PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Buddy Kofoid earned his 11th victory of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series season with a 1.372-second triumph over Cannon McIntosh on night two of the Hangtown 100 at Placerville Speedway Friday.
Kofoid is the first USAC Midget driver to score double-digit wins since 1988 and his next victory would tie him for the fifth-highest total in a single season with each of the four drivers ahead of him competing in seasons that featured 45 races or more compared to this year’s projected 37 events.
Kofoid has registered 39 career national midget feature wins with 20 of those coming in USAC competition.
Friday’s feature kicked off with Thomas Meseraull taking the point position on the opening lap, with Bryant Wiedeman moving up to the top spot after the two leaders made contact in turn four on lap two with Kofoid having moved up from his fifth-starting position up to second after Meseraull went over the berm on the high side.
It didn’t take long for Kofoid to move to the front of the pack, though, as he overtook his Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate on lap four. Behind him, fellow KKM driver Ryan Timms and McIntosh took the second and third positions.
As the laps began to wind down, Timms began to close on Kofoid and had a big run into turn one on lap 23, but the two KKM drivers would get together with Timms coming to a stop resulting in a yellow with Timms restarting from the back of the field.
While the field would be bunched, no one had anything for Kofoid who mastered the restarts while running the top side of the track and quickly pulled away from McIntosh. Behind them Jade Avedisian had moved past Thursday’s winner Tanner Carrick, but as the two ran side-by-side coming back to the starter’s stand, Carrick would push up to the outside of the track, making contact with Avedisian who would hit the wall and had a vicious flip going into turn one. The 16-year-old Avedisian would quickly climb out of the car, but her night was over.
On the final restart, Kofoid once again pulled out to a second lead over McIntosh and that’s how they would finish, with Tanner Thorson placing third, followed by Carrick and Chris Windom rounding out the top five.
“This is where I cut my teeth in sprint cars. It’s cool to come back home. Feels really good to win at what I consider a home track. The track was more my style tonight than it was yesterday. I tightened my car up as the race went on. Overall, a good night and we’re sitting in a good position for tomorrow. I owe it all to Keith Kunz and the people who took a chance on me four years ago and now we’re chasing a second midget championship with 11 wins this year. And of course, I wouldn’t be here without Mobil 1 and Toyota.”
With the win, Kofoid stretched out his championship lead over Justin Grant to 209 points with four races remaining. Kofoid holds an eight-point lead over McIntosh in the Hangtown 100 standings.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series closes out the 2022 Hangtown 100 at Placerville Speedway on Saturday night, with a $20,000 first prize on the line, as well as a $12,000 championship payout for the point winner of the three-day event.
Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Placerville Speedway, Placerville, Calif., Nov. 18, 2022
FLIGHT ONE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Michael Pickens, 4x, Dave Mac Dalby-11.734; 2. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-11.758; 3. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-11.795; 4. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-11.844; 5. Tanner Carrick, 71m, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.872; 6. Chase Johnson, 73x, Ford-11.895; 7. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dave Mac-12.021; 8. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.206; 9. Daniel Whitley, 57, Abacus-12.600; 10. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-12.734.
FLIGHT TWO FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 58, Abacus-11.635; 2. Colby Copeland, 87, CBI-11.742; 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.786; 4. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-11.830; 5. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.844; 6. Danny Stratton, 31K, Beilman-11.960; 7. Alex Bright, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-11.965; 8. Dominic Gorden, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.997; 9. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.152.
FLIGHT THREE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.664; 2. Tanner Thorson, 88, Thorson-11.669; 3. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-11.695; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.699; 5. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.764; 6. Jacob Denney, 25m, Malloy-11.775; 7. Dylan Bloomfield, 14T, Streeter-11.962; 8. Michael Faccinto, 14J, Graunstadt-12.033; 9. Zach Telford, 22G, Risner-12.105; 10. Gavin Miller, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT (Time of 11.724 disallowed after missing the scales)
FLIGHT FOUR FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 89x, CBI-11.738; 2. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-11.767; 3. Ryan Timms, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.858; 4. Daison Pursley, 71p, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.863; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5T, Alexander-11.893; 6. Tyler Courtney, 25, Malloy-11.938; 7. Ryan Bernal, 27w, Wood-12.018; 8. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-12.105; 9. Blake Bower, 9, Boscacci-12.298.
FLIGHT FIVE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Jade Avedisian, 84, CBI-11.731; 2. Corey Day, 4, Kahne-11.806; 3. Spencer Bayston, 9AU, Dyson-11.826; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.930; 5. Jason McDougal, 68, Six8-11.944; 6. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.959; 7. Emerson Axsom, 25x, Malloy-12.021; 8. Tony Gomes, 73, Ford-12.100; 9. Nathan Byrd, 11K, Kruseman-12.718; 10. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-3 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick (T), 2. Chance Crum (T), 3. Jake Andreotti (T), 4. Carson Macedo, 5. Michael Pickens (T), 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Caden Sarale, 8. Randi Pankratz, 9. Austin Barnhill, 10. Daniel Whitley. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-3 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson (T), 2. Bryant Wiedeman (T), 3. Shane Golobic (T), 4. Danny Stratton, 5. Alex Bright, 6. Colby Copeland, 7. Logan Seavey (T), 8. Mariah Ede, 9. Dominic Gorden. NT
PIT STOP USA THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-3 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Jacob Denney (T), 2. Thomas Meseraull (T), 3. Tanner Thorson (T), 4. Buddy Kofoid (T), 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Gavin Miller, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Dylan Bloomfield, 9. Zach Telford, 10. Michael Faccinto. NT
ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-3 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Bernal (T), 2. Ryan Timms (T), 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Cannon McIntosh (T), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Chris Windom (T), 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Blake Bower, 9. Travis Buckley. NT
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, winner plus top-3 in points transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant (T), 2. Jason McDougal (T), 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Spencer Bayston (T), 5. Jade Avedisian (T), 6. Corey Day, 7. Tony Gomes, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Nathan Byrd. NT
FIRST ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-2 transfer to the feature) 1. Corey Day, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Tony Gomes, 7. Dominic Gorden, 8. Danny Stratton, 9. Alex Bright, 10. Daniel Whitley, 11. Austin Barnhill, 12. Nathan Byrd, 13. Mariah Ede. NT
SECOND ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-2 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Macedo, 2. Colby Copeland, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Taylor Reimer, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Gavin Miller, 7. Caden Sarale, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Dylan Bloomfield, 10. Randi Pankratz, 11. Travis Buckley, 12. Zach Telford, 13. Blake Bower. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (5), 2. Cannon McIntosh (9), 3. Tanner Thorson (4), 4. Tanner Carrick (12), 5. Chris Windom (13), 6. Logan Seavey (19), 7. Spencer Bayston (15), 8. Bryant Wiedeman (3), 9. Shane Golobic (16), 10. Carson Macedo (22), 11. Jake Andreotti (10), 12. Corey Day (21), 13. Justin Grant (18), 14. Mitchel Moles (23), 15. Chance Crum (6), 16. Jason McDougal (17), 17. Jacob Denney (14), 18. Michael Pickens (8), 19. Ryan Bernal (20), 20. Ryan Timms (2), 21. Colby Copeland (24), 22. Kaylee Bryson (11), 23. Thomas Meseraull (1), 24. Jade Avedisian (7). NT