lap by a single car length over the eight-time LOR USAC winner who scored an Indy Pro 2000 Series triumph at the same track just one night prior.
Stretching his lead out to 12 car lengths early on, Santos began to be reeled in ever so slightly by the suddenly surging Tanner Swanson, who cropped Santos’ advantage from 1.2 sec. to around six-tenths just prior to the lap 16 yellow for 18th running Nathan Byrd who spun and smacked the turn two wall with the left side of his machine. He was okay.
Continuing his sudden surge, Tanner, wheeling the most recent Night Before the 500 winning car driven to victory by Tracy Hines 2014, dove to the inside of turn one on the ensuing restart, sliding up in front of Santos as he drifted to the outside wall. Meanwhile, Santos cut back under to ride side-by-side with Tanner momentarily before Tanner bested Santos off turn two to secure the lead for the next four circuits while third-starting Californian, Courtney Crone, impressed by moving to third as Kody Swanson began to drop out of contention, and out of the race, with a cut left rear tire, finishing 18th.
However, on the 20th lap, Santos flexed his muscle with a resilient comeback that saw him throw his machine to the bottom of turn three under Tanner. The two rode wheel-to-wheel throughout the entirety of the long sweeping corners before Santos ultimately emerged with the race lead off turn four.
Kyle Hamilton made a furious challenge for second on Tanner in the waning laps, with Tanner clamping down to retain the runner-up spot while Santos distanced himself from the herd to snag the 1.382 sec. margin of victory over Tanner Swanson, Kyle Hamilton, Thomas Meseraull and 15-year-old NEMA regular, Jake Trainor. Crone, the 2016 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year, fell back to sixth at race’s end.
Utilizing a Stanton SR-11x engine from Hayward Motorsports and raced by Tanner Thorson on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail, Santos added onto his LOR USAC win total with his second midget score to go along with four Silver Crown and three Sprint Car wins.
In the end, it was a complete team effort and the resiliency of Santos to get up, get knocked down, then get back up again two-thirds of the way into the event to earn a race win that both team and driver will forever covet.
“At the end of the race, my guys gave me a rock-solid racecar; they gave me what I needed,” Santos remarked. “We took off good at the start, but he obviously did a little better job than I did getting going. I just kept my cool and knew if I continued to roll the top, we could attack him again.”
USAC MIDGET SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 – Lucas Oil Raceway – Brownsburg, Indiana – .686-Mile Paved Oval – 70th Night Before the 500
QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 3, Bohanon/Felker-21.238; 2. Bobby Santos, 29, Seymour/West-21.413; 3. Courtney Crone, 25, Rodela-21.571; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-21.625; 5. Tanner Swanson, 7K, Petry/Irwin-21.643; 6. Jake Trainor, 8, Trainor-21.774; 7. Justin Grant, 66, Sanderson-21.864; 8. Kyle Hamilton, 4, Klatt-21.930; 9. Kyle O’Gara, 1BR, SFHR-22.017; 10. Mario Clouser, 99, Guess-22.031; 11. Cole Carter, 47, Bertrand-22.135; 12. Jim Anderson, 36, Anderson-22.216; 13. Johnny Zych, 9, Zych-22.248; 14. Avery Stoehr, 39, Bertrand-22.282; 15. Todd Bertrand, 48, Bertrand-22.289; 16. Nick Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-22.304; 17. Alby Ovitt, 17, Bertrand-22.309; 18. Nathan Byrd, 33B, RayPro-22.356; 19. Derek Bischak, 31, BCD-22.613; 20. Kevin Studley, 57K, Studley-22.796; 21. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Western Speed-22.807; 22. Maria Cofer, 88, Arata-23.026; 23. Annie Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-24.121; 24. Ryan Shilkuski, 75, Shilkuski-NT; 25. Brandon Maurer, 14, Maurer-NT; 26. Dylan Nobile, 80x, Western Speed-NT.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bobby Santos (2), 2. Tanner Swanson (5), 3. Kyle Hamilton (8), 4. Thomas Meseraull (4), 5. Jake Trainor (6), 6. Courtney Crone (3), 7. Cole Carter (11), 8. Nick Hamilton (16), 9. Jim Anderson (12), 10. Kyle O’Gara (9), 11. Kevin Studley (20), 12. Mario Clouser (10), 13. Derek Bischak (19), 14. Johnny Zych (13), 15. Todd Bertrand (15), 16. Alby Ovitt (17), 17. Maria Cofer (22), 18. Kody Swanson (1), 19. Avery Stoehr (14), 20. Nathan Byrd (18), 21. Cody Gerhardt (21), 22. Justin Grant (7), 23. Annie Breidinger (23), 24. Ryan Shilkuski (24). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Bobby Santos, Laps 16-19 Tanner Swanson, Laps 20-30 Bobby Santos.
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McINTOSH THE LAST CORNER, LAST LAP HERO AT SWEET SPRINGS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Sweet Springs, Missouri (September 4, 2020)………In the moments leading up to the final lap, Cannon McIntosh figured a chance at victory was just out of the realm of possibility in Friday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
Yet, all it takes to win is to lead just one inch, a foot, a yard. A valiant effort by the 17-year-old Bixby, Okla. native saw McIntosh erase a late-race one-second lead held by Chris Windom as Windom dealt with a throng of traffic on the final lap. McIntosh ripped around the outside of turn four to nip Windom at the stripe by a half-car length for the victory – the only corner, the only lap McIntosh led throughout the evening.
“I thought when he got to traffic, I was too far out of reach,” McIntosh admitted. “We got the white flag, and I went into one as hard as I possibly could and kind of gained on him. He went to the bottom and followed the lapped car and I just sailed it off into three and four through the middle as hard as I could, and it was just enough to get him.”
McIntosh’s triumph was the second of his USAC National Midget career, and first outdoors, after winning his first contest 18 months earlier indoors at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.
Moreover, since joining the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports juggernaut at the beginning season, the team as a whole had yet to win a USAC race, last doing so with the series in August of 2019, 13 months ago. The victory made it three wins for the KKM team in three tries, keeping their winning tradition alive at the 1/6-mile dirt oval after previous victories with Logan Seavey in 2018 and Tanner Carrick in 2019.
“We’ve been winless all year with USAC, and I saw that stat today, and I was like, ‘well, that’s some pressure,’” McIntosh noted. “It motivated me to keep the streak going for the team. We were all wondering if we were going to get one this year. It’s finally here, but I’m hoping that just opened the lid for a ton more to come. I’ve been striving as hard as I can to get that win and everyone on this team has been working hard to make that happen. Tonight, the cards finally laid into place.”
Starting 13th in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD – Mobil1 – JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota was McIntosh, who made his way into ninth on the opening lap, then gained one additional position per lap until reaching the top-five on lap five and the top-three on the seventh circuit.
However, in the midst of McIntosh’s surge was a bit of mayhem, particularly on an opening lap tangle when contact on the back straightaway between Buddy Kofoid and Thomas Meseraull sent 6th starting Kofoid sideways in front of 9th starting Justin Grant. Grant dug in the nose and somersaulted twice before landing hard on the tail tank as Chris Windom drove underneath the airborne Grant. Meanwhile, Kofoid barrel-rolled three times after the contact. Both Grant and Kofoid were okay, but out of the race as a result.
Local talent, Clinton Boyles of Greenwood, Mo., led the opening lap from his outside front row position as he aimed to become the first Missouri-born winner with the USAC National Midgets since Steve Gennetten in 1989. Yet, reigning Sweet Springs winner Tanner Carrick rode the bottom past pole sitter Emerson Axsom and Carrick to lead the second lap.
On lap four, Boyles’ bid for victory fell to the wayside as he slowed to a stop with mechanical trouble. He’d return to the lineup briefly but dropped out by lap eight after a turn four incident with Ethan Mitchell, ultimately finishing 21st.
Carrick led for much of the first half, displaying resiliency in holding off 7th starting Windom for many of those laps before Windom snagged the position with a turn one slider on the 17th lap. Carrick dropped back to 9th at the checkered but remained the only driver to lead laps and finish inside the top-ten during all three previous USAC National Midget features at Sweet Springs dating back to 2018.
The driver mimicking Windom’s moves was McIntosh who repeated Windom’s same turn one slider and turn three door close a lap later on the 18th go-around to slot into second and give chase to Windom.
Moments later, the second red flag of the feature occurred when series Rookie Chase Johnson, running 10th at the time, flipped at the entrance of turn three. He was okay.
From the restart onward, McIntosh’s pursuit of Windom proved futile as Windom opened up his lead to over a second at the drop of a hat once racing resumed with a clear track ahead, running the cushion between turns one and two and on the bottom in turns three and four.
With five to go, McIntosh had managed to knock a tenth off Windom’s one second lead, but time was running short. However, lapped traffic loomed, forcing Windom to have to untangle himself from a web in order to find victory for a fourth time with the series in 2020.
On the final lap, McIntosh quickly ate up the ground between he and Windom and was just three car lengths back in turn three when Windom went to the bottom at the entry to the third turn, slotting in between the cars of Mitchell and Cole Bodine running at the tail.
McIntosh staked his car in the middle groove, unfettered without any obstruction, and admitted that he was “pretty much swinging for the fences” at that moment, gassing his machine around Windom on the outside of turn four, beating Windom to the stripe to earn the victory over Windom, Tyler Courtney, Tanner Thorson and Thomas Meseraull.
What it takes to win is to be there in the end, and ultimately lead the most important lap, the final one, even it takes 29 and three-quarters of a lap to get there. That’s what counts the most in the stat sheet and in the wallet.
“I was making a run there; I made mistakes down there in one and two, then he’d pull away, I’d get him back, then he’d pull away again,” McIntosh remembered. “I didn’t think there was going to be a chance; the bottom was the preferred line and he moved down there and got stuck. I didn’t think the middle was going to hold me, but I think it threw enough (dirt) up there to where I could get enough momentum to get around him.”
Windom gained three points to up his lead to 34 in his pursuit of the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, finishing in the runner-up position in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota. However, points were not of the utmost concern to the Canton, Ill. driver in the immediate moments following the race.
“I don’t even think about points after leading the whole race like that and not getting the win,” Windom admitted. “I felt like we were good the whole time. I got to lapped traffic there late and wasn’t really sure where to go. I hadn’t run the top in three and four the whole race. I kind of got forced up there and started missing my marks in one and two. I went to the bottom on the last corner to protect and he just ran a really good lap around the top and got by us clean there. There’s not much to say other than he outran me in three and four. I just kept it low and too slow just thinking we had it wrapped up there, but obviously you never do until the end.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 4, 2020 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Missouri – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.863 (New Track Record); 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.941; 3. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-11.955; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.964; 5. Spencer Bayston, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.028; 6. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.043; 7. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.050; 8. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.051; 9. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-12.061; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.082; 11. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.093; 12. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.101; 13. Jesse Love, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.102; 14. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-12.138; 15. Andrew Felker, 44s, Shields-12.184; 16. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.220; 17. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.263; 18. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.286; 19. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.340; 20. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-12.400; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-12.400; 22. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-12.403; 23. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-12.436; 24. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.478; 25. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.487; 26. Riley Kreisel, 56AP, Young-12.491; 27. Chad Winfrey, 321, Winfrey-12.649; 28. Andy Bishop, 11, Harris-12.658; 29. Joe Boyles, 98B, Boyles-12.755; 30. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-12.779; 31. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.954; 32. Branigan Roark, 4c, Shields-12.976; 33. Mark Billings, 60E, Billings-13.136.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Trey Marcham, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Joe Boyles, 9. Mark Billings. 2:03.358 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Ace McCarthy, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Gage Rucker, 8. Riley Kreisel. 2:04.393
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Dalby, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Andrew Felker, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Chad Winfrey, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Trey Gropp. 2:03.745
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Noah Gass, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Andy Bishop. 2:07.145
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Riley Kreisel, 9. Chad Winfrey, 10. Gage Rucker, 11. Hayden Reinbold, 12. Joe Boyles, 13. Andy Bishop, 14. Mark Billings. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (13), 2. Chris Windom (7), 3. Tyler Courtney (10), 4. Tanner Thorson (11), 5. Thomas Meseraull (5), 6. Daison Pursley (12), 7. Andrew Felker (17), 8. Robert Dalby (8), 9. Tanner Carrick (3), 10. Kaylee Bryson (14), 11. Spencer Bayston (4), 12. Andrew Layser (21), 13. Emerson Axsom (1), 14. Ace McCarthy (20), 15. Trey Marcham (22), 16. Noah Gass (19), 17. Jesse Love (15), 18. Cole Bodine (18), 19. Ethan Mitchell (23), 20. Chase Johnson (16), 21. Clinton Boyles (2), 22. Buddy Kofoid (6), 23. Justin Grant (9). NT
**Sam Johnson flipped during the fourth heat. Buddy Kofoid & Justin Grant flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Chase Johnson flipped on lap 18 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Clinton Boyles, Laps 2-16 Tanner Carrick, Laps 17-29 Chris Windom, Lap 30 Cannon McIntosh.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,194, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,160, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,115, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,089, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,021, 6-Tanner Carrick-892, 7-Daison Pursley-842, 8-Cole Bodine-753, 9-Andrew Layser-708, 10-Justin Grant-650.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-126, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-74, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Cannon McIntosh-69, 6-Shane Cottle-68, 7-Kyle Larson-62, 8-Logan Seavey-62, 9-Daison Pursley-54, 10-Andrew Layser-53.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 5, 2020 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Missouri – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Robert Dalby
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Ethan Mitchell
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh (13th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Emerson Axsom
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SWEET, SWEET VICTORY: KOFOID WINS FIRST AT SWEET SPRINGS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Sweet Springs, Missouri (September 5, 2020)………After pounding on the door all throughout his Rookie USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget campaign, Buddy Kofoid finally bust through that door for his first career feature victory with the series on Saturday night at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
With four second place finishes to his name in USAC National Midget competition this year, the time seemed nigh for the Penngrove, Calif. native to reach the top of the totem pole. Patience is a virtue, and the 18-year-old displayed it in droves, and was primed to strike when the opportunity arose, leading the final 12 laps en route to becoming the initial first-time series winner of the 2020 season.
“We’ve been working on this one for a long time,” an elated Kofoid stated. “To finally be able to put a USAC win on my resume, quite a few people have done it, but not very many people have, at the same time. To finally do it, especially for this team, the most prestigious midget team in the world, is really special.”
Kofoid’s triumph came just one night following a rough-and-tumble opening lap that saw him barrel-roll three times down the back straightaway during the first night at Sweet Springs. After walking away dejected and dour, Kofoid looked on as his teammate, Cannon McIntosh, won KKM’s first USAC race of the year, adding fuel to Kofoid’s yearning for his next shot just 24 hours later.
