MARCH TO THE CORNHUSKER STATE! USAC MIDGETS RACE FOR 10-GRAND IN NEBRASKA

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Fairbury, Nebraska (July 12, 2022)………There are few events that capture the sort of local involvement that Fairbury, Nebraska has with Jefferson County Speedway’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event.

It’s a full community celebration, and one that has become a marquee event not only in southeastern Nebraska, but on the whole for midget racing.

The Mid-America Midget swing concludes with two nights at the 1/5-mile dirt oval of Jefferson County Speedway with back-to-back events on Friday and Saturday, July 15-16, for the fifth annual edition of the Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt's Sanitation, co-sanctioned by USAC and the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association.

Friday’s race entails 30 laps and $4,000-win while Saturday’s 40-lap finale pays out a sweetened pot highlighted by a $10,000 winner’s share, which annually produces high quality entertainment.

The Midwest Midget Championship officially begins on Thursday night, July 14, with practice from 5-7pm Central followed by a shrimp boil and barbecue to follow, which is open to all race teams, crews and fans at the campground north of the track.

Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) enters the event as a past Jefferson County USAC Midget victor, taking the win back in 2018 with a wire-to-wire 40-lap performance.  He scored a pair of top-fives a year ago in the event with a 4th and a 5th.  His 10-lap heat race time of 1:50.36 in 2021 stands as the track record for the distance.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) owns the one-lap Jefferson County Speedway USAC National Midget track record of 10.685 sec., set in 2019.  In fact, the 2018 series champ has been the fastest qualifier on four occasions at the track, first in 2018, twice in 2019 and again in 2021.  He finished a best of 2nd in 2018 and 3rd in 2019, 6th in 2021 and added a 7th in 2019.  He led 31 of the 40 laps in the $10K finale in 2021 before an altercation sent him spinning out of the lead and out of victory lane.

Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) has finished in the top-ten in seven of his eight USAC National Midget starts at Jefferson County since 2017 with a best of 4th and 5th in 2019.  The USAC Triple Crown champion also scored a 6th in 2018, 7th in 2020, 8th in 2017 & 2021, and 10th in 2020.

Current series point leader Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) has been in contention to win on multiple occasions at Jefferson County.  He’s collected multiple 2nd place finishes there opening night 2020 and again on night two of 2021 after starting all the way back in 15th.  The reigning USAC National Midget champ and current point leader also added a 5th on night two in 2020.

Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) collected a quick time award in 2020 before snagging 5th and 8th place finishes throughout the weekend.  He posted a pair more top-tens in 2021 with a 6th and a 10th.  He posted fast time honors on the second evening of action in 2020.

Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.) collected a solid 6th place result in 2020 and nearly replicated it in 2021 by scoring a  7th.  Nebraska’s own, Lincoln’s Trey Gropp, scored a top-ten with an 8th on night one of 2021.

Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) slotted into the top-ten of both nights at Jeff. Co. in 2021 with a 9th and a 10th.  Meanwhile, Brenham Crouch (Lubbock, Texas) put together similar solid results on the same two nights, garnering a hard-charging 22nd to 11th on the first leg followed by a 9th in the finale.

Bryant Wiedeman (Colby, Kan.) returns after making a single start in 2021 on night one in which he finished 13th as does teammate Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.), who was 15th in 2020, as well as 2017 USAC Gulf Coast SpeeD2 Midget champion Kyle Jones (Kennedale, Texas) who was 15th on night two in 2021.

For the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association contingent, both nights are considered non-points special events toward their season long championship.  Among the representatives are Lance Bennett (Aurora, Colo.) who finished a best of 14th in 2016.

First-time starting hopefuls at the Midwest Midget Championship bring USAC National Midget leading Rookie Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.), USAC National Midget winner Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.), Taylor Reimer (Bixby, Okla.), Lincoln Park Speedway Indiana Midget Week winner Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio) and Jace Park (Overland Park, Kan.) while Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Ariz.) aims for his first start in the event.

Badger Midget champ Chase McDermand (Springfield, Ill.) also will arrive for his first taste of Jefferson County Speedway on Friday and Saturday as will Jade Avedisian (Clovis, Calif.), plus Great Plains racers Corey Joyner (Concordia, Kan.), J.R. Ewing (Phillipsburg, Kan.) and Blake Spicer (Phillipsburg, Kan.) whose father, Curtis, made four starts in the event between 2018 and 2020.

Thirty previous USAC National Midget races have been held in the state of Nebraska.  USAC Triple Crown champion Tracy Hines has the most victories of any driver in the state with three.  Wilke-Pak Racers has won the most of any team in the state with five.

THE FORMAT:

The Midwest Midget Championship at the 1/5-mile dirt oval, the Mid-America Midget Week finale, begins on Friday, July 15, and will utilize the traditional format of single-car qualifying, followed by heat races, semi-feature and a 30-lap feature event paying $4,000-to-win, with the starting lineup based on qualifying results and heat race winners.

