GRAND FORKS, N.D. — There was no stopping Carson Macedo on Friday night at River Cities Speedway.
The Californian lined up sixth for the 40-lap finale with a stacked five names ahead in the lineup, but it didn’t matter. None of them would get in Macedo’s way on his charge toward victory lane.
Macedo moved the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 wherever he wanted to march forward. After starting on row three, he snatched the lead from Michael “Buddy” Kofoid on lap 19. A fierce battle ensued for the next few laps before Macedo secured the spot. He then picked his way through heavy traffic and survived Kofoid’s final surge to grab the win.
An emotional celebration followed as the evening was all about honoring Eloy Gutierrez who passed away on Monday. Gutierrez helped implement the use of electronic timing and scoring, evolving Sprint Car racing to a new level. He dedicated many years of his life to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. But most importantly, he was one of the kindest humans to ever grace the racing community. Gutierrez treated everyone he met with kindness and as a friend.
“I just want to give a huge shoutout to Eloy,” Macedo said. “We miss him very much. It just sucks not having him here. He was a guy that was a friend to you no matter who you were. You felt like Eloy was your best friend because he made it a point to make you feel that way every time you saw him. I know we’re going to miss him very much.”
Macedo’s win bumped his career tally \to 40 with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He became the 21st driver in series history to reach the milestone.
Macedo might’ve made the drive to the front look easy, but it by no means was a simple cruise to the lead on the exciting quarter mile that is River Cities Speedway.
When the green flag dropped on the 40-lapper, it was second starting Kofoid getting the jump on the pole sitter Haudenschild to lead the first lap. Kofoid established command in the early going as the Roth Motorsports No. 83 pulled ahead of the field.
It didn’t take long for Macedo to begin charging, and right before the halfway point of the race he grabbed second when Haudenschild got tripped up on the cushion in turns one and two. Right after Macedo secured the spot the yellow flag flew for the first time.
The caution set up a pivotal restart as Kofoid opted for the bottom and gave Macedo the top for the double-file formation. Macedo took advantage by ripping by Kofoid in turns one and two when the green flag brought the action back to life.
Kofoid fought back a few laps later as he got a strong run down the back straightaway and slid Macedo into turn three. Then during the next lap Macedo returned the favor as he pulled off a turn-three slider to regain the lead.
The laps clicked away quickly in the second half of the race. Kofoid and Haudenschild gave it everything they had in their hopes to catch Macedo, but it simply wasn’t enough. Both closed in on the final lap, but Macedo held on comfortably on his way to his fifth World of Outlaws victory of the season.
“I started to kind of second guess what I was doing there at the end,” Macedo admitted. “I started to kind of second guess what I was doing there at the end. I was starting to get a little free up top in (turns) three and four, but if I got my wing back a little bit, I’d get tight other places. I kind of found a happy medium there and moved around just enough. I could see him (Kofoid) exiting to my inside off of (turn) four a little bit, so I tried the bottom. It was really slick on entry, but it was really center off, so I could see where he was using that and making up a little bit of ground. It was slick up top in (turns) three and four as well.”
Buddy Kofoid settled for runner-up after leading 19 laps.
“I knew I obviously took the lead on the top on the initial start,” Kofoid said. “But it had been almost 20 laps since to where I figured the middle had kind of slicked up just enough to where I could take off on the bottom. But I just needed to be on the outside on the restart. Carson and the 41 guys did a good job. To be honest I felt like I could still pace them in their dirty air. There were times I felt like I was faster. Everyone is just hauling ass here. They did a good job. I just made a mistake, and it cost me.”
Rounding out the top three in the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing No. 17 was Sheldon Haudenschild.
“We kind of got going there towards the end,” Haudenschild explained. “We were just kind of hanging on there at the beginning and tried to burn some fuel off and just get rolling. (Kyle) Ripper and the boys did a great job all night. I rolled the bottom good there the last two laps or so and kind of got my nose and really threaded the needle with the one lapper. I really wanted to get a win for Eloy, but we’ve got tomorrow and we’ll keep fighting.”
Giovanni Scelzi and Donny Schatz completed the top five.
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[6]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[11]; 6. 2-David Gravel[7]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[8]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 11. 64-Andy Pake[13]; 12. 13-Mark Dobmeier[10]; 13. 6-Max Guilford[19]; 14. 7S-Landon Crawley[16]; 15. 70-Kraig Kinser[22]; 16. 14T-Tim Estenson[24]; 17. 24T-Christopher Thram[15]; 18. 17GP-Justin Henderson[12]; 19. 17Z-Zach Omdahl[18]; 20. 8-Jack Croaker[14]; 21. 10-Scott Bogucki[21]; 22. 11M-Brendan Mullen[17]; 23. 26-Blake Egeland[20]; 24. O-Nick Omdahl[23]