GAS CITY, Ind., June 12 – Last year Michael “Buddy” Kofoid finished second in the Indiana Midget Week USAC NOS Energy Drink national midget race at Gas City I-69 Speedway. On Friday night for the 2021 version of Indiana Midget Week at Gas City the Penngrove, Calif.-based driver did that one better, leading all 30 laps to earn a runaway, $4,000 victory over Emerson Axsom of Franklin, Ind.
Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala., finished sixth in the midget feature and then won the 25-lap non-wing sprint car feature by 5.221 seconds over last week’s winner, Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind. Thomas was the fourth different non-wing sprint car feature winner at Gas City this year in as many races at the quarter-mile dirt oval.
Kofoid started second in the 30-lap midget feature and already had a 1.808-second lead over polesitter Jason McDougal of Broken Arrow, Okla., by lap five. His lead was about the same, 1.802 seconds, when Justin Grant of Avon, Ind., slowed in Turn 2 and stopped on the backstretch with eight laps down while running seventh to bring out the first caution.
Axsom used the high groove in Turn 2 to pass McDougal for second on the restart, but Kofoid was already way ahead. Kofoid’s 2.163-second lead evaporated with 13 laps down, however, when the second yellow waved for a four-car crash in Turn 4 involving Jerry Coons Jr. of Cloverdale, Ind.; Chris Windom, a native of Canton, Ill.; Hayden Williams of Auckland, New Zealand, and Bryant Wiedeman of Colby, Kan. All escaped unhurt.
Daison Pursley of Locust Grove, Okla., passed McDougal on lap 14 for third, but McDougal got the position back on the following lap. While they were racing each other, Kofoid was able to once again rebuild his lead.
McDougal passed Axsom for second on lap 19, but on the last lap McDougal stopped in Turn 3 after something broke on his car on the backstretch. The problem was reportedly a broken axle, and his runner-up finish was suddenly transformed to 15th in the final rundown.
Following Kofoid and Axsom across the line was Logan Seavey of Sutter, Calif., who qualified the hard way by winning the B-main and came from the 11th starting spot in the feature. Pursley placed fourth and Cannon McIntosh of Bixby, Okla., rounded out the top five. Four of the top-five finishers were teenagers, as Kofoid is 19; Axsom is 16; Seavey is 24; Pursley is 16 and McIntosh is 18.
Kofoid was eighth in Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying and fourth in his heat before trouncing his competition in the feature with his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 67, which is an IWX/Bullet by Spike with a Speedway Toyota engine. The entry is sponsored by Mobil 1 and Toyota Racing Development.
Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nev., was the hard charger, as he started 20th and finished eighth.
Thomas started fourth in the 25-lap non-wing sprint feature in his KT Motorsports DRC Speedway Chevy No. 9K, which is sponsored by Dr. Pepper, McDonalds and KT Construction Services.
Weir, who started second, passed polesitter Jadon Rogers of Worthington, Ind., for the lead with a move to the outside in Turn 2 on the first lap, and then showed the way for the first 12 laps until Thomas passed him working lap 13.
Thomas had just passed the start-finish line to record the 13th lap when behind him something broke on the famous Paul Hazen No. 57 driven by defending track champion Max Adams, a native of Loomis, Calif., now living in Marion, Ind. Adams hit the outside wall in Turn 4 very hard to bring out the first caution flag. Luckily he wasn’t hurt.
Afterwards Adams said he wasn’t 100 percent certain what broke. “I think the drag link failed from contact earlier in the race, causing me to lose steering, but it’s really hard to say,” he said.
A second yellow still with 13 laps down flew when Chet Williams of Newburgh, Ind., spun between Turns 2 and 3, but Thomas was up to all challengers on the restart and led the rest of the 25-lap race, crossing the line with a straightaway lead.
There was a barnburner of a battle for second, however. Weir bicycled hard in Turn 4 on lap 20 but saved it and he took home the runner-up honors followed by Thomas Meseraull of Waveland, Ind.; McIntosh, and Brady Bacon of Winchester, Ind.
There was only one flip during the evening. A.J. Hopkins of Brownsburg, Ind., flipped in Turn 4 with five laps down in the fourth sprint heat, but luckily escaped injury.
