QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. – Buddy Kofoid continued a stellar year for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports by picking up the win in Saturday night’s 53rd Western World Championship finale at Arizona Speedway.

The Penngrove, Calif., teenager rocketed from the outside pole to the lead on the initial start and never looked back, leading all 30 laps at the high-banked, third-mile oval for his second NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series win of the season.

It’s Kofoid’s ninth national midget victory of the year between POWRi and USAC action.

While the box score may have made Kofoid’s feat appear simple, he had to hold off a determined Tanner Thorson on a pair of late restarts, after a pair of vicious flips drew red flags on laps 23 and 27.

Both times, however, Kofoid was able to pull away from Thorson on the restarts in his No. 67 Mobil 1/TRD-sponsored Bullet/Toyota. He took the checkered flag in front by .566 seconds.

“This is way better [than last night],” said Kofoid, who finished fourth Friday in the Western World opener after being passed for the win by Thorson on a late restart.

“I knew we had good speed in the opener, and we kept working at it. I knew our slick-track setup and main event setup was really strong, and we improved on it a little bit and it paid off,” Kofoid continued. “I don’t know what to say. To finally get my second USAC win is pretty damn cool, and my crew chief Jarrett Martin grew up 40 minutes away from here … so to get him a home-track win is cool too.”

That comment led to another quick realization – and an anecdote – from the young Kofoid.

“It’s funny. Two years ago, Jarrett and I ran the Copper Classic together at this track, and it took until this year for us to realize that we even raced against each other that night,” Kofoid said with a laugh. “For that, and now to be crew chief and driver winning here, is just special.

“This is a good feather in my cap, to win at this race,” he added. “A lot of big names have won here and it’s cool to add mine to that list. … Nothing beats winning, that’s for sure.”

The race ran uninterrupted for 17 laps before a spin by Brenham Crouch in turn four drew the first yellow of the night. From there, it was chaos as the latter stages of the feature unfolded.

First, third-running Tanner Carrick slowed from a podium place with 11 to go, bringing out a caution. That slowdown was followed by a vicious flip for Noah Gass, whose No. 20g car smashed into the fence before coming to rest in turn two.

Gass climbed from his destroyed race car with assistance, but his night was over at that point.

Four more laps clicked off before rookie Chase Randall went for a wild ride in turns three and four, necessitating a second stoppage and giving Thorson one more shot to try and pass Kofoid for the win.

However, Kofoid mastered the final three revolutions to perfection, leaving Thorson to settle for second instead of celebrating a second win at Arizona Speedway in as many nights.

There was a bright side to Thorson’s runner-up effort, however. Thanks to incoming point leader Tyler Courtney retiring with a mechanical failure after just 11 laps, Thorson cut his deficit to just 32 points entering the final full-point race of the season on Tuesday night at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.

“This just shows how strong our cars are, and the effort of the group of people I have behind me,” said Thorson, who hasn’t finished worse than fourth with USAC since linking up with car owner Tom Malloy. “With reliable equipment and cars, I’ve got a pretty awesome piece behind me. We’ll take our speed over to Bakersfield and try to pick off one [more win] there.”

Oklahoma young gun Daison Pursley completed the podium, followed by Chris Windom, who assumed the championship lead by 11 over Courtney going into the title-deciding November Classic.

Spencer Bayston filled out the top five, ahead of Justin Grant, Andrew Layser, Logan Seavey, Chase Johnson and Tanner Carrick.

Polesitter Robert Dalby lost the lead on the opening lap and faded to a 15th-place finish.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.