INDIANAPOLIS — Buddy Kofoid took the lead on lap 28 and went on to win Monday’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature at Circle City Raceway on night two of Indiana Midget Week.
It is Kofoid’s 42nd national midget feature win and his first of the season since re-joining the Keith Kunz Motorsports team for Midget Week.
With the victory, four different Toyota-powered drivers have combined to win the first five USAC events this season.
In the early going, it appeared that Kofoid’s KKM teammate Gavin Miller might be headed to his first midget triumph as the 16-year-old went straight to the lead ahead of Kofoid and had pulled out to a 1.2-second lead by lap eight.
He continued to pace the race as they closed on the midway point of the 30-lap event, only to catch the cushion in turn one on lap 13, flipping to end his night.
Kofoid would then lead the field back to green with Logan Seavey in second and Justin Grant in third. The two-time USAC champion would lead the next eight laps before Seavey would overtake him for the top spot on lap 21.
The two would pull away from the field before Seavey slowed on lap 28, pulling into the pits with Kofoid reclaiming the lead.
Kofoid drove to a 2.575-second victory over Sunday night’s winner Jacob Denney, with Bryant Wiedeman finishing third as Toyota-powered cars swept the podium.
“We were good most of the day. In the feature, it was probably the best I felt,” Kofoid said. “We kind of won by default and got lucky when Logan had some trouble. The track was really tricky tonight. Logan got around me and he was really good. So happy to win this one tonight. Thanks to Mobil 1 and Toyota and everyone on this KKM team for getting me comfortable in the car again. I knew where I needed to stay away from on the track as there was a big hole in number one, but it was hard to read the track.”
Tanner Thorson and Emerson Axsom rounded out the top five.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series will take Tuesday off before heading to Gas City I-69 for night three of Indiana Midget Week.
The Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Circle City Raceway, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 5, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 23, Mounce/Stout-12.385 (Track Record); 2. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.391; 3. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.425; 4. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-12.505; 5. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.510; 6. Emerson Axsom, 19A, Petry/Hayward-12.522; 7. Buddy Kofoid, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.547; 8. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.550; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.577; 10. Jake Andreotti, 25m, Malloy-12.581; 11. Daniel Whitley, 58, Abacus-12.586; 12. Jesse Love, 84, CBI-12.602; 13. Daison Pursley, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.664; 14. Bryant Wiedeman, 81, CBI-12.672; 15. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.680; 16. Tanner Thorson, 88, Thorson-12.733; 17. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-12.747; 18. Chase McDermand, 40, Mounce/Stout-12.817; 19. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.825; 20. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.838; 21. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.932; 22. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.999; 23. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffiths-13.033; 24. Chelby Hinton, 4, Klatt-13.084; 25. Eastin Ashbrooke, 19T, Mounce/Stout-13.290; 26. Oliver Akard, 41, OMR-13.363; 27. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-13.505; 28. Robert Carson, 99K, LOK/Carson/Segur-13.997.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Jake Andreotti, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Thomas Meseraull, 9. Eastin Ashbrooke, 10. Robert Carson. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND: HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Jacob Denney, 4. Gavin Miller, 5. Ryan Timms, 6. Bryan Stanfill, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Daniel Whitley, 9. Oliver Akard. NT
T.J. FORGED/CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jesse Love, 3. Chance Crum, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Chelby Hinton, 7. Rylan Gray, 8. Chase McDermand, 9. Jade Avedisian. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI-FEATURE: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Daniel Whitley, 3. Taylor Reimer, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Jade Avedisian, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Bryan Stanfill, 8. Chelby Hinton, 9. Eastin Ashbrooke, 10. Rylan Gray, 11. Oliver Akard, 12. Robert Carson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (2), 2. Jacob Denney (6), 3. Bryant Wiedeman (15), 4. Tanner Thorson (17), 5. Emerson Axsom (3), 6. Cannon McIntosh (9), 7. Taylor Reimer (19), 8. Jade Avedisian (11), 9. Justin Grant (5), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 11. Daison Pursley (8), 12. Jake Andreotti (12), 13. Thomas Meseraull (18), 14. Daniel Whitley (13), 15. Jesse Love (14), 16. Chase McDermand (23-P), 17. Hayden Reinbold (20), 18. Bryan Stanfill (22), 19. Ryan Timms (4), 20. Logan Seavey (7), 21. Chance Crum (16), 22. Kyle Cummins (21), 23. Gavin Miller (1).