WELCOME HOME: Kofoid Stays Hot with Stockton Score to Kickoff California Swing
The Californian wins on home turf to secure back-to-back victories
STOCKTON, CA (September 6, 2024) – What better place to visit after the biggest win of your Sprint Car career than home?
Such was the case for Michael “Buddy” Kofoid on Friday night as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car tour rolled into California’s Stockton Dirt Track. Last week the Penngrove, CA native banked $100,000 with a last lap pass at Huset’s Speedway ahead of three straight weeks of racing on home turf.
Momentum and confidence rode with Kofoid into the “Golden State,” and he put together another impressive drive to score back-to-back victories with Roth Motorsports.
It all started with a determined charge in the Toyota Racing Dash. Kofoid started seventh in the eight-lap tilt and wheeled all the way to second to earn a front row starting spot. After near disaster in the NOS Energy Drink Feature when he biked up on two wheels, Kofoid regained composure and slipped by early leader Shane Golobic on Lap 15. He then held on in heavy lapped traffic to secure the checkered flag.
“I didn’t feel great when I took the lead,” Kofoid said. “But I felt good on the bottom. It was just hard to hit. And then with lapped traffic, they’d pull away then I’d pull up, and then they’d pull away again. I was like, ‘Man, the guys behind me are they better than me? Are they catching up to me? What do I need to do better?’ I just decided to stick with running the bottom and try to protect the runs off the bottom.
“Really happy to get another win with the best and to do it in front of a home crowd. I can’t thank Dylan (Buswell), Nate (Knotts), and Gage (Tyra) enough. It’s been a lot of fun these last few weeks. I feel like we’ve gotten our game back. I just want to say hey to Dennis and Teresa Roth. Can’t thank them enough.”
It’s the first time in his career that Kofoid has topped two races in a row with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He became the eighth different driver to win with the World of Outlaws at Stockton and fifth Californian to do so. His home state is now the first state where he’s topped a pair of Series races as he adds Stockton to his Placerville triumph from a year ago.
Golobic led the field to green in search of a perfect night after earning Simpson Quick Time, a NOS Energy Drink Heat victory, and the Toyota Dash checkered flag. The driver of the Matt Wood Racing/NOS Energy Drink #17W pulled ahead early and set a strong pace at the front of the field.
The first few cars of traffic didn’t slow Golobic much as he navigated through them. But as the group of cars in front of him grew larger, the gap between himself and Kofoid shrank.
Then the door Kofoid needed opened on Lap 15. As Golobic drifted high out of Turn 2, Kofoid kept the No. 83 glued to the bottom on exit. The grip gave him a run to pull alongside Golobic down the back straightaway. He finished off the move for the lead by sticking the bottom in Turns 3 and 4 and driving ahead out of the corner.
The race was by no means over with Kofoid now in control. The pass lit a fire under Golobic as he looked to rally and reclaim the top spot. The Rocklin, CA driver closed back in several times in the race’s second half.
But ultimately, Kofoid proved to be too fast as he maintained enough of a gap to drive comfortably to a second victory this week with roughly 1,700 miles between the two dirt tracks. And just like the Huset’s glory, a fast, stable Sprint Car led him to Victory Lane.
“I feel like as the runs went on my car got more equal and maybe a little bit better,” Kofoid said. “Just like Huset’s last week, our car can just maneuver so good and doesn’t really know what dirty air is even if you’re going a lot slower pace. It’s still nice to know that your car is not really going to be affected.”
Golobic held on for the runner-up spot to lead the local California contingent. Traffic proved to be the deciding factor as he came up a spot short of his third career World of Outlaws victory but still collected his fifth career podium with the country’s top Sprint Car talent.
“I just think I needed to make better decisions there in traffic, or more aggressive ones I guess,” Golobic said. “You can’t really make any mistakes with these guys. They’re good, and he (Kofoid) pounced on one there. I didn’t know where the 1S was going. Just kind of guessed wrong and got myself hung up. It sucks. You don’t get a lot of opportunities to win an Outlaw show, and I feel like I kind of gave one up there.”
Justin Sanders completed the podium on what was a strong night for the California locals. The Aromas, CA native took the Mittry Racing No. 2X to his fourth Series podium to start the swing in home territory. Like Golobic, struggles in traffic prevented him from putting forth a stronger challenge for victory.
“I don’t really have much to say about the race,” Sanders said. “I just really couldn’t go anywhere with a lapped car in my way for half the race, but we’ll take this third.”
Sheldon Haudenschild and David Gravel completed the top five.
A 24th to 13th run earned Tim Kaeding the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Shane Golobic claimed the first Simpson Quick Time of his career and established a new track record in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Shane Golobic, Bill Balog, and Buddy Kofoid. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to David Gravel
Shane Golobic topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
Logan Schuchart won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Garet Williamson.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car California swing rolls into Hanford, CA’s Kings Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 7 for the $21,000-to-win Tom Tarlton Classic. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]; 3. 2X-Justin Sanders[4]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[12]; 5. 2-David Gravel[6]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[7]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 9. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[13]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 11. 21-Cole Macedo[18]; 12. 7S-Landon Crawley[11]; 13. O-Tim Kaeding[24]; 14. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[14]; 15. 88-Austin McCarl[16]; 16. 88N-DJ Netto[22]; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart[21]; 18. 5V-Colby Copeland[17]; 19. 83T-Tanner Carrick[8]; 20. 88A-Joey Ancona[9]; 21. 73-Ryan Bernal[20]; 22. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 23. 57W-Jock Goodyer[19]; 24. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[23]