STOCKTON, Calif. — What better place to visit after the biggest win of your sprint car career than home?
Such was the case for Michael “Buddy” Kofoid on Friday night as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car tour rolled into California’s Stockton Dirt Track.
Last week the Penngrove, Calif., native banked $100,000 with a last-lap pass at Huset’s Speedway.
Momentum and confidence rode with Kofoid into the “Golden State,” and he put together another impressive drive to score back-to-back victories with Roth Motorsports.
Kofoid started seventh in the eight-lap dash and wheeled all the way to second to earn a front row starting spot for the feature. After near disaster in the NOS Energy Drink feature when he biked up on two wheels, Kofoid regained composure and slipped by early leader Shane Golobic on lap 15. He held on in heavy lapped traffic to secure the checkered flag.
“I didn’t feel great when I took the lead,” Kofoid said. “But I felt good on the bottom. It was just hard to hit. And then with lapped traffic, they’d pull away then I’d pull up, and then they’d pull away again. I was like, ‘Man, the guys behind me are they better than me? Are they catching up to me? What do I need to do better?’ I just decided to stick with running the bottom and try to protect the runs off the bottom.
“Really happy to get another win with the best and to do it in front of a home crowd. I can’t thank Dylan (Buswell), Nate (Knotts), and Gage (Tyra) enough. It’s been a lot of fun these last few weeks. I feel like we’ve gotten our game back. I just want to say hey to Dennis and Teresa Roth. Can’t thank them enough.”
Golobic led the field to green in search of a perfect night after earning quick time, a heat victory, and the dash checkered flag. The driver of the Matt Wood Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 17w pulled ahead early and set a strong pace at the front of the field.
The gap between Golobic and Kofoid shrank in lapped traffic. The door Kofoid needed opened on lap 15. As Golobic drifted high out of turn two, Kofoid kept the No. 83 glued to the bottom on exit.
The grip gave him a run to pull alongside Golobic down the back straightaway. He finished off the move for the lead by sticking the bottom in turns three and four and driving ahead out of the corner.
The race was by no means over with Kofoid now in control. The pass lit a fire under Golobic as he looked to rally and reclaim the top spot.
But ultimately, Kofoid proved to be too fast as he maintained enough of a gap to drive comfortably to a second victory this week with roughly 1,700 miles between the two dirt tracks.
“I feel like as the runs went on my car got more equal and maybe a little bit better,” Kofoid said. “Just like Huset’s last week, our car can just maneuver so good and doesn’t really know what dirty air is even if you’re going a lot slower pace. It’s still nice to know that your car is not really going to be affected.”
Golobic held on for the runner-up spot to lead the California contingent.
“I just think I needed to make better decisions there in traffic, or more aggressive ones I guess,” Golobic said. “You can’t really make any mistakes with these guys. They’re good, and he (Kofoid) pounced on one there. I didn’t know where the 1S was going. Just kind of guessed wrong and got myself hung up. It sucks. You don’t get a lot of opportunities to win an Outlaw show, and I feel like I kind of gave one up there.”
Justin Sanders completed the podium on what was a strong night for the California locals.
“I don’t really have much to say about the race,” Sanders said. “I just really couldn’t go anywhere with a lapped car in my way for half the race, but we’ll take this third.”
Sheldon Haudenschild and David Gravel completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 3. 2X-Justin Sanders[4]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[12]; 5. 2-David Gravel[6]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[7]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 9. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[13]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 11. 21-Cole Macedo[18]; 12. 7S-Landon Crawley[11]; 13. O-Tim Kaeding[24]; 14. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[14]; 15. 88-Austin McCarl[16]; 16. 88N-DJ Netto[22]; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart[21]; 18. 5V-Colby Copeland[17]; 19. 83T-Tanner Carrick[8]; 20. 88A-Joey Ancona[9]; 21. 73-Ryan Bernal[20]; 22. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 23. 57W-Jock Goodyer[19]; 24. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[23]