By Jordan Delucia
MARION, IL (Sept. 11, 2024) — With the season winding down, the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota moves into the home stretch this weekend and will crown a champion of the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series.
A stop at Southern Illinois Raceway (SIR) in Marion, IL, kicks off the weekend on Friday, Sept. 13, before a visit to Highland Speedway in Highland, IL, on Saturday, Sept. 14. Both programs will feature 30-lap, $4,000-to-win main events, and will be co-sanctioned by the POWRi National Midget League.
Both races will also count as the final two events in the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series, which will award the points champion with a $2,500 cash bonus and additional cash bonuses going to the rest of the top-five in the final standings. Ryan Timms is the current Challenge Series points leader by 21 over Cannon McIntosh and 81 over Ashton Torgerson.
Tickets for both events are on sale in advance at the links below and will also be available at the track on race day. If you can’t be at the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS TICKETS
HIGHLAND TICKETS
Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend:
TO THE WIRE – With only four races left, time is running out to settle the season-long points battle.
Cannon McIntosh has led the way for most of the season, tallying six Feature wins — a new personal best with the Xtreme Outlaw Series — and carries a points lead of 133 over his teammate at Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM), Ryan Timms. McIntosh, 21, of Bixby, OK, drove from 15th on the starting grid up to a fifth-place finish at Southern Illinois last year and ran ninth at Highland. He’s maintaining a far better record of consistency this year (2.9 avg. finish) than in the second half of 2023 (7.53 avg. finish) and could potentially clinch his first national Midget series championship at the finale in October.
Timms, the 18-year-old open-wheel standout from Oklahoma City, OK, has won three Features this season and trails McIntosh by 133 points. He’ll debut at both Southern Illinois and Highland this weekend, trying to close the gap before championship weekend at Jacksonville Speedway, Oct. 4-5. He’ll also have a shot to clinch the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series championship, holding a 21-point lead over McIntosh.
PROVEN GROUND – Reigning Xtreme Outlaw Series champion Jade Avedisian returns to SIR and Highland this weekend, both tracks where she had strong results in the main events last year.
The 17-year-old Toyota Racing driver from Clovis, CA, will take the wheel of the Yahoo!, Toyota/LynK No. 71 for KKM, first at SIR on Friday, where in 2023 she took the lead from Kyle Jones on a late restart to get the win — her second of the season — which led to three more before collecting the points championship at season’s end.
Her charge through the field at Highland last year was among the largest in positions advanced as she started 18th on the grid and made up 15 spots in 30 laps to finish third, saving what could have been a potentially bad points night in her run to the championship.
SHARK SWIMMING – Coming off a sweep of the Ironman 55 weekend at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in early August, Karter Sarff is set for Xtreme Outlaw Series competition again this weekend in search of his fifth win of 2024.
Sarff, 21, of Mason City, IL, has made four trips to Victory Lane with the Series this year — second-most of any driver — at US 36 Raceway in April, Millbridge Speedway in May, and back-to-back at I-55 last month.
He’s got some improvements to make, however, if he is to compete for another win this weekend, considering his finishes of 11th at SIR and 18th at Highland one year ago.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY – Chase McDermand is heading back to Highland on Saturday, where he won his fifth race of the season one year ago.
McDermand, 24, of Springfield, IL, captured the checkered flag with a strong performance at the 1/4-mile bullring in his home state last September, leading 21 of 30 laps of the main event. This weekend, he makes his return in search of a second win of 2024 after scoring at Tulsa Speedway in July.
Sitting fourth in the Series points standings, McDermand aims to start the week off by bettering his run of seventh with the Series at SIR from 2023.
DOUBLE DUTY – Highland Speedway is a home track to Xtreme Outlaw Series full-timer Zach Daum, where he’ll race both the Midget and a 410 Winged Sprint Car this Saturday.
Daum, 32, of Pocahontas, IL, lives only 15 minutes from Highland Speedway, and will get behind the wheel of both the Trifecta Motorsports No. 7U Midget and the McGarry Motorsports No. 31 Sprint Car for an appearance with the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA).
Last year, Daum charged from 11th on the starting grid to finish second at SIR and placed fifth in the Midget at Highland.
THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE
When and where
Friday, Sept. 13, at Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion, IL
Saturday, Sept. 14 at Highland Speedway in Highland, IL
On the internet
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota
Twitter/X – @Xtreme_Outlaw
Instagram – @XtremeOutlaw
Facebook – @XtremeOutlawSeries.WRG
Live broadcast
DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com. Annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month.
Current championship points standings (view full standings)
Cannon McIntosh: 4360 points | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #71K
Ryan Timms: 4227 points (-133) | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67
Ashton Torgerson: 3980 points (-380) | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #67K
Chase McDermand: 3945 points (-415) | CMR-Mounce/Stout Motorsports #40
Zach Daum: 3860 points (-500) | Trifecta Motorsports #7U
Hayden Reinbold: 3756 points (-604) | Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports #19AZ
Trevor Cline: 3446 points (-914) | Cline Racing #55
Gavin Miller: 3341 points (-1019) | Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #97
Tyler Edwards: 3301 points (-1059) | Mounce/Stout Motorsports #14S
Karter Sarff: 3198 points (-1162) | Karter Sarff Motorsports #21K