USAC SHOWTIME AT KOKOMO:

Kokomo Speedway is where the action is this Saturday night, June 11, for the penultimate round of USAC Indiana Midget Week where the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship will visit for the 15th occasion during IMW and for the 86th time overall dating back to USAC’s inaugural season of 1956. (Jack Reitz Photo)

Speedway Illustrated News Editor’s note: Sydney’s Kaidon Brown and Melbourne’s Mike Griffiths will compete at Kokomo.

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (June 8, 2022)………The drive to win, the will to succeed and the dedication to winning a USAC Indiana Midget Week title are among the ideals that have been racing through USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship drivers and team’s minds over the past week.

However, as anybody will tell you, winning a feature at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway is pretty cool too.

That’s where the action is this Saturday night, June 11, in the penultimate round of USAC Indiana Midget Week where the USAC National Midgets will visit for the 15th occasion during IMW and for the 86th time overall dating back to USAC’s inaugural season of 1956.

Kokomo is where things get real for the Indiana Midget Week contenders with a championship at stake and each point signifying the difference between jubilation and despondency.

IMW point leader Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, California) has finished inside the top-10 in each of his two Kokomo IMW starts over the past couple of seasons, recording a seventh in 2021 and a 10th in his Rookie season with the series in 2020.

Last Sunday’s Tri-State Speedway IMW winner, Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, California), won the USAC Regional Midget portion of the Kokomo Klash in 2020. He’s the owner of three career USAC National Sprintcar wins at the track as well and has finished inside the top-10 during Indiana Midget Week at Kokomo on three occasions with a ninth in both 2010 and 2020 and bested by a 5th in 2021.

Tanner Thorson’s charge late in the going allowed him to score a narrow victory in the Kokomo IMW round of 2020. The 2016 USAC National Midget Champion who hails from Minden, Nevada, finished \seventh at Kokomo’s IMW that same year, and has also been eighth in 2014 and 9th in 2017.

Justin Grant (Ione, California) is a three-time track champion at Kokomo in 2017, 2019 and 2021, owning four USAC National Sprintcar wins to his credit at the track. The 2020 USAC Silver Crown champ turned in a best Kokomo IMW performance of second in 2021 along with a fourh in 2017.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, California) has seen success as both a USAC National Midget champ (2018) and an Indiana Midget Week champ (2019). He also knows success at Kokomo, having won a USAC National Sprintcar race there in 2019 and picked up a thirrd place finish during the Indiana Midget Week round of his championship season in 2018. He reached the top-10 once more at the track during IMW in 2021, taking tenth.

Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) has reached victory lane in a Sprintcar on the local level at Kokomo. He’s eyeballing a first Midget win at the track come Saturday night after two career podium finishes during IMW at Kokomo with a third in both 2018 and again in 2021.

Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Indiana) has racked up three career USAC National Sprintcar victories at Kokomo, including his first in 2016. At Kokomo during 2020 IMW, Cummins finished an impressive 5th.

Also re-entering Kokomo’s IMW lineup are St. Peters, Missouri’s Sam Johnson (11th in 2018), Bixby, Oklahoma’s Cannon McIntosh (12th in 2020), Muskogee, Oklahoma’s Kaylee Bryson (12th in 2021), Colby, Kansas’ Bryant Wiedeman (14th in 2021), Mooresville, North Carolina’s Ethan Mitchell (19th in 2020) and Lubbock, Texas’ Brenham Crouch (20th in 2021).

Three drivers shooting for a first Indiana Midget Week feature start at Kokomo have already stood in BC victory lane in their careers. Chase McDermand (Springfield, Illinois) captured a USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature victory in 2018 at Kokomo and also finished 2nd in a USAC Regional Midget event there in August of 2021.

McDermand finished as the runner-up that night to Chance Crum (Snohomish, Washington) who picked up the Regional score that evening. Also a winner at Kokomo is Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), a USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget victor near the end of the 2020 campaign.

Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Arizona) eyes his first Kokomo Indiana Midget Week start. He finished 22nd with the USAC National Midgets at Kokomo in the Fall of 2020 and was third in USAC Regional Midget competition in August of 2021. Bryan Stanfill (Bakersfield, California), a 2020 USAC IMRA SpeeD2 Midget titlist, was 17th in the 2021 Kokomo Grand Prix.

