BELOIT, Kan. — Bryant Wiedeman became the first Kansas native to win a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event in 84 events in the state dating back to 1957.
Wiedeman changed used a green-white-checkered restart to win Wednesday night’s 12th running of the Chad McDaniel Memorial at the Mitchell County Fairgrounds.
In what was his 76th career USAC National Midget feature start since his 2020 debut, the Colby, Kan. racer swept under near racelong leader Emerson Axsom on the bottom coming to the white flag to score his first career series victory.
Wiedeman nearly became the first native of the Sunflower State to win a USAC National Midget race on Kansas soil just two months earlier at the Belleville Short Track. He led 27 of the 40 laps on the second night at Belleville in May before an incident ended his chances at victory in his CB Industries/Nutrien Ag Solutions – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Redemption finally came for the high school senior who had joined car owner Chad Boat’s outfit at the beginning of the season.
“I just can’t believe it! It’s mind blowing,” Wiedeman exclaimed. “I’ve been working pretty hard for this one, and I thought tonight might be my night, and it was. I just had to stay consistent down there and I can’t thank my guys enough. They all work so hard and I’m very proud to get it done for them. It’s unbelievable to win a USAC race.”
Wiedeman started his 30-lap quest from fifth at the venue formerly known as Solomon Valley Raceway. However, it was front row occupants Ryan Timms and Emerson Axsom who controlled the early portion of the contest.
From the pole, Timms stepped out to the first lap lead, but Axsom pressed ahead around the outside of Timms on the back stretch to take over the race lead on lap two. Meanwhile, outside third row occupant Logan Seavey had burst up to third.
A major crash down the front straightaway on lap seven ensued when Thomas Meseraull and Jade Avedisian touched wheels at the start/finish line while battling for 12th n. The initial impact sent defending Chad McDaniel Memorial winner Meseraull flipping several times, while also collecting Gavin Miller.
On the lap seven restart, second-running Timms got hung up on the turn-three cushion and slid to a stop over the banking, which brought out the yellow. Timms restarted at the tail and made a valiant effort to work his way back to ninth.
From there, Axsom was in total control, building his lead to 1.6 seconds over new second-place occupant Jesse Love by lap 12 while series point leader Logan Seavey was surging in third. Also working his way forward was Wiedeman who continuously dug in on the low line to third past Seavey on lap 17, then to second by Love on the 22nd circuit.
“(Cannon) McIntosh had a really good run at me early in the race, so I just went down there looking,” Wiedeman recalled. “I got a pretty good run on Seavey and figured one and two was pretty good down there. So, I just stayed down there the whole race and just had to maintain in three and four because I think the top was better down there.”
With five laps remaining, Axsom’s advantage remained at 1.5 seconds. Axsom’s pursuit was halted on lap 26 when a tangle occurred in the battle for third. Entering turn one, Justin Grant’s right-front tire and Love’s left rear touched, sending Grant spinning to a stop.
On the restart, Wiedeman’s bottom feeding exploits were put to the test on Axsom for the race lead. Wiedeman pulled even with Axsom for the lead with three to go. Entering turn one on lap 28, however, Axsom moved off the top and made a beeline to the bottom of turn one to steal the line away from Wiedeman who remained a single car length behind with the laps winding down.
Rounding turn two for what he thought was the final time, Axsom held a three-car length lead with the checkered flag just within sight. But it was not to be just yet as Avedisian spun to a stop in turn three.
Although he sat right on the bumper of Axsom heading back to the green flag, Wiedeman had just one thought and prayer toward the situation, the only one he thought might work in his favor if it played out.
“I knew on that last restart that one and two was so good, he was probably going to go down there,” Wiedeman explained. “I decided to hope for luck that he was going to miss it.”
Entering turn one, Axsom just narrowly missed, sliding up a car width on the bottom, which opened the door for Wiedeman to get a foot in and rip the top spot away for himself. Momentarily, Seavey nearly swiped past both entering the bottom of turn three moments later but backed out and slotted back into third.
