DRAKE TAKES USAC IMW TITLE

Jacob Denney celebrates after his 17th to 1st charge to victory during Sunday’s United States Auto Club (USAC) Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway. (David Nearpass Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (June 8, 2025)………Seventeen drivers came into Sunday night’s 2025 United States Auto Club (USAC) Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo Speedway mathematically in contention for the miniseries championship.

Somewhat fittingly, the final event of the truncated and abbreviated three-race series came down to the two drivers who captured victories in the first two rounds of the series – teammates Jacob Denney and Kale Drake.

Denney (Galloway, Ohio) captured the battle with a stunning run to first after starting 17th in the 24-car field on the 1/4-mile dirt oval, leading the final six laps en route to his second victory of the week in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio – TRD – Toyota – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.

Drake (Collinsville, Oklahoma), meanwhile, led 11 laps of his own in the feature before crossing the line in the runner-up spot. But it was his consistency throughout the three-race series in which he garnered a 1st, a 3rd and a 2nd to corral the Indiana Midget Week championship by a 22-point margin.

As far as Denney’s plus-16 mad dash to the front, it’s the furthest back any driver has won a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature dating back to the 2019 season. Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, the previous largest winning charge came via Buddy Kofoid, who drove for the same team and the same car number (#67) as Denney on his way to a 2021 score at Oklahoma’s Port City Speedway.

“I’m super stoked to get it done from 17th. That’s way back there,” an ecstatic Denney stated.

Denney’s victory is already his third of the USAC National Midget season, and his second at Kokomo after also winning the 2025 season opener during April’s Kokomo Grand Prix. That moved Denney up to 109th place on the all-time USAC National Midget win list alongside Spencer Bayston, Donnie Beechler, George Benson, Dana Carter, Bob Cicconi, Robby Flock, Nick Fornoro Jr., Arnie Knepper, Ricky Shelton, Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland Jr., Kevin Thomas Jr. and Roger West.

Perhaps even more impressively, after winning at Paragon Speedway on Wednesday and Kokomo on Sunday, Denney’s Indiana Midget Week career win total stands at four. That already ranks as the fourth most all-time behind Bryan Clauson & Kyle Larson (9), Buddy Kofoid (6) and Christopher Bell & Tanner Thorson (5), and is tied with Rico Abreu & Logan Seavey (4).

Denney did the deed at Kokomo after a less than desirable qualifying run of 14th. When all the preliminaries were completed, he was shuffled back to the inside of row nine for the start of the 30-lap feature. By then, the number of eligible Indiana Midget Week championship contenders had dwindled to six with Drake leading the bunch and Denney back in fifth, 27 points behind.

If Drake could finish the feature fourth or better, the title was his regardless of how anybody else performed. As it turned out, Drake never strayed outside of the top-two for the entire duration of the feature.

Things got off to a messy start, however. As the green flag was waved, sixth place starting Karter Sarff’s car failed to take off, the victim of a stripped cam spud that ended his race and dashed his IMW championship hopes. Sarff entered the feature only 11 points out of the lead in third.

But Sarff’s issue was just the beginning of a chain reaction that first saw Colton Robinson broadside into the backside of Sarff. Frankie Guerrini became a victim of circumstance as he tagged Robinson and flipped several times in turn one. Guerrini walked away, and his night, along with Sarff’s, were immediately over.

Original pole sitter Jakeb Boxell was penalized on the initial green flag for jumping the start and was henceforth moved back one row while Drake Edwards was slotted over into the pole position. Drake was now the new occupant of the outside of the front row.

Edwards took advantage of the situation to lead lap one as Drake dropped into second. By lap six, Drake was angling for the lead as he peeked ahead of Edwards on the outside of turn two. Nonetheless, Edwards managed to fend off Drake for the time being.

On lap 10, Edwards’ ride took a hop, skip and a jump atop the turn two cushion, allowing Drake to breeze on by to the inside and into the lead. A lap later, Edwards fought back to wrestle control of the race away from Drake as he drove around the outside of Drake in turns three and four.

After third running Daison Pursley fell to the wayside with a flat left rear tire on lap 13, one lap after the ensuing restart, Edwards stumbled on the turn two cushion and subsequently opened the door for Drake to roll on by into the lead. At that very moment, Denney suddenly became a contender, ultimately roaring into second past Edwards on lap 16, and it was then he knew it was go time if he desired to win this deal.

“At the end, I just had to go,” Denney explained. “ I had to be patient and take my time because I kept making mistakes. I felt like I was running a completely different line than everybody else in three and four.”

Denney chased Drake for the next nine laps, and on the 25th circuit, dove low into turn one and drifted up past Drake. Then in turns three and four, Denney entered high in turn three and swooped low at the exit of turn four around the outside of Drake to take over the top spot for good.

“I knew I had to be right there on him to make it work,” Denney explained. “I kept sliding Drake down there and he kept crossing me over. When I finally got around him, I knew that I had to really get across far and get back going again to clear him.”

Denney led the final six laps to score the win by a 0.464 margin over Kale Drake, who locked up the USAC Indiana Midget Week championship. Drake Edwards finished third with Kevin Thomas Jr. fourth and Cannon McIntosh fifth.

Not only did Denney earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors, he also grabbed the USAC Indiana Midget Week Parallax Group Passing Master title. Through the three races of IMW, he passed a series high total of 25 cars. Sixteen of those passes came during Sunday’s victory at  Kokomo.

In his heat race, Drake Edwards surged late in the going to grab the final transfer spot. That earned him a front row starting spot for the feature where he proceeded to lead a race high 13 laps en route to a third place finish, which proved to be the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.

Preston Norbury picked up some accolades during his first USAC Indiana Midget Week experience. He attended all three events during the week and collected a $500 bonus from ProSource for his perseverance.

