By: Ron Burt
The 2023 USAC Indiana Midget Week didn’t disappoint racing fans that attended in person or watched on live stream. Mother nature played nice and 6 of the 7 scheduled events were run. California’s Logan Seavey was crowned this year’s champion. I was happy I was able to catch up with him after his win at Gas City I-69 Speedway. That win gave him momentum for the last three races. Seavey had one feature win during the week but the most top 5 finishes.
Ohio’s Jacob Denny won opening night at Tri-State Speedway. California’s Buddy Kofoid took the victory the second night at Circle City in Indy. The drivers and crews had the 3rd night off to rest and work on the cars before the series moved north to Gas City I-69 Speedway where Seavey found victory lane. The series then moved south to Putnamville and Lincoln Park Speedway. Buddy Kofoid picked up his second win. Gavin Miller had a great run at Bloomington to take the checker. Ryan Timms was competitive all week and final won the last night at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Friday night, Attica Raceway Park hosted the opening night of the 41st Ohio Sprint Speedweek, with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions. Angola, Indiana’s Zeb Wise used the cushion on the last lap to pass Tyler Courtney to win the $6,000 Bert and Brigitte Emick Classic. The UMP Dirt Late Models had a thrilling feature. Justin Chance led the first five laps before Rusty Schlenk took over the lead using the high side of the track. Five-time track champion Ryan Missler steadily worked his way to the front from his 5th starting spot and after a fantastic side-by-side battle with Schlenk over several laps, took the lead on lap 23 and drove to his second victory of the season. It is Missler’s 20th career late model win at Attica.
Sprint Week moved to Fremont on Saturday. Pennsylvania’s Danny Dietrich passed race leader Cap Henry on the last corner of the last lap to claim the victory and $10,000. Bryan Sebetto won the 305 Sprint Feature. Next week I will cover the remaining races of the Ohio Sprint Week.
Jonathan Davenport won Eldora’s $129,000. Late Model Dream, followed by 2nd Chris Madden and 3rd Bobby Pierce. In case you didn’t hear after the final count the winner of the 50/50 took home (before taxes) $109,906.00.
Oakshade Raceway, thank you for the warm welcome I received from the track staff, drivers, and crews. I had a great time. Two weeks in a row Adrian, Michigan driver, Carter Murday won the UMP Dirt Late Model feature. Josh Robertson made it back-to-back feature wins after picking up his second consecutive UMP Sportsman feature victory. Wauseon’s William “Bubba” Cundick won the Dominator Stock feature and in the Sport Compacts Eric Carr took the checker.
At Angola Motorsports Park your features winners last Saturday, Late Model Tony Dager, Modified Johnathan Gatton, Street Stock Tristan Crago and FWD Derek Simon
It’s with great sadness I mention the passing of racing promoter Jake Gibson, the long-time owner-promoter of the famed Indianapolis Speedrome for figure 8 racing. Before the start of the evening, Jake took one final lap around his track with many drivers following in their race cars. It was a nice tribute to a man that has done so much for the sport.
We have 3 very busy weeks of racing currently going on. For daily updates on 17 tri-state tracks, dirt, and asphalt, I invite you to follow the Ohio Sports Blitz on Facebook. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out!
