Courtney Wins at Home Track; Takes Home $22,000

Spencer Bayston, Tyler Courtney and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid in Victory Lane after competing with High Limit Racing at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Indiana (Photo: High Limit Racing Media)

KOKOMO, Ind. — Just two days after their last race, the High Limit Racing sprint cars traveled to Kokomo Speedway to take part in another installment of the “Midweek Money Series”.

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid and Corey Day led the 25-car field to the starting line for the 40-lap A-Main. At the drop of the green flag, Day proved to have the faster car and shot out in front of Kofoid after a close side-by-side battle throughout Turns 1 and 2. 

With 34 laps to go, Day, who was running competitively at the front of the field, lost a tire. As he came to a stop in Turn 2, the tire rolled right past him; luckily, with no additional parts attached to it.

On the restart, Kofoid jumped out in front of the field, but one position back, a battle was brewing. Tyler Courtney and Cory Eliason went head-to-head going into Turn 3 to compete for second. As they exited Turn 4, Courtney held his second place restart position by going low and sliding up in front of Eliason.

Eliason’s day was far from over though, as Rico Abreu and Brad Sweet battled right behind him. Going into Turn 1 on Lap 9, the two nearly got together, but Abreu emerged victorious and managed to keep fourth place. 

Lap 12 saw Kofoid begin to see the tail-ends of the lapped traffic cars, and just as he was about to make a plan for how he was going to maneuver through that field, Darin Naida climbed the wall on the front straightaway and nearly flipped over, drawing a caution.

On the restart, Kofoid shot out to the lead, while the cars behind him did not have such good luck. Courtney almost lost his position to Eliason as he went low on “Sunshine”, but Courtney carried just a little bit more speed and was able to maintain second. Eliason nearly lost his spot as well, as Abreu and Sweet created a three-wide battle for third throughout the first and second turns. Eliason came out on top, but by the time the trio came out of Turn 4, Sweet had passed Abreu for fourth.

As soon as everyone was scored at the start/finish line, about four cars spun out in Turns 1 and 2. Although everyone kept it together and continued moving without needing the help of the pushers, the officials threw the caution flag anyway.

Tyler Courtney competing with High Limit Racing at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Indiana (Photo: Rich Forman)

The next restart was not in Kofoid’s favor as Courtney launched ahead at the line. As the two of them raced into Turns 1 and 2, it looked like Courtney slid too high on the cushion and was slowing down, but that was an illusion. Courtney slid down in front of Kofoid and took over the lead. 

That lead was short-lived though, as another pile-up happened in Turns 1 and 2. The melee involved many different cars, including Day, who was working his way back up through the field. The yellow flag was thrown and all of the drivers came to a stop in the infield, and on top of a sponsor’s sign that they had knocked over during the crash.

On the restart, everyone was able to hold their starting positions. However, a few laps later, Abreu started to fade quickly. He lost fifth place to Spencer Bayston who took him on the low side coming out of Turn 2, and then he lost sixth to Justin Peck who got his momentum on the high side coming out of Turn 4, but took Abreu on the bottom groove as they raced down the front stretch.

With 21 laps to go, Kofoid found himself looking at lapped traffic. As he created a plan to work through the cars in front of him, Courtney raced up on his heels. Kofoid raced through the turns trying to find the right spot to pass a car and put some space between him and “Sunshine” when he nearly got together with Jacob Allen. Kofoid was able to get by Allen after the close encounter, but so did Courtney. As they raced into Turn 4, Courtney was right there to pass Kofoid on the high side, but decided to cross over and go low. This proved to be a good move for Courtney as he slid into first at the line.

On Lap 22, consistent third-place runner Cory Eliason got too high coming out of Turn 4 and tagged the wall. This demoted him two spots and gave Bayston and Sweet an advantage. Sweet’s new spot was short-lived though, as Eliason came back and stole it away before Sweet exited Turn 2.

In a last-lap dash around the lapped car of Skylar Gee, Kofoid lost second-place to Bayston. They tried to split Gee, but it did not work out as planned and Kofoid got stuck behind the 99. Courtney stayed in the lead to win.

Along with winning at his home track and pocketing $20,000, “Sunshine” walked away with an extra $2,000 as he won the Durst Dice Roll. A lucky fan also walked away with $2,000.

High Limit Racing continues their racing action Thursday night at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, New York.