Thomas Meseraull started from the pole and led all 30 laps in holding off fellow Toyota drivers Chris Windom and Buddy Kofoid on the way to winning night two of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series Winter Dirt Games at Bubba Raceway Park Monday night.
With tonight’s victory, Toyota-powered drivers captured both nights of the Winter Dirt doubleheader and have now won the first eight national midget feature events in 2021 after previously sweeping this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals’ features in January. Seven different Toyota drivers have already won this season.
Starting from the pole, Meseraull went right to the lead with Windom falling in behind him, followed by Kofoid, Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson, Jason McDougal, Daison Pursley, Emerson Axsom and Taylor Reimer, who earlier had won her first heat race in just her second USAC event.
The top five stayed intact through the first half of the race as the extremely fast track made passing difficult. As the race went on traffic would play a major role.
As the laps began to wind down, Windom was closing quickly, pulling up next to Meseraull, but was unable to pass as they diced through traffic. Behind them, Kofoid may have had the fastest car on the track as he closed in on the others.
Windom remained right on Meseraull’s tail until lap 27 when Windom got bottled up in traffic. It was just what Meseraull needed to pull out a slight lead and drive away to his first win of the season and his fifth national midget feature triumph with Toyota. Behind him, Kofoid had closed up on Windom and dove to the inside coming out of turn four on the final lap with the two cars running side-by-side with Windom capturing the second spot by a nose and Kofoid placing third.
“This place is fast,” said a victorious Meseraull. “I just want to thank them for letting us race on Monday (after a Saturday rain-out). Have to thank RMS for giving me a great car. I may be the oldest guy in the field, but I’m still winning races!”
Windom earned his second consecutive podium finish after placing third in Saturday afternoon’s event.
“It’s disappointing, you want to win these races,” said Windom, the 2020 USAC champion with CB Industries. “It was wide open all the time. The only shot I really had was to get him in a lapped traffic. I think we had a better car, but passing him was another story. We just want to win races and try to win another championship. Thanks to everyone at CBI for all of the hard work during the off-season.”
Kofoid also earned a pair of podium finishes on the weekend after winning on Saturday.
“Two wins would have felt even better,” said the 19-year-old Kofoid, who led Midget car racing with 10 national wins last season. “We were all really fast, stacking the same times on top of each other. I was catching them at the end and was drag racing Chris at the line. The Keith Kunz Motorsports guys give me a great Mobil 1 Toyota every time out.”
Grant was fourth, followed by Pursley, who climbed up from his tenth starting position to earn a second consecutive top-five showing. McDougal, Axsom, Thorson, Tanner Carrick and Kevin Thomas Jr. would round out the top ten.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series returns to action with a pair of races at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, Okla., April 9-10.
Toyota-Powered Drivers USAC Bubba Raceway Park Monday Results
Thomas Meseraull – 1st
Chris Windom – 2nd
Buddy Kofoid – 3rd
Justin Grant – 4th
Daison Pursley – 5th
Jason McDougal – 6th
Emerson Axsom – 7th
Tanner Thorson – 8th
Tanner Carrick – 9th
Kevin Thomas Jr. – 10th
Cannon McIntosh – 11th
Bryant Wiedeman – 12th
Logan Seavey – 13th
Chase Elliott – 14th
Brenham Crouch – 16th
Kaylee Bryson – 17th
Taylor Reimer – 18th
Toyota Racing PR
