By POWRi (Oklahoma City, OK) -- Michael “Buddy” Kofoid would rise to the occasion at I-44 Riverside Speedway, rallying in the last corner of the last lap to edge out Christopher Bell for the Lucas Oil POWRi National & West Midget League feature victory on Night Two of the Turnpike Challenge presented by SuperClean.
PHOTO CREDIT:Danny Clum
With a stout entry list of twenty-three competitors signing into the event, Christopher Bell would set the top-time in hot lap competition at 11.254-seconds with Michael Kofoid, Chase McDermand, and Mariah Ede each claiming heat racing victories. Kofoid would earn the night’s high-point award by racing from sixth-starting to winning his heat.
Pacing the field of top-notch drivers for the initial green-flag launch would find pole-sitter Buddy Kofoid establish the lead early while Christopher Bell quickly wheeled his way to the runner-up positioning with Chase McDermand rounding out the top three racers.
Launching to the lead while dealing with lap traffic would find Bell find the quickest path around Kofoid with excitement aplenty throughout the field as Bryant Weideman, Brenham Crouch, Trey Marcham, and McDermand all staying within striking distances.
Late-race heroics and a finely-timed restart would see Bell and Kofoid locked in a single-lap shootout for the feature win with drivers’ wheel-to-wheel while entering the final pair of corners, with Kofoid hanging high and Bell staying on the low line. One bobble by Bell would be the opening Buddy would need to capture the nail-biting feature event.
“I wasn’t really supposed to be here this weekend, I owe it all to these KKM guys for giving me great the opportunity to drive for them and it’s a little bit cooler to claim the four-hundredth career win for Toyota,” said Buddy Kofoid while celebrating in victory lane for the seventeenth time in his career.
Holding steady to secure runner-up would see Christopher Bell edge the hard-charging effort of Cannon McIntosh, leaving McIntosh to finish third after starting twenty-third and passing twenty other competitors. Racing within the top-five all-feature would see Chase McDermand place fourth as Brenham Crouch with a solid showing to round out the feature’s top-five finishers.
I-44 Riverside Speedway | Turnpike Challenge Night 2 | 3/25/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 67-Christopher Bell (11.254)
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 97K-Michael Kofoid
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 40-Chase McDermand
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 71E-Mariah Ede
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 97K-Michael Kofoid
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 08-Cannon McIntosh (+20)
Lucas Oil Feature Winner: 97K-Michael Kofoid
Lucas Oil A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 97K-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 67-Christopher Bell[7]; 3. 08-Cannon McIntosh[23]; 4. 40-Chase McDermand[4]; 5. 97-Brenham Crouch[9]; 6. 26-Chance Crum[16]; 7. 71-Kaylee Bryson[14]; 8. 32-Trey Marcham[10]; 9. 25K-Taylor Reimer[12]; 10. 84-Jade Avedisian[2]; 11. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[8]; 12. 21K-Karter Sarff[18]; 13. 17-Tanner Berryhill[21]; 14. 83-Dominic Gorden[19]; 15. 87-Jace Park[11]; 16. 71E-Mariah Ede[5]; 17. 17B-Austin Barnhill[17]; 18. 21-Emilio Hoover[6]; 19. 7U-Kyle Jones[3]; 20. 44-Branigan Roark[13]; 21. 11A-Andrew Felker[15]; 22. 22-Curtis Jones[22]; 23. 15-Corey Joyner[20].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 97K-Michael Kofoid[6]; 2. 97-Brenham Crouch[1]; 3. 87-Jace Park[3]; 4. 21-Emilio Hoover[8]; 5. 44-Branigan Roark[7]; 6. 17B-Austin Barnhill[2]; 7. 15-Corey Joyner[4]; 8. (DNS) 08-Cannon McIntosh.
MVT Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 2. 7U-Kyle Jones[5]; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[3]; 4. 67-Christopher Bell[8]; 5. 11A-Andrew Felker[4]; 6. 26-Chance Crum[6]; 7. 83-Dominic Gorden[7]; 8. 22-Curtis Jones[2].
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71E-Mariah Ede[1]; 2. 84-Jade Avedisian[6]; 3. 32-Trey Marcham[4]; 4. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[7]; 5. 71-Kaylee Bryson[5]; 6. 21K-Karter Sarff[2]; 7. 17-Tanner Berryhill[3].
