MERCED, Calif. — For nearly the entire duration of the first feature event during Sunday afternoon’s Midget Madness doubleheader at California’s Merced Speedway, Corey Day followed the top-two every step of the way around the quarter-mile dirt oval, just waiting for his window of opportunity to arrive.
When that exact moment arrived with five laps remaining as the frontrunners contested lapped traffic, Day pounced, going from third to second, then from second to first in a two-lap span to score his first USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory in nearly three-and-a-half years.
Day’s second career USAC victory was the first for car owner Willie Kahne and his Durst – Four CCCC’s Construction – Sander Engineering/Triple X/Worth Mopar. It is believed to be the first USAC National Midget feature victory for a Mopar-powered machine since Brad Sweet’s triumph on July 4, 2010, at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway more than 14 years ago.
Despite having to race his way to the front late in the going, Day (Clovis, Calif.) actually began his quest from the pole position, but quickly fell to third by the second lap as both Carson Macedo and Buddy Kofoid moved on by to occupy first and second while Day sought to find his footing.
“I just kind of stumbled off the original start,” Day admitted. “I wasn’t going to be the guy to blow it into turn one on the first lap and flip over while leading, so I just felt it out there for a while. I felt where we were good and where we weren’t.”
Day and Kofoid exchanged the runner-up spot several times before Kofoid took control by the seventh circuit while last Wednesday night’s Thunderbowl Raceway winner Macedo set a torrid pace around the high side, establishing a half-straightaway advantage by the halfway point.
Just mere moments later, while attempting to put 17th running Dane Culver a lap down in between turns three and four, Macedo and Culver connected wheels, sending Culver veering over the turn four cushion before slamming broadside into the outside wall, resulting in extensive right side damage to Culver’s machine while Macedo marched on. Culver was able to climb out and walk away.
On the ensuing restart, Macedo stretched his lead to five car lengths over Kofoid, and once again, faced the throes of traffic which simultaneously plugged the top, bottom and middle, challenging the mental and physical reflexes of the frontrunners down the stretch.
Day slipped through a crack in the door to slot into second in turn one on lap 25 as Kofoid worked the lapped cars of Emerson Axsom and Jake Andreotti. Maintaining a residence on the low groove, one lap later, Day spurted past Macedo for the lead in turns three and four as Macedo attempted to navigate his way past Caden Sarale.
“I knew that in clear air, the diamond line in one and two was really, really good,” Day explained. “You could make a lot of speed off two and down the back straightaway, but I also knew there was a thin groove you had to get down to off two or else you’d hit the rough stuff and get all messed up. I knew if I could beat those guys at the exit of two, they’d have no run after I cut them off. Luckily I got Buddy there before we got to traffic, then we got to traffic and Carson messed up sliding a car in three and four, which allowed us to get to him.”
From there on, Day possessed a slight gap between himself and the next wave of traffic, and thus, was able to expand his lead with relative ease en route to a 0.902 second victory, his first with the series since a 2021 USAC Indiana Midget Week triumph at Circle City Raceway.
Carson Macedo crossed the line in second with Buddy Kofoid third, a hard charging Kyle Larson in fourth and Karter Sarff rounding out the top-five.
Carson Macedo (Lemoore, Calif.) led a race-high 26 of 30 laps on his way to a second place finish in his Dyson Motorsport/Complete Parts & Equipment – Tarlton & Son – Empire/King/Speedway Toyota, just missing out on becoming the second two-time Midget Madness feature winner after scoring at Merced in 2022.
Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.), who remains the only two-time Merced USAC Midget winner, continued his incredible run of success at Merced at the wheel of his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Curb Records – IWX/Lynk/Speedway Toyota. His third place result made it eight consecutive podium finishes for himself with the series at Merced dating back to 2020.
Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.) was buried deep in the field, starting from the 14th spot. But he was on the move quickly, advancing 10 spots in all to finish fourth and earn hard charger honors. The fourth place result equaled his best career Merced USAC Midget finish to that point.
Prior to this weekend, Karter Sarff (Mason City, Ill.) had never laid eyes on Merced Speedway. During the day’s first program, he set his first career USAC fast time during the Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying session before equaling his best career USAC National Midget result of fifth. With that performance, he was the honored with the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Merced Speedway, Merced, Calif., Nov. 24, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Karter Sarff, 31, Beilman-11.993; 2. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.094; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.125; 4. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.170; 5. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-12.173; 6. Corey Day, 4, Kahne-12.174; 7. Tanner Thorson, 25m, Malloy-12.191; 8. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-12.218; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.261; 10. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.263; 11. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Silva-12.301; 12. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.327; 13. Kyle Larson, 1K, Silva-12.360; 14. Emerson Axsom, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.383; 15. Zach Daum, 31B, Beilman-12.383; 16. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.389; 17. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.432; 18. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-12.497; 19. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-12.521; 20. Dane Culver, 50, Knuckles Up-12.570; 21. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.609; 22. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-12.614; 23. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.645; 24. Ronnie Gardner, 68, Six8-13.142; 25. Peter Paulson, Q32, El Toro-13.164; 26. Barrie Valentino, Q23, El Toro-13.272; 27. Travis DeGaton, 39T, DeGaton-13.300; 28. Kyle Hawse, 20x, Hawse-13.307; 29. Terry Nichols, 1p, Nichols/Peckfelder-NT; 30. Alex Karpowicz, 19, Mounce/Stout-NT; 31. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-NT; 32. Austin Torgerson, 88A, Mounce/Stout-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Karter Sarff, 5. Caden Sarale, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Peter Paulson, 8. Terry Nichols. 1:38.85
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jacob Denney, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Zach Wigal, 4. Drake Edwards, 5. Corey Day, 6. Emerson Axsom, 7. Barrie Valentino. 1:39.12
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Buddy Kofoid, 2. Kale Drake, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Travis DeGaton. 1:39.54
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Andreotti, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Ryan Timms, 4. Gavin Miller, 5. Dane Culver, 6. Ronnie Gardner, 7. Kyle Hawse. 1:43.70
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Ronnie Gardner, 5. Travis DeGaton, 6. Peter Paulson, 7. Barrie Valentino, 8. Kyle Hawse. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Corey Day (1), 2. Carson Macedo (2), 3. Buddy Kofoid (4), 4. Kyle Larson (14), 5. Karter Sarff (6), 6. Logan Seavey (7), 7. Jacob Denney (8), 8. Cannon McIntosh (5), 9. Tanner Thorson (10), 10. Ryan Timms (3), 11. Daison Pursley (11), 12. Zach Daum (16), 13. Zach Wigal (18), 14. Kale Drake (23), 15. Gavin Miller (13), 16. Justin Grant (19), 17. Tyler Courtney (12), 18. Drake Edwards (22), 19. Caden Sarale (17), 20. Emerson Axsom (15), 21. Jake Andreotti (9), 22. Hayden Reinbold (21), 23. Dane Culver (20), 24. Ronnie Gardner (24).