To the roar and jubilation of the home state crowd, Wiedeman stuck to his guns as a low rider and scored a .277-second triumph over Axsom.
Seavey, Jacob Denney and Love rounded out the top five.
Axsom led 27 of 30 laps and finished second aboard his Petry-Hayward Motorsports/Capital Industries – IPC/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“I’m just frustrated honestly,” Axsom lamented. “Bryant is one of my buddies, but I hate to lose. Congrats to him; he’s been working really hard. We’re just coming to do this and have fun, but we all hate to lose. We came here to win. It’s hot and we’re all frustrated. I hate to be a crybaby, but I just hate to lose.”
Seavey was the fastest qualifier, won his heat and finished third in the feature, while retaining the series point lead.
“It was a little greasy on the bottom and pretty gripped up on the top,” Seavey explained. “I had a great start and got to third right away but gave up third trying the bottom too early when it was still wet. (Love) got by us and I just couldn’t get back by him. It’s my fault for losing that spot early. I felt like I had a shot to win, but these races are hard to win, especially in a race where I thought I had a really great shot to win, and I just didn’t run a good enough race. The guys gave me a good car, just like they always do. I just didn’t get the job done.”
The Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Mitchell County Fairgrounds, Beloit, Kansas, July 12, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.328; 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 81, CBI-12.331; 3. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.366; 4. Jesse Love, 84, CBI-12.409; 5. Emerson Axsom, 19A, Petry/Hayward-12.450; 6. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-12.469; 7. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.474; 8. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.484; 9. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.509; 10. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.519; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.525; 12. Chase McDermand, 40, Mounce/Stout-12.543; 13. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.550; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-12.552; 15. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-12.587; 16. Kyle Jones, 7m, RAMCO-12.620; 17. Jake Andreotti, 25m, Malloy-12.633; 18. Daison Pursley, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.643; 19. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.684; 20. Todd McVay, 89, McVay-12.755; 21. Anton Hernandez, 00, Chandler-12.760; 22. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.761; 23. Zach Daum, 7p, RAMCO-12.854; 24. Cody Jessop, 4c, Frewaldt-12.854; 25. Corey Joyner, 52J, Joyner-13.060; 26. Ryan Padgett, 84J, Shapel-13.282; 27. Curtis Spicer, 4s, Spicer-13.529; 28. Laike Imm, 2c, Ewing-15.058; 29. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-NT; 30. Cade Cowles, 70, Gariss-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jade Avedisian, 3. Jesse Love, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Taylor Reimer, 6. Mariah Ede, 7. Corey Joyner, 8. Kyle Jones, 9. Laike Imm, 10. Chance Crum. 2:06.48
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Andreotti, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Bryant Wiedeman, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Todd McVay, 9. Shaun Shapel, 10. Ryan Padgett. 2:07.55
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chase McDermand, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Gavin Miller, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Anton Hernandez, 8. Cody Jessop, 9. Curtis Spicer. 2:05.18
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Mariah Ede, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Kyle Jones, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Todd McVay, 9. Cody Jessop, 10. Curtis Spicer, 11. Corey Joyner, 12. Laike Imm. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bryant Wiedeman (5), 2. Emerson Axsom (2), 3. Logan Seavey (6), 4. Jacob Denney (4), 5. Jesse Love (3), 6. Daison Pursley (18), 7. Cannon McIntosh (7), 8. Zach Daum (22), 9. Ryan Timms (1), 10. Chase McDermand (14), 11. Taylor Reimer (12), 12. Jerry Coons Jr. (16), 13. Hayden Reinbold (19), 14. Justin Grant (9), 15. Anton Hernandez (20), 16. Mariah Ede (10), 17. Jake Andreotti (8), 18. Jade Avedisian (15), 19. Chance Crum (21), 20. Kyle Jones (17), 21. Thomas Meseraull (13), 22. Gavin Miller (11).