8/5/2020
RacinBoys
Eastern Midget Week opens tonight at Kutztown
By Richie Murray, USAC Media (Kutztown, PA) -- A new first-time winner will emerge at Action Track USA on Wednesday, August 5, in the second race of 2020 Eastern Midget Week when the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship invades the quarter-mile dirt oval in Kutztown where the competition truly lived up to the track's moniker in the series' 2019 debut.
Among them are series point leader Chris Windom, defending champion Tyler Courtney, 2016 champion Tanner Thorson and 2013 titlist Christopher Bell, along with young guns like Buddy Kofoid and Cannon McIntosh who are making their first trip with the series to the east.
PHOTO: Cole Bodine (Rossville, Ind.), driver of the Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 39BC which won the 2019 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget debut at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa.--CREDIT: DB3, Inc. Photo
Last year, young Zeb Wise looked the part of a savvy, seasoned veteran having to hold off a relentless attack from Kyle Larson lap-after-lap-after-lap, down to the final corner. An inch or two was all Wise needed to fend off the hard-charging Larson on the final corner, bouncing off the outside concrete to break free on the outside and beat Larson to the line by a half-car length at the finish line, 0.078 of a second to be exact.
In his Action Track USA debut, Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), twice a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner in Pennsylvania, established the track record in qualifying at 11.313, then proceeded to win his heat race. He'd finish 5th in the feature after starting 6th.
Series point leader Windom (Canton, Ill.), a six-time Eastern Storm winner, was the hard charger during the 2019 main event at Action Track USA, driving from his 12th starting position to a 3rd place result behind Wise and Larson. He is a one-time USAC Midget winner in the Keystone State in the 2019 opener at Grandview.
Thorson (Minden, Nev.) is the lone multi-time USAC National Midget winner in Pennsylvania among the contingent expected to compete at Action Track USA. He finished 4th last year at Action Track but owns a pair of victories at Lanco in Newmanstown, Pa. in both 2016 and 17.
Local standout Andrew Layser made his debut in a full-size midget at Action Track USA in 2019, along with everyone else. The 2019 USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year captured a heat race win and was a big mover in the 30-lap feature, charging from the 14th starting position to finish 7th.
Reading, Pennsylvania's Steven Drevicki finished 15th in his first USAC National Midget feature run at Action Track in 2019. The two-time USAC Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Car champion in 2018-19, Drevicki won what was dubbed the "race of the season" for the All Pro SpeedSTRs at Action Track on July 28. The two-time ARDC Midget champion in both 2014 and 2015 recently captured a feature victory in a non-sanctioned midget feature at Abbottstown, Pa.'s Lincoln Speedway.
Layser, along with Windom, will team up NASCAR Cup regular Christopher Bell (Norman, Okla.) and Dillon Welch (Carmel, Ind.) on the Tucker/Boat Motorsports team for Action Track USA. The team, with Chad Boat behind the wheel at the time, has won USAC National Midget feature events in Pennsylvania three years in a row. Boat himself led five laps last year at Action Track.
A one-time USAC National Sprint winner in the state of Pennsylvania, Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) who will compete for the Heffner Racing team throughout Eastern Midget Week, took 9th last year at Action Track. Lincoln, California's Tanner Carrick (11th) and Mooresville, North Carolina's Ethan Mitchell (22nd) will return for their second Action Track appearances.
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports standouts making their debuts at Action Track USA include top series Rookie, Penngrove, California's Buddy Kofoid (3rd in points), Bixby, Oklahoma's Cannon McIntosh (5th in points) and Locust Grove, Oklahoma's Daison Pursley (7th in points.).
Wednesday's Action Track event will be aired live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/2Zs7zFP.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,035, 2-Tyler Courtney-928, 3-Buddy Kofoid-919, 4-Tanner Thorson-906, 5-Cannon McIntosh-809, 6-Tanner Carrick-713, 7-Daison Pursley-677, 8-Cole Bodine-629, 9-Andrew Layser-598, 10-Justin Grant-489.
PAST USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS AT ACTION TRACK USA: 2019-Zeb Wise
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
