BRANDON, S.D. — For the second consecutive evening, Chris Windom found himself taking over the lead just nine laps from the finish of the 30-lap USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature at Huset’s Speedway.
On Friday, however, Windom’s mercurial move to the bottom while leading left the top open and resulted in an unhappy Windom finishing second.
Come Saturday night, Windom found himself in a similar spot. Starting sixth, he climbed to second by lap four, stalked leader Daison Pursley throughout the first two-thirds of the race, then slid his way into the lead on lap 22 of the 30-lap distance, staying loyal to the topside throughout the duration.
Windom ultimately score his redemptional fourth USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory of the year in his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Saturday night’s $5,000 triumph was the 10th of Windom’s USAC National Midget career.
“(Car owner) Chad (Boat) had this car so good the last two nights,” Windom said. “I was really frustrated after losing last night. I was definitely not coming off the top tonight and I felt like I was not going to lose this race.”
Windom took his first shot at Pursley for the lead in turn one just past the halfway mark on lap 16, diving to the bottom briefly to slide his way by Pursley. Unable to make the move stick, Windom tucked into line behind Pursley as Logan Seavey posed a brief challenge to Windom for the second position.
Moments later, in turn one on the 17th lap, series point leader Buddy Kofoid saw a glimpse of daylight to slot in between Windom and Seavey for the third position as he dove his way into turn one.
While sliding up the track in front of Seavey, Seavey banged his right rear tire off the cushion, and subsequently got on the bike by lifting both left side tires.
When his car came back to all fours, Seavey’s left front tire landed atop Kofoid’s right rear. As Seavey gathered up his car and his senses, Kofoid had sped away with the third position for his own taking.
As Pursley drew closer to lapped traffic, he found himself coerced into leaving the comfort of the topside to cut below 19th running Hayden Reinbold. As soon as Pursley traveled to the low groove in turns three and four, Windom quickly ate up all the ground Pursley left unguarded up top.
When Pursley drifted back uphill to the top on the front straight behind Reinbold, Windom had a full head of steam and zeroed in on the opportunity, driving downhill from the top of turn four to the bottom of turn one, completing the pass.
“When you’re running second, you can kind of tell where you’re gaining a little time on the guy who’s leading,” Windom explained. “I’d get him coming off each corner a little bit, but the midgets are so close in speed here, it’s really hard to close up on a guy, so when you get there, you’ve got to make the right move. I made one early and I wasn’t close enough. I had to rebound and run him back down.”
Once Windom cleared Reinbold while utilizing a turn one slider just eight laps from the close, it was lights out for the rest of the field. Windom beat Pursley to the finish by .977 seconds.
Kofoid finished third, followed by Seavey and Shane Golobic.
Kofoid maintains a slight 13-point advantage over Windom in the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship standings.