MACON, Ill. – Buddy Kofoid would not be denied Saturday night at Macon Speedway en route to his sixth Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League victory of the season.
In round four of General Tire Illinois Speed Week presented by Lucas Oil, Kofoid capitalized on a lap-25 restart to slide past then-leader Cannon McIntosh for control of the 30-lapper.
From there, Kofoid fended off McIntosh on a five-lap dash following one more late caution for his first Illinois Speed Week triumph and the 13th win of his POWRi midget career.
Kofoid beat McIntosh to the checkered flag by 1.239 seconds.
“That was a tough one. For a while I didn’t think I was going to be able to get past him,” said Kofoid of the battle with McIntosh. “My car definitely got better at the end. I owe this one to the Keith Kunz Motorsports team, along with Mobil 1 and Toyota.”
The initial start of the race was marred by a violent flip for Friday-night winner Daison Pursley, who was transported to a local hospital for observation but was “conscious and alert” at the accident scene, according to POWRi officials.
When the race got underway after an open red stoppage, polesitter Thomas Meseraull jumped to the early lead, pacing the first five laps before McIntosh came roaring around the top side to lead lap six.
Kofoid followed McIntosh forward, taking second on lap nine, but McIntosh maintained a second-and-a-half lead through the first caution of the race on lap 14, when Brandon Waelti stopped low in turn two.
McIntosh held serve through the next restart, but Kofoid got into a rhythm shortly after and closed in to two car lengths with seven laps left before making his first bid for the lead in turn three coming to lap 24.
Kofoid completed the pass, but a red flag for the flipped car of Cade Lewis – which collected third-running Thomas Meseraull in the process – negated the move and put McIntosh back in front.
The next restart saw one more lap completed before Trey Gropp flipped with six to go to set up the restart where Kofoid took the lead for good.
Though McIntosh had one more chance when Mitchell Davis spun with five to go to set up the final restart, he had nothing for Kofoid, who cruised to the checkered flag from there.
Behind Kofoid and McIntosh, outside polesitter Kaylee Bryson filled out the podium, with 13-year-old Gavan Boschele crossing fourth and 15-year-old Bryant Wiedeman finishing fifth.
Karter Sarff, Emerson Axsom, Taylor Reimer, Zach Daum and Ryan Timms closed the top 10.
POWRi’s Illinois Speed Week concludes Sunday at Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, Ill.
The finish:
1. 67-Buddy Kofoid, 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 3. 71-Kaylee Bryson, 4. 5-Gavan Boschele, 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman, 6. 21k-Karter Sarff, 7. 15-Emerson Axsom, 8. 25-Taylor Reimer, 9. 91-Zach Daum, 10. 85t-Ryan Timms, 11. 97-Brenham Crouch, 12. 86-Brent Crews, 13. 56-Mitchell Davis, 14. 21-Emilio Hoover, 15. 88-Tyler Nelson, 16. 72-Sam Johnson, 17. 3w-Brandon Waelti, 18. 00-Trey Gropp, 19. 7x-Thomas Meseraull, 20. 67k-Cade Lewis, 21. 37-Terry Babb, 22. 71k-Daison Pursley.