Lonnie Wheatley, HAUBSTADT, Ind. (June 5, 2022) – Michael “Buddy” Kofoid had USAC Midget history in his sites on Sunday night at Tri-State Speedway.
But Thomas Meseraull was having none of it, as he denied a series-tying fifth consecutive USAC Midget win for Kofoid by taking the $4,000 winner’s share in the third leg of Indiana Midget Week.
It wasn’t without it’s share of drama though, as Kofoid slid ahead of Meseraull a number of times along the way only to have T-Mez counter every offer successfully oaboard the Envirofab No. 7x machine.
“That was awesome, not only did we back up last year, but we beat Buddy,” Meseraull commented in victory lane. “He was really upset with me because I kind of dirtied him, but that’s what I had to do to beat him and that’s what I did to beat him. This is an amazing ride and if don’t provide results and wins, they’re gonna shitcan me.”
A flurry of cautions in the final ten rounds produced a three-wide battle between Kofoid and RMS teammates Meseraull and Justin Grant.
With Meseraull holding the edge, contact between Kofoid and Grant resulted in Grant getting upside down in turn three with just three laps to go.
Kofoid had two more shots at Meseraull but was unable to complete the move aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports Mobil 1 No. 67.
“I guess ‘Slide or Die’ is the motto from both of the RMS guys, I’m kind of over getting raced like that,” Kofoid explained afterward. “I didn’t wreck Justin on purpose, I didn’t expect him to run the bottom and I had a run.”
Mtichel Moles made it a California-native sweep of the podium by sneaking into third aboard the CB Industries No. 89, fending off 22nd-starters and Hard Charger Kaylee Bryson for the position.
With Bryson in fourth, Haubstadt ace Kyle Cummins climbed from 12th to fifth to round out the top five with Zach Daum rebounding from an opening lap incident to score sixth. After starting on the pole, Taylor Reimer bounced back from an early issue as well to claim seventh with Chase McDermand, Grant and Dominic Gorden completing the top ten.
Kofoid established the night’s quickest lap in qualifying at 13.897 seconds with Brenham Crouch, Cade Lewis and Meseraull victorious in heat race action before Jade Avedisian topped the “B” Main.
Oklahoma’s Jason McDougal wired the field in the non-stop 25-lap MSCS Sprint Car feature event, taking the checkered flag ahead of a closing Critter Malone with Emerson Axsom, Chase Stockon and Brady Bacon rounding out the top five.
McDougal’s luck soon soured as he was eliminated in a turn four scramble 27 laps into the USAC Midget feature event.
USAC Midget Week Round Three
Tri-State Speedaway – Haubstadt, IN
Sunday, June 5, 2022
USAC National Midgets:
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.897; 2. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-13.975; 3. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.979; 4. Jade Avedisian, 84, CBI-14.036; 5. Zach Daum, 9m, Bundy Built-14.041; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.090; 7. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.096; 8. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-14.120; 9. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.128; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-14.141; 11. Jason McDougal, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.191; 12. Chris Windom, 86, CBI-14.280; 13. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.298; 14. Cade Lewis, 71m, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.298; 15. Dominic Gorden, 83, CBI-14.318; 16. Chase McDermand, 40, Mounce/Stout-14.356; 17. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.370; 18. Chris Baue, 36, Baue-14.386; 19. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.390; 20. Logan Seavey, 25, Malloy-14.421; 21. Jacob Denney, 61, Mounce/Stout-14.450; 22. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-14.513; 23. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.538; 24. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.544; 25. Blake Brannon, 40B, Western Speed-14.560; 26. Maria Cofer, 57, Abacus-14.562; 27. Jace Park, 87, CBI-14.630; 28. Jeff Schindler, 8x, Schindler-14.771; 29. Travis Buckley, 7NZ, BSL-15.237.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Brenham Crouch, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Taylor Reimer, 5. Chase McDermand, 6. Jade Avedisian, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Steve Buckwalter, 9. Jeff Schindler, 10. Blake Brannon. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cade Lewis, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Mariah Ede, 9. Maria Cofer, 10. Travis Buckley. NT
PIT STOP USA/ROD END SUPPLY THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Bryant Wiedeman, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Dominic Gorden, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Kaylee Bryson, 7. Jacob Denney, 8. Jace Park, 9. Chris Baue. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI-FEATURE: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Kaylee Bryson, 5. Jacob Denney, 6. Mariah Ede, 7. Chris Baue, 8. Jace Park, 9. Maria Cofer, 10. Travis Buckley, 11. Blake Brannon, 12. Logan Seavey, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Jeff Schindler. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (2), 2. Buddy Kofoid (6), 3. Mitchel Moles (10), 4. Kaylee Bryson (22), 5. Kyle Cummins (12), 6. Zach Daum (3), 7. Taylor Reimer (1), 8. Chase McDermand (16), 9. Justin Grant (5), 10. Dominic Gorden (15), 11. Jade Avedisian (9), 12. Bryant Wiedeman (4), 13. Chris Windom (14), 14. Brenham Crouch (7), 15. Cade Lewis (8), 16. Mariah Ede (21), 17. Ethan Mitchell (11), 18. Jason McDougal (13), 19. Cannon McIntosh (17), 20. Chris Baue (18), 21. Jacob Denney (20), 22. Hayden Reinbold (19). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Thomas Meseraull.