The event was streamed live on FloRacing.com.
Beth Boles, wife of Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles and mother of IndyCar star Conor Daly, got a ride in the track’s two-seat non-wing sprint car during the course of the evening. Matt Goodnight of Hartford City, Ind., was the driver. One lucky fan also won a ride in it at a future date. Fans can buy a ride in the two-seater throughout the season by inquiring at the track’s gift shop.
This coming Friday, June 18, is the fourth annual Jack and Jiggs Classic featuring a five-division program of non-wing 410 sprint cars, Schaeffer’s Oil Indiana RaceSaver 305 winged sprint cars, modifieds, street stocks and hornets. The pit gate opens at 3 p.m. and the grandstands at 5 p.m. Hot laps are at 6:30 p.m. and the racing starts at 7:30 p.m. An adult general admission ticket is only $15, while kids 12 and under are free. A pit pass costs $30.
The complete 2021 schedule and more information are on the track’s website at GasCityI69Speedway.com. Fans and competitors can also follow it on Twitter: @GasCitySpeedway; Instagram: @GasCitySpeedway and Facebook: GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas.
Gas City I-69 Speedway is located on State Road 22, approximately a half-mile west of I-69, exit 259. The quarter-mile dirt oval is about halfway between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and attracts drivers and fans from all over the Midwest.
The results:
USAC Midget Qualifications: 1. Ethan Mitchell, 12.191; 2. Corey Day, 12.238; 3. Emerson Axsom, 12.266; 4. Logan Seavey, 12.270; 5. Daison Pursley, 12.272; 6. Chris Windom, 12.306; 7. Brenham Crouch, 12.318; 8. Buddy Kofoid, 12.326; 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 12.327; 10. Jason McDougal, 12.339; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 12.362; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 12.381; 13. Kyle Cummins, 12.444; 14. Kaylee Bryson, 12.473; 15. Cole Bodine, 12.487; 16. Bryant Wiedeman, 12.493; 17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 12.549; 18. Blake Brannon, 12.553; 19. Taylor Reimer, 12.568; 20. Cannon McIntosh, 12.577; 21. Justin Grant, 12.589; 22. Austin Barnhill, 12.602; 23. Trey Gropp, 12.603; 24. Tanner Thorson, 12.620; 25. Hayden Williams, 12.629; 26. Jonathan Shafer, 12.672; 27. Brian Carber, 12.720; 28. Sam Johnson, 12.764; 29. Chase Randall, 12.805; 30. Hayden Reinbold, 12.807; 31. Travis Buckley, 12.955; 32. Glenn Waterland, 13.554; 33. Oliver Akard, 13.759; 34. Chance Crum, 99.000.
USAC Midget Heat 1 (10 laps. 4 transfer): 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Ricky Stenhouse, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Hayden Williams. 9. Oliver Akard. Margin of victory: 1.450 seconds.
USAC Midget Heat 2 (10 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Corey Day, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Austin Barnhill, 6. Blake Brannon, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Jonathan Shafer. Margin of victory: 0.482 seconds.
USAC Midget Heat 3 (10 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Trey Gropp, 2. Brenham Crouch, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Cole Bodine, 6. Brian Carber, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Travis Buckley. Margin of victory: 0.157 seconds.
USAC Midget Heat 4 (10 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Sam Johnson, 8. Glenn Waterland. Margin of victory: 0.047 seconds.
USAC Midget B-Main (12 laps, 6 transfer): 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Hayden Williams, 6. Cole Bodine, 7. Chase Randall, 8. Jonathan Shafer, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Ethan Mitchell, 11. Brian Carber, 12. Taylor Reimer, 13. Austin Barnhill, 14. Travis Buckley, 15. Blake Brannon, 16. Oliver Akard, 17. Glenn Waterland. Margin of victory: 0.904 seconds.
USAC Midget Feature (30 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Buddy Kofoid (2); 2. Emerson Axsom (5); 3. Logan Seavey (11); 4. Daison Pursley (4); 5. Cannon McIntosh (8); 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15); 7. Corey Day (6); 8. Tanner Thorson (20); 9. Kaylee Bryson (7); 10. Thomas Meseraull (14); 11. Trey Gropp (10); 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (19); 13. Cole Bodine (17); 14. Chase Randall (23); 15. Jason McDougal (1); 16. Brenham Crouch (3); 17. Ethan Mitchell (24); 18. Hayden Reinbold (22); 19. Kyle Cummins (16); 20. Chris Windom (12); 21. Jerry Coons Jr. (13); 22. Hayden Williams (21); 23. Bryant Wiedeman (18); 24. Justin Grant (9).