“I knew we were fast enough last night, and we were starting in a really good position,” Kofoid recalled. “It’s kind of hard to say now, but yesterday, I felt like I was good enough to maybe contend for a win. I kind of got crashed on the first half-lap, which really hurt us for points, but also my pride a little bit. To come back and get redemption is really cool.”
To win is to beat the best, and Kofoid endured and dodged every single arrow shot his way from the likes of his teammates to the defending series champ, all while having to start from the seventh position on the grid at the 1/6-mile dirt bullring.
As it turned out, indeed it was the defending champ, Tyler Courtney, who slung himself out to the early race lead from his outside front row starting position.
The first stoppage of the night arrived on the sixth lap and involved 14th running Andrew Felker who bounced his way through turn one before flipping over, an incident which also collected Robert Dalby and Thomas Meseraull. Meseraull was the only of the three who resumed and raced back to a 9th place result.
By lap 10, Kofoid had worked his way to 3rd and began waging war with Justin Grant for the runner-up position. The two swapped sliders for the next three circuits until the two made contact on lap 12 in turn four, which sent Grant sideways and dropped him through the pack. Meanwhile, Friday night’s Sweet Springs winner Cannon McIntosh slipped by both Grant and Kofoid to take 2nd.
On the restart following Kaylee Bryson’s turn one flip on the 15th lap, McIntosh surged to the lead by the time the pair hit the back straightaway, utilizing the bottom of the surface to ride past Courtney, then proceeded to open up a two second advantage out front as the race reached its halfway point.
Kofoid caught Courtney on the 28th lap through the thick of the traffic and slid by Courtney for 2nd at the exit of turn four. A moment and one lap later, 11th running Tanner Thorson was stopped backwards in turn one, bringing out the caution, thus clearing the traffic away from the leader, McIntosh, but put Kofoid right on his tail for the restart.
The chase Kofoid put on McIntosh didn’t last long as Kofoid hit the bottom of turn three on the ensuing lap 29 restart and slid past McIntosh, clearing him for the number one spot at the exit of turn four.
A resurgent McIntosh returned to pose a threat to Kofoid once again for the lead on the 34th lap, setting up his slider into turn three with a full head of steam. However, instead, McIntosh clipped the turn three infield berm with left front tire, sending him sliding to a stop on the topside of turns three and four. With his bid for a repeat victory vanished, McIntosh restarted and finished 12th.
Kofoid then had to withstand multiple restarts down the stretch, the final one coming with three laps remaining with Courtney now assuming the role of the shadow in 2nd. Courtney followed Kofoid the first circuit, then found a run off of turn two coming to the white flag that allowed him to close rapidly on Kofoid, thus setting up what turned out to be his one and only, final haymaker.
Courtney threw his machine hard to the bottom of three before sliding up toward Kofoid up against the cushion. With no sense of rattle or hesitation, Kofoid never blinked, kept his foot on the throttle and denied Courtney the lead by racing back around on the outside of turn four. Courtney, meanwhile, banked off the turn four cushion and lost too much ground to make another run for the win on the final lap as Kofoid raced away and edged Courtney by two car lengths at the line.
After a 27-race winless drought in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports was ended on Friday night by McIntosh, it took just one more night for the next victory to arrive for the Columbus, Ind. based team who made it an undefeated 4-for-4 in terms of USAC Midget feature victories at Sweet Springs after previous triumphs by Logan Seavey (2018) and Tanner Carrick (2019), and Kofoid was going to give everything and do whatever the task required to continue the winning streak.
“When we were taking the white, he threw a slider and when I saw him, I pretty much said ‘I’m not lifting,’” Kofoid remembered. “I was already committed and just squeaked by. (Courtney) even said, ‘I don’t know how you got by.’ At the end of the day, I just wanted it badly and I was going to do anything it took to do that.”
Earlier, in Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying, Kofoid’s KKM teammate, Kaylee Bryson, became the first female to set fast time during a USAC National Midget event since Holly Shelton in 2018 at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kans., also driving for KKM. Bryson later established the 12-lap USAC National Midget track record at Sweet Springs during the Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing semi-feature at 2:31.066.
Furthermore, Spencer Bayston, the 2017 USAC National Midget champion, set a new 10-lap USAC National Midget track record at Sweet Springs with a time of 2:03.300 during Simpson Race Products heat race one.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 5, 2020 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Missouri – 1/6-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.159; 2. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-12.174; 3. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.237; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.238; 5. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.242; 6. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.250; 7. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.255; 8. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.264; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.270; 10. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-12.279; 11. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.325; 12. Jesse Love, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.325; 13. Spencer Bayston, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.342; 14. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.345; 15. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-12.347; 16. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.388; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.392; 18. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-12.519; 19. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-12.528; 20. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.536; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-12.618; 22. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.631; 23. Andrew Felker, 44s, Shields-12.675; 24. Chad Winfrey, 321, Winfrey-12.802; 25. Ace McCarthy, 28, Dave Mac-12.830; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.867; 27. Joe Boyles, 98B, Boyles-12.977; 28. Trey Gropp, 00, Mounce-NT; 29. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-(Time of 12.371 disallowed due to minimum weight requirements).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Andrew Felker, 10. Hayden Reinbold. 2:03.300 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Noah Gass, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Chad Winfrey, 8. Joe Boyles, 9. Tanner Thorson. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Johnson, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Ace McCarthy, 9. Gage Rucker. 2:03.884
INDY RACE PARTS / INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Andrew Felker, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Ace McCarthy, 7. Trey Gropp, 8. Gage Rucker, 9. Ethan Mitchell, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Chad Winfrey, 12. Joe Boyles. 2:31.066 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (7), 2. Tyler Courtney (2), 3. Chris Windom (6), 4. Tanner Carrick (11), 5. Spencer Bayston (8), 6. Daison Pursley (4), 7. Andrew Layser (19), 8. Clinton Boyles (3), 9. Thomas Meseraull (16), 10. Tanner Thorson (23), 11. Jesse Love (13), 12. Cannon McIntosh (5), 13. Trey Marcham (14), 14. Chase Johnson (9), 15. Emerson Axsom (15), 16. Kaylee Bryson (10), 17. Ethan Mitchell (24), 18. Noah Gass (18), 19. Justin Grant (1), 20. Trey Gropp (22), 21. Cole Bodine (17), 22. Ace McCarthy (21), 23. Andrew Felker (20), 24. Robert Dalby (12). NT
**Andrew Felker flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 15 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Tyler Courtney, Laps 15-28 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 29-40 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,268, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,234, 3-Buddy Kofoid-1,167, 4-Tanner Thorson-1,163, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,069, 6-Tanner Carrick-956, 7-Daison Pursley-901, 8-Cole Bodine-779, 9-Andrew Layser-764, 10-Justin Grant-680.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-129, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-74, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Cannon McIntosh-69, 6-Shane Cottle-68, 7-Andrew Layser-65, 8-Kyle Larson-62, 9-Logan Seavey-62, 10-Daison Pursley-54.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kaylee Bryson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Spencer Bayston
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chase Johnson
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Gage Rucker
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Andrew Layser (19th to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Trey Marcham
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McINTOSH MARCHES TO MIDGET TRIUMPH AT GAS CITY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (September 25, 2020)………For Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, it was only a matter of time before winning returned to team’s narrative following a 27-race winless streak that stretched a span of 13 months until earlier this month.
Enter September and the team is now three-for-three with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, and key to the KKM revival has been the surge of Cannon McIntosh, the Bixby, Okla. native who began the team’s winning streak on Sept. 4 in Sweet Springs, Mo. and kept it rolling through Friday night’s James Dean Classic, night one of the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Friday’s theme at the ¼-mile dirt oval was reminiscent of the tests they’ve endured throughout their 2020 campaign. Though the hurdles were aplenty early on, the stick-to-itiveness the team displayed has allowed them to dig themselves out of their relative early season doldrums to persevere once again, which Keith Kunz cars have done now 113 times with the series, second all-time.
“We weren’t that great in the heat race,” McIntosh admitted. “We got up to third and it was enough to get us to the feature and put us in a decent spot. Then, (crew chief) Kaz (Townsend) went to work on the car and made some changes. I believe in him, and the car was killer in the feature. I was getting a little tight at the end, just getting behind lapped traffic, but I just hung in there and we pulled off the win.”
McIntosh started his 30-lap feature from the fourth position in his TRD – Mobil1 – JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, but he wasn’t long for staying content with his position for as he blasted to the second spot on the opening lap by splitting between the two front row occupants, teammate Daison Pursley and outside front row starter Chase Johnson.
The pursuit of Pursley by McIntosh came to a head on the second lap when McIntosh showed a nose to Pursley while entering on the bottom of turn one. Pursley slid up just a tad at the exit of turn two and McIntosh powered past to occupy the race lead.
While McIntosh carved out a two second advantage in the opening third of the feature, Tyler Courtney began to emerge as a contender and was challenging Pursley for second on the outside of turn one when Pursley became sideways on the bottom of the racing surface. Fourth running Thomas Meseraull found no place to escape the fray and plowed into the idling Pursley. Pursley kept it running and continued on while Meseraull slid to a stop, prematurely curtailing his opportunity for a victory.
On the 14th lap, Courtney’s diligence paid off after having gone toe-to-toe with Pursley to the outside for several laps prior until streaming around the outside of Pursley entering the third turn. Likewise, for Kyle Cummins, who reversed the method by slipping to the inside of Pursley in turn one for third following a tedious battle between the two.
Still up nearly two seconds the race’s end approached, McIntosh possessed total control, keeping his car as straight as possible coming off turns two and four on the slightly slickened surface, gliding smoothly through traffic as he raced his way to his third career USAC National Midget feature win by a grand margin of 1.791 seconds over Courtney, Cummins and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tanner Thorson, who made his way from 17th on the grid to finish fourth in his debut aboard the Tom Malloy-owned ride.
Second-place finisher Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) raised his series-leading Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time to five with his qualifying performance in the Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. Courtney’s eighth consecutive top-three finish has moved the defending series champion to within nine points of leader Chris Windom, who finished 9th, in his quest for a repeat title.
“You always want to win these races, but we weren’t quite there,” Courtney explained. “We’ve just got to get a little better there for the whole feature, but all in all, it was a good night. We haven’t finished off the podium in a while, so it’s been a good stretch here. We’ve just got to get the car back in victory lane. I’m tired of second and third. Once I got to second there, I just couldn’t really make any ground up on Cannon. I think if the bottom would’ve slowed up just a little bit more than it did, I think my other line there through the middle would’ve came into play, but it just never did. Lapped cars played nice tonight; I was kind of banking on them to hold him up a little more than they did.”
Sprint Car ace Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) equaled best USAC National Midget run of his career Friday night at Gas City with a third in his Glenn Styres Racing/Ohsweken Speedway – Lucas Oil Center/Spike/Stanton SR-11x, a team that gave him a chance to delve into the midget world on a more frequent basis this season, and Cummins hasn’t let them down.
“They believed in me to start running the midget a little bit, and to just kind of learn it,” Cummins said. “I wasn’t very good in the heat race, but in the B-Main we were a little better and there in the end, we weren’t so great. I don’t know what I’m doing, so we threw a couple things at it, and through the first half, this thing was on kill. Once it got slick there, I probably could’ve done a couple things, but third place in a midget, that’s pretty cool.”
Also, of note, two drivers made their first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature starts at Gas City on Friday night, Chase Randall (Waco, Texas) and Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Ariz.). Randall finished 20th while Reinbold took 22nd.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 25, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – James Dean Classic / Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.149; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.164; 3. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.213; 4. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-12.263; 5. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-12.298; 6. Logan Seavey, 91L, RMS-12.319; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.325; 8. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.349; 9. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-12.363; 10. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.364; 11. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.371; 12. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-12.372; 13. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.400; 14. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.402; 15. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.413; 16. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-12.421; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.476; 18. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.482; 19. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.485; 20. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-12.504; 21. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.512; 22. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.523; 23. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-12.540; 24. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.541; 25. Brady Bacon, 19, Hayward-12.555; 26. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.598; 27. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.741; 28. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-13.255; 29. Doug Hewitt, 82H, Cordonnier-13.406; 30. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-13.434; 31. Kameron Gladish, 20, Nolen-13.603; 32. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-13.723; 33. Chris Jagger Jr., 32, Jagger-13.770; 34. David Budres, 31, Manic-14.416; 35. Chris Jagger, 27, Jagger-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Doug Hewitt, 9. Chris Jagger Jr.
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Robert Dalby, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Oliver Akard, 9. David Budres.
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Andrew Layser, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. Bryant Wiedeman, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Kameron Gladish.
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Gage Rucker, 6. Tyler Nelson, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Karter Sarff.
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Tyler Nelson, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Bryant Wiedeman, 9. Sam Johnson, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Gage Rucker, 12. Glenn Waterland, 13. Kameron Gladish, 14. David Budres, 15. Doug Hewitt, 16. Chris Jagger Jr., 17. Oliver Akard.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (4), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Kyle Cummins (11), 4. Tanner Thorson (17), 5. Emerson Axsom (5), 6. Justin Grant (8), 7. Buddy Kofoid (18), 8. Daison Pursley (1), 9. Chris Windom (15), 10. Tanner Carrick (13), 11. Brady Bacon (22), 12. Andrew Layser (9), 13. Logan Seavey (14), 14. Clinton Boyles (19), 15. Thomas Meseraull (7), 16. Chase Johnson (2), 17. Cole Bodine (10), 18. Robert Dalby (21), 19. Kaylee Bryson (20), 20. Chase Randall (16), 21. Tyler Nelson (12), 22. Hayden Reinbold (23*), 23. Ethan Mitchell (3). NT
* represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Daison Pursley, Laps 3-30 Cannon McIntosh.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,321, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,312, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,226, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,226, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,145, 6-Tanner Carrick-1,002, 7-Daison Pursley-956, 8-Cole Bodine-816, 9-Andrew Layser-811, 10-Justin Grant-743.
INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-23, 2-Brady Bacon-13, 3-Tanner Thorson-13, 4-Buddy Kofoid-11, 5-Shane Cottle-9, 6-Robert Ballou-9, 7-Justin Grant-8, 8-Kyle Cummins-8, 9-Carson Short-6, 10-Clinton Boyles-5.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-162, 2-Tanner Thorson-96, 3-Shane Cottle-95, 4-Kyle Cummins-86, 5-Justin Grant-84, 6-Robert Ballou-82, 7-Logan Seavey-77, 8-Brady Bacon-74, 9-Cannon McIntosh-72, 10-Andrew Layser-65.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Justin Grant
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Andrew Layser
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (17th to 4th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Brenham Crouch
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
ProSource Hard Work Award: Brady Bacon
BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Emerson Axsom
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WINDOM A KOKOMO MIDGET WINNER FROM 14TH
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (September 26, 2020)………Chris Windom had won pretty much everything Kokomo Speedway has had to offer throughout the past decade.
