SWEET SPRINGS, Mo. — A single night’s absence from victory road was all Buddy Kofoid and Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports could take.
After an atypical eighth place finish on Friday, the team’s unbeaten four-on-four run at the Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex ended, the leading driver and USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competitor returned to his form on Saturday night to claim his third win in his The last four series begin.
Kofoid, who started sixth, trailed through the first 31 laps of the $5,021 John Hinck Championship Presented By Dahmer Powertrain and relentlessly carved his way to the top until it paid off by overtaking the leader and Zach Daum fed nine rounds from the bottom to stay in a hard-fought, provably deserved 40-round Main Event.
“He rarely slips off the ground with his thumb,” said Kofoid. “It was so hard; It took 200 percent effort to get the top to work when it’s so far around to make it work. I don’t know if the ground got slick or if my car got better, but I got better at navigating the curb the more I drove it and I somehow figured out where to pick it up or get off it or peck it back again. Once I figured it out I was able to tighten up my car as the race progressed.”
Kofoid’s victory at Sweet Springs was a monumental event as he became the first driver since Jeff Gordon in 1990 to have nine wins in a single USAC National Midget season and was just one win away from becoming the first driver to do so since then Reich Vogler has been in double figures in this department in 1988.
The triumph gave Keith Kunz his 132nd career USAC National Midget victory as a competitor, leaving him just a step short of the all-time record of 133 held by Steve Lewis.
“(I’m) glad to get some redemption from last night to take win number nine but also move KKM closer to the top of the all-time win list,” said Kofoid. “It would mean a lot and if anything I want to be the one to win the next two to tie him and give him a head start and also get in double figures which would be cool
Kofoid finished 0.558s clear of Daison Pursley to take the win with Daum third.
It was a spectacular return to USAC competition for Pursley, who led two laps in his second series race after suffering an injury in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Bullet chassis.
“I felt like we had a really good car there,” admitted Pursley. “(I’m just disappointed. I felt like we got to the front quite easily there when we went right through the middle. Zach was really good on the floor and picked me off the floor when I changed my lineup. I was falling behind quite a bit and felt like I was starting to try too many things. I just went back to basics on the last reboot and I was able to get through there.
Daum was so close to his first USAC National Midget Feature win since 2014.
“In the last 10 laps I just couldn’t take as much speed with me,” emphasized Daum. “(Kofoid) just had more momentum. I had to pull races and they did more momentum races there. I just didn’t dress enough to make the floor work late. We tried a few different things tonight and we got better at it. If it had been 30 laps we might have won the thing, but tonight it was 40. We write down what we did and just keep going.”
Buddy Kofoid (67) races around the top of Zach Daum at the Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex. (Ken Simon photo)
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex, Sweet Springs, Mo., September 10, 2022
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFICATION: 1. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-11.575; 2. Mate Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11,694; 3. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-11.769; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 85, Central-11770; 5. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11801; 6. Chase McDermand, 86, CBI-11.825; 7. Daison Pursley, 71p, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.842; 8. Cade Lewis, 71m, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11,850; 9. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.859; 10. Joe B. Miller, 51B, Lewis-11866; 11. Jacob Denney, 61, Mounce/Stout-11,869; 12. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.874; 13. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11885; 14. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-11.892; 15. Dominic Gorden, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11893; 16. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11926; 17. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-11,928; 18. Trey Gropp, 08x, Dave Mac Dalby-11,956; 19.Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.005; 20. Austin Barnhill, 17B, Dace Mac Dalby-12,049; 21. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-12,051; 22. Cameron Key, 21H, TKH-12.116; 23. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.171; 24. Todd McVay, 89x, McVay-12,214; 25. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12,224; 26. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12386; 27. Jack Wagner, 7JR, Black-12.503; 28. Jace Park, 87, CBI-12.512; 29. Corey Joyner, 52J, Joyner-12516; 30. Joe Walker, 51x, Walker-12,664.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 rounds, top 5 transfer to feature) 1st Taylor Reimer, 2nd Bryant Wiedeman, 3rd Jerry Coons Jr., 4th Daison Pursley, 5th Brenham Crouch, 6th Chance Crum, 7th Joe B. Miller , 8. Mitchel Moles, 9. Kameron Key, 10. Jace Park. N.T
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND RUN: (10 laps, top 5 transfer to feature) 1st Justin Grant, 2nd Jacob Denney, 3rd Buddy Kofoid, 4th Cannon McIntosh, 5th Cade Lewis, 6th Kaylee Bryson, 7th Austin Barnhill, 8th Hayden Reinbold, 9th Mariah Ede, 10th Corey Joyner. 2:07.18
PIT STOP USA/ROD END SUPPLY THIRD HEAT: (10 rounds, top 5 transfer to feature) 1st Thomas Meseraull, 2nd Zach Daum, 3rd Chase McDermand, 4th Dominic Gorden, 5th Ethan Mitchell, 6th Trey Gropp, 7th Jack Wagner, 8th Todd McVay, 9th Shannon McQueen, 10th Joe Walker. N.T
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI FEATURE (12 rounds, top 7 transfer to feature) 1st Joe B. Miller, 2nd Mitchel Moles, 3rd Mariah Ede, 4th Chance Crum, 5th Kameron Key, 6th Kaylee Bryson, 7th Shannon McQueen, 8th Hayden Reinbold 9 Austin Barnhill 10 Jack Wagner 11 Corey Joyner 12 Joe Walker 13 Todd McVay 14 Trey Gropp 15 Jace Park N.T
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1st Buddy Kofoid (6), 2nd Daison Pursley (2), 3rd Zach Daum (5), 4th Bryant Wiedeman (15), 5th Kaylee Bryson (22), 6th Dominic Gorden (16), 7th Jerry Coons Jr (4), 8th Jacob Denney (14), 9th Chance Crum (21), 10th Taylor Reimer (9), 11th Kameron Key (20), 12th Cade Lewis (1), 13th Mitchel Moles (10), 14th Thomas Meseraull (7), 15th Brenham Crouch (17), 16th Jace Park (24-P), 17th Mariah Ede (11), 18th Ethan Mitchell ( 12), 19th Justin Grant (8), 20th Chase McDermand (3), 21st Joe B. Miller (13), 22nd Hayden Reinbold (23-P), 23rd Cannon McIntosh (18), 24th Shannon McQueen (19). N.T
Comments are closed.