Lap leaders: Laps 1-30, Kofoid.
Margin of victory: One lap.
Fastest race lap: Kofoid, lap 3, 12.805 seconds.
Sprint Group 1 Qualifying: 1. Matt Westfall, 12.682; 2. Tyler Kendall, 12.910; 3. Charles Davis Jr., 12.915; 4. Brayden Fox, 12.966; 5. Jake Scott, 12.995; 6. Dustin Ingle, 13.179; 7. Jackson Sloan, 13.444; 8. Jack James, 14.034.
Sprint Group 2 Qualifying: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 11.843; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 12.174; 3. Jason McDougal, 12.287; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 12.435; 5. Braydon Cromwell, 12.528; 6. Andrew Prather, 12.550; 7. Chet Williams, 13.092; 8. Tayte Williamson, 14.205.
Sprint Group 3 Qualifying: 1. Scotty Weir, 12.403; 2. Tyler Hewitt, 12.727; 3. Max Adams, 12.886; 4. Adam Byrkett, 12.887, 5. Matt McDonald, 13.002; 6. Rob Caho Jr., 13.058; 7. Matt Goodnight, 13.302; 8. Gabriel Gilbert, 13.656.
Sprint Group 4 Qualifying: 1. Brady Bacon, 12.354; 2. Tye Mihocko, 12.785; 3. Brayden Clark, 12.867; 4. Jadon Rogers, 12.870; 5. Kyle Simon, 12.931; 6. Sterling Cling, 13.040; 7. Nathan Carle, 14.020; 8. A.J. Hopkins, no time.
Sprint Heat 1 (8 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Brayden Fox, 3. Tyler Kendall, 4. Jake Scott, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Jack James, 7. Dustin Ingle, 8. Jackson Sloan. Margin of victory: 0.462 seconds.
Sprint Heat 2 (8 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Chet Williams, 5. Braydon Cromwell, 6. Andrew Prather, 7. Tayte Williamson, 8. Jason McDougal (DNS). Margin of victory: 1.695 seconds.
Sprint Heat 3 (8 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Max Adams, 3. Adam Byrkett, 4. Tyler Hewitt, 5. Matt Goodnight, 6. Rob Caho Jr., 7. Matt McDonald, 8. Gabriel Gilbert. Margin of victory: 2.093 seconds.
Sprint Heat 4 (8 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Kyle Simon, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Brayden Clark, 5. Nathan Carle, 6. Sterling Cling, 7. A.J. Hopkins, 8. Tye Mihocko. Margin of victory: 1.402 seconds.
Sprint B-Main (12 laps, 4 transfer): 1. Braydon Cromwell, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Matt Goodnight, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Max McDonald, 7. Dustin Ingle, 8. Andrew Prather, 9. Jackson Sloan, 10. Jack James, 11. Gabriel Gilbert, 12. Nathan Carle, 13. Rob Caho Jr., 14. Tayte Williamson (DNS), 15. A.J. Hopkins (DNS), 16. Jason McDougal (DNS). Margin of victory: 0.526 seconds.
Sprint Feature (25 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4); 2. Scotty Weir (2); 3. Thomas Meseraull (8); 4. Cannon McIntosh (10); 5. Brady Bacon (12); 6. Jadon Rogers (1); 7. Charles Davis Jr. (3); 8. Tye Mihocko (19); 9. Matt Westfall (18); 10. Brayden Fox (7); 11. Kyle Simon (5); 12. Adam Byrkett (11); 13. Matt Goodnight (20); 14. Tyler Hewitt (15); 15. Jake Scott (13); 16. Chet Williams (14); 17. Brayden Clark (16); 18. Braydon Cromwell (17); 19. Tyler Kendall (9); 20. Max Adams (6).
Lap leaders: Laps 1-12, Weir; laps 13-25, Thomas. Margin of victory: 5.221 seconds
