BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Tanner Thorson led all 30 laps in dominant fashion to win Wednesday’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature at Bakersfield Speedway.
Ryan Timms placed second and Cannon McIntosh was third as Toyota-powered drivers swept the top-three podium on the night.
Starting from the pole in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication – Race for Chase/LynK/Ed Pink Toyota, Thorson (Minden, Nev.) was never headed from start to finish, leading the entire 30-lap distance to earn his 30th career USAC National Midget feature victory – his first at Bakersfield.
“(The track) was tricky; it was definitely a race where you wanted to start on the front row,” Thorson said of the juiced up 1/3-mile clay oval which had been doused by rain the previous two days. “Hats off to my guys for not giving up. I was pretty terrible in that heat race, so we just threw a bunch of stuff at it and it stuck. This was as comfortable as it could get and it could go anywhere I wanted. I think it helped in that situation because it’s easy to lose races when you’re out there by yourself.”
The victory was also Thorson’s first since his two-month-old daughter, Blakelee, was born. Furthermore, Thorson’s latest USAC National Midget victory was his second in the state of California, and his first in the Golden State since 2020 at Merced Speedway just after he was hired for a late-season run in Malloy’s same No. 25m nearly four years to the day earlier.
“It’s cool to get back here in victory lane with (Tom Malloy),” Thorson stated. “He and (crew chief) Jerome (Rodela) gave me a shot back in 2020 when I didn’t have a ride. I told him we were going to park it at least one time this week.”
Thorson established the top spot early over fellow front row starter Cannon McIntosh, who slipped back to fourth as fellow Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammates Ryan Timms and Buddy Kofoid scurried into second and third, respectively.
By lap nine, Thorson had already reached the tail end of the field, building a 1.7 second lead in the process over Timms and Kofoid who found themselves mired behind a wall of lapped traffic.
However, the front running order was shaken up on lap 13 when the lapped car of Alex Karpowicz checked up behind Timms on the bottom of turn two. At that same moment, Kofoid was skating the low groove and clipped the left rear tire of Karpowicz, which sent Kofoid spiraling upside down to bring out the red flag, finishing Kofoid’s night in the process.
On the ensuing lap-13 restart, fifth-running Carson Macedo biked on his entry into turn one, sending him flipping over three times into the outside wall and billboards, ending his race in abrupt fashion.
From the second attempt at a lap-13 restart through the balance of the 30-lap main, Thorson was the dominant force as he quickly muscled his way to an eight car length lead by the midway point and increasingly built his advantage over the field as the race wore on, even as he was forced to maneuver around from top to bottom in order to work his way through traffic.
“I don’t really think I had a doubt,” Thorson confidently noted. “My car was just so good. It sounds cocky, but I was letting it drive itself and it where it went.”
Thorson ultimately powered across the finish line 3.082 seconds ahead of the competition in front of the KKM triumvirate of Ryan Timms, Cannon McIntosh and Gavin Miller while Beilman Motorsports’ Zach Daum rounded out the top five.
Championship leader Daison Pursley finished 12th, as his lead dropped to 30 points ahead of McIntosh with one race remaining.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Bakersfield Speedway, Bakersfield, Calif., Nov. 27, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-12.380; 2. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.436; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.472; 4. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.579; 5. Ronnie Gardner, 68, Six8-12.596; 6. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-12.633; 7. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-12.635; 8. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.704; 9. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.774; 10. Zach Daum, 31B, Beilman-12.777; 11. Corey Day, 4, Kahne-12.779; 12. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.783; 13. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.785; 14. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-12.803; 15. Emerson Axsom, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.828; 16. Kyle Larson, 1K, Silva-12.862; 17. Karter Sarff, 31, Beilman-12.869; 18. Kyle Busch, 51B, Busch-12.921; 19. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-12.967; 20. Brandt Twitty, 4B, Twitty-12.996; 21. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-13.001; 22. Austin Torgerson, 88A, Mounce/Stout-13.006; 23. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.041; 24. Cade Lewis, 101, Alexander-13.088; 25. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-13.115; 26. Broedy Graham, 66, Graham-13.181; 27. Alex Karpowicz, 19, Mounce/Stout-13.260; 28. Abby Hohlbein, 55, Lambert-13.456; 29. Troy DeGaton, 39T, DeGaton-13.460; 30. Todd Hawse, 18, Hawse-13.460; 31. Kaylee Bryson, 58, Abacus-13.558; 32. T.J. Smith, 32, Sarale-14.021; 33. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-14.499; 34. Terry Nichols, 1p, Nichols/Peckfelder-15.562; 35. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Silva-NT; 36. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Brody Fuson, 5. Carson Macedo, 6. Kyle Hawse, 7. Troy DeGaton, 8. Ronnie Gardner, 9. Karter Sarff. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Daum, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Gavin Miller, 4. Austin Torgerson, 5. Broedy Graham, 6. Todd Hawse, 7. Terry Nichols, 8. Kyle Busch, 9. Drake Edwards. NT
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Corey Day, 3. Zach Wigal, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Alex Karpowicz, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Chase McDermand. 2:11.097
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cade Lewis, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Kale Drake, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Brandt Twitty, 7. T.J. Smith, 8. Abby Hohlbein. 2:09.421
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase McDermand, 2. Drake Edwards, 3. Brandt Twitty, 4. Alex Karpowicz, 5. Kyle Busch, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. T.J. Smith, 8. Abby Hohlbein, 9. Todd Hawse, 10. Kyle Hawse, 11. Terry Nichols, 12. Cale Coons. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (1), 2. Ryan Timms (3), 3. Cannon McIntosh (2), 4. Gavin Miller (5), 5. Zach Daum (7), 6. Justin Grant (8), 7. Jacob Denney (14), 8. Cade Lewis (10), 9. Logan Seavey (9), 10. Kale Drake (13), 11. Zach Wigal (18), 12. Daison Pursley (15), 13. Emerson Axsom (16), 14. Chase McDermand (12), 15. Brody Fuson (21), 16. Drake Edwards (11), 17. Austin Torgerson (20), 18. Alex Karpowicz (23), 19. Broedy Graham (24), 20. Brandt Twitty (19), 21. Buddy Kofoid (4), 22. Carson Macedo (6), 23. Kyle Larson (17), 24. Corey Day (24).
