0
0
The two Californians trade the lead several times before Kofoid pulls away for fourth win of 2024
Trent Gower Photo
By Alex Nieten
September 13th 2024-Michael “Buddy” Kofoid cut his teeth on the bullrings of California. And that upbringing was on full display Friday as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars rolled into Bakersfield Speedway.
The “Golden State’s” tight ovals are never easy to tame. Bakersfield proved to be no different. A narrow bottom, slick middle, and fast but technical cushion. But Kofoid couldn’t have looked more comfortable in the Roth Motorsports No. 83.
After charging from sixth to third in the Toyota Racing Dash, Kofoid lined up inside the second row for the 35-lap finale at the 1/3-mile. He quickly got to second before igniting a race-long war with pole sitter Giovanni Scelzi.
Kofoid fired slider after slider at the fellow Californian. Scelzi countered with crossover after crossover. They sliced through heavy traffic. They fought for every inch of space as the laps wound down. The winning move came on Lap 28 as Kofoid threw the slide job that stuck as Scelzi couldn’t drive back around exiting Turn 2.
A caution shortly after the move supplied Kofoid with clean air, and he used it to drive away to a victory on home turf.
“That was a really fun race with Gio,” Kofoid said. “Good, clean racing really hard. This is one of my favorite tracks in a Midget. I’d never ran a Sprint Car here. Now, it’s definitely up there. I just can’t thank Dylan (Buswell) enough. I’m super grateful to have someone like Dylan in my corner. In Sprint Car racing, you’re competing with guys that have been on the tour for a while. I’ve never really had a guy this long until now. I feel like Dylan and I just work well when it’s going good. It just feels easy. Not that it is because these are the best guys in the world.”
The win continued Kofoid and the Roth crew’s recent hot streak as they’ve won three of the last four races with The Greatest Show on Dirt. The 22-year-old hasn’t finished worse than fourth in the most recent eight outings. His fourth win of 2024 equals him with Donny Schatz for the fourth most this year.
Scelzi led the field to green with Landon Brooks alongside, but the initial start caused some carnage as Brooks spun from the front row in Turns 1 and 2 and collected several other vehicles.
Brooks’ misfortune lined Kofoid up on Scelzi’s outside for the second attempt to get the main event going. The second start proved to be much smoother as Scelzi pulled ahead of Kofoid to pace the first circuit.
It didn’t take long for the battle to start as Kofoid took his first shot at the lead only a few laps in. A Turn 1 slider cleared Scelzi, but the Fresno, CA driver crossed him over to get the lead right back down the back straightaway.
Cat and mouse became the story of the race’s opening half as Kofoid stayed all over Scelzi. It didn’t matter if they were in clean air or heavy traffic, Kofoid refused to let the KCP Racing No. 18 out of his sights. He attempted multiple more slide jobs that cleared but Scelzi countered each one.
A restart with 15 laps to go proved to be pivotal in the outcome. Kofoid stuck with Scelzi when the green lights flashed and tried another slider into Turn 1 that didn’t quite clear. The missed attempt gave Scelzi the chance to drive away, but Kofoid had no plans of allowing that.
He stayed focused and up on the wheel as he reeled him back in. With seven laps remaining the necessary door opened as Kofoid cleared Scelzi in Turns 1 and 2, and Scelzi didn’t have the run he needed to roll back under Kofoid.
A caution one lap later opened up the track for Kofoid, and he took advantage by wheeling away to a popular triumph in his home state.
“I felt like I was really good in clear air,” Kofoid said. “So, when we had that yellow I wasn’t super worried. I knew we needed a shot. I just needed to not get tight.”
After leading the first 27 laps, Scelzi brought the KCP machine home second. He didn’t feel there was much he could’ve done different to hold off Kofoid. The Roth ride simply proved to be a little too fast to keep behind.
“I was hanging on from pretty early in the race,” Scelzi said. “We made changes every session because the track was changing so much. I felt like we stayed on top of it, just missed it. We got beat by a better driver and a better car tonight. So, I can’t be too upset. It’s our best run in a while.”
The three California World of Outlaws competitors swept the podium as Carson Macedo brought the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 home third. An ill-timed yellow flag took away a potential shot for Macedo to take the lead, but he still came away satisfied with his ninth top three in the last 14 races.
“It would’ve been nice for it to stick just because I think I would’ve at least came out of there in second. It seemed like Gio was going to cross me over there, but you never know,” Macedo explained. “At least I would’ve had somewhat of a shot at it. I feel like we were pacing pretty decent before then. It seemed like after that it was a little harder for me to keep pace. Buddy got good toward the end of the race there and was able to get aggressive, especially when they got to traffic. All in all, still a great effort for this team.”
Logan Schuchart and David Gravel completed the top five.
A 23rd to 11th run earned Garet Williamson the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Landon Brooks earned his first career Simpson Quick Time in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three belonged to Buddy Kofoid and Giovanni Scelzi. Milton Hershey Heat Two went to Dylan Bloomfield.
Giovanni Scelzi topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
Caeden Steele won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Austin McCarl.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their sixth appearance in Series history at California’s Merced Speedway for the Federated Auto Parts Yosemite Showdown. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 5. 2-David Gravel[7]; 6. 21-Cole Macedo[9]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz[12]; 8. 57W-Jock Goodyer[10]; 9. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[8]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[15]; 11. 23-Garet Williamson[23]; 12. 10-Dominic Gorden[24]; 13. 121-Caeden Steele[19]; 14. 17AU-Jamie Veal[20]; 15. 7S-Landon Crawley[11]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[17]; 17. 70-Kraig Kinser[21]; 18. 88N-DJ Netto[13]; 19. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[6]; 20. 6-Lachy McDonough[16]; 21. O-Tim Kaeding[18]; 22. 88-Austin McCarl[22]; 23. 45-Landon Brooks[2]; 24. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[14]
For complete results, CLICK HERE.
