TULSA, Okla. — At a track he once described as his personal kryptonite, Buddy Kofoid played the role of Superman to a tee in the 2021 T-Town Midget Showdown at Tulsa’s Port City Raceway, charging his way from his 16th starting position to win the 50-lapper, the deepest starting spot any USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature winner came from during the year.
In fact, Port City has produced the hardest charges of both the last two USAC National Midget seasons: Logan Seavey from 19th to second in 2020, and Kofoid 16th to first in 2021.
Kofoid will shoot for another big payday at the one-eighths-mile dirt oval on April 22-23 as he seeks to become the first repeat victor of the event which pays $4,000-to-win for Friday’s 30-lap feature and $7,001-to-win for Saturday’s 50-lap grand finale at the third annual Werco Manufacturing T-Town Midget Showdown Presented by Priority Aviation.
The Elite Racing Promotions event is spearheaded by four-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion driver Brady Bacon and his wife, Xia Xianna, who will serve as the promoters of the event for the third consecutive year.
Kofoid, In his debut at Port City in 2020, finished eighth and 11th on each of the two nights, which he readily admitted were not up to par with his expectations. Those expectations were undoubtedly met, and exceeded last year as he was victorious in one and seventh in the other. Since then, the defending USAC champ has won once more at Port City, taking the POWRi round in October.
Series point leader Justin Grant will be looking to repeat his magic from 2020 where he won the T-Town finale. He finished seventh on the first night of 2020, and last year, added a fifth on night one and a runner-up result on night two. Grant has won the first two points-paying features of the USAC National Midget season, but no one have won the first three to start a season. He’ll have his shot this weekend.
Grant’s RMS Racing teammate, Thomas Meseraull finished inside the top-six of both his T-Town starts a year ago with a third and sixth on night one and two, respectively. Between the two points events and the two non-points events, RMS is undefeated in 2021 with Meseraull adding a victory at the Southern Illinois Center in March and Grant doing likewise the following night.
Hayden Reinbold will attempt to make his first T-Town Midget Showdown feature lineup this weekend. His Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports team captured the victory in the most recent series event at Port City in 2021. Throughout the event’s four features in 2020 and 2021, four different teams have won features: Tyler Courtney (Clauson Marshall Racing), Grant (RAMS Racing), Kofoid (Keith Kunz/Curb/Agajanian Motorsports) and Tanner Thorson (Reinbold-Underwood).
Aside from Kofoid and Grant, there are a handful of others in this weekend’s field who’ve reached victory lane in a midget at Port City outside of USAC competition. Cannon McIntosh, a micro sprint star at the track, scored victory in POWRi’s Turnpike Challenge at Port City in 2020. He also owns the USAC National Midget one-lap track record at Port City of 9.398 seconds, set on night two of T-Town in 2020. McIntosh took fifth in the feature that night and added an eighth in 2021.
Logan Seavey was victorious at Port City in 2020 during POWRi’s Donnie Ray Crawford Sooner State 55. He ripped through the field from the 19th starting spot to a runner-up finish in 2020 at USAC’s T-Town Midget Showdown. Seavey, the 2018 USAC National Midget champ, went forward again on T-Town night two in 2020, racing from 16th to fifth, and equaled it with another fifth place result in 2021.
Jonathan Beason kept the winning trophy in state as the victor of the 2019 Port City Turnpike Challenge, then won once more in September of 2021 with POWRi West. His best result with USAC at the T-Town came in 2021 where he finished 12th. Andrew Deal scored a victory at Port City with POWRi West in 2016 and is shooting for his first T-Town Midget feature start this weekend.
Ethan Mitchell recorded his best career USAC National Midget finish of third in last year’s event, taking his Honda engine to its first ever podium finish with the series. Kyle Jones, the 2016 USAC Gulf Coast SpeeD2 Midget titlist, earned his two best career USAC National Midget results in 2021 at Port City with a sixth on night one and a 10th on night two. Bryant Wiedeman made his maiden T-Town Midget Showdown voyage in 2021, taking a best performance of eighth in the opener. Most recently, back in March, Wiedeman took second in POWRi’s Turnpike Challenge.
Oklahomans Trey Marcham and Kaylee Bryson both have extensive experience at Port City, both making recent starts in the T-Town Midget Showdown. Marcham collected a 14th on night one of the 2021 event while Bryson tabbed a 16th in the inaugural running in 2020. Multi-time Port City Raceway micro sprint track champ Alex Sewell made his first career series starts in the 2021 T-Town, finishing 17th. Second-year USAC driver Brenham Crouch debuted with a 22nd in the 2021 T-Town.
A large contingent of competitors have midget experience at Port City, but this weekend will be what they plan as their first T-Town Midget Showdown feature start. Zach Daum finished second and fifth with POWRi back in 2016. Leading USAC National Midget Rookie Mitchel Moles turned in a third in March with POWRi, one spot ahead of teammate Dominic Gorden, a fourth-place finisher in his debut. Jace Park, one of three CB Industries cars competing this weekend at Port City, took 13th in March.
Gavin Miller, the 2015 USAC .25 National Junior Honda and Junior Animal Dirt champion, scored a runner-up result with the Outlaw Non-Wing Micro Sprints at Port City last October and will be making his USAC National Midget debut this weekend with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports. He’s joined in the field by March’s seventh-place POWRi finisher Chance Crum and NASCAR Cup and Truck Series veteran Tanner Berryhill.
Like Moles, who won a USAC Western States Midget feature at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway last Saturday, Chase McDermand enters the event riding the wave of a victory within the past week. McDermand scored with POWRi last Saturday at Federated Auto Parts Raceway in Pevely, Mo., which was preceded by an 18th place finish at Port City with POWRi in March.
Seeking first T-Town Midget feature starts are Taylor Reimer, the winningest woman ever in micro sprint competition at Port City; Australian Speedcar champ Kaidon Brown; Curtis Jones; veteran Chad Frewaldt; Brendon Wiseley. Noah Harris and Port City Micro superstar Kevin Bayer.
The Outlaw Non-Wing Micro Sprints will join the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship for complete events on both nights.
Keyword: USAC Midgets Invade Port City