WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Paragon Hosts Xtreme Outlaws in Heat of Points Battle
McIntosh, Avedisian separated by 23 points with eight races left
PARAGON, IN (Aug. 30, 2023) – The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota dips into the home stretch of the season with its first-ever trip to Indiana this Friday-Saturday, Sept. 1-2, at Paragon Speedway.
Twenty-one races down, eight remain. Only three race weekends are left on the 2023 Series schedule, and the points battle is tightening up in the race for the Series championship and the $25,000 grand prize.
Paragon will play a crucial role in setting the stage for the championship battle going into the final race weekend before the October season finale in Oklahoma. A $4,000-to-win program on Friday night precedes a $5,000-to-win program on Saturday, accompanied by 410 Non-Wing Sprint Cars both nights plus Bombers on Friday and Hornets on Saturday.
A paperclip-shaped, 3/8-mile oval, Paragon is one of Indiana’s many dirt tracks home to weekly Non-Wing Sprint Car racing. The track, located 40 miles Southwest of Indianapolis, hosts the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets for the first time in the two-day stretch.
Tickets for each night of racing will be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t be at the track to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend:
MAC IS BACK – Back-to-back top-five runs for Cannon McIntosh at Davenport have he and the Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports squad re-energized and ready to take on Paragon this weekend – a place they’re already familiar with.
In the last national Midget series event held at Paragon – a USAC-sanctioned event during 2021 Indiana Midget Week – McIntosh grabbed the lead early in the 30-lap main event and led through the white flag but stumbled getting into Turn 3, opening the door for Thomas Meseraull to slip underneath and steal the win coming to the checkers.
This time, the team is coming in with the Series points lead and momentum from a solid outing last weekend. McIntosh was highly competitive on both nights at Davenport – his top-five runs were first in back-to-back fashion since late July – and he now holds a 24-point gap over Jade Avedisian in the championship standings with only three race weekends left.
KEEPING PACE – A difference of a single point was made to Jade Avedisian’s gap to McIntosh in the points standings after Davenport. Her ability to keep pace with the leader is setting the Series up for an epic finale in Oklahoma in October, where she and Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) will try and capture a national championship in their first season together.
Avedisian, 16, of Clovis, CA, closed her gap from 24 down to 23 points after finishes of seventh and third in Davenport last weekend. Once again, she takes on a track she’s not yet seen before this Friday-Saturday, visiting Paragon for the first time in her career.
The last time she ventured into unchartered territory, she nearly won, running second to Daison Pursley in the final race of Appalachian Midget Week at Path Valley Speedway Park. She did win in her first-ever appearance in Ohio at Atomic Speedway in late July, beating Daniel Whitley to the line in a last-lap pass for the win.
To regain the points lead she took after two events at I-55 Raceway three weeks ago, or at least prevent the gap from widening, she’ll need to match or better McIntosh’s finishes this weekend.
BEEN HERE, DONE THAT – Thomas Meseraull is no stranger to Paragon Speedway. A Midget winner and multi-time Sprint Car Feature starter at the venue, he’ll be the RMS Racing representative on the roster this weekend behind the wheel of the Envirofab, Spike/Engler No. 7x.
Meseraull, the veteran open-wheel racer from San Jose, CA, triumphed over the USAC Indiana Midget Week field at Paragon in 2021, beating McIntosh on a last-lap, last-corner pass for the win. Several Non-Wing Sprint Car starts there under his belt will also help his case, entering the event as one of, if not, the most experienced racer on the roster.
This past weekend at Davenport, Meseraull notched a fourth-place finish on Friday before mechanical failure kept his car out of competition on Saturday. The team has since made repairs and will truck to Paragon in search of their first Series victory this weekend.
SO CLOSE – Ryan Timms’ first Xtreme Outlaw start since early June last weekend at Davenport showed exactly how close he’s come to his first career Series victory.
Timms, the 17-year-old open-wheel star from Oklahoma City, OK, led the first 23 laps of Friday’s main event before a stray object punctured a hole in the oil tank of his JBL Audio, Lynk/Toyota #67, retiring him to the infield under green. The Keith Kunz Motorsports team swapped engines for Saturday and Timms rebounded nicely, competing inside the podium all race and crossing the stripe with a runner-up finish.
