MERCED, Calif. — After what transpired during his most recent visit to California’s Merced Speedway last November, Spencer Bayston felt he had some unfinished business there.
At the conclusion of 30 laps during Tuesday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship return to the high-banked quarter-mile dirt oval, the Lebanon, Ind., racer achieved what eluded him a year earlier.
In November of 2022, Bayston watched his Dyson Motorsport teammate Carson Macedo win the Merced opener. The very next night, Bayston led the initial 25 laps before having his lead slip away to Buddy Kofoid with five laps remaining.
This time around, the roles were reversed with Bayston, the 2017 USAC National Midget champion, taking the first-place prize after leading all 30 circuits in his Dyson Motorsport/Complete Parts & Equipment – Tarlton & Son – Empire/King/Speedway Toyota while Kofoid finished a distant second.
It was Bayston’s first USAC National Midget feature victory since an Indiana Midget Week score at Lawrenceburg Speedway in 2018.
Bayston’s wire-to-wire performance puts another one in the win column for the team with the intriguing arrangement of American drivers, chassis from New Zealand and an Australian team that has now won two out of their three ever trips to Merced to go along with a runner-up result.
“It feels really good for all these Aussie guys standing back here behind me,” Bayston exclaimed. “We ran Bakersfield and Placerville and it’s hard; it’s a lot harder than I ever realized getting back into a midget and trying to keep pace with some of the top guys who run every single week. I spent the first couple of races trying to get it figured out. Last year, Carson (Macedo) won the first night out and I should’ve won the second. We knew coming into tonight our cars were going to be fast.”
Meanwhile, as one past series champion was racing his way back to victory lane, another past driving champion added a second USAC National Midget championship trophy to his case.
When Logan Seavey was pushed away for the start of Tuesday night’s feature, he clinched the season long points title for the second time, having previously etched his name into the record books back in 2018.
It’s Seavey’s second USAC national title of 2023 after earlier securing the Silver Crown title, making him the first driver to win multiple USAC national championships in a single season since Levi Jones in 2011 (Silver Crown and sprint car).
By virtue of doubling-up with the USAC National Midget and Silver Crown titles in 2023, Seavey earned $100,000 in point fund money between the two divisions.
Outside front row starter Gavin Miller slipped past polesitter Bayston for the lead, but Bayston swiftly countered back under off turn four to beat Miller to the stripe and to the lap one lead by just a thread underneath a full car length.
On the second go around, Miller attempted to work the side around Bayston, but clipped his right rear tire into the outside guardrail, which sent him into a serious of six violent flips down the back straightaway and some major airtime before landing on all fours.
On the resumption, Bayston shot away and instantaneously opened up a near full second lead over Tanner Carrick who slotted into second, and by the 10-lap mark, the advantage was a half-straightaway over the field for Bayston.
“It’s a little bit like riding a bike just with the general concept and the attitude of how the car dances around and bounces and moves,” the full-time winged sprint car racer acknowledged. “But it’s a little unnerving because you’re just so used to a wing car that has enough power to get you out of trouble and a big wing to shove you into the race track.”
Meanwhile, Seavey refused to rest on his championship laurels as he worked by Jesse Love for fifth on lap 16 after starting 12th.
On the 25th lap, the top of the running order experienced a shakeup when fourth-place Emerson Axsom’s ride went up in smoke, forcing him to the infield and into a 19th place result, thrusting Seavey up to fourth and Love back into the top-five with less than five circuits go.
Up front, however, Bayston was never seriously challenged as he sped away for a .893-second margin of victory over Kofoid, Tanner Carrick and Seavey who extended his top-10 streak to 20 in a row, the most in USAC National Midget racing since 2000 when Kasey Kahne accumulated 21.
Rounding out the top five was ARCA Menard’s Series champion Jesse Love who took fifth in the final tally to achieve his best career USAC National Midget showing.
“Just want to say a big thank you to the Dysons for giving me the opportunity to come back and run midgets and have fun with this whole group,” Bayston praised. “Justin (Insley) did a phenomenal job on my car. I got to spend a lot of time with his family back when I used to race in New Zealand. This whole group has done a great job and it’s an absolute blast to come out here and race with them.”
The Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Merced Speedway, Merced, Calif., Nov. 21, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 88, Thorson-11.526 (Track Record); 2. Daison Pursley, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-11.569; 3. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.581; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.581; 5. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-11.635; 6. Tanner Carrick, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.644; 7. Emerson Axsom, 68, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.653; 8. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.661; 9. Spencer Bayston, 9AU, Dyson-11.674; 10. Cannon McIntosh, 86, CBI-11.689; 11. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-11.696; 12. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-11.712; 13. Jesse Love, 84, CBI-11.738; 14. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-11.776; 15. Braden Chiaramonte, 14J, Graunstadt/Streeter-11.809; 16. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.822; 17. Bryant Wiedeman, 81, CBI-11.841; 18. Corey Day, 4, Kahne-11.874; 19. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.895; 20. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.911; 21. Chance Crum, 68w, Six8-11.926; 22. Mitchel Moles, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-11.938; 23. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-11.945; 24. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-11.947; 25. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.947; 26. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-11.965; 27. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-11.995; 28. Michael Faccinto, 14T, Graunstadt/Streeter-12.104; 29. Peter Hunnibell, 65NZ, Covich-12.587; 30. Blake Bower, 9, Boscacci-12.625.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jesse Love, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Mitchel Moles, 9. Mariah Ede, 10. Michael Faccinto. 1:54.98 (New Track Record)
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Gavin Miller, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Peter Hunnibell, 9. Shannon McQueen, 10. Thomas Meseraull. 1:56.50
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Andreotti, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Braden Chiaramonte, 6. Brody Fuson, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Blake Bower, 9. Jade Avedisian, 10. Corey Day. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Corey Day, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Mitchel Moles, 8. Mariah Ede, 9. Taylor Reimer, 10. Brody Fuson, 11. Shannon McQueen, 12. Peter Hunnibell, 13. Blake Bower. 2:18.06 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Spencer Bayston (1), 2. Buddy Kofoid (5), 3. Tanner Carrick (4), 4. Logan Seavey (12), 5. Jesse Love (8), 6. Tanner Thorson (10), 7. Carson Macedo (9), 8. Jacob Denney (14), 9. Ryan Timms (16), 10. Jade Avedisian (11), 11. Daison Pursley (6), 12. Justin Grant (22), 13. Corey Day (18), 14. Bryant Wiedeman (17), 15. Hayden Reinbold (19), 16. Taylor Reimer (23-P), 17. Cannon McIntosh (13), 18. Braden Chiaramonte (15), 19. Emerson Axsom (3), 20. Jake Andreotti (7), 21. Chance Crum (20), 22. Gavin Miller (2), 23. Mitchel Moles (21).