GAS CITY, Ind. — Buddy Kofoid and Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports made history Thursday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Kofoid raced to his 10th USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory of the season in the James Dean Classic and in doing so gave team owner Keith Kunz his 133rd series victory, tying him atop the all-time list with legendary car owner Steve Lewis.
Kofoid became the first driver since Rich Vogler in 1988 to reach double-figures in USAC idget victories.
Starting eighth, Kofoid climbed to the lead with 12 laps remaining following a back-and-forth tussle with teammate Kaylee Bryson on the 19th lap.
KKM swept the podium with Kofoid, Bryson and Brenham Crouch occupying the top-three.
It was an especially proud night for Bryson as she led a race-high 18 laps and finished as the runner-up, which equals the best ever finish by a woman in USAC National Midget competition. Sarah McCune also finished second at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway during the 1999 season.
“I wanted to come into this weekend by getting closer or by breaking Steve Lewis’ record,” Kofoid acknowledged. “It’s fun to be a part of it and have something else to chase outside of getting double-digit wins or trying to chase a championship again. It would be really cool to do that for KKM.”
Kofoid jetted away from the field over the final 10 laps, building up a 5.515-second lead coming to the checkered flag, crossing the line just as 19th running Blake Brannon was enduring a flip atop the cushion in turns three and four.
Brannon emerged unscathed while Kofoid emerged victorious over Bryson, Crouch, Chance Crum and Denney.
Seventh-place finisher Cannon McIntosh turned in a whale of a performance after flipping during his qualifying run, which resulted in him not recording a qualifying time.
Forced to start at the tail of the feature in the 23rd starting spot, McIntosh advanced 16 positions.
Tack those onto the four spots he gained in his heat race, not only was the Bixby, Okla., driver the feature hard charger, he was also the overall ProSource Passing Master for the evening, earning him a $200 bonus.
Maria Cofer became the eighth woman to set Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time in USAC National Midget competition.
Kevin Thomas Jr. won the companion USAC sprint car feature.
The Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Gas City I-69 Speedway, Gas City, Ind., Sept. 22, 2022
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-12.052; 2. Ethan Mitchell, 9m, Bundy Built-12.080; 3. Jacob Denney, 25m, Malloy-12.135; 4. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.139; 5. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.178; 6. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.190; 7. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.255; 8. Tanner Carrick, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.256; 9. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-12.280; 10. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.295; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.328; 12. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.331; 13. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-12.372; 14. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.377; 15. Alex Bright, 25, Malloy-12.439; 16. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.446; 17. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-12.501; 18. Blake Brannon, 40, Western Speed-12.503; 19. Dominic Gorden, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.594; 20. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffiths-12.817; 21. Michael Magic, 4m, Magic-12.937; 22. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell-12.961; 23. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-NT; 24. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Taylor Reimer, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Maria Cofer, 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 5. Chance Crum, 6. Dominic Gorden, 7. Jakeb Boxell, 8. Kyle Cummins. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Adam Taylor, 8. Bryan Stanfill. NT
PIT STOP USA/ROD END SUPPLY THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Brenham Crouch, 5. Jacob Denney, 6. Michael Magic, 7. Blake Brannon. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Buddy Kofoid (8), 2. Kaylee Bryson (2), 3. Brenham Crouch (1), 4. Chance Crum (3), 5. Jacob Denney (4), 6. Ethan Mitchell (5), 7. Cannon McIntosh (23), 8. Thomas Meseraull (9), 9. Tanner Carrick (10), 10. Justin Grant (11), 11. Dominic Gorden (19), 12. Mitchel Moles (14), 13. Alex Bright (15), 14. Kyle Cummins (16), 15. Taylor Reimer (7), 16. Maria Cofer (6), 17. Michael Magic (21), 18. Hayden Reinbold (13), 19. Adam Taylor (17), 20. Blake Brannon (18), 21. Bryan Stanfill (20), 22. Bryant Wiedeman (12), 23. Jakeb Boxell (22).