The format for the Saturday, July 16, portion of the program will not include qualifying.  Instead, heat race lineups will be based on the finishing order of Friday’s event. Friday night’s feature winner will receive the one seed with the second-place finisher getting the second seed, and so on. For Saturday, those seeds, in essence, will act as the official qualifying time.

The number one seed will line up in the 6th position of Saturday’s heat race one and the number two seed will line up in the 6th position of heat race two, and so forth. From there on, the “traditional” USAC format will take over with the top-four transferring if four heat races are held and top-five transferring if three heat races are held, plus semi-feature transfers, etc.

The fastest top-six “seeds” who transfer through the heats will occupy the first three rows of Saturday’s feature, followed by heat race winners, then the balance of the field based on their seeds, to set the starting lineup for the 40-lap finale paying $10,000-to-win and $500 to start.

Of note, Friday night’s provisional feature starters will receive their seed based on their finishing order in the semi-feature rather than where they finished in the feature.

Furthermore, Friday will be a full points event, awarding points for qualifying, heats and the feature event. Saturday’s event will pay points for the feature only.

THE DETAILS:

On both nights, the gates will open at 5pm Central with cars on track at 6:30pm.

Unlimited general admission tickets will be sold day of show beginning at 5pm with reserved seating only presale as described above.  All-access pit passes will be unlimited and available at the pit gate on day of show only.

All access pit passes are $35 (kids 5 and under are only $10) and will be available at the pit gate and front gate on the day of show only.

Campground spots at the track with hookups are sold-out but there is a few “dry camping” spots available on the southside of the track and they are first come, first serve or there are full hook-up camping spots at Crystal Springs just a mile away.  Camping and area info can be found at www.visitoregontrail.org or at the Fairbury, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.

The NOW 600/Jay-Husker Non-Wing and Restricted “A” Class Micro Sprints will also be in action each night.

General admission tickets to the event are just $20 for adults on Friday night and $30 on Saturday with High School students and younger just $5 each night.  Reserved seating is $50 (available in two-day packages only) and are available online at www.jeffersoncountyspeedway.com under the “Buy Tickets” tab.

Both nights of the Midwest Midget Championship from Jefferson County Speedway will be streamed live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.

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USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS IN NEBRASKA:

3-Tracy Hines

2-Steve Cannon, Tyler Courtney, Kasey Kahne & Tanner Thorson

1-Emerson Axsom, Dean Billings, Chad Boat, Dave Darland, Tony Elliott, Robby Flock, Jeff Gordon, Justin Grant, Page Jones, Jason Leffler, Jason McDougal, Bobby Olivero, Davey Ray, Ricky Shelton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danny Stratton, Dave Strickland Jr., Sleepy Tripp & Chris Windom

JEFFERSON COUNTY SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS:

2-Tyler Courtney & Tanner Thorson

1-Emerson Axsom, Chad Boat, Justin Grant, Jason McDougal & Chris Windom

JEFFERSON COUNTY SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS:

2016: Chad Boat (8/2)

2017: Tanner Thorson (8/1)

2018: Justin Grant (7/14)

2019: Jason McDougal (7/12)

2019: Tyler Courtney (7/13)

2020: Chris Windom (7/17) & Tyler Courtney (7/18)

2021: Tanner Thorson (7/16) & Emerson Axsom (7/17)

TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL MIDGETS AT JEFFERSON COUNTY SPEEDWAY:

1 Lap - 7/12/2019 - Logan Seavey - 10.685

10 Laps - 7/16/2021 - Justin Grant - 1:50.360

12 Laps - 7/17/2020 - Sam Johnson - 2:24.855

PAST RESULTS FOR USAC NATIONAL MIDGETS AT JEFFERSON COUNTY SPEEDWAY:

2016 FEATURE: (35 laps) 1. Chad Boat, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Spencer Bayston, 6. Carson Macedo, 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 8. Holly Shelton, 9. Ryan Robinson, 10. Tanner Thorson, 11. Brayton Lynch, 12. Chett Gehrke, 13. Keith Rauch, 14. Lance Bennett, 15. Bob Harr, 16. John Klabunde, 17. Dustin Weland, 18. Terry Goodwin, 19. Ryan Greth, 20. Dave Darland, 21. Anton Hernandez, 22. Jeff Stasa. NT

2017 FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Christopher Bell, 6. Spencer Bayston, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 9. Ryan Robinson, 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 11. Chad Boat, 12. Holly Shelton, 13. Tanner Carrick, 14. Joe B. Miller, 15. Clinton Boyles, 16. Brayton Lynch, 17. Chett Gehrke, 18. Paul Babich, 19. Jeff Stasa, 20. John Klabunde, 21. Tyler Nelson, 22. Justin Grant. NT

