Young California racer Buddy Kofoid powered his way into the New Zealand speedway record books with another holiday season Midget Car victory at Western Springs Speedway last night.
Kofoid, 23, won the 30-lap New Zealand Midget Car Championship on a challenging track, becoming the first international driver – and only fourth driver ever – to complete the national Midget Car and Sprint Car title double.
Kofoid won the Sprint Car crown in 2019 as a teenager, and he joins Kiwi stars Barry Butterworth, Owen Shaw and Michael Pickens on the short list of drivers to win both premier open wheel titles.
The win completes a very impressive summer campaign for the Kofoid and the 2-Way Industries team. In quick succession he’s racked up back-to-back wins at Baypark Speedway and driven away to a half-lap winning margin in Thursday night’s flag-to-flag 50-lap Classic at the `Springs.
The battle was much closer last night with former Australian champ Kaidon Brown in contention throughout and Kofoid survived a couple moments on his to victory.
He was not alone in having to control his car as it leapt and bounced through the holes which developed in the track, while Kofoid also made contact with a lapped car and finished the race with a badly blistered right rear tyre.
The opening couple of laps produced a battle between Kofoid, Brown and Pickens, with Kofoid making an immediate move to the lead from grid four which saw the trio three-wide for a moment coming off turn four to complete the second lap.
“The track was very technical, and it got pretty treacherous around the top in Turns 3 and 4. In the end I had to get off the top and run the bottom,” Kofoid said.
Kofoid was the 2021 and 2022 USAC National Midget Car champion and finished fourth in the World of Outlaws winged Sprint Car series in 2024.
“I enjoy racing in New Zealand and finally getting a couple of wins at Western Springs really means a lot to me, especially if this turns out to be the last season,” he said.
“A big part of my decision to come and race in New Zealand again is I get to work with great people, and I enjoy the fans and the atmosphere here. I definitely still try as hard as when I’m as racing at home, but for whatever reason, I find it less stressful in New Zealand.”
There were only two cautions in the title race, the first on lap five when Travis Buckley stopped in Town Bend and the second with seven laps to go when Pickens spun but was permitted to restart fifth.
Brown capped a very impressive Kiwi campaign with a runner-up finish, always within striking distance of Kofoid. California’s Logan Seavey finished third, giving the Green Way Racing team something to celebrate after defending champion Brad Mosen continued his run of bad luck.
Mosen crashed his title-winning car early in the 50-lapper meeting and the team assembled a new car in 48 hours. That car tumbled end-for-end in Mosen’s first heat race but a hurried rebuild and two solid heat races put him into the main event starting from grid 15.
Pickens was the top-placed Kiwi, battling a left rear tyre bleeder issue for much of the race. Former champion Hayden Williams was next, and several rising stars of the Midget Car ranks filled the next spots headed by teenager Alec Insley who delivered a strong effort in the heat races to start from grid five and finish sixth.
Tauranga’s Luke McClymont made a run forward from grid 13 to finish seventh, getting past Corbin Anderson on the last restart. Anderson continued his run as the quiet achiever of the midget ranks with Mosen and Peter Hunnibell completing the top-10.
Taupo’s Dean Cooper raced away to his first Western Springs feature win leading home Shane van Gisbergen and Zackary Sokol in the 20-lap Sprint Car feature.
It was van Gisbergen’s second podium in his six-race dirt track campaign with the United Truck Parts team, which began in the ex-Bryan Clauson J&J and finished up in a new Maxim chassis after his big Baypark crash. Notably his Trackhouse Racing NASCAR team boss Justin Marks attended the Western Springs meeting last night.
Header Image: NZ Dirt Track Racing Magazine
