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March 29, 2025 by Alex Nieten
Trent Gower Photo
The 23-year-old makes it a dozen career wins by topping his Lawton debut
The box score is going to show Michael “Buddy” Kofoid led every lap of Friday’s Sooner State Showdown at Lawton Speedway, but it was far from an easy cruise to victory.
The Roth Motorsports pilot had to survive a flurry of attacks from fellow Californian Carson Macedo. The driver of the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 threw absolutely everything he had at him for all 35 laps. He tried to roll the bottom around the No. 83. He threw sliders. He tried to rip the top around him, but Kofoid got up on the wheel for each and every challenge.
When the checkered flag flew, Kofoid crossed with just under a one second advantage for his second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win of 2025.
“Coming, I think, to two (laps) to go, I thought I almost gave it away, just got super tight. The 41, they were really good,” Kofoid said. “They were there the whole race. I could see him and hear him. I think there’s probably a little bit we need to work on, but I think a track like that and being able to move around kind of worked into my wheelhouse. I just want to thank Dylan, Nate, and John for their incredibly hard work and getting me comfortable and better every race.”
Kofoid became the third multi-time winner of 2025 with The Greatest Show on Dirt, joining David Gravel (five wins) and Kyle Larson (two wins). He’s one for one at Lawton as Friday marked his debut at the Oklahoma oval. The Penngrove, CA native became the seventh different Lawton victor through 11 races of World of Outlaws competition.
The trip to Victory Lane was the latest piece of evidence to support Kofoid and the Roth crew resembling their latter half of 2024 selves. After some early struggles, they’ve now strung together four consecutive top two finishes and 10 straight top 10s.
“I feel like we’re rolling pretty good,” Kofoid said. “I don’t want to say something and jinx myself. This car has been proven to be really good for us. This is just what we had to finish last year when we won Huset’s (High Bank Nationals) all the way up through Charlotte (World Finals). It’s just something that works for Dylan and I and something that for him, when he works on it, it just works out for me with what I’m telling him he can usually give me what I need. This car has just been really good to us, and I hope we can just keep the momentum rolling.”
After pressuring Kofoid from green to checkered, Carson Macedo settled for the runner-up spot in the Jason Johnson Racing machine. He was confident he had the superior ride but simply couldn’t find the right opportunity to capitalize.
“I don’t think I needed anymore. I think my car was phenomenal. I think I had the best car on the track,” Macedo said. “I felt just solid anywhere I went, especially down in (Turns) 1 and 2. I could squeeze and grab the bottom really nice and get a lot of squeeze down the backstretch and had a lot of speed. But he just did a really good job. I just kept thinking, ‘Be patient. He’s going to miss it eventually here. Bide your time.’ I could see the lap count. Man, he just never really missed it. I think maybe twice he actually slipped up off of it just a little bit, and I could get to his left rear and then naturally he’s battling for the win, so he’d turn left and squeeze me down the backstretch. My options were kind of limited getting into (Turn) 3. He did a good job.”
Emerson Axsom put together a late charge to make his way onto the final step of the podium. The Franklin, IN native snuck around David Gravel’s outside to take third and nearly swiped second from Macedo coming to the checkered. A third place effort made it three career World of Outlaws top threes for Axsom.
“I think I just started deep enough that I could try some stuff,” Axsom said. “Lapped cars kind of forced me to move around in (Turns) 1 and 2 and was able to kind of be one of the first guys to find it. Our stuff is really good.”
David Gravel and Sheldon Haudenschild completed the top five.
A 22nd to 12th run gave Ryan Timms his third KSE Racing Hard Charger of 2025.
David Gravel claimed his eighth Simpson Quick Time of the year and the 130th of his career in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heat One went to Logan Schuchart. TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two went to Buddy Kofoid. WIX Filters Heat Three went to Bill Balog.
Buddy Kofoid topped the Toyota Dash.
Bill Balog got the SPA Technique #1 Redraw
Blake Hahn won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Cole Macedo.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their only Kansas stop of 2025 with a trip to Wichita’s 81 Speedway on Saturday, March 29. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
For the complete 2025 schedule, 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[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom[6]; 4. 2-David Gravel[4]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[9]; 9. 7S-Chris Windom[11]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 11. 23-Garet Williamson[10]; 12. 10-Ryan Timms[22]; 13. 2KS-Cory Eliason[14]; 14. 99-Skylar Gee[13]; 15. 21-Brian Brown[7]; 16. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[20]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn[19]; 18. 28M-Conner Morrell[12]; 19. 73-Logan Julien[24]; 20. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[16]; 21. 40-Howard Moore[23]; 22. 45X-Jace Park[17]; 23. 2C-Cole Macedo[21]; 24. 24T-Christopher Thram[18]
For complete results, CLICK HERE.
