Karter Sarff Wins Chaotic Ironman 55 Opener with Last Turn Overtake to Checkered Flag
Karter Sarff still loves I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park.
On the opening night of the Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55, Sarff had to avoid chaos in front of him to score his ninth career Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota, his fourth in the last five event Features.
At the start of the 25-lap showdown, Chase McDermand claimed the top spot with Cannon McIntosh riding behind him in second place.
The two stayed nose-to-tail with each other around the bottom lane while Sarff made multiple attempts to work his No. 21K around the middle lane.
With 12 laps remaining, McIntosh caught the left rear tire of McDermand off of Turn 4, but the two drivers continued to roll as Sarff and Joe B. Miller split the No. 71K to take second and third place while McDermand held the lead.
Finding newfound momentum through the middle lane, the Mason City, IL driver began to contest for the lead against McDermand while McIntosh muscled by Miller for third with eight laps left.
When McIntosh retook second place from Sarff with five laps to go, he tracked down McDermand while seeking an opening around the bottom lane for a late-race pass.
When the white flag flew in the air, McIntosh hounded the back bumper of McDermand, then made one last dive to the bottom for the win. However, the two collided in Turn 4, sending McDermand to the inside wall while Sarff snuck by the two through the middle lane to capture the surprise win in Pevely, MO.
“I don’t know, I’m still at a loss for words,” Sarff said. “I could get a good run through the middle on the first lap of the restarts when the dirty stuff got packed in, and I could make some speed through there. Yeah, still pretty unbelievable that we just won this race, but it was meant to be, and that’s the way God wanted it to be.”
Sweeping to the outside line as the checkered flag flew, Jacob Denney took second place to continue leading over the overall and the Xtreme-POWRi Challenge Series standings.
“I definitely caught a break there, I was gonna finish fourth,” Denney said. “I kind of figured it was going to be one lane, but I just tried to make something happen on the top of (Turn) 3 too many laps. So, I got in line and gave myself a better shot.
After the last lap skirmish, McIntosh finished the night in the third position. His result pushes him to second in Series points leaving the Ironman opener.
“Just a long race on the bottom,” McIntosh said. “I felt like we had the car to win the whole time, earlier on, (McDermand) kind of missed the bottom and then we got hung up together because he’s kind of swing out and then drive to the inside wall. I knew we were good enough, got in second and ran him down coming to the white.
“He just slowed down so much on the straightaway taking the white, obviously can’t go around anybody, so there’s nowhere to go. Had a run again in (Turns) 3 and 4, clipped his bumper, and I guess we turned him, but unfortunate we lost the lead there.”
McDermand’s wreck from the lead scored him with a 21st-place finish after a night that saw him lead every circuit but the final stretch towards the checkered flag.
“What was going through my mind was I got cannonballed for probably the sixth time in my career,” McDermand said. “I just hate it for all of our partners, we’ve been working really hard to finally get good runs and have good speed. Apparently, I wasn’t quite good enough to run away from him trying to take me out to the checkers. He can blame me all he wants for slowing down so much, I told him ‘If I’m going so slow, then why don’t you just go around me?’
“So, super thankful to have the speed we have and hopefully carry that into tomorrow and take what we learned tonight and apply it there. We just got to be better to run away from him before we get taken out.”
Recap Notes:
Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Zach Wigal
Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Joe B. Miller
CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Cannon McIntosh
TJ Forged Heat 3 Winner: Kameron Key
High-Point Driver: Jacob Denney
Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger Award: Brandon Carr (+11)
Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Shannon McQueen
Up Next: The richest event of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota history ends with drivers chasing $7,500 with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at the Ironman 55 at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park on Saturday, Aug. 2.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 21K-Karter Sarff[5]; 2. 67-Jacob Denney[4]; 3. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[2]; 4. 7X-Joe B Miller[3]; 5. 9U-Kameron Key[6]; 6. 56E-Tyler Edwards[7]; 7. 5D-Zach Wigal[11]; 8. 67K-Colton Robinson[12]; 9. 50-Daniel Adler[16]; 10. 98K-Brandon Carr[21]; 11. 14JB-Jakeb Boxell[9]; 12. 7D-Michelle Decker[13]; 13. 72-Alex Karpowicz[20]; 14. 94-Hayden Wise[10]; 15. 05-Alex Midkiff[22]; 16. 7-Shannon McQueen[14]; 17. 77W-Joe Wirth[18]; 18. 56X-Mark Chisholm[24]; 19. 51-Zach Boden[19]; 20. 44-Branigan Roark[25]; 21. 63-Cale Coons[17]; 22. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 23. 22S-AJ Johnson[23]; 24. 5U-Michael Faccinto[8]; 25. 33-Bryce Vowan[26]; 26. 97-Gavin Miller[15]; 27. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[27]