He’d won two Sprint Car track championships in 2010 and 2018, numerous sprint car races on the local level at the quarter-mile dirt oval, three victories the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars, and was even victorious in a USAC Regional Midget feature in 2016.
Nonetheless, that one USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature win at Kokomo had eluded him. He led nine laps late in the going during Indiana Midget Week this past June, ultimately finishing 3rd.
This time around, the Canton, Ill. native sealed the deal and stamped the envelope en route to victory Saturday night, carving his way through the field after starting 14th, during night two of the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double.
In doing so, Windom maintained his point lead of the series by an eight-point margin as the 2016 USAC Silver Crown and 2017 National Sprint champ seeks to conquer the third and final prong of the coveted USAC Triple Crown, of which only six previous drivers have achieved.
Justin Grant led early from his pole starting position, outdueling outside front row starter Brady Bacon for the advantage at the drop of the green. Meanwhile, 2019 series Rookie of the Year, Andrew Layser, slotted into second past Bacon on the third lap and was on the prowl to track down Grant for the race lead.
That notion came to an abrupt halt for Layser on the fifth circuit as he pogo’d at the entry of turn one and collected a broad sliding Thomas Meseraull who was running fifth at the time. Daison Pursley (7th) was also caught up the altercation but was able to restart from the tail and race back to 11th in the end. Layser and Meseraull weren’t as fortunate, though, retiring from the race with damage that didn’t allow them to continue. Layser finished 20th and Meseraull 21st.
Series Rookie Emerson Axsom slowed to a stop while running fourth to bring out the yellow on the 15th lap, and on that ensuing restart, leader Courtney stuck to the bottom, all while being swarmed high and low behind each shoulder. Second running Bacon went topside, and a suddenly surging Windom ventured even lower on the bottom, making his way toward the front after starting 14th.
Windom had gone fifth to third just prior to the yellow, then picked off another position in the pecking order on the 16th lap to roll to second with his vision affixed to Courtney just ahead. Windom had just run ninth in the preceding Sprint Car feature and was determined not to let Sprint feature winner Courtney sweep the night.
“The sprint car race didn’t go too well for me, so I had to get something done in that midget race,” Windom offered. “The track really wasn’t anywhere but around the bottom, and I had to try something. I just got lower than everybody else and made it work.”
On the 21st lap, Windom was on the brink of reaching his destination and was able to pull to the inside of Courtney entering the first turn. Courtney responded in kind by racing back by Windom on the outside of turn two, edging ahead midway down the back straightaway before closing the door to take away the bottom lane in turn three, and held the advantage over Windom at the start/finish line by a half-car-length on both laps 21 and 22.
The following lap, however, lap 23, Courtney performed a bounce routine as his right rear tagged the turn three cushion. That allowed Windom to sneak under and assume the lead to beat Courtney to the stripe by a single car length. Windom quickly put the battle to rest by extending his lead to 1.6 sec. down the stretch until a lap 28 yellow for the stopped car of Axsom necessitated a stoppage that ultimately erased Windom’s lead, and provided Courtney another shot.
Courtney stepped to the outside of turn two on the final restart with three to go, and momentarily presented a serious threat to Windom’s throne. However, that proved short-lived as Windom pasted himself to the bottom and launched away to 1.015 second interval at the checkered to win over Courtney in second and Fatheadz Fast Qualifier Tanner Thorson in third, placing the top-three in the series standings as also the top-three finishers for the night. Cannon McIntosh and Buddy Kofoid rounded out the top-five in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
For Windom, it took everything he had in proverbial tank to race from mid-pack to win and retain his point lead while also making it the sixth time this season that a winner has started 10th or worse with the series and went on to win. It was Windom’s fourth victory of the year and one he certainly needed at this juncture of the season in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Chad Boat and all these guys at Tucker-Boat have brought me a great racecar all year,” Windom expressed. “We’ve had one of the fastest cars night-in and night-out. The points battle is tight, but we had to come up there and win that race to keep us in the lead, so that’s what we did.”
For Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), it was an astounding ninth consecutive top-three finish with the series in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x, including his third-straight runner-up finish as he pursues a second-straight series title.
“After that restart, we just weren’t as good as we were at the beginning of the race,” Courtney said. “I don’t know if something happened, but that’s how it goes sometimes. It was still a good night; we qualified second, ran third in the heat and second in the feature, another second place in the midget. We’ve been running top-three a lot here lately with not a lot of wins, but it was a great night for our team. We’ll keep putting the pressure on Chris here and see if we can get ourselves another championship.”
Thorson (Minden, Nev.), a Kokomo USAC Midget winner this past June, displayed continual improvements throughout the weekend in his new ride, the Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Ed Pink Racing Engines – Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. He finished fourth at Gas City, Ind. in his debut with the team on Friday night, then set fast time during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying on Saturday at Kokomo, followed by a third-place feature run.
“I can’t thank this team that’s behind me enough,” Thorson praised. “(Car owner) Tom Malloy and (crew chief) Jerome Rodela gave me a call to come run their stuff. I had a bunch of options and I just felt like these guys were the best ones to pick. I’m happy with (tonight). I wish we could’ve run a little better, but a single lane on the bottom makes it difficult to pass. Hats off to Chris (Windom) and Tyler (Courtney). They’re two of the best out here in the midgets and it’s pretty awesome to be able to race with them.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 26, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval –Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-13.175; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.240; 3. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.256; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.303; 5. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.357; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.385; 7. Brady Bacon, 19, Hayward-13.417; 8. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-13.419; 9. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-13.425; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.431; 11. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.445; 12. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.452; 13. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.461; 14. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.474; 15. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-13.478; 16. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.496; 17. Logan Seavey, 91L, RMS-13.502; 18. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.535; 19. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.535; 20. Karter Sarff, 55K, Sparks-13.553; 21. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.577; 22. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.583; 23. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-13.591; 24. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.593; 25. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-13.703; 26. David Budres, 31, Manic-13.714; 27. Chris Jagger Jr., 32, Jagger-14.746; 28. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-15.044; 29. Doug Hewitt, 82H, Cordonnier-15.100; 30. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-NT; 31. Ray Seach, 54, Manic-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Chase Randall, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Doug Hewitt. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. David Budres. 2:17.848
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Gage Rucker, 7. Chris Jagger Jr. 2:20.557
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Karter Sarff, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Glenn Waterland, 7. Clinton Boyles. 2:18.992
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Gage Rucker, 8. Chris Jagger Jr., 9. Glenn Waterland, 10. David Budres. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (14), 2. Tyler Courtney (5), 3. Tanner Thorson (6), 4. Cannon McIntosh (16), 5. Buddy Kofoid (9), 6. Brady Bacon (2), 7. Logan Seavey (18), 8. Kyle Cummins (12), 9. Chase Johnson (13), 10. Justin Grant (1), 11. Daison Pursley (8), 12. Brenham Crouch (11), 13. Tanner Carrick (17), 14. Bryant Wiedeman (20), 15. Kaylee Bryson (7), 16. Cole Bodine (15), 17. Emerson Axsom (3), 18. Karter Sarff (21), 19. Chase Randall (22), 20. Andrew Layser (4), 21. Thomas Meseraull (10), 22. Hayden Reinbold (19). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Justin Grant, Laps 10-22 Tyler Courtney, Laps 23-30 Chris Windom.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,398, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,390, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,301, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,292, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,211, 6-Tanner Carrick-1,041, 7-Daison Pursley-1,005, 8-Cole Bodine-848, 9-Andrew Layser-844, 10-Justin Grant-793.
FINAL INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-46, 2-Tanner Thorson-16, 3-Cannon McIntosh-15, 4-Brady Bacon-16, 5-Buddy Kofoid-15, 6-Clinton Boyles-14, 7-Logan Seavey-13, 8-Robert Ballou-13, 9-Kyle Cummins-13, 10-Tyler Courtney-11.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-186, 2-Tanner Thorson-99, 3-Shane Cottle-96, 4-Kyle Cummins-91, 5-Logan Seavey-89, 6-Robert Ballou-87, 7-Justin Grant-86, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-78, 10-Andrew Layser-65.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Double Double ProSource Passing Master: Chris Windom
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Brenham Crouch
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chris Windom (14th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Tanner Carrick
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Gage Rucker
ProSource Hard Work Award: Chase Randall
BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Buddy Kofoid
Smith Titanium “Don’t Stop” Midget Weekend Hard Charger: Chris Windom (19)
MPI BCForever Up on the Wheel Highest Finishing Semi-Feature Transfer: Kyle Cummins
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THORSON THROTTLES TO LEFFLER MEMORIAL VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Wayne City, Illinois (October 9, 2020)………The third race of Tanner Thorson’s tenure with Tom Malloy’s midget team turned out to be the charm as the Minden, Nev. native hunted down race-long leader Chris Windom with 11 laps remaining to capture the victory in Friday night’s Jason Leffler Memorial USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Ill.
The win was Thorson’s fifth with the series in 2020, and the 18th of his career, tying him with Tyler Courtney and Dave Steele for 37th all-time. In doing so, the 2016 series champion became the seventh different Leffler Memorial winner in the seven runnings of the event.
“This is one of the races I’ve wanted to win for a long time. I’ve never really been in the right situation, but now we did it.,” Thorson, a 2nd place Leffler Memorial finisher in 2016, said. “I never knew Jason (Leffler) on a personal level, but I know a bunch of people who were really good friends with him and always talked about how good of a guy he was and that he was definitely a badass in the racecar. There’s no two ways about that. I wish he was here to throw some sliders and race with us. This is an awesome event to win.”
Car owner Tom Malloy and crew members Jerome Rodela, Chris Tramel and Brinton Marvel each experienced their first USAC win on the National level on this night. Their success together began when Thorson and Hayward Motorsports, with whom he scored four victories this year, parted ways in mid-September. Team Malloy and Thorson’s first two races together resulted is finishes of 4th at Gas City, Ind. and 3rd at Kokomo, Ind. on Sept. 25-26, respectively.
It’s been an opportunity that Thorson has relished with support from Factory Kahne, Reliable, K1 RaceGear and Arai Helmets.
“It’s all around a good fit for me,” Thorson explained. “I trust all the guys around me and we’re all buddies too, so it makes it pretty easy. When one of us messes up, we all mess up. There’s no pointing fingers. Tom Malloy has had a dream to come back here from California and compete against the national guys and win. That’s been his goal with having this team out here; it’s to go out and win races. I’m really ecstatic and really happy to say the least, but we’ve got more to win. We’ve still got to get better. We’re never good enough.”
Thorson carries the “Malloy Special” name on the side of his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Ed Pink Racing Engines – Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. Tom’s father, Emmett Malloy, a 2018 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, fielded cars with the same “Malloy Special” lettering adorned on his rides nearly three-quarters of a century earlier, a winning heritage that has taken shape all these years later.
Emmett built, owned and operated California’s famed Carrell Speedway during the 1940s and 50s, where the 1949 racing film “The Big Wheel” starring Mickey Rooney was filmed, and also hosted the inaugural CRA event. A dominant run with, most notably, Troy Ruttman on the AAA Sprint Car trail in the mid-20th century as well as winning performances with Rex Mays and Andy Linden, was followed by a pole run in the champ cars with Bobby Ball at Phoenix in 1950 and a pair of Indianapolis 500 starts with Jimmy Reece, the first of which came in 1954 with a car sporting No. 25 on the tail.
Sixty-six years later, a No. 25 Malloy Special was back at the forefront once again with Thorson behind the wheel. Starting sixth at Wayne City, Thorson made a somewhat methodical drive to the head of the pack, getting to 4th on the opening lap where he settled into a groove for the first quarter of the event.
Up front, however, the battle for the lead pit pole sitter Cannon McIntosh and outside front row starter Chris Windom against one another for the lead. An exchange of sliders between the two on both ends of the 1/8-mile dirt oval on the first lap gave way to Windom as he withstood the challenge to step away from McIntosh exiting turn two on the second lap.
After a pair of restarts for separate minor incidents involving Brady Bacon, then Chase Johnson and Buddy Kofoid, McIntosh rose to the surface once again, sliding past Windom entering turn one on the 11th lap, with Windom responding by driving back under McIntosh to reclaim the lead. Rinse and repeat on lap 13, and Windom was able to thwart McIntosh’s bid once again.
When McIntosh skidded and clanged the outside guardrail in turn three on lap 16, he subsequently lost substantial ground to Windom. By then, Thorson was in 3rd following a tug of war with Kevin Thomas Jr. for the position and was now collapsing on McIntosh for the runner-up spot, which he’d gain by algae-eating the bottom of turn four to surpass him on the 25th lap.
Opposite approaches took Windom topside and Thorson to the bottom to run one-two entering the final quarter of the 40-lapper. With 12 laps remaining, Windom’s lead stood at 1.3 seconds. One lap later, Thorson had shaved off a full second of Windom’s lead, which put Thorson in prime position to drive right past Windom off the bottom of turn two on lap 30 to snare the race lead by beating Windom to the rubber first.
“I’ve always been good finding the rubber first,” Thorson revealed. “I watched the lapped cars start to pull away from Windom and was thinking that he’s going to jump down there, but he never did. I just got down there and got my rhythm going and made sure I didn’t come too far off the bottom. I got to him and my nose was there, and I thought he’s probably going to chop me in the next corner. He tried but he didn’t have enough momentum with how slick it was. Seeing how he could never get a run on them, or pass them, I knew I had to stay low and hope they’d move up so I could get by one of them. Just a chain reaction sort of deal as it all played out.”
A lap 37 caution for a turn one tangle involving Logan Seavey (7th), Jason McDougal (8th) and Tyler Thomas (12th) restacked the deck once more for a four-lap trophy dash. However, the entire pack followed Thorson’s lead by not leaving the bottom. Thorson led the field around for the final four to reign victorious by a 0.544 sec. margin over Windom, Kevin Thomas Jr., McIntosh and Daison Pursley.
With Friday night’s event awarding 50 appearance points across the board to all participating USAC licensed drivers and owners regardless of finishing position, Chris Windom (Canton, Ohio) maintained his eight-point lead in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings over Tyler Courtney with now only six points races remaining in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Tanner found (the rubber) first and got by us there,” Windom recalled after leading a race-high 29 laps. “I was trying to clear a couple more lapped cars because I knew the bottom was getting better. I just made a mistake and waited a couple too many laps to get down there.”
