Cox notches first feature victory

By Ken de la Bastide
INDIANAPOLIS – It turned into a perfect night for Jalen Cox as he swept the Kenyon Midget action at Circle City Raceway. For the second consecutive visit of the series to the dirt oval a first-time winner with the series was crowned.

Cox set a new-track record during group qualifying turning a lap at 14.310-second surpassing the mark set a year ago by Aryton Houk.

During the redraw for the feature, Cox drew the pole position with Kyle Sheard joining him on the front row.

At the start Cox jumped into the lead with Ryan Huggler moving into the second spot from his fifth starting position with Sheard holding down the third spot. The caution flag waved on lap four when five cars running mid-pack tangled in turn one which shook up the running order.

Following the restart Huggler turned up the heat on Cox by challenging for the point in the low groove. But Huggler spun on lap eight and was relegated to the tail of the field.

That put rookie competitor Trisdon Brown into the second spot with Buddy Hollmeyer running third. Hollmeyer took the second spot on lap 13 with an inside pass entering the third quarter.

The caution flag waved three times on lap 19 for spins by Jett Neal and Ryan Shilkuski.

Cox was able to hold off a challenge by Hollmeyer for the lead with Trisdon Brown coming home in third followed by Huggler and Evan Hammond.

“I knew if I kept my momentum up and didn't make any mistakes it was going to be hard for guys to get around me,” Cox said. “I didn't want to see those caution flags.”

The Winchester, Indiana driver said on the final restarts he was focused on maintaining his line and not worrying about who was chasing him. “It's been a long time coming,” Cox said of his first win. “There have been a lot of struggles the past four or five years and thought about giving up a couple of times. This makes it all worthwhile.”

Hollmeyer recorded a career best finish by coming home in second. He was looking for a way to get inside of Cox in the waning laps for the victory. “I noticed he was driving in a little deep going into one,” Hollmeyer said of Cox. “I knew on the restart I might be able to get a run inside and showed him my nose, but from there he ran the bottom.”

Trisdon Brown recorded a podium finish on his first ever start on a dirt oval. “I just settled in on the bottom and felt I got the hang of it pretty quick,” he said. “First dirt race and I got a third.”

Brown earned the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger award by gaining four positions in the feature event.

Cox won the first KRJ Race Products heat leading the entire distance and pulling away from the field. Hammond finished second following a battle with Hollmeyer that saw the runner-up position swapped several times.

Huggler won the second KRJ Race Products heat race over Jett Neal and Kyle Sheard.