Trevor Cline was the ProSource Hard Work award winner. In his first USAC National Midget feature start at Kokomo, he was the final driver finishing on the lead lap (20th), which provided him a $100 bonus.

For the second event in a row, albeit four days later, Karter Sarff was the Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier. He topped the field with a lap of 13.252 seconds for his third career fast qualifying time with the series.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2025 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 21st Annual USAC Indiana Midget Week

HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Karter Sarff, 21K, Sarff-13.252; 2. Steven Snyder Jr., 4, RMS-13.342; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-13.352; 4. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-13.355; 5. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.412; 6. Drake Edwards, 83, CBI-13.442; 7. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.445; 8. Jakeb Boxell, 14JB, 4 Kings-13.450; 9. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-13.465; 10. Trevor Cline, 55, Cline-13.466; 11. Brecken Reese, 00, Chandler-13.481; 12. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-13.498; 13. Rylan Gray, 81G, Gray-13.499; 14. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.512; 15. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-13.564; 16. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.566; 17. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.587; 18. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.601; 19. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-13.614; 20. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.624; 21. Zach Wigal, 8, Cornell-13.668; 22. Cannon Mcintosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.699; 23. Chelby Hinton, 4B, Klatt-13.716; 24. Corbin Rueschenberg, 26, Rueschenberg-13.791; 25. Preston Norbury, 77AZ, Norbury-13.837; 26. Kaiden Manders, 71, Golding-13.873; 27. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-13.897; 28. Tom Payet, 7AU, Bennett-13.916; 29. Frankie Guerrini, 63G, F & F-13.945; 30. Jeff Schindler, 8x, Schindler-14.035; 31. Daniel Harding, 71w, Golding-14.141; 32. Jake Robinson, 8AU, Robinson-14.158; 33. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Chisholm-14.489.

CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Rylan Gray, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Colton Robinson, 5. Karter Sarff, 6.  Zach Wigal, 7. Frankie Guerrini, 8. Preston Norbury, 9. Mark Chisholm. 2:15.706

K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Gavin Miller, 4. Trevor Cline, 5. Drake Edwards, 6. Steven Snyder Jr., 7. Kaiden Manders, 8. Jeff Schindler. 2:16.960

USACGEAR.COM THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chelby Hinton, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Cale Coons, 5. Brecken Reese, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Daniel Harding, 8. Gunnar Setser. NT

COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Corbin Rueschenberg, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Jakeb Boxell, 6. Blake Brannon, 7. Jake Robinson, 8. Tom Payet. NT

ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Steven Snyder Jr., 2. Gunnar Setser, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Frankie Guerrini, 5. Kaiden Manders, 6. Tom Payet, 7. Jake Robinson, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Preston Norbury, 10. Mark Chisholm, 11. Jeff Schindler, 12. Daniel Harding. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (17), 2. Kale Drake (3), 3. Drake Edwards (2), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 5. Cannon McIntosh (8), 6. Justin Grant (13), 7. Jakeb Boxell (1), 8. Rylan Gray (7), 9. Gunnar Setser (18), 10. Hayden Reinbold (16), 11. Steven Snyder Jr. (11), 12. Ethan Mitchell (19), 13. Daison Pursley (4), 14. Logan Seavey (12), 15. Corbin Rueschenberg (10), 16. Thomas Meseraull (22), 17. Gavin Miller (21), 18. Brecken Reese (15), 19. Cale Coons (23), 20. Trevor Cline (14), 21. Chelby Hinton (9), 22. Colton Robinson (20), 23. Karter Sarff (6), 24. Frankie Guerrini (24). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Drake Edwards, Lap 10 Kale Drake, Laps 11-14 Drake Edwards, Laps 15-24 Kale Drake, Laps 25-30 Jacob Denney.

**Frankie Guerrini flipped on lap 1 of the feature.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-578, 2-Kale Drake-557, 3-Cannon McIntosh-519, 4-Jacob Denney-515, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-478, 6-Logan Seavey-467, 7-Drake Edwards-440, 8-Steven Snyder Jr.-436, 9-Gavin Miller-413, 10-Gunnar Setser-373.

FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-235, 2-Justin Grant-213, 3-Jacob Denney-211, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-211, 5-Karter Sarff-180, 6-Cannon McIntosh-170, 7-Drake Edwards-159, 8-Logan Seavey-159, 9-Hayden Reinbold-159, 10-Gunnar Setser-149.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-125, 2-C.J. Leary-54, 3-Kyle Cummins-53, 4-Gunnar Setser-50, 5-Justin Grant-44, 6-Briggs Danner-44, 7-Chase Stockon-42, 8-Robert Ballou-41, 9-Jacob Denney-35, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-33.

FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Jacob Denney-25, 2-Gunnar Setser-21, 3-Justin Grant-18, 4-Kale Drake-17, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-17, 6-Kyle Cummins-15, 7-Zach Wigal-14, 8-Hayden Reinbold-12, 9-Gavin Miller-12, 10-Kyle Jones-11.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 8, 2025 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex – Sweet Springs, Missouri – 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Mid-America Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jakeb Boxell (13.331)

Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Karter Sarff (13.252)

Car IQ First Heat Winner: Rylan Gray

K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Cannon McIntosh

USACgear.com Third Heat Winner: Chelby Hinton

Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Corbin Rueschenberg

Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Steven Snyder Jr.

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Jacob Denney (17th to 1st)

Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Drake Edwards

ProSource Hard Work Award: Trevor Cline

USAC Indiana Midget Week Champion: Kale Drake

USAC Parallax Group Indiana Midget Week Passing Master Champion: Jacob Denney (25)

ProSource Perseverance Award: Preston Norbury