Kevin Thomas Jr.’s first race back in the Petry Motorsports/Robertson Trucking – FK Rod Ends – Keizer Wheels/Bullet/Speedway Toyota since June resulted in a 3rd place finish, the best result for the Cullman, Ala. native with the series this season.
“It’s fun to be able to run on the podium and run good; it’s been a while,” Thomas exclaimed. Obviously, everybody knows it’s been a hellacious year. It’s good to bounce back like that. They gave me a great racecar. We were one of the first to hop to the bottom and we were making a little bit of ground on them, but not enough. I saw Tanner go by a few lapped cars on the bottom and he found (the rubber) right in front of us and ended up winning the race, so it was a good job on his part.”
Furthermore, Kyle Cummins’ time of 1:51.378 set a new 10-lap track record for USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets at Wayne County Speedway during the first heat race.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 9, 2020 – Wayne County Speedway – Wayne City, Illinois – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Jason Leffler Memorial
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres), 2. Daison Pursley (#9 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Chase Randall (#25 Petry), 4. Brenham Crouch (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 5. Andy Bishop (#91 Harris), 6. Cody Brewer (#96 Central), 7. Chad Frewaldt (#4F Frewaldt), 8. Casey Hicks (#5H Hicks). 1:51.378 (New Track Record)
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Chris Windom (#89 Tucker-Boat), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#5 Petry), 3. Tyler Thomas (#91T Thomas), 4. Andrew Layser (#82 Tucker-Boat), 5. Kaylee Bryson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Aiden Purdue (#57D McCreery), 7. Russ Gamester (#46 Gamester). NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Chase Johnson (#25c Malloy), 2. Cole Bodine (#39BC Clauson-Marshall), 3. Tanner Thorson (#25m Malloy), 4. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson-Marshall), 5. Justin Grant (#4A RAMS), 6. Logan Seavey (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 7. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built). 1:52.505
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Brady Bacon (#19 Hayward), 2. Buddy Kofoid (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Emerson Axsom (#15 Petry), 4. Jason McDougal (#4B Klatt), 5. Jerry Coons Jr. (#85 Central), 6. Robert Dalby (#4 Dalby), 7. Travis Berryhill (#11Y Young). 1:53.915
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, passing points) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Sam Johnson (#72 Johnson), 3. Carson Garrett (#15x Garrett), 4. Tres Mehler (#17x Stellhorn), 5. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 6. Gage Rucker (#19G Hayward), 7. Oliver Akard (#41 Akard). 1:53.501
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (12 laps, passing points) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Robert Dalby, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Sam Johnson, 9. Gage Rucker. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (12 laps, passing points) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Andy Bishop, 7. Aiden Purdue, 8. Carson Garrett, 9. Chad Frewaldt. 2:20.721
AUTOMETER THIRD QUALIFIER: (12 laps, passing points) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Tres Mehler, 8. Casey Hicks, 9. Russ Gamester. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFIER: (12 laps, passing points) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Cody Brewer, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Buddy Kofoid, 8. Oliver Akard, 9. Travis Berryhill. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (15 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Cody Brewer, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Andrew Layser, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Aiden Purdue, 10. Tres Mehler, 11. Andy Bishop, 12. Brenham Crouch, 13. Gage Rucker, 14. Casey Hicks, 15. Carson Garrett, 16. Hayden Reinbold, 17. Chad Frewaldt, 18. Russ Gamester. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (6), 2. Chris Windom (2), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 4. Cannon McIntosh (1), 5. Daison Pursley (3), 6. Tyler Courtney (10), 7. Kyle Cummins (11), 8. Chase Randall (5), 9. Emerson Axsom (7), 10. Justin Grant (9), 11. Jerry Coons Jr. (15), 12. Cole Bodine (20), 13. Cody Brewer (18), 14. Robert Dalby (19), 15. Tyler Thomas (14), 16. Chase Johnson (12), 17. Buddy Kofoid (17), 18. Kaylee Bryson (22), 19. Sam Johnson (21), 20. Hayden Reinbold (23*), 21. Brady Bacon (13), 22. Logan Seavey (8), 23. Jason McDougal (16). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Gage Rucker flipped during hot laps. Andrew Layser flipped during the fourth qualifier.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-29 Chris Windom, Laps 30-40 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,448, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,440, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,351, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,342, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,261, 6-Daison Pursley-1,055, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,041, 8-Cole Bodine-898, 9-Andrew Layser-894, 10-Justin Grant-843.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-186, 2-Tanner Thorson-104, 3-Robert Ballou-101, 4-Kyle Cummins-100, 5-Shane Cottle-96, 6-Logan Seavey-89, 7-Justin Grant-86, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Chase Stockon-72.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 10, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – Harvest Cup
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner: Tyler Courtney
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner: Justin Grant
AutoMeter Third Qualifier Winner: Logan Seavey
Indy Race Parts Fourth Qualifier Winner: Cannon McIntosh
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Buddy Kofoid
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Cole Bodine (20th to 12th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Cody Brewer
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Andrew Layser
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FINALLY! MESERAULL MAKES IT TO USAC MIDGET VICTORY LANE AT HARVEST CUP
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana (October 10, 2020)………In his two-plus decades of racing with USAC, one piece of the puzzle had been surprisingly absent from Thomas Meseraull’s resume – a NOS Energy Drink National Midget points-paying feature victory.
After many a close call throughout his career, Meseraull finally sealed the deal Saturday night during Harvest Cup at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, but once again for him, it didn’t come easy.
With an overheating engine and smoke pouring from the headers during the final laps, Meseraull became bottled up in traffic, then withstood a last lap, last corner surge from Tanner Thorson to win by a single car length at the line, with a margin of 0.119 sec. to spare, in his Response Management Services/EnviroFab – Guess Performance Parts/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
While the San Jose, Calif. driver had previously won at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in 2004 and at the Southern Illinois Center in 2018, both victories were non-championship, special events for USAC Midgets, making this a long-awaited night for Meseraull to mark his initial tally in the series’ win column after making 89 feature starts since his 1999 debut. Furthermore, he provided RMS Racing with its first ever USAC National Midget feature win in one fell swoop.
“To officially get my first USAC National Midget win here is crazy,” Meseraull admitted. “The RMS Racing No. 7x has been really good all year. We just haven’t had the finishes to show for it. I feel like in the last four USAC shows, we’ve had the fastest car on the track but just got caught up in wrecks.”
In each of his past two series starts at Gas City and Kokomo, Meseraull was running inside the top-five when trouble ensued, collecting him in a pair of incidents not of his own doing. Last year’s Harvest Cup saw Meseraull lead three laps late, and while battling for the lead, he and Jason McDougal tangled, sending Meseraull backwards into the outside turn four wall.
But that was last year, and Meseraull was determined to change course and find redemption on this night. Starting 7th, Meseraull was on the move early despite a flurry of stoppages that halted competition early and often during the 30-lapper. Cannon McIntosh was first to find chaos, banging the outside boiler plate on the opening lap that sent him flipping between turns one and two. He emerged from the wreckage uninjured.
Cole Bodine led the opening three laps from his outside front row starting position and was operating in the top spot on lap four when he spun on his own accord in turn two. Fourth-running Chris Windom was unable to avoid the mishap and T-boned the stopped Bodine.
While Bodine restarted from the tail and finished 11th, Windom’s car suffered front end damage that required a little more TLC in the work area before rejoining the field a lap down, ultimately finishing 16th and falling behind by 15 points to Tyler Courtney in the series’ championship race.
McDougal, the 2019 Harvest Cup Midget winner, inherited the race lead for the lap five restart. Meseraull, riding third behind Justin Grant at the drop of the green, used the opportunity to slide by Grant for the 2nd spot in turn one. Grant then reclaimed the runner-up position with a slider of his own in turn three before Meseraull clamped down to repeat his tactic from a lap earlier in turn one to stick the position on the fifth circuit.
When Chase Randall stopped atop turn three on lap eight, that created another restart opportunity for Meseraull who made the most of the chance by immediately sliding underneath McDougal entering the first turn. Another restart on the 11th lap didn’t faze Meseraull as he opened his lead up to two seconds in the ensuing laps while McDougal and the surging Kyle Cummins, who had won the night’s MSCS Sprint Car event just prior to the Midget feature.
“I feel like I was just better on starts,” Meseraull explained. “My car takes off better, and once I got rolling, it was pretty beautiful the way the car was working. It was actually carrying the right front down the straightaways and I could run right on the curb wide open, no lift. It was beautiful.”
McDougal and Cummins proceeded to entertain the onlookers with copious amounts of slide jobs back-and-forth for three straight laps before Cummins prevailed with the position on the 14th lap, then moments later, 7th running Daison Pursley found the wall in turn four, flipping him over. Pursley was uninjured.
Throughout the second half of the race, Meseraull continued to stretch his lead out to more than a second over Cummins, then Friday night’s Wayne City, Ill. winner Tanner Thorson, who took over 2nd from Cummins with just three laps remaining.
Meanwhile, Meseraull was as fluid as water up front. However, like water, he began to get bottled up in traffic with two and three-wide battles clogging up the main artery he’d been utilizing topside around the 1/4-mile dirt oval. Meseraull hunted and searched but chose to remain loyal to the top on the final set of corners for the last lap.
“We got to lapped traffic with just a few to go, and really, I wasn’t that good on the bottom,” Meseraull said. “I was only good on the top and traffic held me up.”
On top of it all, Meseraull was a bit worried about the engine. However, at that point, despite all the smoke signals being sent skyward, for Meseraull, there was only one possible avenue to take.
“It was 230 (degrees) by lap 10,” Meseraull revealed. “This was the last race on this motor before it got rebuilt, and when you’re leading a national midget race, you just go racing.”
Thorson dove it low into turn three on the 30th and final lap to surge ahead of Meseraull by two car lengths with just a half-straightaway remaining. With a plume of smoke surrounding his machine, Meseraull used the momentum from the top to squeeze his way through the one lane gap between Thorson’s right-side wheels and the outside wall to defeat Thorson by a mere one solitary car length.
“I saw (Thorson) and knew if he would’ve moved up, we would’ve both crashed going down the front stretch because I wasn’t going to lift. I’m not going to lift if I can see the checkered flags. Period.”
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 10, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Harvest Cup
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.705; 2. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-13.756; 3. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-13.783; 4. Jason McDougal, 4B, Klatt-13.835; 5. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-13.851; 6. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.924; 7. Stephen Schnapf, 11m, Martin-14.006; 8. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-14.010; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.026; 10. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.070; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5, Petry-14.142; 12. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.148; 13. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-14.169; 14. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-14.206; 15. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-14.235; 16. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-14.245; 17. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.309; 18. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-14.376; 19. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-14.391; 20. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-14.424; 21. Chase McDermand, 40, RMS-14.449; 22. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-14.504; 23. Brady Bacon, 19, Hayward-14.542; 24. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.575; 25. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.610; 26. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-14.657; 27. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-14.681; 28. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-14.696; 29. Chad Frewaldt, 4F, Frewaldt-14.718; 30. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.774; 31. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.813; 32. Aiden Purdue, 57D, McCreery-14.832; 33. Gage Rucker, 19G, Hayward-14.833; 34. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-14.927; 35. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.111; 36. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-15.604; 37. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-15.664; 38. Tres Mehler, 17, Stellhorn-15.718; 39. Casey Hicks, 9H, Hicks-15.747; 40. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Bryant Weideman, 7. Chase McDermand, 8. Gage Rucker, 9. Glenn Waterland, 10. Chad Frewaldt. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Chase Randall, 6. Noah Gass, 7. Brenham Crouch, 8. Tyler Nelson, 9. Tres Mehler, 10. Cody Brewer. 2:20.892
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. Stephen Schnapf, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Robert Dalby, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Casey Hicks. 2:23.056
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Andrew Layser, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. 15x Carson Garrett, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Aiden Purdue, 9. Oliver Akard. NT
C-MAIN (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi-feature) 1. Aiden Purdue, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Gage Rucker, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Oliver Akard, 6. Glenn Waterland, 7. Tres Mehler, 8. Casey Hicks, 9. Cody Brewer. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Stephen Schnapf, 3. Chase Randall, 4. Sam Johnson, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Bryant Wiedeman, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Brenham Crouch, 11. Aiden Purdue, 12. Chase McDermand, 13. Gage Rucker, 14. Chad Frewaldt, 15. Robert Dalby, 16. Emerson Axsom, 17. Tyler Nelson, 18. Hayden Reinbold. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (7), 2. Tanner Thorson (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (12), 4. Tyler Courtney (9), 5. Emerson Axsom (23*), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 7. Clinton Boyles (18), 8. Justin Grant (5), 9. Kaylee Bryson (22), 10. Chase Johnson (15), 11. Cole Bodine (2), 12. Buddy Kofoid (16), 13. Chase Randall (13), 14. Logan Seavey (17), 15. Jerry Coons Jr. (21), 16. Chris Windom (6), 17. Jason McDougal (3), 18. Sam Johnson (14), 19. Daison Pursley (11), 20. Brady Bacon (19), 21. Andrew Layser (1), 22. Stephen Schnapf (8), 23. Cannon McIntosh (20). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Tyler Nelson flipped over the third turn wall during the semi. Cannon McIntosh flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Daison Pursley flipped on lap 15 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Cole Bodine, Laps 4-7 Jason McDougal, Laps 8-30 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-1,508, 2-Chris Windom-1,493, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,430, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,386, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,290, 6-Daison Pursley-1,084, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,041, 8-Cole Bodine-945, 9-Andrew Layser-924, 10-Justin Grant-904.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-186, 2-Kyle Cummins-109, 3-Tanner Thorson-106, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Shane Cottle-96, 6-Logan Seavey-92, 7-Justin Grant-86, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Chase Stockon-72.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: November 13-14, 2020 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – Western World Championships
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Jason McDougal
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Kaylee Bryson (22nd to 9th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chase Randall
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Bryant Wiedeman
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THORSON SURGES FROM 3RD TO 1ST TO WIN WESTERN WORLD MIDGET OPENER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 13, 2020)………For the final push to victory on the green-white-checkered finish of Friday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature at Arizona Speedway, most eyes were affixed on the front two of Logan Seavey and Buddy Kofoid as the pair streamed into turn one.
By the time those two reached the second turn, it was, instead, Tanner Thorson who combed the bottom of turns one and two, driving past both Seavey and Kofoid to secure the lead en route to bringing home a 19th career series victory, tying himself with Jerry Coons Jr., Stan Fox and Jason Leffler for 34th all-time.