He’ll again be one of four KKM entrants on the roster this weekend, taking on Paragon for the second time in his national Midget career after an 11th-place finish there with USAC in 2021.
THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE
When and whereThursday-Friday, Sept. 1-2 at Paragon Speedway in Paragon, IN
On the internetXtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by ToyotaTwitter – @Xtreme_OutlawInstagram – @XtremeOutlawFacebook – @XtremeOutlawSeries.WRG
Live broadcastDIRTVision – DIRTVision.com. Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month.
Current championship points standings (view full standings)
- Cannon McIntosh: 4337 points | Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports #08
- Jade Avedisian: 4314 points (-23) | Keith Kunz Motorsports #71
- Gavin Miller: 4248 points (-89) | Keith Kunz Motorsports #97
- Zach Daum: 4232 points (-105) | Trifecta Motorsports #7U
- Chase McDermand: 4197 points (-140) | Mounce/Stout Motorsports #40
- Taylor Reimer: 4118 points (-219) | Keith Kunz Motorsports #25K
- Hayden Reinbold: 3643 points (-694) | Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports #19AZ
- Chance Crum: 2910 points (-1427) | Rudeen Racing #26
- Austin Barnhill: 2649 points (-1688) | Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports #17B
- Ethan Mitchell: 2497 points (-1840) | Bundy Built Motorsports #19M
Toyota Feature winners (9 drivers)4 wins – Cannon McIntosh (Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports), Jade Avedisian (Keith Kunz Motorsports), Chase McDermand (Mounce/Stout Motorsports), Zach Daum (Trifecta Motorsports)1 win – Jesse Love (Chad Boat Industries), Daniel Whitley (Abacus Racing), Karter Sarff (Sarff Racing), Daison Pursley (Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports), Gavin Miller (Keith Kunz Motorsports)
Toyota Feature laps led (16 drivers)96 laps – Jade Avedisian80 laps – Cannon McIntosh64 laps – Chase McDermand59 laps – Daniel Whitley58 laps – Zach Daum51 laps – Ryan Timms41 laps – Karter Sarff36 laps – Gavin Miller33 laps – Kyle Jones30 laps – Daison Pursley26 laps – Thomas Meseraull22 laps – Shane Cottle21 laps – Ashton Torgerson11 laps – Hayden Reinbold4 laps – Jesse Love1 lap – Nick Drake
Whitz RC Racing Products Quick Time Awards (13 drivers)4 awards – Cannon McIntosh2 awards – Ethan Mitchell, Daniel Whitley, Chase McDermand, Zach Daum, Ryan Timms1 award – Gavin Miller, Hayden Reinbold, Jesse Love, Kevin Thomas Jr, Joe B. Miller, Corbin Rueschenberg, Briggs Danner
Heat Race winners (21 drivers)9 wins – Jade Avedisian8 wins – Chase McDermand6 wins – Cannon McIntosh, Zach Daum5 wins – Hayden Reinbold3 wins – Ethan Mitchell, Gavin Miller, Daison Pursley2 wins – Chance Crum, Nick Drake, Corbin Rueschenberg, Andrew Felker, Daniel Whitley1 win – Austin Barnhill, Shane Cottle, Thomas Meseraull, Kyle Jones, Rico Abreu, Briggs Danner, Chase Johnson, Ryan Timms
High-points honors (15 drivers)4 honors – Cannon McIntosh2 honors – Daniel Whitley, Jade Avedisian, Chase McDermand1 honor – Gavin Miller, Chance Crum, Rico Abreu, Landon Brooks, Briggs Danner, Hayden Reinbold, Kyle Jones, Andrew Felker, Daison Pursley, Zach Daum, Ryan Timms
Last Chance Showdown wins (12 drivers)2 wins – Kyle Jones1 win – Landon Brooks, Karter Sarff, Howard Moore, Ryan Timms, Taylor Reimer, Henry Chambers, Chance Crum, Chase Briscoe, Mitchell Davis, Cannon McIntosh, Corbin Rueschenberg
