GRAND FORKS, N.D. — There’s little that motivates a race car driver more than finishing second.
Last August Michael “Buddy” Kofoid led the opening 18 laps at River Cities Speedway with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. But a pivotal restart cost him the top spot and ultimately the victory as he and Roth Motorsports settled for second.
Fast forward nine months, and Kofoid’s role was reversed at the Gerdau Metals Recycling presents the Don Mack Classic. He was the one chasing. He was the one tasked with taking the top spot. And not only did he do it, but he also had to overcome the defending series champion to pull it off.
Kofoid plugged his No. 83 right into the cushion when the green flag brought the 40-lap finale to life on Friday night. Ahead of him polesitter David Gravel committed to the bottom, and it was clear right away that Kofoid had something for him. The Penngrove, Calif., native snuck alongside the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 on Lap 5 and rocketed by a lap later.
The race was far from over after Kofoid grabbed the lead. Gravel stalked him the rest of the way and even showed him a nose a time or two. But a couple of fortuitous yellow flags gave Kofoid clean track ahead, and he capitalized by holding Gravel off to be one spot better than his most recent trip to the famous bullring.
“I think just letting him (Gravel) be out front those few laps let me move around and let me figure out where my car was good or not so good,” Kofoid said. “I’ve always said you’ve got to me maneuverable anywhere but especially here with the lines changing so much and the pace being so quick. You’ve got to be able to move right away. That’s just a credit to Dylan, Nate, and John. I didn’t feel like we hot lapped or qualified all that great and felt probably the worst in the heat race, but I feel like our speed was there. And then we just flipped a switch in the dash and felt insane.”
Friday’s triumph made it four victories in 2025 for Kofoid with The Greatest Show on Dirt, giving him sole possession of the second most this season. The 23-year-old is the 15th driver through 34 visits to win at River Cities in World of Outlaws competition.
Gravel settled for the runner-up spot for his series-leading 16th podium of 2025 with the World of Outlaws. The defending champion acknowledged he may have been a little too reserved throughout the opening laps, allowing Kofoid to pass him. Then a couple ill-time yellow flags potentially cost him the opportunity he needed to take the lead back.
“I think I moved around too much, just ran the bottom one lap too many there,” Gravel admitted. “I heard him out there, but I figured if I moved up, he would probably slide me, so I was trying to get one more good exit. It cost me the lead and ultimately cost me the race. If some of those cautions don’t come out, I think we have a shot at the win there.”
A valiant charge from 15th saw Donny Schatz round out the top three in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 15.
“These guys are digging,” said of the effort. “We hurt that car last week, so they had to put another car together. Pretty solid really. Qualifying, I didn’t feel bad, but we just didn’t have the speed. So, Todd, Wood, and Ian just kept working on it. Obviously, we had to start deep. We’ve always had good runs here, so I guess it’s kind of fitting we got another good one tonight.”
Giovanni Scelzi and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 2-David Gravel[1]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 7. 7S-Chris Windom[6]; 8. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[10]; 9. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[17]; 11. 23-Garet Williamson[12]; 12. 53-Jack Dover[19]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee[14]; 14. 2C-Cole Macedo[11]; 15. 13-Mark Dobmeier[21]; 16. 3-Tim Kaeding[8]; 17. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[13]; 18. 28M-Conner Morrell[23]; 19. 25-Jy Corbett[20]; 20. 6-Zach Hampton[9]; 21. 8H-Jade Hastings[22]; 22. 0-Nick Omdahl[18]; 23. 8-Jack Croaker[24]; 24. 64-Andy Pake[16]
