Chris Windom passed Daison Pursley on lap 22 of 30 on the way to winning night two of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ USAC Nationals at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota, while Bryant Wiedeman overtook teammate Gavan Boschele and drove off to his first POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory at Spoon River Speedway in Canton, Ill.
Windom, the 2020 USAC national champion, earned his fourth victory of the season and closed to within 13 points of championship leader and fellow Toyota driver Buddy Kofoid, who placed third on the night.
Pursley started from the front row and immediately went to the lead with Logan Seavey in second and Windom in third. Windom then moved up to second on lap five and began a battle with Pursley that saw the two drivers separated by less than half a second throughout the first half of the race.
On lap 20, Windom was all over Pursley and finally through a slider at him through turn one to take the lead into turn two on lap 22. Windom went on to lead the final nine laps with Pursley finishing second and his Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammate Kofoid in third as Toyota drivers swept the podium for the night.
The USAC Nationals will finish up on Sunday at Huset’s Speedway.
While KKM drivers fell just short in USAC competition, they would lead every lap in the night’s POWRi feature at Spoon River with the 13-year-old Boschele going to the front on the green flag, followed by Karter Sarff, Kaylee Bryson and Wiedeman.
Wiedeman quickly moved up through the field, overtaking Bryson for third on lap six and then moving past Sarff for the second position on lap nine. He then set his sights on the leader. By lap 15, he had closed to within a tenth of a second and then pushed past Boschele for the lead on lap 16 only to see a yellow flag come out, reverting the field back to the standings of the previous lap.
While Wiedeman would give up the lead, it wasn’t for long as Boschele would lead laps 16 and 17, but Wiedeman would eventually throw a slider at him through turns three and four to take the lead. He’d never relinquish that top spot as he drove off to his first career national midget feature victory with Sarff placing second , followed by Bryson in third, Friday’s winner Brent Crews placed fourth and Boschele finished fifth.
With the victory, Wiedeman extended his series point lead to 90 points over Crews in a two-driver battle for the championship.
Next up for the POWRi Lucas Oil Midget League is an Oct. 1-2 doubleheader at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.
Toyota Driver Quotes:
Chris Windom, CB Industries: “I just had to hit my marks there. Midgets are so close in speed here and when you there you have to make the right move. Chad’s had this car so good these last two nights. This is a cool event. It’s 100 laps tomorrow, so anything can happen. You’re going to have to manage your tires and hopefully be there at the end. ”
Bryant Wiedeman, Keith Kunz Motorsports: “It feels amazing to finally get this monkey off my back and get to victory lane. We’ve been pretty consistent all year long with podiums I just can’t thank the KKM crew, TRD and everyone who supports us enough.”
TRD PR