“That’s what it’s all about right there, those last few laps and having a car to win,” Thorson exclaimed in victory lane after capturing the opener for the 53rd annual Western World Championships presented by San Tan Ford. “We concentrated really hard to set up for the end of the race. After I got screwed around for quite some time, we had a fast car, but we were too far back.”
Outside front row starter Kofoid controlled the pace for the first four trips around the 1/3-mile dirt oval until Thorson, of Minden, Nev., took to the top on the fifth circuit, drifting around the outside of Kofoid at the exit of turn four to lead a single lap by a wheel before Kofoid retook over amidst a flurry of sliders that also included Seavey.
The rapidly emerging Seavey, who had earlier set a new one-lap track record for the series at Arizona Speedway in qualifying, which broke his own record from the previous year, diamonded off the third turn to slip under Kofoid on the 10th lap. While Seavey just missed out on winning the race to the start/finish line, he did win the race to turn one where he assumed the lead and established his dominance throughout the final two-thirds of the 30-lap contest.
Kofoid moved back past Thorson for the runner-up position on the 12th lap, then separated himself from Thorson by over a second while still remaining a second-and-a-half behind Seavey who was carving his path through traffic, a half-straightaway ahead of Kofoid.
Seavey appeared headed for surefire victory, taking the white flag with a 1.643 sec. interval over Kofoid when 13th running Brenham Crouch, who started on the pole, stopped in turn two, just ahead of Seavey of the oncoming Seavey, thus setting up a two-lap dash.
As the green flag dropped, Kofoid immediately moved down a lane on the front straightaway, setting up his slide job into turn one, which initially worked until Seavey crossed over and dove back underneath Kofoid for the position. To Seavey’s chagrin, the cross over move only brought him back to the second spot as Thorson snuck under both with the lead now in his hands.
Moments later, Kofoid slid Seavey back in turn three with Seavey once again crossing over off the fourth corner and denying Kofoid the spot. However, it was just a little too late with Thorson stretching his lead out to four car lengths by the time they’d hit the back straightaway.
Thorson closed it out with a 0.469 sec. margin of victory in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Ed Pink Racing Engines – Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota. It was the 2016 USAC National Midget champion’s series-leading sixth feature triumph of the season. Logan Seavey, Tyler Courtney, Buddy Kofoid and Daison Pursley rounded out the top-five at the finish.
The first four of Thorson’s six 2020 victories came aboard the Hayward Motorsports ride. In five starts with Tom Malloy’s machinery, Thorson has finished 4th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 1st, making the pairing the most successful in this stretch that began in late September.
“This car has been fast every time I’ve been in it,” Thorson said as he celebrated via phone with 2014 Western World Midget winner Darren Hagen. “We’ve run five times and we’ve been in the top-five every time and won two races. I can’t say enough about Jerome (Rodela), Chris (Tramel), Brinton (Marvel), Ed Pink, Tom, and all of Tom’s family with Trench Shoring. They’ve given me the opportunity to come out and run with them and it’s paying off. I’ve got to thank Reliable; he allows me to go out on the road and do this, so it’s pretty awesome.”
Logan Seavey led a race-high 19 laps but saw victory slip away on the final restart in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical Contracting – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“Overall, we had a good car, ran a good race and I felt like I did my job,” Seavey stated. “Under yellow, the thing just wouldn’t take off. I knew it wasn’t going to take off. I took off in turn three and it never went until about the flag stand. I didn’t have the gear to run the bottom, so I knew I couldn’t go to the bottom and I knew I was going to get slid in one. But I thought I had enough to turn down and cross (Kofoid) over, which I did, but it just gave Tanner (Thorson) too good of a run on the bottom.”
“It’s just frustrating,” Seavey continued. “It’s November and we can’t get these things to take off on restarts. Our car was good under green, but you’ve just got to be able to get away from those guys on restarts and we couldn’t do it, just couldn’t put the whole race together.”
A third place run after starting 13th on the grid was as good as gold for two-time Western World Sprint Car champion Tyler Courtney who gained ground in his quest toward a second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget driving title, and now leads Chris Windom by 32 points with four races remaining in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
“It was a great night, going from fifth to third there (on the final restart) is good for the big picture things,” Courtney said. “Obviously, you want to win, but it’s tough when you start 13th. That just put us behind the eight ball. We haven’t qualified bad all year until we got here, but I think we figured out a lot of things to help us out for tomorrow so that we can start our night out better and put ourselves in a spot to be able to contend for the win instead of having to salvage a third.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 13, 2020 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – 53rd Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.137 (New Track Record); 2. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-15.146; 3. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-15.190; 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.217; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.243; 6. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.393; 7. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-15.474; 8. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.505; 9. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.522; 10. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.534; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.587; 12. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-15.595; 13. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.603; 14. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-15.627; 15. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-15.634; 16. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.650; 17. Jerry Coons Jr., 28, Dave Mac-15.654; 18. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-15.665; 19. Stevie Sussex, 1G, Styres-15.671; 20. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.672; 21. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.713; 22. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.728; 23. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.734; 24. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-15.810; 25. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.834; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.878; 27. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-16.080; 28. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-16.250; 29. Casey Schmitz, 00, MSW-16.648; 30. Ryan Oerter, 43, Oerter-18.304.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Emerson Axsom, 7. Bryant Wiedeman, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Stevie Sussex, 10. Andrew Layser. 2:11.674
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Noah Gass, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Cannon McIntosh, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Jesse Love, 9. Casey Schmitz, 10. Hayden Reinbold. 2:10.260
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Randall, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Clinton Boyles, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Ryan Oerter. 2:11.054
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Jesse Love, 10. Andrew Layser, 11. Casey Schmitz, 12. Stevie Sussex, 13. Carson Garrett, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Ryan Oerter. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (3), 2. Logan Seavey (6), 3. Tyler Courtney (13), 4. Buddy Kofoid (2), 5. Daison Pursley (4), 6. Justin Grant (9), 7. Tanner Carrick (12), 8. Chris Windom (20), 9. Clinton Boyles (21), 10. Cannon McIntosh (11), 11. Spencer Bayston (5), 12. Bryant Wiedeman (10), 13. Jerry Coons Jr. (17), 14. Emerson Axsom (22), 15. Brenham Crouch (1), 16. Thomas Meseraull (19), 17. Noah Gass (7), 18. Andrew Layser* (23), 19. Cole Bodine (15), 20. Robert Dalby (18), 21. Kaylee Bryson (16), 22. Chase Johnson (14), 23. Chase Randall (8). NT
* represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Buddy Kofoid, Lap 5 Tanner Thorson, Laps 6-9 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 10-28 Logan Seavey, Laps 29-30 Tanner Thorson.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-1,579, 2-Chris Windom-1,547, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,508, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,451, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,338, 6-Daison Pursley-1,147, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,094, 8-Cole Bodine-977, 9-Justin Grant-967, 10-Andrew Layser-951.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-203, 2-Tanner Thorson-108, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Logan Seavey-97, 6-Shane Cottle-96, 7-Justin Grant-89, 8-Cannon McIntosh-85, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: November 14, 2020 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – Western World Championships presented by San Tan Ford
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Noah Gass
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Chase Randall
Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Chris Windom (20th to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jerry Coons Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Ethan Mitchell
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KOFOID CONQUERS WESTERN WORLD MIDGETS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 14, 2020)………Three-hundred-sixty-four nights earlier, Buddy Kofoid arrived at Arizona Speedway’s Western World Championships as a newcomer to the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget wars when he made his first series start in the event, finishing 22nd.
Three-hundred-sixty-four nights later, Buddy Kofoid became a Western World champion.
That accomplishment was realized Saturday night when the Penngrove, Californian led wire-to-wire from his outside front row starting spot, then withstood a steady challenge from previous night’s winner Tanner Thorson, as well as a late-race restart, to capture his second career series victory in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 – JBL Audio – TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota at the event presented by San Tan Ford.
“It’s a good feather in my cap,” Kofoid stated. “For Western World, this is the 53rd annual, and a lot of big names have won here, so I’m glad to add mine to that. Nothing beats winning.”
Kofoid got the jump on the opening lap to rip past pole sitter Robert Dalby while KKM teammate Tanner Carrick followed in his wake on the high side just behind to procure second.
As Kofoid extended his lead to three-quarters of a second during the first third of the 30-lap feature, Clauson-Marshall Racing’s pair of machines each found their share of hardship, with 17th running Cole Bodine dropping out on lap 10 with a cloud of smoke surrounding his ride while, two laps later, fourth-running and point leading Tyler Courtney dropped off the pace and pulled into the infield with mechanical problems of his own, which wreaked havoc in his quest for a second consecutive series championship, dropping him to second in the standings.
As Kofoid carved his way through lapped traffic, one instance nearly spelled disaster with 13 laps remaining. Kofoid attempted to slide past teammate, 17th place Brenham Crouch, in turn four when the two made contact, sending Crouch backwards into the outside retaining wall, closing the curtains on his night, while Kofoid continued unscathed.
Shortly after the resumption of the event, Carrick, who had run in the second position for the first 17 laps, began to fade then slow to a sudden halt when his left rear tire went flat on the 20th lap, forcing those behind him to take evasive action to avoid getting caught up in the ordeal. The 2019 USAC National Most Improved Driver returned to the fray after replacing the rubber in the work area, ultimately finishing 10th.
Thorson was able to mount a challenge to Kofoid in the first couple of laps following the lap 20 restart, creeping to within a single car length of the leader on the bottom in turn two, but unable to edge ahead for the time being while Daison Pursley, showing no ill effects from his flapping right side panel, was hustling in third and ferociously shrinking the gap.
The first red flag of the weekend for the midgets occurred on the 24th go-around when 16th running Noah Gass took a vicious highflyer into the turn two catch fence before landing upside down on the surface of the 1/3-mile dirt oval. The Mounds, Okla. driver walked away from the scene under his own power.
When the green flag dropped, Kofoid drew his car low into turn one while Thorson took to sweeping the top, then angling a slider into turn three, drawing closer to the lead on the 24th and 25th laps before dropping to the bottom in turn one on the 26th where he lost a parcel of real estate to Kofoid that added up to around a half-second when the second red flag of the night was displayed for 9th running Chase Randall who barrel rolled in turn four, ending his evening.
The incident set up Thorson in a fairly familiar spot. Rewind to 24 hours prior when Thorson raced from third to the lead on the first lap of the restart during a green-white-checkered finish, one of whom he passed was Kofoid. On this night, Thorson had one more lap and one less car to pass. However, once Kofoid got rolling, he never allowed Thorson a chance at that opportunity as he blitzed away over the final three laps to finish out a 0.566 sec. victory.
Kofoid was followed to the line by Thorson, Pursley, Chris Windom and Spencer Bayston.
While Kofoid lamented the missed opportunity from the night before, he took that as a learning experience for he and the crew to find that little extra oomph to push them to the top.
“I was in a position to win last night,” Kofoid recalled. “I knew we had good speed yesterday and we kept working on it. I knew our slick track and main event set up was really good and we just improved on it a little bit.”
Kofoid had competed previously at Arizona Speedway over the years, one of which was an ASCS Southwest Region winged sprint car race where a couple years earlier in 2018, Kofoid battled a familiar foe who was on his side guiding him to victory this night in 2020.
“My crew chief, Jarrett Martin, is from 40 minutes away from here, so to get him kind of a home track win with USAC is really cool,” Kofoid said. “It’s kind of funny, two years ago, him and I ran the Copper Classic together at this track, and then it wasn’t until this year, we realized we raced against each other. I can’t thank the crew enough for all their hard work and Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Mobil 1 and Toyota for a really great opportunity to drive fast racecars.”
Since Thorson (Minden, Nev.) joined Tom Malloy’s team in late September, the combination has clicked matter-of-factly with six top-five finishes in six tries with two wins and two seconds, which has brought him right back into the thick of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship hunt aboard his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Ed Pink Racing Engines – Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota.
“It just shows how strong these cars are and the group of people that I have behind me,” Thorson said. “With Reliable, Factory Kahne Shocks, Draco, Trench Shoring and Ed Pink Engines, I’ve got a pretty awesome piece behind me. Everybody that is backing me and allowing me to do this, I can’t thank them enough. We’ll take our speed over to Bakersfield (Speedway on Tuesday) and try to pick off one.”
Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.), who, like Kofoid, made his very first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start one year ago during Western World. One year later, Pursley was standing among tall cotton after equaling his best career series finish with a 3rd place result in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Craftsman – JBL Audio – Mobil 1/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“To come home third to Buddy and Tanner is nothing to hang your head about,” Pursley admitted. “It was my first time on a big track here and it’s a cool place. I wish I could’ve have had a few more laps coming in. I’m thankful for third and I can’t thank the entire Keith Kunz Motorsports team enough. They put a good car together and I’m grateful for the opportunity to get to drive it.”
With Courtney’s troubles, a runner-up finish by Thorson and a 4th place run for Chris Windom, the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget points race has taken a drastic turn after Western World, and with now just three events remaining. Courtney went from a 32-point lead to an 11-point deficit behind new leader Windom. Thorson, who trailed by a distant 71 points entering Saturday, is now just 32 points out of the lead coming into the Tuesday, November 17 round at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway, the NOS Energy Drink November Classic.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 14, 2020 – Arizona Speedway – San Tan Valley, Arizona – 53rd Western World Championships Presented by San Tan Ford
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-15.201; 2. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-15.341; 3. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.491; 4. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-15.513; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.564; 6. Chase Randall, 25, Petry-15.610; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.615; 8. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-15.631; 9. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.675; 10. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-15.686; 11. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.709; 12. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-15.716; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-15.750; 14. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.751; 15. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-15.751; 16. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-15.758; 17. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-15.781; 18. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.803; 19. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-15.868; 20. Carson Garrett, 15x, Garrett-15.874; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-15.880; 22. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-15.913; 23. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.951; 24. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.032; 25. Jerry Coons Jr., 28, Dave Mac-16.045; 26. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.050; 27. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-16.389; 28. Ryan Oerter, 43, Oerter-17.293; 29. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-NT; 30. Casey Schmitz, 00, MSW-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Robert Dalby, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Cannon McIntosh, 9. Jerry Coons Jr. 2:10.252
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Brenham Crouch, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Ethan Mitchell. 2:09.586
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Kaylee Bryson, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Jesse Love, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Casey Schmitz, 10. C.J. Sarna. 2:08.584
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Chase Randall, 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Noah Gass, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Jesse Love, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Carson Garrett, 12. Casey Schmitz, 13. C.J. Sarna, 14. Ryan Oerter, 15. Ethan Mitchell. 3:13.982
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (6), 3. Daison Pursley (16), 4. Chris Windom (5), 5. Spencer Bayston (8), 6. Justin Grant (7), 7. Andrew Layser (13), 8. Logan Seavey (10), 9. Chase Johnson (19), 10. Tanner Carrick (4), 11. Bryant Wiedeman (14), 12. Thomas Meseraull (15), 13. Emerson Axsom (9), 14. Cannon McIntosh (12), 15. Robert Dalby (1), 16. Kaylee Bryson (18), 17. Hayden Reinbold* (23), 18. Chase Randall (11), 19. Noah Gass (20), 20. Brenham Crouch (22), 21. Clinton Boyles (21), 22. Tyler Courtney (3), 23. Cole Bodine (17). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Noah Gass flipped on lap 24 of the feature. Chase Randall flipped on lap 28 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,619, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,608, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,587, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,528, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,376, 6-Daison Pursley-1,218, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,145, 8-Justin Grant-1,030, 9-Cole Bodine-1,005, 10-Andrew Layser-1,004.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-204, 2-Tanner Thorson-112, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Logan Seavey-99, 6-Shane Cottle-96, 7-Justin Grant-90, 8-Cannon McIntosh-85, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: November 17, 2020 – Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, California – NOS Energy Drink November Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Spencer Bayston
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner:
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Daison Pursley (16th to 3rd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Emerson Axsom
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jerry Coons Jr.
