Larson Does the Implausible
And Wins from Mid-Pack
In USAC Indiana Midget Week Feature
At Gas City I-69 Speedway Wednesday Night
GAS CITY, Ind., June 18 – Even though he’s on a proverbial tear, many of the fans that attended Round 2 of the 2020 edition of Indiana Midget Week Wednesday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway couldn’t believe their eyes when Kyle Larson kept his streak going and won the 30-lap USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature.
The 27-year-old driver from Elk Grove, Calif. didn’t have the fastest car; that honor went to Logan Seavey of Sutter, Calif. in qualifying and Cannon McIntosh of Bixby, Okla. in the main event. Larson didn’t have a great starting spot either, as he had to earn his way into the field through the B-main, and he lined up 14th to start the feature in a field of 24.
But after 30 torrid laps of competition Larson made everyone believers when he took the checkered flag first, earning the race’s hard charger award. It was his ninth midget feature victory in a row stretching back to a triumph in Placerville, Calif. last year and including this year’s Chili Bowl. It was his seventh consecutive win overall in three different sprint and midget series (World of Outlaws sprints, All Star Circuit of Champions sprints and USAC midgets) too, which is a record no one in the press box could remember another driver surpassing. And by putting the Tucker-Boat Motorsports/Pristine Auction-K&C Drywall Spike No. 86 Speedway Toyota in victory lane it also reportedly was the 300th victory for Toyota since that company began its midget program in 2006.
A $1,400 bounty on Larson’s head was unclaimed. Richard and Jennifer Marshall of Priority Aviation put up $1,000 and fans donated another $400 to provide an extra incentive to anyone who could beat Larson on Wednesday night.
How did he charge from the middle of the pack in a field of the best midget drivers in North America to even reach Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, who started on the pole and led the first 17 laps?
Larson immediately passed two cars on the first lap to rise to 12th, and he had already cracked the top 10 by lap two. He got eighth on lap three. He passed Seavey, the defending Indiana Midget Week champion, for seventh on lap four. He got sixth by passing Kaylee Bryson of Muskogee, Okla. on lap five. Three laps later he moved into the top five by passing Tanner Carrick of Lincoln, Calif. He powered into fourth place by passing Gio Scelzi of Fresno, Calif. on lap 11, and took third on lap 12 by passing McIntosh in Turn 2. Then McIntosh, who had charged from 12th to third himself, slowed to a stop between Turns 3 and 4 with mechanical difficulties. Simultaneously the track’s defending sprint car champion, Thomas Meseraull of Waveland, Ind., flipped in Turn 4 to bring out the red flag with 12 laps complete.
Three laps after the race resumed Larson powered into second place by passing 18-year-old Buddy Kofoid of Penngrove, Calif., who started second. Kofoid got Larson back to regain second for an instant, but then a yellow flew when Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla. and Shane Golobic of Fremont, Calif. got together in Turn 2 on lap 16. The standings reverted back to the previous completed lap, so Larson was ahead of Kofoid for the restart, but still behind Courtney.
Larson made the winning pass two laps later by sliding under Courtney in Turn 4 with 18 laps complete, and led the rest of the way.
Kofoid, a recent POWRi midget winner, got by Courtney for second a few milliseconds after Larson did. Although Kofoid gave it everything he had, he finished just 0.263 of a second behind Larson for the runner-up honors. Courtney was third. Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nev. finished fourth. Scelzi, who is one of Larson’s teammates, rounded out the top five.
Justin Grant, a native of Ione, Calif. who now lives in Avon, Ind., led every lap of last year’s Indiana Midget Week feature at Gas City, but he was 12th in the midget A-main this year. He made up for that by winning the companion 25-lap non-wing sprint car feature in the TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink Maxim Claxton Chevy No. 4.
Grant started third in the sprint car feature. He took the lead initially from Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala. with a move in Turn 2 on the low side working lap eight, but Thomas got him back with a similar move to the inside as they raced through Turn 3. Thomas led the next lap but Grant got the lead for good working lap 10. Sterling Cling of Indianapolis spun in Turn 4 with 11 laps down to give Thomas another shot on the restart, but Grant was up to the challenge and led the rest of the way.
Two-time USAC national sprint champion Brady Bacon, who now lives in Winchester, Ind., came on strong at the end to finish second. Thomas, who won this race last year, finished third. C.J. Leary of Greenfield, Ind., the 2019 USAC sprint car champion, placed fourth and USAC Triple Crown champion Dave Darland of Atlanta, Ind. finished fifth.
The entire program was streamed live on Flo Racing.
There were seven flips during the course of the evening, but luckily all of the drivers escaped serious injury. Max McLaughlin of Mooresville, N.C. flipped in midget practice. Meseraull flipped twice; first during midget time trials and then in his back-up car during the midget feature. Noah Gass of Mounds, Okla. flipped on the frontstretch with nine laps down in the second midget heat. Adam Byrkett of Burnettsville, Ind. flipped in Turn 4 during the third sprint car heat. Ryan Hall of Midlothian, Texas flipped in Turn 1 with five laps complete in the midget C-main. Jake Swanson of Anaheim, Calif. flipped between Turns 1 and 2 later in that same race.
Wednesday’s program was the quarter-mile dirt track’s season opener since earlier races were postponed due to the coronavirus.
The track’s first Friday-night show of the year is tomorrow. It’s billed as the “Tin Roof Spectacular” and will feature UMP-style modifieds, street stocks, compacts and USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 midgets.
Tickets, priced at $15 for adults and $10 for students, will be available at the speedway box office. Children 12 and under are free. Pit passes, at $30 each, will be sold at the Indiana Oxygen-sponsored pit sign-in building.
The pit gate will open at 3 p.m.; spectator gates at 5, and the racing will start at 7:30.
Friday night racing will continue on June 26 with non-wing sprint cars, modifieds, street stocks and compacts.
Gas City I-69 Speedway is located on State Road 22, approximately a half-mile west of I-69, exit 259.
The track’s website is at GasCityI69Speedway.com. Fans and competitors can also follow it on Twitter: @GasCitySpeedway; Instagram: @GasCitySpeedway and Facebook: GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas.