Indy Racing Images Photo
Richie Murray
JUNE 8, 2025
Kokomo, Indiana (June 8, 2025)………Seventeen drivers came into Sunday night’s 2025 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 drivers who captured victories in the first two round 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 five 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 at least 2019. 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 2022 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 was 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 all-time 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 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 champs 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 start of a chain reaction that first saw Colton Robinson broadside into the backside of Sarff. Frankie Guerrini became of 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, he was moved back one row and Drake Edwards was slotted over into the pole position while Drake was the new occupant of the outside of the front row.
Edwards took advantage of the situation to lead lap one as Drake slotted into second. By lap six, Drake was angling for the lead as 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 him 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 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. That earned him 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.