Meseraull Wins Indiana Midget Week Opener On Dramatic Last Lap Pass At Paragon

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Thomas Meseraull dove under Cannon McIntosh coming out of turn four on the final lap to edge McIntosh by .171 seconds in winning the opening night of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ Indiana Midget Week at Paragon Speedway, Thursday.

The win is the second for Meseraull this season and the 22nd national midget car feature win for a Toyota-powered driver in 2021.

Meseraull’s RMS Racing teammate Justin Grant took the early lead from the pole position with McIntosh falling in behind him, followed by Logan Seavy, Buddy Kofoid and Daison Pursley in the top five.

On lap three, Grant would stumble slightly coming out of turn two and McIntosh took advantage as he moved into the lead. The two leaders continued to pace the field, while behind them Meseraull quickly began climbing through the field from his 12th staring position and climbing into the top five on lap five after coming out of the B Main semi.

McIntosh began to open up a sizable lead over Grant, while Meseraull moved into the top three on lap 11.  

By lap 17, McIntosh had opened up a 2.45-second margin over Grant, only to see the caution come out and bunch the field.

McIntosh maintained the point position after the restart, but Grant stayed right with him, less than a half second behind as they entered the final 10 laps of the 30-lap feature. Meseraull continued his charge, passing Grant for second on lap 23, they began to hunt down McIntosh.

Over the final five laps, Meseraull would pull up beside McIntosh going through turns one and two, but McIntosh was able to hold him off until the final turn when he got just a little bit high in turn four, opening the door for Meseraull to go underneath him for the victory. McIntosh would finish second after leading 27 of the 30 laps.

Grant came home in third, with Kofoid and Seavey placing fourth and fifth as Toyota drivers swept the top five finishing positions for the night. 

Night two of Indiana Midget Week is scheduled for Bloomington Speedway on Friday.  

Toyota Driver Quotes: 

Thomas Meseraull, RMS Racing: “I won’t forget this one. We came out of the B-Main and started 12th and drove by everybody. These RMS guys give me the best of the best.”

Cannon McIntosh, Dave Mac Motorsports: “That was really hard to watch coming out of four. I thought we had one of the best cars here tonight. I thought we had the car to hold him off. It just got a little tight on me. Hats off to this team, everybody did a really good job tonight. We qualified well and had a really good starting spot. We walked away in the beginning, but just one little mistake at the end got us. I have to thank this whole team, Toyota, Mobil 1, K1 and Bell Helmets. I couldn’t do it without them. It’s a good start to Midget week.”

TRD PR

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