TULSA, Okla. — Justin Grant notched a piece of USAC National Midget Series history by reeling off a third consecutive series points win to kick off the season in Friday night’s 30-lap $4,000-to-win T-Town Showdown opener at Port City Raceway.
And for the accomplishment, Grant was greeted in victory lane by a chorus of boos from the near-capacity crowd after contact sent race-long leader Chase McDermand for a turn-two tumble with just seven laps remaining.
“I feel terrible with what happened there with Chase,” Grant explained. “I slid him eight or ten times there and never hit him. They called yellow as I was peeling across on my slider and I don’t know if he slowed up a little bit and didn’t get to the cushion where he’d been or if I just plugged him. But either way, I feel terrible about that.”
While Grant started the feature from the pole aboard the RMS Racing No. 2j, he spent the vast majority of the race in McDermand’s wake.
A red flag after 22 laps when the left rear tire sheared off Noah Harris’ mount exiting turn two resulted in a wild ride that also collected Tanner Berryhill and Thomas Meseraull set the stage for the ensuing restart.
One lap later, quick-timer Taylor Reimer got turned around in turn four at the same that Grant’s ill-fated slider put McDermand on his lid as vied for his first USAC National Midget win just six nights after scoring his first POWRi National win aboard the Mounce/Stout Motorsports No. 40.
“I got taken out,” McDermand summed up in short order.
Grant kept reigning USAC National Midget champion Michael “Buddy” Kofoid at bay over the closing rounds with Muskogee’s Kaylee Bryson filling out the podium in third after previously topping the night’s non-winged micro sprint feature.
“I almost got to him one time,” Kofoid explained after the runner-up showing. “I just wasn’t good enough in the rough, it’s just hard to pass when it’s rough like that.”
After matching her previous career best USAC National Midget feature finish, Bryson commented that, “The podium is cool, but I really want to get a win.”
Thursday night’s Dash for Cash winner Cannon McIntosh rallied from 12th to fourth with Logan Seavey rounding out the top five.
Taylor Reimer was the fast qualifier with a lap of 9.494 seconds on the quarter-mile track.