Buddy Kofoid charged from 17th to second in his first-ever national midget car event to lead Toyota in Saturday’s POWRI Lucas Oil National Midget League feature at Southern Illinois Raceway.
Jesse Colwell came into the night with a comfortable championship point lead over Zach Daum and early on it looked like he was going to stretch that lead even further as he immediately went to the outside to claim the lead from pole-sitter Tyler Courtney, with Cannon McIntosh in third, followed by Holley Hollan and Logan Seavey.
By lap five, Courtney would began to challenge Colwell, appearing to take over the lead coming off turn two on lap eight, only to see Colwell dive underneath going into turn three and hold on to the top spot, despite making contact with lapped traffic. Shortly afterward, though, third-place McIntosh would flip going into turn one and bounced off the catch fence, bringing out a red flag.
On the restart, Colwell appeared to overshoot turn one and got up near the wall, with Courtney taking advantage to move into the lead. That would just be the beginning of the problems for Colwell as his car began to slip back and by lap 13 his Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammates Tanner Carrick and Hollan would both move past him. Just two laps later, Colwell would slow to a stop in turn two. He would eventually place 21st.
Courtney would lead the field back to green with Carrick, Hollan, Andrew Felker and Chris Andrews rounding out the top five. A hard-charging Andrews moved past Felker and began to battle with Hollan for third. On lap 20, the two would make contact, with Hollan suffering a flat left rear, forcing her to the pits.
After the following restart, Carrick would begin a run at Courtney for the lead. Finally, on lap 24, the two got together with Carrick appearing to suffer a broken right front axle, while Courtney had a flat left rear, giving the lead to Andrews, with Jake Neuman in second, Felker in third and Kofoid up to fourth.
The action was far from over, though, as Neuman would challenge Andrew for the lead on the restart and, once again, the leaders got together, with Andrews spinning to a stop, while Neuman took command of the lead. After the ensuing restart, Kofoid would overtake Felker for second. At the checkered flag, it was Neuman, Kofoid, Felker claiming the top-three podium positions, with 14-year-old Daison Pursley finishing fourth, Seavey was fifth and Tucker Klaasmeyer placed sixth.
The biggest winner of the night may have been eighth-place finisher Zach Daum, who gained 130 points on Colwell to close to within just 10 points of the POWRi point lead with four races remaining.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League is back in action Sunday night at Belle-Clair Speedway.
Toyota Southern Illinois Raceway Results
Buddy Kofoid – 2nd
Daison Pursley – 4th
Logan Seavey – 5th
Tucker Klaasmeyer – 6th
Zach Daum – 8th
Jesse Love – 10th
Tanner Carrick – 16th
Holley Hollan – 17th
Jesse Colwell – 21st
Cannon McIntosh – 23rd
POWRi Point Standings
1. Jesse Colwell – 6700
2. Zach Daum – 6690
3. Jake Neuman – 5930
4. Holley Hollan – 5700
5. Daison Pursley – 5680
*Toyota Drivers in Bold
Toyota Racing PR