Maria Cofer’s father, 1994 USAC Western States Midget champ Johnny Cofer, raced at Kokomo with the USAC National Midgets in 1990 where he finished fifth. For Maria, this will mark the 2017 Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) champion’s first Kokomo Indiana Midget Week appearance.

She’s among the first-time Kokomo Indiana Midget Week hopefuls along with top series Rookie Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) and CB Industries teammates Jade Avedisian (Clovis, Calif.), Jace Park (Overland Park, Kan.) and Dominic Gorden (Clovis, Calif.).

Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports’ Taylor Reimer (Bixby, Okla.), Cade Lewis (Bakersfield, Calif.), Mariah Ede (Fresno, Calif.) and Australian Speedcar champ Kaidon Brown (Sydney, NSW) will be in the field.

There’s a contingent from both Australia and New Zealand that’ll be on hand with Brown making his IMW debut along with Aussie countryman Mike Griffiths (Melbourne, Victoria) and Kiwi Travis Buckley (Auckland, New Zealand). Bay Cities Racing Association Midgets’ 2019 champ, Robert Carson (Concord, California), will be on hand as well as USAC Western Restricted HPD champ, Blake Brannon (Morgan Hill, California) and All Star TQ Midget feature winner Rylan Gray (Greenfield, Indiana).

Kokomo’s USAC Indiana Midget Week on Saturday features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship and the Kokomo Sprintcars.

The pits open at 3pm Eastern with the grandstands opening at 3pm and hot laps at 6pm with qualifying and racing immediately following.

All of USAC Indiana Midget Week and all USAC national events throughout the season can watched live and on-demand on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3u7ID2N.

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2022 USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-629, 2-Justin Grant-577, 3-Mitchel Moles-470, 4-Thomas Meseraull-467, 5-Bryant Wiedeman-466, 6-Cannon McIntosh-419, 7-Kaylee Bryson-416, 8-Logan Seavey-345, 9-Taylor Reimer-339, 10-Brenham Crouch-308.

2022 USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-245, 2-Justin Grant-203, 3-Thomas Meseraull-191, 4-Kyle Cummins-184, 5-Mitchel Moles-181, 6-Bryant Wiedeman-178, 7-Kaylee Bryson-169, 8-Taylor Reimer-150, 9-Jacob Denney-149, 10-Jade Avedisian-125.

2022 INDIANA MIDGET WEEK REMAINING SCHEDULE:

Thursday, June 9: Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Ind.

Friday, June 10: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Ind.

Saturday, June 11: Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Ind.

Sunday, June 12: Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Ind.

KOKOMO INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINS:

3-Bryan Clauson

1-Rico Abreu, Brady Bacon, Spencer Bayston, Christopher Bell, Brad Kuhn, Kyle Larson, Michael Pickens, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Thomas Jr., Tanner Thorson & Chris Windom

KOKOMO INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINNERS:

2006: Brady Bacon (8/20)

2007: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8/12)

2008: Bryan Clauson (8/10)

2009: Bryan Clauson (6/14)

2010: Brad Kuhn (6/20)

2011: Michael Pickens (6/12)

2012: Kyle Larson (6/17)

2013: Christopher Bell (6/16)

2014: Bryan Clauson (6/15)

2015: Not Held

2016: Rico Abreu (6/5)

2017: Spencer Bayston (6/11)

2018: Kevin Thomas Jr. (6/3)

2019: Not Held

2020: Tanner Thorson (6/21)

2021: Chris Windom (6/12)

KOKOMO USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS:

7-Rich Vogler

6-Mel Kenyon

3-Rico Abreu, Brady Bacon, Bryan Clauson, Jimmy Davies, Bob Wente & Chris Windom

2-Chuck Arnold, Tyler Courtney, Bobby Grim, Page Jones, Mike McGreevy, Ken Schrader, Bob Tattersall & Kevin Thomas Jr.

