HUMBOLDT, Kansas – Buddy Kofoid may not have been the star of the show at the start of Friday night’s POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League feature at Humboldt Speedway, but he was by the end of it.
Kofoid put on a sizzling second-half performance, passing Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Kaylee Bryson on a lap-16 restart and going on to his fourth career POWRi national midget win and fourth of the season.
The 18-year-old from Penngrove, Calif., led the final 15 laps at the three-eighths-mile clay oval en route to victory.
“I thought we had something broke in the right rear early,” admitted Kofoid. “It was a bumpy track, but we were able to run hard. It feels great to get four wins so quickly since getting back. Hopefully we can pick up a couple more this year. Thanks to KKM, Toyota and Mobil 1 for giving me this opportunity.
“I’m just glad we were able to get past the early red flags to put on a great show for all the fans that came out to support us,” he added. “That race was really just a matter of who ran (the track) the hardest. It ended up rougher than we thought, but it wasn’t as evil in the center as some of the others.
Kofoid started third but struggled to make ground early on, while Bryson raced from fourth to second in three laps and then overhauled polesitter Chance Morton for the top spot on the fifth rotation.
All of that was amid a tenuous opening stretch, which saw a pair of red flags in the first two laps for the upside-down cars of Noah Gass and Jesse Love, respectively. Both young guns had started in the top 10.
Once Bryson took command, she raced out to a second’s advantage, but Kofoid was lurking and eventually came charging.
Kofoid got to second on lap 13 and wasted no time in carving up his deficit to Bryson’s leading car.
Following the caution waving on lap 16 for the spun machine of Merril Lamb, Kofoid pitched a deep slider into turn one to wrest control of the race away from Bryson, never giving it up again over the final laps en route to the score.
Bryson hung on for second, while Daison Pursley made a last-corner pass of Zach Daum to complete a podium sweep for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.
Daum was fourth and Sam Johnson filled out the top five, followed by Emerson Axsom, Morton, Ace McCarthy, Kyle Jones and Tristin Thomas.
After getting tangled in the lap-two incident that left Love upside down, Cannon McIntosh rallied from the rear of the field to post an 11th-place finish. He was second in points entering the night.
Incoming point leader Jake Neuman battled issues all race long and soldiered home in 15th.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League season continues July 11-12 at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo.
RESULTS: POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League; Humboldt Speedway; July 10, 2020
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Michael Kofoid [3], 2. Cannon McIntosh [5], 3. Emerson Axsom [6], 4. Tristin Thomas [2], 5. Andrew Felker [1], 6. Brenham Crouch [4], 7. Bryant Wiedeman [7].
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Kaylee Bryson [3], 2. Zach Daum [6], 3. Jesse Love [7], 4. Kade Morton [1], 5. Cade Cowles [4], 6. Shannon McQueen [2], 7. Trey Gropp [5].
Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. Noah Gass [2], 2. Ace McCarthy [1], 3. Daison Pursley [7], 4. Jake Neuman [4], 5. Emilio Hoover [6], 6. Luke Howard [5], 7. Heath Murry [3].
Heat #4 (8 laps): 1. Chance Morton [3], 2. Sam Johnson [4], 3. Kyle Jones [2], 4. Jonathan Shafer [5], 5. Merril Lamb [1], 6. Kyle Wilson [6], 7. Aaron McDonald (DNS).
Feature (30 laps): 1. Buddy Kofoid [3], 2. Kaylee Bryson [4], 3. Daison Pursley [8], 4. Zach Daum [2], 5. Sam Johnson [6], 6. Emerson Axsom [10], 7. Chance Morton [1], 8. Ace McCarthy [11], 9. Kyle Jones [13], 10. Tristin Thomas [16], 11. Cannon McIntosh [5], 12. Emilio Hoover [15], 13. Brenham Crouch [23], 14. Bryant Wiedeman [24], 15. Jake Neuman [14], 16. Andrew Felker [20], 17. Jonathan Shafer [12], 18. Kade Morton [17], 19. Trey Gropp [25], 20. Merril Lamb [21], 21. Luke Howard [22], 22. Kyle Wilson [19], 23. Cade Cowles [18], 24. Jesse Love [7], 25. Noah Gass [9].
Lap Leader(s): Chance Morton 1-4, Kaylee Bryson 5-15, Buddy Kofoid 16-30.
Hard Charger: 97k-Brenham Crouch (+10)