Nothing better than winning feeling

By Ken de la Bastide

Throughout the second half of the 2022 Kenyon Midget season rookie driver Kyle Ford was knocking at the door for that first victory. Ford accomplished that feat earlier his month with a clean sweep of the event at Berlin Raceway, the biggest track the competitors have ever raced on. Ford captured the K&K Marketing Fast Time, won a KRJ Race Products heat and dominated in the feature.

“Nothing beats that winning feeling,” Ford said this week. “It's been three years since I won a race.”

Ford said the team hit on the right set-up at Berlin. “I honestly didn't know how I would do,” he said. “The team nailed the set-up. I do like racing on the bigger tracks,” Ford continued. “It was fun to basically race flat out. Right now I have a lot of confidence in the car.”

Before the Berlin race, Ford said a key would be on handling the exit off of turn four. “Initially I found something no one else was doing,” he explained. “Drive hard into the corner until the car had a slight push and run to the outside wall.”

Emotionally I was very happy to get that first win. This year Ford finished fourth at Anderson and fifth at the Indianapolis Speedrome before the winning effort at Berlin.

He enters the Don and Mel Kenyon Classic at Anderson Speedway only 31-points behind leader Dameron Taylor. He recorded a second place finish at Anderson last year earning the Advanced Racing Suspension Hard Charger award and has one career fast time award.

“Anderson will be tough,” Ford said. “Dameron (Taylor) has that place figured out. We have some work to do.”

A year ago Ford was named rookie of the year and finished third in the overall point standings behind Taylor and Jackson Macenko.