2018 FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Logan Seavey (6), 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 4. Tanner Carrick (3), 5. Brady Bacon (10), 6. Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 7. Jason McDougal (9), 8. Tyler Thomas (11), 9. Spencer Bayston (5), 10. Kyle Craker (15), 11. Cole Bodine (16), 12. Chad Boat (8), 13. Brayton Lynch (12), 14. Sam Johnson (14), 15. Tyler Courtney (1), 16. Maria Cofer (17), 17. Dustin Weland (19), 18. Glenn Waterland (20), 19. Lance Bennett (18), 20. Zane Hendricks (13), 21. Blaze Bennett (21), 22. Curtis Spicer (22). NT

2019 NIGHT ONE FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Jason McDougal (4), 2. Tyler Courtney (12), 3. Chris Windom (3), 4. Chad Boat (9), 5. Jerry Coons, Jr. (10), 6. Tyler Thomas (14), 7. Logan Seavey (6), 8. Andrew Layser (7), 9. Zeb Wise (11), 10. Robert Dalby (2), 11. Brady Bacon (16), 12. Tanner Carrick (13), 13. Tanner Thorson (1), 14. Ethan Mitchell (18), 15. Sam Johnson (15), 16. Shannon McQueen (17), 17. Lance Bennett (19), 18. Curtis Spicer (22), 19. Olivia Bennett (20), 20. Tucker Klaasmeyer (8), 21. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 22. Tyler Seavey (23), 23. A.J. Valim (21). NT

2019 NIGHT TWO FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2), 3. Logan Seavey (6), 4. Jerry Coons, Jr. (4), 5. Tyler Thomas (11), 6. Jason McDougal (8), 7. Tanner Carrick (7), 8. Tanner Thorson (3), 9. Chris Windom (9), 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer (10), 11. Zeb Wise (15), 12. Chad Boat (5), 13. Shannon McQueen (13), 14. Andrew Layser (18), 15. Sam Johnson (16), 16. Ethan Mitchell (12), 17. Curtis Spicer (22), 18. Brady Bacon (14), 19. Robert Dalby (17), 20. Lance Bennett (19), 21. Tyler Seavey (20), 22. Olivia Bennett (23), 23. A.J. Valim (21).

2020 NIGHT ONE FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (5), 2. Buddy Kofoid (8), 3. Daison Pursley (12), 4. Tyler Thomas (9), 5. Cannon McIntosh (4), 6. Ethan Mitchell (1), 7. Andrew Layser (15), 8. Emerson Axsom (13), 9. Sam Johnson (19), 10. Jerry Coons Jr. (3), 11. Tanner Carrick (11), 12. Tanner Thorson (6), 13. Cole Bodine (14), 14. Keith Rauch (16), 15. Chris Sheil (22), 16. Zac Taylor (21), 17. Emilio Hoover (17), 18. Tony Rossi (18), 19. Kaylee Bryson (10), 20. Carson Garrett (20), 21. Robert Dalby (2), 22. Tyler Courtney (7). NT

2020 NIGHT TWO FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. Emerson Axsom (9), 3. Tanner Thorson (4), 4. Chris Windom (3), 5. Buddy Kofoid (2), 6. Daison Pursley (11), 7. Jerry Coons Jr. (13), 8. Cannon McIntosh (6), 9. Sam Johnson (7), 10. Tanner Carrick (14), 11. Robert Dalby (18), 12. Ethan Mitchell (5), 13. Kaylee Bryson (12), 14. Andrew Layser (16), 15. Cole Bodine (8), 16. Carson Garrett (19), 17. Curtis Spicer (21), 18. Keith Rauch (20), 19. Tyler Thomas (15), 20. Trey Gropp (17), 21. Emilio Hoover (10), 22. Tony Rossi (22). NT

2021 NIGHT ONE FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tanner Thorson (1), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 3. Chris Windom (4), 4. Emerson Axsom (5), 5. Justin Grant (8), 6. Logan Seavey (11), 7. Ethan Mitchell (3), 8. Trey Gropp (13), 9. Thomas Meseraull (18), 10. Cannon McIntosh (20), 11. Brenham Crouch (22), 12. Daison Pursley (12), 13. Bryant Wiedeman (17), 14. Buddy Kofoid (6), 15. Chase Randall (14), 16. Ryan Timms (16), 17. Sam Johnson (19), 18. Kyle Jones (7), 19. Jason McDougal (21), 20. Kaylee Bryson (15), 21. Tyler Thomas (9), 22. Jerry Coons Jr. (10). NT

2021 NIGHT TWO FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Emerson Axsom (3), 2. Buddy Kofoid (15), 3. Chris Windom (4), 4. Justin Grant (2), 5. Daison Pursley (14), 6. Cannon McIntosh (8), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 8. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 9. Brenham Crouch (13), 10. Thomas Meseraull (7), 11. Trey Gropp (12), 12. Tyler Thomas (19), 13. Chase Randall (16), 14. Logan Seavey (1), 15. Kyle Jones (18), 16. Sam Johnson (17), 17. Shannon McQueen (22), 18. Keith Rauch (21), 19. Tanner Thorson (6), 20. Zac Taylor (10), 21. Hayden Williams (23-P), 22. Jake Bubak (9), 23. Ethan Mitchell (11). NT