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KOFOID OUTDUELS LARSON FOR BAKO WIN; WINDOM LEADS STANDINGS BY 1
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bakersfield, California (November 17, 2020)………Coming up through the ranks in the earliest years of his racing career, Buddy Kofoid idolized Kyle Larson. In recent years, Kofoid has gotten the opportunity to compete head-to-head with Larson on occasion in midgets and sprint cars.
In Tuesday night’s NOS Energy Drink November Classic at California’s Bakersfield Speedway, the two competed as teammates for the first time on the venerable Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports team.
The fact that Larson was someone he looked up to and was also his teammate was no deterrent in Kofoid’s desire to go toe-to-toe with Larson and defeat him. That he did, ultimately prevailing in a spirited duel that lasted the entire duration of the second half of the 30-lap event, with the winning move made just four laps from the finish.
“I can’t believe we just beat Kyle,” Kofoid exclaimed. “Kyle is one of the best in the world and really good in midgets. As a younger kid coming out of California and racing Outlaw Karts, I always looked up to him. Everyone already knows how good he is, and racing with the best helps you become better.”
For Kofoid, it was his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature victory, and third overall of his career, after reigning victorious in last Saturday night’s Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway.
Meanwhile, behind the race for the win was the race for the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship point lead. Chris Windom emerged ahead of Tyler Courtney in the standings by one single point at the checkered after charging from 20th to a 6th place finish following a wildly contentious final lap.
Kofoid lined up 5th in the 24-car field while Larson was slotted outside the front row, making it a fairly tall task for the Penngrove, Calif. Rookie who was, nonetheless, game for the challenge. Larson withstood a pair of uppercuts served his way via polesitter Chase Johnson who slid his way to the lead briefly on the opening two laps in turn one before Larson cut back under to grab the lead each time off turn two.
Kofoid raced to third by the second circuit, then traveled high and low around the 1/3-mile dirt oval to reach his way to the second position past Johnson on the 15th lap.
In the thick of the race through traffic, Larson held the upper hand over Kofoid by a two-plus second margin when KKM teammate Daison Pursley flipped in turn two on the 19th lap. He was uninjured.
The tide began to turn when racing resumed and Kofoid went on the offensive, slide jobbing Larson right off the bat in turn one. Larson answered by crossing over and trekking back under Kofoid as the two headed side-by-side into turn three. Larson muscled Kofoid off the low line, but Kofoid returned to the front with a cutback underneath Larson exiting turn four.
The slider swapping continued between the two on the ensuing lap, with Larson able to get back by with a down and under maneuver past Kofoid in turns one and two, then closed the door at the entry on the bottom of turn three. However, with the red flag displayed for a Kaylee Bryson turn two flip on the 21st lap before the lap was scored, Kofoid reassumed his position at the head of the field with Larson just behind.
Twelfth-running Thomas Meseraull found trouble on the first lap 21 restart when his mount received heavy front-end damage, forcing him to a stop near the turn three outside wall, and out of the race.
Back and forth they went with Larson able to find an answer for every strike Kofoid delivered. But with four laps to go, leading man Larson beelined to the bottom of turn three where he made a rare error, which scooched him up to the middle of no man’s land and losing momentum, while Kofoid raced around the outside to put his name atop the leader board.
Larson made one final run at Kofoid on the final lap in turn four but Kofoid was unfettered in closing out his 0.552 second victory over Larson.
“We’ve been really strong as of late and the team gave me a hell of a car,” Kofoid stated of his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 – JBL Audio – TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota. “I had an issue with that last restart when he got the lead back and I kind of stumbled. I figured out what I needed to do and, man, that was a lot of fun.”
For Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.), his first event driving for KKM since Pennsylvania Midget Week in 2019 was a reunion of a combination that has won 15 times together in USAC National Midget competition between 2011-19. The first time back resulted in Larson leading a race high 24 laps and nearly pulling off the victory in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/IWX – JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Larson, however, did continue his incredible streak of top-two finishes with the series that has now endured for 10 consecutive series starts dating to the west coast swing of 2019, a streak which includes seven wins and three seconds in that span.
“It was a lot of fun to get back with this team and Keith Kunz,” Larson said. “It’s been a year and half since I’ve raced with them. It was fun to get back in the seat and thanks to all of them for allowing me to run their car.”
“Whenever you have an exciting race like that, it’s hard to be disappointed about a second,” Larson continued. “I just made a mistake. I thought I could go to the bottom there and just try to change up the rhythm the run and the race there, but I just got in, got to the brakes and stalled, and that cost me. I just hate that I made a mistake there, but I had a lot of fun racing with Buddy.”
The other storyline throughout was Windom’s 11-point lead was in severe jeopardy with him starting 20th in the feature while championship nemeses Tyler Courtney (-11) and Tanner Thorson (-32) started 3rd and 6th, respectively.
While Courtney and Thorson remained stalwarts inside the top-five, Windom was mired in 13th prior to the final restart with 10 laps remaining when he turned up the wick and elevated himself to seventh by the final lap. With Courtney running third at that moment in time, Windom needed to move up one more spot in order to move himself into the point lead, a final two-lap tussle between he and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“At that point in time, I don’t know anyone in the pit area is going to sit there and run 11th in the last race of the year knowing what’s at stake and what everyone has worked for all year,” Windom continued. “I turned it up, and it was so hard to get by guys. Restarts were crucial. You could slide one or two guys in one corner on the restart and you could hold those spots and that’s what I kept doing restart after restart. I was trying to see how far Tyler was ahead of us, I saw it was two, it was three, it was four, then back to three, and I just raced as hard as I possibly could until the end.”
That’s when Windom encountered a seesaw, all-out war between he and Stenhouse – Courtney’s Clauson-Marshall Racing teammate – for the coveted 6th spot on the final lap in turn four.
“I slid Ricky on the white flag lap, and he crossed me over and dove to the bottom,” Windom recalled. “(On the last lap), I was going to the bottom as hard as I could and drove into the back of him and he spun around. I got into him there, but I saw the position, and that was what I needed, one more spot to secure a triple crown. It was a split-second decision and that’s what happened.”
While Windom hasn’t exactly clinched the title, there are but two races remaining in the 2020 season this Friday and Saturday night, November 20-21 at Merced (Calif.) Speedway, both of which will pay 50 appearance points to all licensed USAC National Midget drivers and teams, regardless of performance, all but ensuring Windom’s series crown.
That places Windom in the enviable position as the point leader entering the Merced events, putting him in the driver’s seat of becoming the seventh member of the Triple Crown club of drivers who’ve won USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint and National Midget driving championships in their career along with Pancho Carter, Tony Stewart, Dave Darland, J.J. Yeley, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines.
“This is what I’ve worked my whole career for,” Windom said. “The way the racetrack was tonight, we buried ourselves by not qualifying well. It was so hard to pass in the feature without throwing huge slide jobs on guys, and that’s what I had to do to get to the front and get us back into contention.”
Tyler Courtney, who now trails Windom by one point entering Merced, was a man of few words. The 2019 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ has been on the other side in USAC National championship point battles, winning the 2018 Sprint Car title based a tiebreaker after he and Kevin Thomas Jr. ended the season deadlocked with the same number of points. This year, it appears the Indianapolis, Ind. native will come up just short, equaling the narrowest margin between first and second in a championship, one, set by Cole Whitt over Tracy Hines in 2008.
“I think we just came up one spot short, not even a spot, a point. That’s frustrating, and it sucks, it really does,” a deflated Courtney stated after finishing third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 17, 2020 – Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, California – NOS Energy Drink November Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.701; 2. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.794; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.899; 4. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.946; 5. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-12.958; 6. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.982; 7. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-13.010; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.034; 9. Kyle Larson, 71w, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.035; 10. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-13.035; 11. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.046; 12. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-13.050; 13. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.064; 14. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.075; 15. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.086; 16. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.090; 17. Blake Bower, 10x, Boscacci-13.104; 18. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-13.110; 19. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-13.128; 20. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.172; 21. Jonathan Beason, 31K, Beilman-13.186; 22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17JR, Clauson/Marshall-13.196; 23. Jake Swanson, 73x, Ford-13.214; 24. Clinton Boyles, 98, RMS-13.242; 25. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-13.250; 26. Ben Worth, 5G, Alexander-13.258; 27. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-13.270; 28. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.275; 29. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.286; 30. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-13.309; 31. Chance Crum, 31B, Beilman-13.316; 32. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-13.320; 33. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.342; 34. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-13.388; 35. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.432; 36. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-13.462; 37. David Prickett, 15DJ, Neverlift-13.477; 38. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-13.564; 39. D.J. Netto, 88N, Newman-13.585; 40. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-13.589; 41. Troy Morris III, 07x, Morris-13.767; 42. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-13.972; 43. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger-14.086; 44. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-14.271; 45. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-NT; 46. Ashlyn Rodriguez, 37, Mitchell-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jonathan Beason, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Michael Faccinto, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Jesse Love, 8. Blake Bower, 9. David Prickett, 10. Brenham Crouch. 2:03.059 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Frankie Guerrini, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Ben Worth, 7. Dillon Welch, 8. Blaze Bennett, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Dylan Ito, 11. Robert Dalby. NT
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Tanner Carrick, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Chance Crum, 9. D.J. Netto, 10. Bryan Drollinger, 11. Carson Macedo. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Bryant Weideman, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Brody Fuson, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Andrew Layser, 10. Maria Cofer, 11. Jake Andreotti. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jesse Love, 2. Chance Crum, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Dillon Welch, 5. Troy Morris III, 6. David Prickett, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Jake Andreotti, 9. Blaze Bennett, 10. Blake Brannon, 11. D.J. Netto, 12. Bryan Drollinger, 13. Brody Fuson, 14. Dylan Ito, 15. Lance Bennett. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Ethan Mitchell, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Michael Faccinto, 5. Tanner Carrick, 6. Carson Macedo, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Brenham Crouch, 10. Blake Bower, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Cole Bodine, 13. Jesse Love, 14. Ben Worth, 15. Maria Cofer, 16. Chance Crum, 17. Robert Dalby, 18. Dillon Welch. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (5), 2. Kyle Larson (2), 3. Tyler Courtney (3), 4. Chase Johnson (1), 5. Spencer Bayston (4), 6. Chris Windom (20), 7. Tanner Thorson (6), 8. Cannon McIntosh (16), 9. Justin Grant (14), 10. Carson Macedo (21), 11. Jonathan Beason (8), 12. Emerson Axsom (12), 13. Clinton Boyles (10), 14. Ethan Mitchell (11), 15. Kaylee Bryson (7), 16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (9), 17. Andrew Layser* (24), 18. Michael Faccinto (13), 19. Tanner Carrick (15), 20. Cole Bodine* (23), 21. Bryant Wiedeman (19), 22. Frankie Guerrini (22), 23. Thomas Meseraull (18), 24. Daison Pursley (17). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Ashlyn Rodriguez flipped during practice. Jake Andreotti flipped in the fourth heat. D.J. Netto flipped during the C-Main. Dillon Welch flipped during the semi. Daison Pursley flipped on lap 19 of the feature. Kaylee Bryson flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Kyle Larson, Laps 19-20 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 21-26 Kyle Larson, Laps 27-30 Buddy Kofoid.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,679, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,678, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,651, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,607, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,432, 6-Daison Pursley-1,248, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,171, 8-Justin Grant-1,079, 9-Andrew Layser-1,033, 10-Cole Bodine-1,028.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-218, 2-Tanner Thorson-112, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Robert Ballou-101, 5-Logan Seavey-99, 6-Shane Cottle-96, 7-Justin Grant-95, 8-Cannon McIntosh-93, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACES: November 20-21, 2020 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – Merced Midget Madness
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Ethan Mitchell
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Jonathan Beason
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Kaylee Bryson
Indy Race Parts/Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Clinton Boyles
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Chris Windom (20th to 6th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Clinton Boyles
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Logan Seavey
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IT’S ALL MESERAULL IN MERCED’S USAC MIDGET DEBUT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Merced, California (November 20, 2020)………For Thomas Meseraull, that coveted first points-paying race victory with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets was two decades in the making when he notched win number one in October.
Just a month and change later, Meseraull was celebrating victory number two on Friday night following the series’ first ever event at California’s Merced Speedway. It was the San Jose, Calif. native’s first career USAC National points feature triumph that occurred in his home state.
Meseraull led the final 21 laps of the 30-lap feature, then endured a green-white-checkered finish to put the finishing touches on a winning performance in his RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Guess Performance Parts/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
His inauspicious beginnings to the west coast swing over the past week had resulted in finishes of 16th, 12th and 23rd in his three most recent outings entering Merced, but it was certainly not due to a lack of effort.
“I’m super stoked, especially with all the time and energy and money that gets spent to come out here to the west coast,” Meseraull said. “We haven’t even broken the top-10 in the last three nights, and we’ve been really fast. Racing circumstances just haven’t really played out.”
In his first night out in the team’s new coil car, which was inspired in part by Tanner Thorson’s recent success with the setup, Meseraull’s night began with a middling qualifying run of 18th against a 54-car field, which was the largest of the series’ 2020 season. Meseraull responded with a heat race victory, which by virtue of a new rule implemented during the offseason, as a heat winner, he earned a feature starting position directly behind the six-car invert.
