By POWRi (Oklahoma City, OK) -- Michael “Buddy” Kofoid notched his second straight Lucas Oil POWRi National & West Midget League feature victory at I-44 Riverside Speedway, leading every lap on the way to wrapping up the Ninth Annual Turnpike Challenge presented by Super Clean.
PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Clum
Checking in a stout field of twenty-two Lucas Oil POWRi National & West Midget League competitors for the final night of the season-opening weekend of racing would witness Chance Crum clock the quickest hot-lap time with an 11.325-second lap as Jade Avedisian, Michael Kofoid, and Cannon McIntosh each earned a heat race victory as Kofoid would notch the high-point award using a monstrous sixth-to-first passing-point heat race run.
Leading the field to the initial feature launch would see pole-sitting Buddy Kofoid shoot out to a commanding lead over the outside front-row starter Jade Avedisian. Seeing Kofoid racing in the lead, Avedisian and Cannon McIntosh would battle briefly for the runner-up positioning with McIntosh capturing the advantage as Bryant Weideman, Brenham Crouch, Kaylee Bryson, and Andrew Felker all attempted to battle intensely inside the top-five.
Surviving the onslaught of late-race restarting runs by a close contending Cannon, Kofoid would hold the lead for the entire thirty-lap feature event and capture his eighteenth career POWRi National Midget victory tying his with Tanner Thorson for seventh on the All-Time Victory list.
“Going into one I felt like I was relatively unchallenged, so on the restarts, I tried to keep doing the same things to build up enough of a gap down the back straight and doing that I knew I would be okay” stated a very happy Kofoid in victory lane. Adding, “This KKM team continues to give me a great midget night in and night out and I love coming here to I-44 Riverside Speedway.”
Closely racing behind the leader would find Cannon McIntosh earning the runner-up position and Bryant Weideman would make a late-race surge to place third. Brenham Crouch and Jade Avedisian would break out into a slider-fest by exchanging spots several times during the event with Crouch placing fourth, leaving Avedisian to round out the feature’s top-five finishers.
I-44 Riverside Speedway | Turnpike Challenge Night 3 | 3/26/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 26 – Chance Crum (11.325)
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 84 – Jade Avedisian
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 67 – Michael Kofoid
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 08 – Cannon McIntosh
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 67 – Michael Kofoid
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 83 – Dominic Gorden (+11)
Lucas Oil Feature Winner: 67 – Michael Kofoid
Lucas Oil A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 3. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[4]; 4. 97-Brenham Crouch[5]; 5. 84-Jade Avedisian[2]; 6. 11A-Andrew Felker[7]; 7. 87-Jace Park[11]; 8. 71-Kaylee Bryson[6]; 9. 83-Dominic Gorden[20]; 10. 17-Tanner Berryhill[14]; 11. 26-Chance Crum[9]; 12. 25K-Taylor Reimer[10]; 13. 71E-Mariah Ede[22]; 14. 7U-Kyle Jones[15]; 15. 40-Chase McDermand[12]; 16. 21-Emilio Hoover[19]; 17. 44-Branigan Roark[13]; 18. 32-Trey Marcham[8]; 19. 17B-Austin Barnhill[17]; 20. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[16]; 21. 15-Corey Joyner[18]; 22. 29K-Brian Harvey[21].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Jade Avedisian[2]; 2. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[4]; 3. 87-Jace Park[3]; 4. 44-Branigan Roark[1]; 5. 25K-Taylor Reimer[8]; 6. 17-Tanner Berryhill[7]; 7. 21-Emilio Hoover[6]; 8. 71E-Mariah Ede[5].
MVT Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 67-Michael Kofoid[6]; 2. 97-Brenham Crouch[4]; 3. 11A-Andrew Felker[5]; 4. 32-Trey Marcham[7]; 5. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[2]; 6. 15-Corey Joyner[3]; 7. 29K-Brian Harvey[1].
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[2]; 2. 71-Kaylee Bryson[4]; 3. 40-Chase McDermand[3]; 4. 26-Chance Crum[6]; 5. 17B-Austin Barnhill[1]; 6. 7U-Kyle Jones[7]; 7. 83-Dominic Gorden[5].
