By Matt Skipper
In Jacob Denney’s case, his memory will be of keeping veterans at bay to win his first career Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Feature at Farmer City Raceway Friday night.
“It means a lot,” Denney said. “This track is pretty gnarly. I was questioning myself before I went out there. I was like, ‘That’s a big ole cushion, I don’t know if I’ll be able to ride it.’ On the first lap, I went straight in there and I was like, ‘Alright, I’m sticking to my guns now.'”
Thomas Meseraull and Denney led the field of 26 Midgets to the green flag, with Denney taking the lead on the opening circuit by using the top side of the 1/4-mile track.
Denney kept command in the early stages while Zach Daum and Meseraull battled for second place. Daum ended up winning the battle and then turned his attention to Denney, who found himself caught in traffic.
Denney’s hindrance became a crisis when he struggled to get by two slower cars and Daum found a lane to pass them all and take the lead by the halfway point of the Feature.
While Daum ran low, Denney took his chances with the cushion to build momentum and chase the Series’ inaugural champion. That led to the two racing side by side and Denney reclaiming the lead on Lap 16 before the first red flag of the event for Luke Wackerlin flipping off of Turn 4.
After the race resumed, more drama occurred behind the Ohio native as his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammates Cannon McIntosh and Gavin Miller collided going into Turn 1 and sent Ethan Mitchell flipping.
When the race resumed with five laps to go, Denney continued to cruise around the top to hold off Daum and drive his JBL Audio No. 67 to a $4,000 payday.
“I knew what it was like to go down to the bottom of (Turn) 3 and miss it by a country mile and lose more time,” Denney said. “Daum is probably the hardest to beat on the bottom, so I just stuck up there and it was really good up there. It wasn’t like we were slow, I feel like we had a lot of speed, so I stuck with it and got it done.”
Daum finished the season opener with a second-place result for his first Series race aboard the Pat O’Dell-owned No. 5D Toyota.
“The top was treacherous, especially (Turns) 1 and 2 in particular,” Daum explained in his choice to run the bottom lane. “I think they could run the curb a lot harder than everyone else, and I’m just not that guy. I kept working on getting it to rotate on the bottom really well, and it was good down there. I’ll think about it tonight and see what to change for tomorrow, just fine tune it, and I think we’ll be OK.”
Karter Sarff followed Daum’s shadow by using the bottom lane to finish third at Farmer City.
“We just had a really maneuverable car,” Sarff said. “I figured the top was the long way around with how far the cushion was up there from the Late Models, and the Late Models couldn’t get far down quite enough to burn off the bottom, so I figured it’d be good down there. I’m super happy with the night with how we started. We didn’t get to qualify, started last in the Heat, and ended up making a bad night a good night, so just pumped to be on the podium.”
Friday’s Quick Time Award winner Corbin Rueschenberg finished fourth, and Springfield, IL’s Chase McDermand cemented the top five in his first Series start as an owner/driver.
RECAP NOTES:
Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Corbin Rueschenberg
Toyota Heat 1: Zach Daum
CASM Safety Products Heat 2: Brandon Carr
TJ Forged Heat 3: Thomas Meseraull
Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger: Tyler Edwards (+9)
Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Daniel Adler
Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets join the World of Outlaws Late Models and MARS Modified Championship to tackle Farmer City Raceway one final time for the Illini 100 on Saturday, April 12.
FARMER CITY TICKETS
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 67-Jacob Denney[2]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[5]; 3. 21K-Karter Sarff[8]; 4. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[3]; 5. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 6. 9U-Kameron Key[13]; 7. 5U-Michael Faccinto[11]; 8. 67K-Colton Robinson[14]; 9. 55-Trevor Cline[16]; 10. 98K-Brandon Carr[7]; 11. 56E-Tyler Edwards[20]; 12. 97-Gavin Miller[9]; 13. 72-Alex Karpowicz[12]; 14. 63-Cale Coons[15]; 15. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 16. 50-Daniel Adler[18]; 17. 16C-David Camfield Jr[26]; 18. 16TH-Kevin Newton[19]; 19. 94-Hayden Wise[22]; 20. 12-Corbin Gurley[23]; 21. 17C-Devin Camfield[24]; 22. 20-Cody Weisensel[25]; 23. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[10]; 24. 51-Zach Boden[17]; 25. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[21]; 26. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 27. (DNS) 56X-Mark Chisholm