Slated to start seventh, Meseraull was elevated another position up the grid prior to the green flag due to fourth-starting Carson Macedo and team being late to staging, one of four teams that were docked two rows due to the penalty. Now starting sixth, Meseraull was entrenched in the top-three battle along with Tanner Carrick and Daison Pursley by the conclusion of the first lap.
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammates Pursley and Carrick went toe-to-toe throughout the early stages, racing side-by-side and exchanging sliders right on cue, Carrick leading the way to the line on eight of the first nine circuits with Pursley edging ahead on the fifth lap.
On the ninth lap, Meseraull upped the urgency level to 11 as he split his way between Carrick and Pursley to slot into second in turn three, then glided underneath Carrick between turns one and two to occupy the lead.
Not only was it the series’ first trip to Merced, but the visit was also Meseraull’s racing debut at the 1/4-mile dirt oval. His guide was his extensive experience and natural feel of the racetrack, while also having a weapon behind the wrenches that set the blueprint.
“Sometimes when running a new track, which I’ve never ran here before, you don’t necessarily know where to run or where not to run, so you’re just kind of winging it,” Meseraull explained. “Hats off to (crew chief) Donnie Gentry for making the 7x good all night because the setup is so important in this along with our Speedway Toyota engine. If your motor is not geared right, you’re just off. It was just a great night where we got our package together.”
By the halfway point, Meseraull had launched to a 1.3 second advantage over Pursley, who had cleared Carrick a few moments later on the 18th lap for the runner-up position. Now clear, Pursley began to peddle back into contention as Meseraull now negotiated a maze of cars at the tail end of the lead lap.
Five to go, four to go, three to go, tick…tick, tick, tick, the hands of time began to recoil as the interval shrank to a half second between Meseraull and Pursley with three laps remaining. In that moment in time, Meseraull encountered Kaylee Bryson as he sought the proper path, low to middle to high, to overtake her and close it out while Pursley stayed the course up top.
With the white flag in sight coming out of turn four, Pursley lay just a handful of car lengths behind Meseraull. However, just as quickly as it seemed Pursley might be able to set up a possible bid for victory, it all came to a crashing halt when Pursley banged his right rear tire off the turn four cushion, then slapped the right rear against the outside front straightaway guardrail, causing him to barrel roll twice over before landing on all four wheels.
Pursley was uninjured, but his attempt at a first career USAC National Midget victory ended in an unsavory, crumpled heap along the main straightaway.
During the red flag period, Meseraull had time to ponder. He was fully cognizant of the fact that mistakes are forbidden during “winning time,” but remained undoubtedly confident that what he’d been doing thus far to that point was being executed with precision.
“Honestly, we were really good, and I was kind of cheating the curb, I guess you could say, off turns two and four because it was so ledgy,” Meseraull recalled. “You can’t make mistakes while you’re leading, or guys will get by you. I knew I could’ve maybe been running a faster spot, but we were pretty good where we were.”
With a green-white-checkered finish in play to conclude the race, slide jobs are a foregone conclusion at this juncture in this sect of auto racing. However, Meseraull devised a plan win which he could still run his own race, but also prevent the inevitable slider from being issued by second-running Tanner Carrick on the final two-lap sprint.
“On the restart, I moved down and just ran two clean laps through the middle,” Meseraull explained. “I didn’t think anybody had anything to drive around the outside of us. This California air was really nice because that Toyota was ripping.”
Carrick looked topside, and he looked low once the green dropped, but there was no avenue to pursue a path past him as Meseraull owned the middle line and flexed his muscle as he crossed under the checkered flag 0.452 sec. ahead of a season-best performance turned in by Carrick, with Cannon McIntosh, Carson Macedo and hard charger, Tanner Thorson (from 15th), rounding out the top-five.
While Friday night’s Merced score was Meseraull’s first USAC National Midget points win of his career in the state of California, it was not his first rodeo in victory lane with USAC Midgets in the Golden State. Previously, Meseraull had been victorious in three USAC Western States Midgets events between 2000-01 at Bakersfield, Stockton 99 and Perris. He also tallied a win in a 2004 USAC Midget special event at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway.
For the November western swing, Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, Calif.) made his return to KKM with whom he competed full-time for on the USAC National Midget trail between 2017-19. Carrick rewarded the team with a second-place finish Friday night at Merced, his best result of the 2020 season in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/BBS Wheels – TRD – JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Carrick’s KKM teammate, Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) returned to the podium for the first-time since his victory at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway on Sept. 25 by earning a third-place result at Merced in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD – Mobil1 – JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 20, 2020 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Merced Midget Madness
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-12.051 (New Track Record); 2. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.064; 3. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.071; 4. Chase Johnson, 25c, Malloy-12.087; 5. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-12.134; 6. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.139; 7. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.169; 8. Zeb Wise, 97w, Wood-12.181; 9. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.185; 10. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.201; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.242; 12. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.245; 13. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-12.255; 14. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.258; 15. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-12.265; 16. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.266; 17. Colby Copeland, 27w, Wood-12.268; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.300; 19. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-12.309; 20. Chase Randall, 35, Petry-12.317; 21. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-12.340; 22. Colby Johnson, 27D, Morris-12.367; 23. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.370; 24. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-12.376; 25. Dillon Welch, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.422; 26. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.427; 27. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.435; 28. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-12.447; 29. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.470; 30. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-12.482; 31. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.511; 32. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.531; 33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17JR, Clauson/Marshall-12.541; 34. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.558; 35. Jonathan Beason, 31K, Beilman-12.571; 36. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.580; 37. Matt Streeter, 14JR, Streeter-12.600; 38. Chance Crum, 39, Clauson/Marshall-12.614; 39. Blake Bower, 10x, Boscacci-12.615; 40. Ryan Robinson, 71R, Morris-12.633; 41. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.693; 42. Ben Worth, 5G, Alexander-12.707; 43. Kyle Beilman, 31B, Beilman-12.746; 44. Jake Morgan, 19w, Sala-12.800; 45. Dylan Ito, 73, Ford-12.845; 46. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.936; 47. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.984; 48. Jarrett Soares, 12, Soares-13.030; 49. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-13.130; 50. Robert Carson, 99, Segur-13.236; 51. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-13.380; 52. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.425; 53. Kevin Woody Jr., 1x, LKK-13.776; 54. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.811.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Bernal, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Colby Copeland, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Dillon Welch, 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 8. Brody Fuson, 9. Matt Streeter, 10. Robert Carson, 11. Randi Pankratz, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Jake Andreotti, 14. Spencer Bayston. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Maria Cofer, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 11. Ben Worth, 12. Lance Bennett, 13. Colby Johnson. 2:06.569 (New Track Record)
AUTOMETER/ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Jesse Love, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Jonathan Beason, 8. Blake Bower, 9. Kyle Beilman, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Blake Brannon, 12. Jarrett Soares, 13. Tyler Courtney. NT
INDY RACE PARTS/ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Michael Faccinto, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Chase Randall, 5. Zeb Wise, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Ryan Robinson, 8. Frankie Guerrini, 9. Jake Morgan, 10. Kevin Woody Jr., 11. Blaze Bennett, 12. Chase Johnson. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Hayden Reinbold, 2. Andrew Layser, 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Jonathan Beason, 6. Ryan Robinson, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Matt Streeter, 10. Brody Fuson, 11. Jake Morgan, 12. Ben Worth, 13. Kyle Beilman, 14. Jake Andreotti, 15. Jarrett Soares, 16. Blake Brannon, 17. Kevin Woody Jr., 18. Randi Pankratz, 19. Robert Carson, 20. Lance Bennett, 21. Blake Bower. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING/ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Dillon Welch, 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 11. Brenham Crouch, 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 13. Cole Bodine, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Maria Cofer, 16. Chase Johnson, 17. Colby Johnson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (6), 2. Tanner Carrick (2), 3. Cannon McIntosh (5), 4. Carson Macedo (8), 5. Tanner Thorson (15), 6. Shane Golobic (3), 7. Ryan Bernal (9), 8. Spencer Bayston (11), 9. Kyle Larson (19), 10. Emerson Axsom (14), 11. Mitchel Moles (7), 12. Buddy Kofoid (21), 13. Logan Seavey (16), 14. Tyler Courtney* (23), 15. Chris Windom (22), 16. Justin Grant (17), 17. Colby Copeland (18), 18. Kaylee Bryson (13), 19. Chase Randall (20), 20. Daison Pursley (1), 21. Zeb Wise (12), 22. Michael Faccinto (10), 23. Cole Bodine* (24), 24. Jesse Love (4). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Dylan Ito flipped during qualifying. Jake Andreotti flipped during the first heat. Chase Johnson flipped during the fourth heat. Daison Pursley flipped on lap 28 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Tanner Carrick, Lap 5 Daison Pursley, Laps 6-9 Tanner Carrick, Laps 10-30 Thomas Meseraull.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,729, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,728, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,701, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,657, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,482, 6-Daison Pursley-1,298, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,221, 8-Justin Grant-1,129, 9-Andrew Layser-1,083, 10-Cole Bodine-1,078.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-225, 2-Tanner Thorson-122, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Logan Seavey-102, 5-Robert Ballou-101, 6-Justin Grant-96, 7-Shane Cottle-96, 8-Cannon McIntosh-95, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE: November 21, 2020 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Merced Midget Madness
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Spencer Bayston
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Ryan Bernal
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
Indy Race Parts/Rod End Supply Fourth Heat Winner: Michael Faccinto
Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Spencer Bayston
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (15th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Tyler Courtney
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THORSON CLOSES USAC MIDGET SEASON THE SAME PLACE HE STARTED IT: VICTORY LANE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Merced, California (November 21, 2020)………From Ocala, Fla. to Merced, Calif., the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season concluded in the same manner it began – with Tanner Thorson’s presence in victory lane.
Of all his great performances in 2020, Thorson very well may have saved his best for last, going tit for tat in a racelong clash between he, Tyler Courtney and Buddy Kofoid that saw each driver rotate their turns as the race leader in the final six laps of Saturday night’s season finale at California’s Merced Speedway.
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) led the final four to earn his season-leading seventh win, etching his name into the record books as just the sixth driver, and the first in 20 years, to win both the first and last race during a USAC National Midget season. Thorson won the season opener in February at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.
Parnelli Jones (1964), Rich Vogler (1984), Billy Boat (1996), Jason Leffler (1999), Tony Stewart (2000) and now Thorson (2020) all share the distinction while Thorson also equaled the legendary A.J. Foyt with his 20th career series triumph, placing him 33rd all-time.
The victory for Thorson aboard his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Ed Pink Racing Engines – Rodela Fabrication/King/Ed Pink Toyota was worth $5,000 after sponsor Elk Grove Ford elevated the winner’s share by an extra $2,000 earlier in the evening. To earn the accolades, the “w” and the money, Thorson affixed his focus on the basics, the mental aspect of racing, that he felt he had strayed from in recent outings.
“I just tried to keep my composure and hit my marks,” Thorson explained. “It’s something that I feel like, over the last couple of races, I’ve lacked – hitting my marks perfectly and making sure I get through the turn right. I feel like my car has been so fast here lately, I kind of went away from concentrating on hitting my lines and making it manageable. It’s something I knew I needed to focus on and make work.”
Thorson went to work on his 30-lap mission from the outside of the second row, but trouble ensued mid-pack just as the wheels were set in motion with Chase Johnson taking a lap one, turn one tumble that also collected Zeb Wise. Johnson’s first ride in the Bundy Built Honda, normally piloted by Ethan Mitchell, came about due to extensive damage received in a Friday night crash at Merced in his regular ride, the Tom Malloy-owned No. 25c. Johnson was credited with the 24th finishing position while Wise restarted and finished 19th.
Pole sitter Kofoid grabbed the top spot on the complete restart, a lead which he held for the first 14 laps despite repeated shots fired from outside front row starter Courtney while Thorson would soon enter the fray, finding his rhythm right around the inside berm.
As Kofoid ringed the topside as smooth as silk, the bottom-feeding Thorson found a sudden surge exiting the fourth turn to close within a wheel of Kofoid at the stripe on the 14th lap, then completed his overtake of the position off turn two moments later on the 15th trip.
A bump of the turn two bottom berm on the 18th circuit allowed Kofoid to break free of Thorson for the time being and open up a five-car length lead while Thorson briefly ventured away from the bottom, tucked in behind Kofoid on the curb.
Meanwhile, Courtney, who had been lying in the weeds in third behind Kofoid and Thorson for the past 15 laps, suddenly decided it was “go time” in this non-stop 30-lapper that went green to checker without a yellow following the complete restart, splitting between Thorson to his left and Kofoid to his right in turn three, with Kofoid ultimately edging Courtney by roughly the thickness of the chrome on his front bumper at the line.
Kofoid’s reign at the front was in constant peril, and when Courtney got to the inside of Kofoid midway down the back straightaway, Kofoid attempted to slam the door on Courtney entering turn three with both banging their wheels off one another and Courtney leveraging his way past Kofoid off the fourth corner to position himself into the lead.
Kofoid slid past Courtney a tick later in turn one to regain the position and lead the path on lap 26, then once again, maneuvered his way back to the bottom to prevent the retaliation slider.
As eyes were peeled on Kofoid and Courtney nose-to-tail at the top of turn three on lap 27, Thorson casually snuck by both on the bottom, leading a three-wide formation at the start/finish line with Courtney to his inside and Kofoid to his outside all separated by within a half-car length.
Kofoid tried with all his might to grapple his way back into contention with Thorson while utilizing the top, but Thorson ably obtained a little bit of ground on Kofoid when he disposed of the lapped car of Bryant Wiedeman in turns one and two coming to the white flag.
However, Kofoid tried to one-up Thorson by double-dipping with a slider of both Wiedeman and Thorson in a single turn three slide job, successfully discarding Wiedeman but coming up just short of Thorson, opting to fall in line to regroup and give 'er her one more try.
On the final lap, Kofoid was unable to get close enough to make another attempt at a slider, only enough to nestle right to the rear bumper of Thorson as he raced to the finish line 0.130 sec. ahead of Kofoid with Courtney third, fast qualifier and new one-lap track record holder Kyle Larson fourth and Spencer Bayston fifth for the third consecutive race.
The fast-paced race, which lasted a total time of 7:18.810, was the first and only uninterrupted feature that went green to checkered, from laps 1-30, with the series this season. The five total lead changes were the most in any USAC National Midget feature this season as well.
In the end, it was Thorson, who led three laps midway but settled in and found a sense of serenity to battle his way back to the front, and ultimately, prevail.
