By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, Ohio (September 23, 2022) – Mitchel Moles made the most of his first visit to the Eldora Speedway winning the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Car Series feature Friday during the “Night BeFour the Crowns”.
Moles, from Rasin City, California, took over the point after Cannon McIntosh flipped after hitting the wall in turn one while leading. After that red flag Moles drove a steady race to pull away from the field including during a green/white/checkered finish for the victory. The win was Moles sixth victory overall during the 2022 season and second with the USAC National Midget Car Series.
Even though Moles inherited the lead due to McIntosh’s misfortune, Moles felt his car was up to the challenge for the win late in the race.
“We were pretty even, but McIntosh got to start on the front row and got a pretty good gap,” said Moles. “It took me a minute to get through the cars, but I think it would have been a race there at the end. I was pretty good, so I can’t really say how I was going end it up. I just wanted to play conservative and be there in case that happened, it did, and we got one done.”
After a wild scramble at the start McIntosh took the lead with Bryan Weideman and Moles exchanging slide jobs for the second spot. McIntosh began to pull away from Moles on lap five.
Both McIntosh and Moles had close calls with the wall with McIntosh bouncing off it in turns one and two and Moles in turns three and four. Moles was starting to close in on McIntosh by lap 12 but caught the wall in turn four. One lap later McIntosh hit the wall and got upside down in turn one. McIntosh emerged from the car under his own power but was unable to continue.
Moles pulled away during the restart while Weideman and Kofoid raced for the second position behind them. With three laps to go, the final caution flag appeared when Jacob Denney slowed on the front stretch.
With the entire field on his back bumper Moles was up for the challenge pulling way for the victory. Wiedeman held off Kofoid for second with Chris Windom charging from 14th to fourth and Alex Bright rounding out the top five.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Car Series
Night BeFour the Crowns
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, Ohio
Saturday, September 23, 2022
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 23, 2022 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – 40th 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-16.503; 2. Logan Seavey, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-16.791; 3. Alex Bright, 25, Malloy-16.873; 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.885; 5. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.905; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-16.981; 7. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-17.042; 8. Tanner Carrick, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.059; 9. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-17.106; 10. C.J. Leary, 25L, Petry-17.115; 11. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.163; 12. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-17.174; 13. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-17.193; 14. Chris Windom, 89x, CBI-17.336; 15. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.341; 16. Michael Magic, 4m, Magic-18.474; 17. Jacob Denney, 25m, Malloy-NT (Time of 16.570 disallowed).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS / COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Buddy Kofoid, 4. Alex Bright, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Jacob Denney, 7. Taylor Reimer, 8. Hayden Reinbold, 9. Kaylee Bryson. 2:20.34
PIT STOP USA/ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Chance Crum, 4. Cannon McIntosh, 5. Bryant Wiedeman, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Tanner Carrick, 8. Michael Magic. 2:20.73
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (6), 2. Bryan Wiedeman (4), 3. Buddy Kofoid (3), 4. Chris Windom (14), 5. Alex Bright (9), 6. Chance Crum (12), 7. Logan Seavey (5), 8. Tanner Carrick (10), 9. C.J. Leary (8), 10. Justin Grant (1), 11. Taylor Reimer (11), 12. Thomas Meseraull (7), 13. Hayden Reinbold (13), 14. Kaylee Bryson (15), 15. Michael Magic (16), 16. Jacob Denney (17), 17. Cannon McIntosh (2). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 14-25 Mitchel Moles.
**Cannon McIntosh flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Buddy Kofoid-1546, 2-Justin Grant-1363, 3-Mitchel Moles-1184, 4-Cannon McIntosh-1175, 5-Bryant Wiedeman-1165, 6-Thomas Meseraull-1161, 7-Kaylee Bryson-1132, 8-Jacob Denney-931, 9-Brenham Crouch-928, 10-Ethan Mitchell-913.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-146, 2-Thomas Meseraull-122, 3-Brady Bacon-111, 4-Robert Ballou-98, 5-Buddy Kofoid-97, 6-Kaylee Bryson-94, 7-Logan Seavey-83, 8-Kyle Cummins-76, 9-Emerson Axsom-75, 10-Matt Westfall-73.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 24, 2022 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – 40th 4-Crown Nationals