Belleville, IL. (3/26/22) Michael “Buddy” Kofoid notched his second straight Lucas Oil POWRi National & West Midget League feature victory at I-44 Riverside Speedway, leading every lap on the way to wrapping up the Ninth Annual Turnpike Challenge presented by Super Clean.
Checking in a stout field of twenty-two Lucas Oil POWRi National & West Midget League competitors for the final night of the season-opening weekend of racing would witness Chance Crum clock the quickest hot-lap time with an 11.325-second lap as Jade Avedisian, Michael Kofoid, and Cannon McIntosh each earned a heat race victory as Kofoid would notch the high-point award using a monstrous sixth-to-first passing-point heat race run.
Leading the field to the initial feature launch would see pole-sitting Buddy Kofoid shoot out to a commanding lead over the outside front-row starter Jade Avedisian. Seeing Kofoid racing in the lead, Avedisian and Cannon McIntosh would battle briefly for the runner-up positioning with McIntosh capturing the advantage as Bryant Weideman, Brenham Crouch, Kaylee Bryson, and Andrew Felker all attempted to battle intensely inside the top-five.
Surviving the onslaught of late-race restarting runs by a close contending Cannon, Kofoid would hold the lead for the entire thirty-lap feature event and capture his eighteenth career POWRi National Midget victory tying his with Tanner Thorson for seventh on the All-Time Victory list.
“Going into one I felt like I was relatively unchallenged, so on the restarts, I tried to keep doing the same things to build up enough of a gap down the back straight and doing that I knew I would be okay” stated a very happy Kofoid in victory lane. Adding, “This KKM team continues to give me a great midget night in and night out and I love coming here to I-44 Riverside Speedway.”
Closely racing behind the leader would find Cannon McIntosh earning the runner-up position and Bryant Weideman would make a late-race surge to place third. Brenham Crouch and Jade Avedisian would break out into a slider-fest by exchanging spots several times during the event with Crouch placing fourth, leaving Avedisian to round out the feature’s top-five finishers.
I-44 Riverside Speedway | Turnpike Challenge Night 3 | 3/26/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 26 – Chance Crum (11.325)
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 84 – Jade Avedisian
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 67 – Michael Kofoid
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 08 – Cannon McIntosh
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 67 – Michael Kofoid
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 83 – Dominic Gorden (+11)
Lucas Oil Feature Winner: 67 – Michael Kofoid
Lucas Oil A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 3. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[4]; 4. 97-Brenham Crouch[5]; 5. 84-Jade Avedisian[2]; 6. 11A-Andrew Felker[7]; 7. 87-Jace Park[11]; 8. 71-Kaylee Bryson[6]; 9. 83-Dominic Gorden[20]; 10. 17-Tanner Berryhill[14]; 11. 26-Chance Crum[9]; 12. 25K-Taylor Reimer[10]; 13. 71E-Mariah Ede[22]; 14. 7U-Kyle Jones[15]; 15. 40-Chase McDermand[12]; 16. 21-Emilio Hoover[19]; 17. 44-Branigan Roark[13]; 18. 32-Trey Marcham[8]; 19. 17B-Austin Barnhill[17]; 20. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[16]; 21. 15-Corey Joyner[18]; 22. 29K-Brian Harvey[21].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Jade Avedisian[2]; 2. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[4]; 3. 87-Jace Park[3]; 4. 44-Branigan Roark[1]; 5. 25K-Taylor Reimer[8]; 6. 17-Tanner Berryhill[7]; 7. 21-Emilio Hoover[6]; 8. 71E-Mariah Ede[5].
MVT Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[6]; 2. 97-Brenham Crouch[4]; 3. 11A-Andrew Felker[5]; 4. 32-Trey Marcham[7]; 5. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[2]; 6. 15-Corey Joyner[3]; 7. 29K-Brian Harvey[1].
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[2]; 2. 71-Kaylee Bryson[4]; 3. 40-Chase McDermand[3]; 4. 26-Chance Crum[6]; 5. 17B-Austin Barnhill[1]; 6. 7U-Kyle Jones[7]; 7. 83-Dominic Gorden[5].
Up next for the Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League will be a two-day trip to Farmers City Speedway on April 1-2 while running in support of the World of Outlaw Late Models Illini 100 and running in conjunction with the emerging Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.
Photo Credit: Danny Clum