“When I started hitting my lines, I was able to run down Buddy (Kofoid) pretty fast,” Thorson recalled. “I got mixed up with some lapped cars and kind of messed up on the berm one time, but once I regained my composure, it all fell into place.”
It was a 2020 season unlike any other for Thorson, and a season unlike most for any driver in the course of USAC National Midget racing history over the past 65 years. His first four victories this year came for Hayward Motorsports, and since joining Tom Malloy’s team in late September, Thorson has reeled off three more wins, making him one of just five drivers to win at least three races for two different teams in a single season in USAC National Midget history.
Parnelli Jones was the first to do the deed in 1963 for Marv Edwards and Howard Linne. Mike McGreevy is the only driver to accomplish the feat twice, first in 1965 for both Jack London and the Kenyon Brothers, then again in 1969 for owners Howard Linne and Ed Lark. Rich Vogler’s 1988 championship season include 11 wins for Wilke Racers and five for Jonathan Byrd. Jay Drake had been the most recent with three each for Ralph Potter, then Keith Kunz in 2000.
“At the end of this year, we’ve been really strong, and it all comes down to the people that surround you and who works on the car as well as the shocks and motors,” Thorson said. “Having fun and enjoying what you do, that’s what drives me harder more than anything, even more than even having the baddest car on the racetrack. It’s just the people around you and what you can do with such a great mindset. I’ve got the best mindset out there as far as winning and having fun at the same time.”
Of course, when you’re winning, it’s much easier to have fun, and in what was Thorson’s first ever weekend competing at the 1/4-mile Merced Speedway, his fun included joining several notable lists of achievements while also ending the season on the highest of notes, which gave Thorson an opportunity to think back on those who helped him get to this point.
“I’ve raced with some pretty awesome people,” Thorson reminisced. “I got the majority of my USAC wins with Keith Kunz and that’s where I learned the ropes of midget racing. And then, Darren Hagen, I lived with him when I grew up, and he showed me the way around about just how racing was and what I needed to do, and it’s all helped pay off in the end.”
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) finished a highly-impressive Rookie season with the series fourth in the standings in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 – JBL Audio – TRD/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, earning three total victories, two of which came on the November western swing, and rounding up the season with a second-place result. The Healing Tree added a $1,000 for the runner-up, bumping Kofoid’s total earnings to $2,500 for the night.
Tyler Courtney came up one point short in the USAC National Midget championship battle to Chris Windom this season, earning five total victories. On Saturday at Merced, the Indianapolis, Ind. native led one lap late and finished third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo – ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.
By pushing off for hot laps earlier in the night, Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) officially, officially clinched the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget driving title in his NOS Energy Drink – Pristine Auction/Spike/Speedway Toyota while Tucker-Boat Motorsports, likewise, collected its first entrant championship. The achievement made Windom just the seventh driver to join the USAC Triple Crown club by capturing a Silver Crown (2016), AMSOIL National Sprint Car (2017) and National Midget (2020) championship in his career.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC WESTERN STATES MIDGET RACE RESULTS: November 21, 2020 – Merced Speedway – Merced, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Merced Midget Madness
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR / WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 1K, Larson-11.838 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-11.859; 3. Tanner Thorson, 25, Malloy-11.976; 4. Spencer Bayston, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-11.980; 5. Chase Johnson, 19m, Bundy Built-12.009; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.022; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.024; 8. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.049; 9. Mitchel Moles, 07w, Wood-12.073; 10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 17JR, Clauson/Marshall-12.077; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.078; 12. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.084; 13. Colby Copeland, 27w, Wood-12.137; 14. Jesse Love, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.148; 15. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-12.190; 16. Dillon Welch, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.198; 17. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-12.212; 18. Ben Worth, 5G, Alexander-12.215; 19. Ryan Bernal, 87w, Wood-12.226; 20. Carson Macedo, 21, Tarlton-12.229; 21. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-12.239; 22. Zeb Wise, 97w, Wood-12.275; 23. Bryant Wiedeman, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.282; 24. Tanner Carrick, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.297; 25. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.298; 26. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-12.327; 27. Chance Crum, 39, Clauson/Marshall-12.345; 28. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-12.416; 29. Chase Randall, 35, Petry-12.417; 30. Maria Cofer, 57, Cofer-12.437; 31. Ethan Mitchell, 98, RMS-12.452; 32. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.460; 33. Colby Johnson, 27D, Morris-12.466; 34. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.487; 35. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.488; 36. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.587; 37. Ryan Robinson, 71R, Morris-12.598; 38. Jonathan Beason, 31K, Beilman-12.673; 39. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.745; 40. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-12.758; 41. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-12.766; 42. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.779; 43. Kyle Beilman, 31B, Beilman-12.944; 44. Matt Streeter, 14JR, Streeter-12.944; 45. Jarrett Soares, 12, Soares-12.997; 46. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-13.240; 47. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.337; 48. Kevin Woody Jr., 1x, LKK-13.419; 49. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, DBR-13.443; 50. Michael Faccinto, 7J, Campbell-(Time of 12.411 disallowed); 51. Robert Carson, 99, Segur-(Time of 13.482 disallowed); 52. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-NT
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS / EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Colby Copeland, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Colby Johnson, 9. Cole Bodine, 10. Ryan Robinson, 11. Blake Brannon, 12. Jarrett Soares, 13. Bryan Drollinger. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Ben Worth, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 5. Andrew Layser, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Jesse Love, 8. Jonathan Beason, 9. Michael Faccinto, 10. Brody Fuson, 11. Lance Bennett, 12. Maria Cofer, 13. Thomas Meseraull. NT
AUTOMETER / ULTRA SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Chance Crum, 9. Kyle Beilman, 10. Jake Andreotti, 11. Randi Pankratz, 12. Robert Carson, 13. Ryan Bernal. NT
INDY RACE PARTS / ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Brenham Crouch, 7. Dillon Welch, 8. Frankie Guerrini, 9. Robert Dalby, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Matt Streeter, 12. Kevin Woody Jr. 2:10.950
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Frankie Guerrini, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Jonathan Beason, 5. Colby Johnson, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Michael Faccinto, 8. Jake Andreotti, 9. Kyle Beilman, 10. Hayden Reinbold, 11. Matt Streeter, 12. Jarrett Soares, 13. Brody Fuson, 14. Bryan Drollinger, 15. Kevin Woody Jr., 16. Blake Brannon, 17. Robert Carson, 18. Ryan Robinson, 19. Randi Pankratz. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING / ROD END SUPPLY SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Colby Copeland, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Jonathan Beason, 8. Ryan Bernal, 9. Cole Bodine, 10. Jesse Love, 11. Andrew Layser, 12. Dillon Welch, 13. Frankie Guerrini, 14. Brenham Crouch, 15. Maria Cofer, 16. Ethan Mitchell, 17. Robert Dalby, 18. Chase Randall. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (4), 2. Buddy Kofoid (1), 3. Tyler Courtney (2), 4. Kyle Larson (6), 5. Spencer Bayston (3), 6. Logan Seavey (5), 7. Carson Macedo (8), 8. Cannon McIntosh (10), 9. Justin Grant (7), 10. Mitchel Moles (11), 11. Shane Golobic (14), 12. Daison Pursley (13), 13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (12), 14. Colby Copeland (15), 15. Emerson Axsom (16), 16. Tanner Carrick (21), 17. Chris Windom (18), 18. Kaylee Bryson* (23), 19. Zeb Wise (19), 20. Bryant Wiedeman (20), 21. Robert Dalby* (24), 22. Ben Worth (17), 23. Chance Crum (22), 24. Chase Johnson (9). 7:18.810 (New Track Record)
* represents a provisional starter
**Thomas Meseraull flipped during the second heat. Chase Johnson flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 15-17 Tanner Thorson, Laps 18-24 Buddy Kofoid, Lap 25 Tyler Courtney, Lap 26 Buddy Kofoid, Laps 27-30 Tanner Thorson.
FINAL USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,779, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,778, 3-Tanner Thorson-1,751, 4-Buddy Kofoid-1,707, 5-Cannon McIntosh-1,532, 6-Daison Pursley-1,348, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,271, 8-Justin Grant-1,179, 9-Andrew Layser-1,133, 10-Cole Bodine-1,128.
FINAL OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-226, 2-Tanner Thorson-125, 3-Kyle Cummins-108, 4-Logan Seavey-102, 5-Robert Ballou-101, 6-Cannon McIntosh-97, 7-Justin Grant-96, 8-Shane Cottle-96, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Tyler Courtney-78.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson
Simpson Race Products/Extreme Mufflers First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
AutoMeter/Ultra Shield Race Products Third Heat Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Indy Race Parts/Rod End Supply Fourth Heat Winner: Carson Macedo
Indy Metal Finishing/Rod End Supply Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
KSE Racing Products/Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Tanner Carrick (21st to 16th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jonathan Beason
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2020 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER POINT STANDINGS
POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN
1 1,779 Chris Windom, Canton, Ill.
2 1,778 Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, Ind.
3 1,751 Tanner Thorson, Minden, Nev.
4 1,707 Buddy Kofoid (R), Penngrove, Calif.
5 1,532 Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, Okla.
6 1,348 Daison Pursley (R), Locust Grove, Okla.
7 1,271 Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, Calif.
8 1,179 Justin Grant, Ione, Calif.
9 1,133 Andrew Layser, Collegeville, Pa.
10 1,128 Cole Bodine, Rossville, Ind.
11 904 Kaylee Bryson (R), Muskogee, Okla.
12 879 Emerson Axsom (R), Franklin, Ind.
13 859 Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, Calif.
14 839 Robert Dalby, Anaheim, Calif.
15 779 Logan Seavey, Sutter, Calif.
16 776 Chase Johnson (R), Penngrove, Calif.
17 745 Ethan Mitchell, Mooresville, N.C.
18 615 Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, Ala.
19 604 Clinton Boyles (R), Greenwood, Mo.
20 526 Jerry Coons Jr., Tucson, Ariz.
21 388 Tyler Thomas, Collinsville, Okla.
22 370 Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Okla.
23 360 Shane Golobic, Fremont, Calif.
24 358 Sam Johnson, St. Peters, Mo.
25 356 Hayden Reinbold (R), Gilbert, Ariz.
26 336 Jake Neuman, New Berlin, Ill.
27 318 Noah Gass (R), Mounds, Okla.
28 306 Jason McDougal, Broken Arrow, Okla.
29 304 Chase Randall (R), Waco, Texas
30 291 Ace McCarthy (R), Tahlequah, Okla.
31 286 Brenham Crouch (R), Lubbock, Texas
32 280 Bryant Wiedeman (R), Colby, Kan.
33 263 Jesse Love (R), Menlo Park, Calif.
34 236 Maria Cofer (R), Macdoel, Calif.
35 231 Zeb Wise, Angola, Ind.
36 227 Zach Daum, Pocahontas, Ill.
37 223 Trey Gropp (R), Lincoln, Neb.
38 184 Oliver Akard (R), Fort Myers, Fla.
39 161 Steve Buckwalter, Royersford, Pa.
40 127 Tyler Nelson, Olathe, Kan.
41 90 David Budres, Beloit, Wis.
42 86 Dave Darland, Lincoln, Ind.
43 80 Curtis Spicer (R), Marysville, Kan.
44 80 Jesse Colwell, Red Bluff, Calif.
45 67 Mark Cole (R), Lebanon, N.H.
46 39 Presley Truedson (R), Kennedy, Minn.
47 27 Kenney Johnson (R), Bethany, Conn.
® = USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Rookie
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2020 USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OWNER POINT STANDINGS
POS. PTS. ENTRANT, TEAM LOCATION
1 1,779 Tucker-Boat Motorsports, Mooresville, N.C. (#89)
2 1,778 Clauson-Marshall Racing, Fishers, Ind. (#7BC)
3 1,707 Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian, Columbus, Ind. (#67)
4 1,532 Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian, Columbus, Ind. (#71K)
5 1,348 Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian, Columbus, Ind. (#9)
6 1,343 Hayward Motorsports, Morrison, Ill. (#19)
7 1,141 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#35)
8 1,133 Tucker-Boat Motorsports, Mooresville, N.C. (#82)
9 1,128 Clauson-Marshall Racing, Fishers, Ind. (#39BC)
10 1,125 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#5)
11 1,025 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#71)
12 879 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#15)
13 859 RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#7x)
14 839 Robert Dalby Motorsports, Chino, Calif. (#4)
15 776 Tom Malloy, El Monte, Calif. (#25c)
16 722 Bundy Built Motorsports, Mooresville, N.C. (#19m)
17 664 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19AZ)
18 661 RAMS Racing, Lees Summit, Mo. (#4A)
19 654 RMS Racing, Western Springs, Ill. (#98)
20 483 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#97)
21 461 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#67K)
22 436 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19A)
23 388 Brian Thomas, Catoosa, Okla. (#91T)
24 360 Matt Wood Racing, Elk Grove, Calif. (#17w)
25 358 Sam Johnson, O’Fallon, Mo. (#72)
26 344 Dave Mac Motorsports, Bixby, Okla. (#28)
27 309 Jim Neuman, New Berlin, Ill. (#3N)
28 284 Petry Motorsports, Greenfield, Ind. (#25)
29 276 Steve Reynolds, Springfield, Ill. (#21KS)
30 267 Tucker-Boat Motorsports, Mooresville, N.C. (#84)
31 243 MSW Motorsports, Collinsville, Okla. (#00)
32 236 Johnny Cofer, Macdoel, Calif. (#57)
33 230 Klatt Enterprises, Hastings, Neb. (#4B)
34 227 Daum Motorsports, Pocahontas, Ill. (#5D)
35 184 Dan & Shellie Akard, Fort Myers, Fla. (#41)
36 181 Steve Reynolds, Springfield, Ill. (#21K)
37 164 Randy Gass, Mounds, Okla. (#20G)
38 150 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#97K)
39 129 Brian Buckwalter, Royersford, Pa. (#25B)
40 129 Dave Mac Motorsports, Collinsville, Okla. (#08)
41 127 Tyler Nelson, Indianapolis, Ind. (#88)
42 90 Manic Racing, Beloit, Wis. (#31)
43 86 Dan & Patricia Harris, Fort Worth, Texas (#2ND)
44 80 Spicer Racecraft, Phillipsburg, Kan. (#4s)
45 67 Mark Cole, Lebanon, N.H. (#6x)
46 49 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#71x)
47 42 Randy Heckman, Blandon, Pa. (#12)
48 30 4J Motorsports, Mooresville, Ind. (#4J)
49 27 Jeff Johnson, Bethany, Conn. (#46)