BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. – This scene looked all too familiar for Chris Windom.
Two years ago, in the most recent edition of USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget racing at Grandview Speedway, Windom experienced a roller coaster final lap in which he saw his race lead slip away in the first turn only to race back past Tyler Courtney for the narrow win.
Fast forward to Tuesday night’s Ken Brenn Midget Masters at Grandview, the landscape Windom found himself in was eerily similar, but this time, the situation involved Emerson Axsom along with a rich tapestry of lapped traffic.
Nose-to-tail as Windom and Axsom crossed under the white flag, Windom became boxed in behind the lapped cars of Bundy Built Motorsports teammates Ethan Mitchell and Zach Daum, who were racing side-by-side down the front straightaway.
With Windom choosing the high line path entering turn one, the door inherently opened for Axsom to slide past both Windom and Mitchell. Windom rotated his car, cut to the bottom of turn two and raced back past Axsom midway down the back straightaway, dove under Daum a tick of the Timex later in turn three and finished off a hectic final lap with a .788 second winning margin over Axsom.
“I didn’t really want it to be that exciting,” Windom said with a smile. “I got to the Bundy cars, and they were running side by side. I know they didn’t know I was there, and they were running their own race. I literally had nowhere to go. I just had to wait for one of them t make a mistake to get by them. Emerson was able to put a move on me there, but luckily we were able to get back by him.”
Windom started the 30-lap feature event from the pole position in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota. However, it was outside front row starter, series rookie Chase Randall, who controlled the race right from the green and throughout the early stages.
At the conclusion of lap seven, Windom had the diamond working as he went topside in turn three, then cut to the bottom off turn four carrying an enormous amount of momentum. Windom roared past Randall on the bottom of turn one before sliding to the top in turn two. Randall cut back under Windom and the pair silhouetted each other for the entirety of the back straightaway.
However, Randall carried just a tad bit too much speed into turn three, causing him to drift up over the cushion exiting turn four, which allowed Axsom to scoot by Randall and into the runner spot with a slide job in turn one mere moments later.
The high majority of the second half of the race saw Windom in an unrelenting tug-of-war with the tail end of the field as he sought to break free from Axsom. When Windom caught Rookie Jonathan Shafer at the back end of the field, Axsom capitalized on the hand that was dealt and managed to close right on the rear bumper of Windom. As soon as Windom found his way past Shafer in turn three on lap 19, the comforting feeling didn’t last long as Axsom mimicked Windom a half lap later past Shafer and was right back on Windom’s trail.
With five to go, Windom carved a path past the now lapped car of Hayden Williams on the bottom of turn three to gain roughly 10 lengths on Axsom and, shortly thereafter, encountered Mitchell and Daum running side-by-side competing in their own tussle for the 14th position.
Once Axsom slid Williams in turn one, the gap that existed between he and Windom rapidly dissipated to less than a single car length entering the turns. With the white flag in full view coming off turn four, Windom veered down to the bottom off turn four, making it three-wide with Mitchell and Daum to his outside.
Windom made the split-second decision to dart right to the top of turn one on the final lap, which got him caught behind Mitchell. Using Mitchell as a sort of pick, when Axsom drifted by both to momentarily take away the race lead, Windom’s instincts drove him to the bottom of two, straight past Axsom, straight past Daum too going into three.
Finally, Windom had room to breathe as he rocketed off turn four to win his third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature of the season and the seventh of his career ahead of Axsom, Randall and fast qualifier Kevin Thomas Jr. with Tanner Thorson rounding out the top-five.
Although coming close to his third career series victory, Axsom feels he and the team are starting to put together a full night race-after-race, which has seen the Franklin, Ind., driver earn, far and away, the most points since that span nine races ago with him earning 631 points, Kevin Thomas Jr. with 569, series point leader Buddy Kofoid at 538, Chris Windom at 532 and Daison Pursley at 528.
“Chris doesn’t make mistakes,” Axsom said. “It’s hard to run him down and it’s even harder to pass him. Lapped traffic hurt us there at the end, but that’s how we ran him down. It’s part of racing. I thought we had him there for a second, but I knew he’d be able to diamond it off turn two because, in lapped traffic, he was really good doing that and sometimes pulled away from me doing that. I knew it was going to be tough to slide him, but when I saw the white, I saw an opening and I went for it. We came up short, but we had a really good car.”
In a week where he’s poised to make a big run toward the head of the rookie class in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, Randall earned his best career result with a third-place finish.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Randall said. “We’ve made a huge improvement throughout the year, and we can only go up from here. I’m just glad to finally get a podium with these guys and to do it with this team.”
Thomas Meseraull salvaged what could’ve very well been a demoralizing end to the night for the driver of the RMS Racing/EnviroFab – Response Management Services – Engler Machine/Spike/Speedway Toyota. After a misfortunate interaction with a truck while being pushed off for the feature, Meseraull’s ride suffered a bent shock and a flattened tire. After a brief period of time in the work area, Meseraull was provided his spot back in the 15th position where he proceeded to drive up to an 8th place finish to earn KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger honors for the evening.
For complete results, click below.