Buddy Kofoid took the lead from Brent Crews on lap six and went on to pace the final 25 laps to win the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s Illinois SpeedWeek finale at Fayette County Speedway Sunday.
While Kofoid got the win, it was Cannon McIntosh who earned the Illinois SpeedWeek title after finishing third on Sunday as he registered a top-four finish in each of the week’s five events, including a victory on night two at Lincoln Speedway.
The 13-year-old Crews would take the lead from the pole position and pace the first five laps before Kofoid would use a slider to take over the top spot. Crews made a couple of runs in an attempt to regain the lead, but in the end, Kofoid would pull away from the field to take the win. Crews never ran below second on the way to matching his career-best POWRi finish.
McIntosh, needing just to finish with 10 positions of Kofoid to wrap up the championship for the week, would finish third with a comfortable advantage over Crews’ CB Industries teammate Ryan Timms.
Also earning top-10 finishes for Toyota were Gavan Boschele in sixth, POWRi points leader Bryant Wiedeman in seventh and Kaylee Bryson in eighth, giving Keith Kunz Motorsports four of the top 10.
After completing five races in five nights, the POWRi National Midget League will be off until July 16 when the series returns to the track for the “Thunder in the Valley” double-header at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri.
Quotes:
Buddy Kofoid, Keith Kunz Motorsports: “I was able to get the lead and felt really comfortable on the restarts. I knew it would be tough for him to slide me. This track is a lot of fun. My guys did a really good job with this car. It just felt comfortable. It wouldn’t be possible without Keith Kunz Motorsports, Mobil 1 and Toyota giving me this opportunity.”
Cannon McIntosh, Dave Mac Motorsports: “It was a good week. We found lots of speed and we were really consistent. We were able to regroup and figure out what we needed. We weren’t as good as the top two tonight, but we did what we needed to do. Everybody with Dave Mac Motorsports did a great job this week.”
Notes:
– Five different Toyota drivers won the five events during Illinois SpeedWeek, with Kofoid leading the way with two wins, while McIntosh, Daison Pursley and Emerson Axsom each winning one.
– Buddy Kofoid’s victory is his 11th national midget feature win of the year. It also marked Toyota’s 30th national feature triumph of the 2021 season.
TRD PR