Macedo Masters Ogilvie For Another Win In Minnesota

Carson Macedo celebrates in victory lane Friday at Ogilvie Raceway. (Tyler Carr photo)

OGILVIE, Minn. – There’s just something about the state of Minnesota for Carson Macedo when the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series comes to town.

Macedo dominated the Gopher State yet again Friday night, leading 19 of 30 laps and topping a mid-race duel with Bill Balog to convincingly win the Big O Showdown at Ogilvie Raceway.

After starting fourth, Macedo ripped around the outside of the three-eighths-mile dirt oval to take second on the opening circuit, then quickly set his sights ahead on Balog for the race lead.

A war of slide jobs between Macedo and Balog saw the Jason Johnson Racing driver grab the lead on lap five, only for Balog to wrestle it back away on the 10th revolution.

But Macedo was undeterred. He went back to work and passed Balog for good on the halfway lap of the feature before pulling away down the stretch in lap traffic.

Buddy Kofoid, who took second place a lap after Macedo claimed the lead, rolled the bottom groove and closed in on Macedo at two different points in the back half of the feature.

Unfortunately for Kofoid, however, traffic prevented him from being able to make a move to challenge Macedo – allowing the Albaugh No. 41 to take the checkered flag first by .975 seconds.

It marked Macedo’s eighth World of Outlaws victory of the season, the 55th of his career, and the second at Ogilvie in three years for the 29-year-old native of Lemoore, Calif.

Macedo would have a perfect record at the facility, if not for a last-lap pass by Sheldon Haudenschild a year ago that denied him the win that night.

“When I got to the lead, I could see every lap on the big screen that Buddy was running the bottom in (turns) one and two and was apparently close to me doing a good job,” Macedo explained. “He tried to slide me in (turns) three and four, and I knew I had to really get going and be smart in lapped traffic.

“They were pretty good. I feel like in the first three quarters of the race I was really good, and then I’d say in the last quarter I was a little unsure of where to be and didn’t want to go away from the momentum and have it bite me again … like it did the first time after I got by Bill.”

Friday’s victory was Macedo’s seventh Outlaws triumph in the state of Minnesota, second only to 10-time series champion Donny Schatz’s nine Gopher State wins.

Kofoid held on to second for his 21st podium finish of the year, but couldn’t get to Macedo when it mattered most.

“I thought we maybe had the better car [compared to Macedo] for most of that race,” Kofoid said. “There are a couple things I probably should’ve done differently. There were lappers in the bottom of (turns) three and four, and I didn’t want to follow them, so I tried to drove across and slide him and just got a little eager.

“We had a really good car that last half of the race. We struggled to get the car comfortable for me and get it to run a smoother corner and make more speed, but whatever Dylan (Buswell) did was magic.”

Defending Outlaws champion and current point leader David Gravel crossed third, his 27th podium finish of the year. He holds a 170-point advantage over Kofoid through 48 of 75 races.

Balog faded late to fourth, with defending event winner Haudenschild closing out the top five.

Skylar Gee earned KSE Hard Charger honors after advancing from 21st to seventh in the Logan Fenton Racing No. 99.

In his first drive behind the wheel of a second entry for Big Game Motorsports, Schatz started 10th in the feature but got upside down on the opening lap in his new-look, orange-and-black No. 15.

Schatz was credited with last place in the 25-car field.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season continues Saturday night at Jackson (Minn.) Motorplex, where Macedo won back on June 4 in the tour’s earlier visit.

The finish:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo [4]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid [6]; 3. 2-David Gravel [2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [7]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart [3]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee [21]; 8. 2C-Cole Macedo [18]; 9. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [12]; 10. 15S-Kerry Madsen [13]; 11. 45X-Landon Crawley [9]; 12. 7S-Chris Windom [14]; 13. 23-Garet Williamson [16]; 14. 18-Emerson Axsom [11]; 15. 6-Zach Hampton [5]; 16. 33-Scott Broty [20]; 17. 28M-Conner Morrell [8]; 18. 18T-Tyler Rabenberg [23]; 19. 91-Reed Allex [24]; 20. 4S-Jeremy Snow [25]; 21. 24T-Christopher Thram [17]; 22. 14-Brooke Tatnell [19]; 23. 74N-Luke Nellis [22]; 24. G5-Gage Pulkrabek [15]; 25. 15-Donny Schatz [10].

Lap Leader(s): Bill Balog 1-4, Carson Macedo 5-9, Bill Balog 10-14, Carson Macedo 15-30.

KSE Hard Charger: 99-Skylar Gee (+14)