Up next for the Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League will be a two-day trip to Farmers City Speedway on April 1-2 while running in support of the World of Outlaw Late Models Illini 100 and running in conjunction with the emerging Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at http://www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.
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WILLIE URISH DOMINATES POWRi OUTLAW MICRO TURNPIKE CHALLENGE FINALE AT 1-44
By POWRi (Oklahoma City, OK) Willie Urish would wrap up an already successful 2022 Turnpike Challenge in dominating fashion by leading every lap of the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool feature event at I-44 Riverside Speedway and earn his third career POWRi feature victory.
Entering twenty-two strong for the POWRi Outlaw Micros would see Willie Urish start the night strong by gaining the quickest hot-lap time with an 11.019-second lap with Ethan Ayars, Kaylee Bryson, and Urish winning their respective heat races. Racing from starting seventh to finishing first would witness Willie Urish flex his driving might to earn the event’s high-point qualifier award.
Starting pole-position for the twenty-lap feature event, Willie Urish would aim to complete the perfect night of POWRi Micro competition and launch out to a commanding feature lead under green flag racing with outside front-row starter Brecken Reese and third-starting Frank Flud in hot-pursuit.
Mid-race caution flags bunched the field back together with Frank Flud capitalizing on the regrouping taking over the pack-lead for a pair of laps only to see Urish mount a come-back to the point.
“I wasn’t nervous on the restarts until we go into turns one and two when Flud passed me but the car was really good tonight so I knew I had to get back to the top” noted a winning Willie Urish in the I-44 Riverside Speedway victory lane.
Fending off all challengers Willie Urish would emerge victorious to claim the checkered first leaving Frank Flud to place in the runner-up positioning with Brecken Reese placing third. Tyler Kuykendall and Jason Friesen would each race closely at the front of the field all event with Kuykendall gaining the late-race advantage to place fourth with Friesen rounding out the feature’s top-five.
I-44 Riverside Speedway | Turnpike Challenge Night 3 | 3/26/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 15U – Willie Urish
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 56 – Ethan Ayars
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 11B – Kaylee Bryson
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 15U – Willie Urish
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 15U – Willie Urish
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 44 – Branigan Roark
Engler Machine Feature Winner: 15U – Willie Urish
Engler Machine Tool A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 15U-Willie Urish[1]; 2. 81-Frank Flud[4]; 3. 20Q-Brecken Reese[2]; 4. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[5]; 5. 1F-Jason Friesen[7]; 6. 11-Laydon Pearson[12]; 7. B8-John Barnard[8]; 8. 56-Ethan Ayars[3]; 9. 44-Branigan Roark[19]; 10. 88R-Ryder Laplante[20]; 11. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[9]; 12. 27KW-Kaden Weger[11]; 13. 2F-Jadyn Friesen[14]; 14. 122-Lane Warner[13]; 15. 23-mike Dibart[16]; 16. 18-Brayden Kongdara[15]; 17. 14X-Braxston Wilson[10]; 18. 14D-Chris DiBart[17]; 19. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[6]; 20. 27MK-Kyler Keeler[18]; 21. 77-Cooper Sullivan[21]; 22. 10T-Talin Turner[22].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 56-Ethan Ayars[2]; 2. 81-Frank Flud[4]; 3. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[6]; 4. 11-Laydon Pearson[5]; 5. 14X-Braxston Wilson[8]; 6. 44-Branigan Roark[1]; 7. 27MK-Kyler Keeler[7]; 8. 88R-Ryder Laplante[3].
MVT Services Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[1]; 2. 20Q-Brecken Reese[7]; 3. B8-John Barnard[4]; 4. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[6]; 5. 18-Brayden Kongdara[2]; 6. 23-mike Dibart[5]; 7. (DNS) 77-Cooper Sullivan.
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15U-Willie Urish[7]; 2. 1F-Jason Friesen[1]; 3. 27KW-Kaden Weger[2]; 4. 122-Lane Warner[4]; 5. 2F-Jadyn Friesen[5]; 6. 14D-Chris DiBart[3]; 7. (DNS) 10T-Talin Turner.
Up next for the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool will be a stand-alone league show at Macon Speedway on April 16.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.