DAVENPORT, Iowa — The wildly impressive streak of parity was extended on Friday night as the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota welcomed a sixth winner to victory lane in the sixth race in series history.
Becoming the fifth and final leader of an action-packed debut at Davenport Speedway, Chase McDermand methodically picked his way forward amid one of the most heated battles for the lead in all of midget racing.
Fans witnessed a whopping seven lead changes in the opening 11 green flag laps as Jade Avedisian, Jesse Love, Bryant Wiedeman and Jacob Denney exchanged control of the top spot in the race that was co-sanctioned by the Lucas Oil POWRi Midget League.
It was a back and forth, neck and neck, see-saw battle with more comers and goers than you could imagine in such a short span of time.
With eyes glued to the front, the 22-year-old McDermand was able to quietly guide his Mounce/Stout Motorsports No. 40 to third-from-seventh in only a handful of laps as he entered the picture with nearly seven other winning contenders on the quarter-mile.
Once the intensity calmed down around halfway, McDermand settled into second behind his teammate, Jacob Denney, and it appeared as if a Mounce/Stout 1-2 finish was in order. However, when Denney’s No. 61 lost brakes in the closing stages, he also lost his marks and could do little to react as McDermand feathered the throttle and drove by the 16-year-old gasser to lead lap 27 of 30.
A green-white-checkered finish was then survived as McDermand crossed the checkered flag to join Gavan Boschele, Taylor Reimer, Jade Avedisian, Chance Crum and Michael Pickens as the sixth different winner in the brief history of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series. It was McDermand’s third POWRi win of the season.
“I watched that B Main and I knew that I was committed to the bottom with how we set this thing up,” McDermand said. “From the drop of the green flag we were passing cars and when I got to second, I was feeling pretty good. I knew we would have a shot, but I really wish I could’ve raced Jacob for that straight up had his brakes not gone out.”
Sandwiched in between the Mounce/Stout podium with a career-best runner-up effort was Dominic Gorden. The 16-year-old native of Clovis, Calif., moved forward from sixth to second in his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 71k.
Daison Pursley, who returned from a nine-month traumatic injury recovery, enjoyed a stellar showing as he battled up front and ultimately finished fourth in the Keith Kunz Motorsports, Toyota Racing, Bullet Chassis No. 71.
Rounding out the top five was his KKM teammate Gavin Miller with another career-best effort in fifth place.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps):Â 1. 40-Chase McDermand (7); 2. 71K-Dominic Gorden (6); 3. 61-Jacob Denney (11); 4. 71-Daison Pursley (5); 5. 71M-Gavin Miller (12); 6. 25K-Taylor Reimer (14); 7. 01-Bryant Wiedeman (2); 8. 26-Chance Crum (10); 9. 9M-Zach Daum (15); 10. 7U-Kyle Jones (21); 11. 87-Jace Park (8); 12. 84-Jade Avedisian (1); 13. 21K-Karter Sarff (9); 14. 19M-Ethan Mitchell (17); 15. 57-Maria Cofer (16); 16. 97-Brenham Crouch (4); 17. 56-Mitchell Davis (18); 18. 71E-Mariah Ede (19); 19. 50-Daniel Adler (20); 20. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold (13); 21. 21E-Emilio Hoover (22); 22. 84X-Jesse Love (3).Â
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