Story By: JORDAN DELUCIA / XTREME OUTLAW SERIES – PEVELY, MO – The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota returns to Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 for one of its biggest paying events of the year during the Ironman 55 weekend, Aug. 2-3.
Co-sanctioned by the POWRi National Midget League, the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets will contest a 25-lap, $4,000-to-win main event Friday night before the richest race of the 2024 season Saturday – paying $7,500 to the winner and at least $500 to each starter of the 35-lap main event.
Racing alongside the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the two-day event will showcase the talent of the country’s best open-wheel racers, some of which will be competing in both divisions.
Both Series events also count as the seventh and eighth races of the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series, which awards the points champion of the 10-race miniseries with a $2,500 bonus at the end of the season in September, in addition to checks for each of the top-five in final points.
Advance-sale tickets for both days of the Ironman 55 are available at the World of Outlaws website and will also be on sale at the gate on race day.
Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend:
GUESS WHO’S BACK – For the first time since the season opener in March, Thomas Meseraull is expected to be part of the Xtreme Outlaw Series roster, returning to the seat of the Engler Tool & Machine, EA-Stealth-powered MF1 Chassis No. 7x in Xtreme competition after being sidelined due to injury sustained in a Non-Wing Sprint Car crash at Paragon Speedway (IN) in late March.
Meseraull, the 43-year-old open-wheel veteran from San Jose, CA, won the 2024 Xtreme season opener inside the Southern Illinois Center in March. After taking several weeks off for recovery, Meseraull returned to Midget action for POWRi’s Illinois SPEEDweek in June and has since won twice with POWRi at Lake Ozark Speedway (MO).
When it comes to Midgets at I-55, Meseraull has had success at the 1/3-mile oval before, scoring a win during Ironman weekend in 2015 – POWRi’s first time as the support division in the marquee Sprint Car event.
DEFENDING WINNERS – The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets put on two exciting races during Ironman weekend one year ago, won by Karter Sarff and Jade Avedisian, both of whom are expected to be back in action with the Series again this weekend.
Sarff, 21, of Mason City, IL, scored his first career Series victory in Friday night’s main event last year, outrunning 2022 Series champion Zach Daum to bag the win. He’s won twice in Xtreme competition already this year – US36 in April and Millbridge Speedway (NC) in May – and will go for his fifth career Series victory this weekend piloting his own Provisio Partners, Spike/Toyota No. 21K.
Avedisian, the 17-year-old reigning Series champion from Clovis, CA, won the Saturday portion of the two-day event last year in a slide job-filled battle with Sarff late in the race to score her sixth career Series win. However, she has struggled throughout the 2024 season, appearing on the podium only once in 14 starts with a best finish of second at Atomic Speedway (OH) in May.
POINTS CHASE – A trip through Oklahoma this past weekend meant another Feature win for points leader Cannon McIntosh – his sixth of the season – and an expanded 160-point gap over teammate Ryan Timms in the championship standings.
McIntosh, 21, of Bixby, OK, is still in search of his first career national Midget series championship driving for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM). He’s had success at I-55 in the past, winning the April 2023 visit, but couldn’t break the top five during the Ironman weekend last year with finishes of eighth and sixth.
Timms, 17, of Oklahoma City, OK, has trailed McIntosh in the standings for most of the season but has seen Victory Lane three times, most recently at Spoon River Speedway (IL) two weeks ago. Unlike McIntosh, Timms has not won at I-55, but finished third to Daum and McIntosh there in April 2023.
ILLINOIS BOYS – Zach Daum and Chase McDermand have also triumphed in Pevely in the past, both with the POWRi National Midget League.
Daum, 32, of Pocahontas, IL, won the Midget Feature during the Saturday portion of Ironman weekend in 2016, topping Kyle Jones and Dave Darland in the 24-car main event. More recently, he ran second to McIntosh at the Xtreme/POWRi show at I-55 in April 2023 and also claimed the runner-up spot on Friday during last year’s Ironman.
McDermand, 24, of Springfield, IL, won with POWRi at I-55 in April 2022. He’s coming into the weekend as the most recent Feature winner, taking the checkered flag in the Series debut at Tulsa Speedway (OK) last Saturday night after leading all 30 laps of the main event.
HEY JOE – After coming a handful of laps away from his first career Xtreme Outlaw Series Feature win in the 2024 season opener, Joe B. Miller is projected to be back in action with the Midgets this weekend at I-55.
Miller, 33, of Millersville, MO, was leading late in Saturday’s Feature at the Southern Illinois Center this past March when he was involved in an incident while battling Meseraull for the lead. While he ended up scored 12th in the official finishing order, the speed and skill Miller showed in traffic that night demonstrated his abilities in the Midget, which he does not get to display often due to his Sprint Car and Micro Sprint schedule.
However, Miller has found success in the Midget at I-55 in the past, finishing runner-up to McDermand in the POWRi event in April 2022.