Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (April 22, 2022) – Justin Grant notched a piece of USAC National Midget Series history by reeling off a third consecutive series points win to kick off the season in Friday night’s 30-lap $4,000-to-win “T-Town Showdown” opener atop the 1/8-mile Port City Raceway clay oval.
And for the accomplishment, the Ione, CA, native was greeted in victory lane by a chorus of boos from the near-capacity crowd after contact sent race-long leader Chase McDermand for a turn two tumble with just seven laps remaining.
“I feel terrible with what happened there with Chase,” Grant explained in victory lane. “I slid him eight or ten times there and never hit him. They called yellow as I was peeling across on my slider and I don’t know if he slowed up a little bit and didn’t get to the cushion where he’d been or if I just plugged him. But either way, I feel terrible about that.”
While Grant started the feature from the pole position aboard the RMS Racing No. 2J, he spent the vast majority of the race in McDermand’s wake.
A red flag after 22 laps when the left rear tire sheared off Noah Harris’ mount exiting turn two resulted in a wild ride that also collected Tanner Berryhill and Thomas Meseraull set the stage for the ensuing restart.
One lap later, quick-timer Taylor Reimer got turned around in turn four at the same that Grant’s ill-fated slider put McDermand on his lid as vied for his first USAC National Midget win just six nights after scoring his first POWRi National win aboard the Mounce/Stout Motorsports No. 40.
“I got taken out,” McDermand summed up in short order.
Grant kept reigning USAC National Midget champion Michael “Buddy” Kofoid at bay over the closing rounds with Muskogee’s Kaylee Bryson filling out the podium in third after previously topping the night’s Non-Wing Micro Sprint Car feature.
“I almost got to him one time,” Kofoid explained after the runner-up showing. “I just wasn’t good enough in the rough, it’s just hard to pass when it’s rough like that.”
After matching her previous career best USAC National Midget feature finish, Bryson commented that, “The podium is cool, but I really want to get a win.”
Thursday night’s Dash for Cash winner Cannon McIntosh rallied from 12th to fourth with Logan Seavey rounding out the top five. Ethan Mitchell raced from 14th to sixth with Bryant Wiedeman, Mitchel Moles, Zach Daum and Meseraull completing the top ten.
After Reimer set the night’s quick time of 9.494-seconds over the field 37 competitors, Tanner Thorson, Moles, Maria Cofer and Wiedeman scored heat race wins before Brenham Crouch topped the 12-lap “B” Main.
USAC National Midgets
Port City Raceway – Tulsa, OK
Friday, April 22, 2022 – Third Annual “T-Town Showdown” Night One
USAC National Midgets:
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.494; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.538; 3. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-9.635; 4. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.691; 5. Chase McDermand, 40, Mounce/Stout-9.708; 6. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.712; 7. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-9.714; 8. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-9.776; 9. Ryan Timms, 89x, CBI-9.839; 10. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-9.854; 11. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-9.889; 12. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-9.890; 13. Tanner Thorson, 19T, Reinbold/Underwood-9.895; 14. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-9.916; 15. Tanner Berryhill, 17, Shophouse-9.944; 16. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-9.956; 17. Jace Park, 87, CBI-9.959; 18. Andrew Deal, 15D, Deal-9.972; 19. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.988; 20. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-9.991; 21. Dominic Gorden, 83, CBI-10.012; 22. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-10.022; 23. Noah Harris, 20H, Turley-10.051; 24. Kaidon Brown, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.155; 25. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-10.185; 26. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-10.218; 27. Alex Sewell, 15, Mounce/Stout-10.218; 28. Andrew Felker, 11A, Felker-10.222; 29. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-10.330; 30. Gavin Miller, 71m, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.343; 31. Kyle Jones, 7u, Trifecta-10.373; 32. Brendon Wiseley, 7w, Horn-10.402; 33. Trey Gropp, 17B, Dave Mac-10.438; 34. Kevin Bayer, 91K, Bayer-10.490; 35. Kevin Reed, 36, Reed-10.515; 36. Austin Shores, 00, Chandler-10.539; 37. Glenn Bratti, 24T, Bratti-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) -1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Dominic Gorden, 3. Taylor Reimer, 4. Chase McDermand, 5. Ryan Timms, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Jace Park, 8. Trey Marcham, 9. Trey Gropp, 10. Glenn Bratti. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Andrew Deal, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Brenham Crouch, 6. Jonathan Beason, 7. Ethan Mitchell, 8. Gavin Miller, 9. Kevin Bayer. NT
PIT STOP USA THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Maria Cofer, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Tanner Berryhill, 5. Kyle Jones, 6. Alex Sewell, 7. Mariah Ede, 8. Noah Harris, 9. Kevin Reed. NT
ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2. Kaylee Bryson, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Kaidon Brown, 7. Andrew Felker, 8. Brendon Wiseley, 9. Austin Shores. 1:41.24
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Ethan Mitchell, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Ryan Timms, 5. Noah Harris, 6. Andrew Felker, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Mariah Ede, 9. Gavin Miller, 10. Trey Gropp, 11. Kevin Bayer, 12. Kyle Jones, 13. Kaidon Brown, 14. Alex Sewell, 15. Jace Park, 16. Kevin Reed, 17. Trey Marcham, 18. Jonathan Beason, 19. Austin Shores, 20. Glenn Bratti. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Buddy Kofoid (5), 3. Kaylee Bryson (3), 4. Cannon McIntosh (12), 5. Logan Seavey (4), 6. Ethan Mitchell (14), 7. Bryant Wiedeman (10), 8. Mitchel Moles (9), 9. Zach Daum (17), 10. Thomas Meseraull (15), 11. Andrew Felker (22), 12. Ryan Timms (13), 13. Maria Cofer (7), 14. Taylor Reimer (6), 15. Dominic Gorden (19), 16. Mariah Ede (24-P), 17. Hayden Reinbold (20), 18. Chase McDermand (2), 19. Tanner Thorson (8), 20. Noah Harris (21), 21. Tanner Berryhill (16), 22. Andrew Deal (18), 23. Trey Gropp (23-P), 24. Brenham Crouch (11). NT