DIRTVision Hard Charger Awards (17 drivers)2 awards – Hayden Reinbold, Kyle Jones, Taylor Reimer, Zach Daum1 award – Mitchel Moles, Chase Johnson, Ryan Timms, Chance Crum, Gavan Boschele, Chase McDermand, Shane Cottle, Cooper Williams, Cannon McIntosh, Jerry Coons Jr, Jade Avedisian, Steve Buckwalter, Gavin Miller
Podium finishes (17 drivers)9 podiums – Chase McDermand, Cannon McIntosh, Zach Daum8 podiums – Jade Avedisian5 podiums – Taylor Reimer, Gavin Miller3 podiums – Daniel Whitley2 podiums – Shane Cottle, Kyle Jones, Ryan Timms1 podium – Thomas Meseraull, Ashton Torgerson, Landon Brooks, Jesse Love, Jerry Coons Jr, Karter Sarff, Daison Pursley, Hayden Reinbold
Top-10 finishes (43 drivers)19 top-10s – Cannon McIntosh, Gavin Miller19 top-10s – Jade Avedisian16 top-10s – Chase McDermand, Zach Daum14 top-10s – Taylor Reimer9 top-10s – Chance Crum7 top-10s – Kyle Jones, Ethan Mitchell, Hayden Reinbold5 top-10s – Landon Brooks, Daniel Whitley, Karter Sarff4 top-10s – Gavan Boschele, Austin Barnhill, Thomas Meseraull, Corbin Rueschenberg, Ryan Timms3 top-10s – Chase Johnson, Briggs Danner, Cooper Williams2 top-10s – Shane Cottle, Chase Briscoe, Kevin Thomas Jr, Branigan Roark, Andrew Felker, Jerry Coons Jr, Mariah Ede, Daison Pursley, Tim Buckwalter, Mitchell Davis1 top-10 – Mitchel Moles, Daniel Adler, Sam Johnson, Rico Abreu, Ashton Torgerson, Don Droud Jr, Nick Drake, Jesse Love, Trey Marcham, Joe B. Miller, Preston Lattomus, Kyle Beilman
2023 Schedule & Winners – Race No. Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins)1. Fri, March 10 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Cannon McIntosh (1)2. Sat, March 11 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Jade Avedisian (1)3. Fri, April 14 / Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 / Pevely, MO / Cannon McIntosh (2)4. Fri, May 5 / Humboldt Speedway / Humboldt, KS / Chase McDermand (1)5. Sat, May 6 / 81 Speedway / Park City, KS / Chase McDermand (2)6. Tue, May 22 / Millbridge Speedway / Salisbury, NC / Cannon McIntosh (3)7. Wed, May 23 / Millbridge Speedway / Salisbury, NC / Cannon McIntosh (4)8. Thu, June 1 / Tri-City Speedway / Pontoon Beach, IL / Jesse Love (1)9. Fri, June 2 / Wayne County Speedway / Wayne City, IL / Zach Daum (1)10. Sat, June 3 / Wayne County Speedway / Wayne City, IL / Zach Daum (2)11. Fri, July 21 / Doe Run Raceway / Doe Run, MO / Zach Daum (3)12. Sat, July 22 / Southern Illinois Raceway / Marion, IL / Jade Avedisian (2)13. Sat, July 29 / Atomic Speedway / Chillicothe, OH / Jade Avedisian (3)14. Sun, July 30 / Brushcreek Motorsports Complex / Peebles, OH / Daniel Whitley (1)15. Fri, Aug. 4 / Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 / Pevely, MO / Karter Sarff (1)16. Sat, Aug. 5 / Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 / Pevely, MO / Jade Avedisian (4)17. Tue, Aug. 8 / Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway / Newmanstown, PA / Chase McDermand (3)18. Wed, Aug. 9 / Action Track USA / Kutztown, PA / Chase McDermand (4)19. Fri, Aug. 11 / Path Valley Speedway Park / Spring Run, PA / Daison Pursley (1)20. Fri, Aug. 25 / Davenport Speedway / Davenport, IA / Zach Daum (4)21. Sat, Aug. 26 / Davenport Speedway / Davenport, IA / Gavin Miller (1)