1-Tommy Astone, Emerson Axsom, Spencer Bayston, Christopher Bell, Tom Bigelow, Bud Bogard, Frank Burany, Pancho Carter, Danny Caruthers, Jimmy Caruthers, Tommy Copp, Rex Easton, Tony Elliott, Billy Engelhart, Gene Force, Darren Hagen, Gene Hartley, Jack Hewitt, Tracy Hines, Brad Kuhn, Lee Kunzman, Kyle Larson, Critter Malone, Don Meacham, Jerry Nuckles, Forrest Parker, Michael Pickens, Ron Shuman, Graham Standring, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland, Len Sutton, Shorty Templeman, Tanner Thorson, Sleepy Tripp, Jerry Weeks & J.J. Yeley

KOKOMO USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS:

1956: Forrest Parker (7/28)

1957: Len Sutton (6/23) & Rex Easton (8/17)

1958: Frank Burany (5/24)

1959: Gene Force (5/29) & Shorty Templeman (7/12)

1960: Jimmy Davies (5/29), Bod Bogard (6/25), Gene Hartley (7/24) & Bob Wente (8/13)

1961: Jimmy Davies (5/29) & Jimmy Davies (7/30)

1962: Tommy Copp (6/30) & Bob Tattersall (7/29)

1964: Bob Wente (7/11)

1965: Mel Kenyon (5/30), Bobby Grim (6/26) & Bobby Grim (7/24)

1966: Chuck Arnold (5/29) & Bob Tattersall (8/27)

1967: Mike McGreevy (5/29), Chuck Arnold (6/17) & Mike McGreevy (7/22)

1968: Bob Wente (6/30) & Don Meacham (7/21)

1969: Lee Kunzman (5/31)

1970: Dave Strickland (5/30) & Tom Bigelow (8/1)

1971: Danny Caruthers (7/16) & Jimmy Caruthers (8/7)

1972: Pancho Carter (8/26)

1973: Billy Engelhart (7/14)

1975: Sleepy Tripp (7/9)

1976: Tommy Astone (7/7)

1977: Mel Kenyon (7/13)

1978: Ron Shuman (8/23) & Jerry Weeks (8/23)

1979: Mel Kenyon (6/14) & Mel Kenyon (7/11)

1980: Rich Vogler (6/11) & Rich Vogler (7/10)

1981: Rich Vogler (6/10) & Ken Schrader (7/8)

1982: Ken Schrader (6/10) & Mel Kenyon (7/7)

1983: Rich Vogler (6/8) & Rich Vogler (7/13)

1984: Jerry Nuckles (6/6)

1985: Rich Vogler (6/29)

1987: Mel Kenyon (6/24)

1988: Mike Streicher (6/22) & Rich Vogler (8/17)

1990: Graham Standring (8/8)

1991: Jack Hewitt (8/7)

1992: Page Jones (8/19)

1993: Critter Malone (8/11)

1994: Page Jones (7/27)

1995: Tony Elliott (8/23)

2000: Tracy Hines (8/27)

2003: J.J. Yeley (6/15)

2006: Brady Bacon (8/20)

2007: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8/12)

2008: Bryan Clauson (8/10)

2009: Bryan Clauson (6/14)

2010: Brad Kuhn (6/20)

2011: Michael Pickens (6/12)

2012: Kyle Larson (6/17)

2013: Christopher Bell (6/16)

2014: Rico Abreu (4/11), Rico Abreu (4/12) & Bryan Clauson (6/15)

2015: Darren Hagen (4/11)

2016: Rico Abreu (6/5)

2017: Brady Bacon (4/8), Brady Bacon (4/9) & Spencer Bayston (6/11)

2018: Tyler Courtney (4/13) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (6/3)

2019: Tyler Courtney (4/5) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (4/6)

2020: Tanner Thorson (6/21) & Chris Windom (9/26)

2021: Emerson Axsom (4/30), Chris Windom (5/1) & Chris Windom (6/12)

TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL MIDGETS AT KOKOMO SPEEDWAY:

1 Lap – 4/5/2019 – Dillon Welch 12.665 – 71.062 mph

8 Laps – 6/20/2010 – Steve Buckwalter – 1:51.62 – 64.505 mph

10 Laps – 4/5/2019 – Tanner Carrick – 2:10.06 – 69.199 mph

12 Laps – 4/13/2018 – Holly Shelton – 2:46.01 – 65.056 mph