Up next for the Lucas Oil POWRi National and West Midget Leagues will be the final night of the Ninth Annual Turnpike Challenge presented by Super Clean at I-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 26.
Can’t make it out to the track and don’t want to miss any of the action in the racing program? Subscribe to MAVTV Plus today to catch all the action LIVE and ON-DEMAND.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.
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CHIRSTOPHER BELL REMAINS WINNING IN POWRi MICROS AT I-44 RIVERSIDE SPEEDWAY
By POWRi (Oklahoma City, OK) -- Continuing the winning streak to start the 2022 racing season, Christopher Bell would lead every loop of the twenty-lap POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro feature at I-44 Riverside Speedway for Night Two of the Turnpike Challenge to claim his second-straight League win.
Finding speed to top the twenty-three field of competitors for top-time in hot-laps with an 11.192 lap time would see Frank Flud establish himself as the front-runner early as Christopher Bell, Greyson Springer, and Willie Urish each claiming their heat race victory. Flud would notch the high-point award and earn the pole starting position for the twenty-lap feature event.
Going green flap feature racing would witness the fast Flud grab the lead on the initial lap only to suffer mechanical failure while leading through turn four taking him from racing competition and restacking the field for a complete double-file restart.
Restarting the field, Christopher Bell would establish his dominance to lead all revolutions around I-44 Riverside to claim his third career POWRi Micro victory. “Man this thing was on rails let me tell you, it’s been so much fun working to get this Micro program to where it is today and we have great partners that help to make all of this run so smoothly, I really couldn't do anything without them.”
Breaking into a battle for runner-up positioning would see Braxton Wilson drive from the fifth starting to race his way to finish second as Willie Urish would stay close all event placing third. Laydon Pearson would advance three positions to finish fourth with Ethan Ayars rounding out the top-five feature finishers.
I-44 Riverside Speedway | Turnpike Challenge Night 2 | 3/25/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 81-Frank Flud (11.192)
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 21-Christopher Bell
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 24G-Greyson Springer
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 15U-Willie Urish
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 81-Frank Flud
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: B8-John Barnard (+10)
Engler Machine Feature Winner: 21-Christopher Bell
Engler Machine Tool A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Christopher Bell[2]; 2. 14X-Braxston Wilson[5]; 3. 15U-Willie Urish[4]; 4. 11-Laydon Pearson[7]; 5. 56-Ethan Ayars[8]; 6. 27MK-Kyler Keeler[10]; 7. 44-Branigan Roark[11]; 8. 10T-Talin Turner[13]; 9. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[12]; 10. 122-Lane Warner[16]; 11. 77-Cooper Sullivan[15]; 12. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[9]; 13. 1F-Jason Friesen[17]; 14. B8-John Barnard[24]; 15. 2F-Jadyn Friesen[14]; 16. 23-mike Dibart[21]; 17. 2B-Garrett Benson[6]; 18. 20Q-Brecken Reese[18]; 19. 88R-Ryder Laplante[22]; 20. 24G-Greyson Springer[3]; 21. 81-Frank Flud[1]; 22. 14D-Chris DiBart[20]; 23. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[23]; 24. 39-Russ Disinger[19].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Christopher Bell[2]; 2. 81-Frank Flud[7]; 3. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[3]; 4. 14X-Braxston Wilson[8]; 5. 77-Cooper Sullivan[5]; 6. 1F-Jason Friesen[6]; 7. 23-mike Dibart[4]; 8. B8-John Barnard[1].
MVT Services Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24G-Greyson Springer[1]; 2. 2B-Garrett Benson[3]; 3. 11-Laydon Pearson[5]; 4. 27MK-Kyler Keeler[6]; 5. 10T-Talin Turner[7]; 6. 39-Russ Disinger[4]; 7. 20Q-Brecken Reese[8]; 8. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[2].
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15U-Willie Urish[1]; 2. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[2]; 3. 56-Ethan Ayars[5]; 4. 2F-Jadyn Friesen[3]; 5. 44-Branigan Roark[8]; 6. 122-Lane Warner[7]; 7. 14D-Chris DiBart[6]; 8. 88R-Ryder Laplante[4].
Up next for the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool will be the final night of the Ninth Annual Turnpike Challenge presented by Super Clean at I-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 26.
Can’t make it out to the track and don’t want to miss any of the action in the racing program? Subscribe to MAVTV Plus today to catch all the action LIVE and ON-DEMAND.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at http://www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.