Photo by Reitz Motorsports Photography
By: Lucas Halbert - Grassroots Racing News
Kokomo, Indiana (11/9/2021)... Missing the opening weekend of the 2021 PureMax Racing Oil HART Non-Wing Micro Series presented by EMi didn’t prove to be a deal-breaker for Kole Kirkman, Kokomo, Ind., who would go on to win 6 races and the series championship.
Kirkman’s journey to the championship began in March, when he made the haul from his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana to DuQuoin, Illinois for the final round of the Midwest Winter Nationals. There Kirkman doubled down for two victories, becoming the fourth different driver ever to claim back-to-back PureMax Racing Oil HART Non-Wing Micro Series victories.
With rain washing out the spring, the PureMax HART Non-Wing Micros had to wait till June to get back on track. During that time, the weather warmed up, and so did Kole. In the Eric Orozco Racing #7TX, Kole rattled off two wins at Circus City Speedway and US 24 Speedway in five days during the inaugural Hoosier Dirt Cup.
From there, Kirkman suffered his longest drought of the season, entering three events without finding victory lane, even though he scored a Top 10 in all three races.
After taking three races off and only needing fifteen races to count towards points, Kole paid a visit to the biggest track on the HART Series schedule, the quarter-mile Jacksonville Speedway, where Kirkman faced his closest finish of the year. Beating out Tyler Kuykendall by a car length for his fifth win of the year.
Kole’s final win of 2021 at Coles County Speedway (Mattoon, Illinois) during 9/11 remembrance weekend. That win put him on top of the PureMax HART Non-Wing Micro Series presented by EMi all-time wins list with seven. Kirkman’s first career HART win came at Circus City Speedway in 2020.
Kole ended the year competing in two of the last four races, finishing second and seventeenth.
By totaling 1020 points, Kole Kirkman is your 2021 PureMax Racing Oil HART Non-Wing Micro Series presented by EMi champion. Kirkman’s final stat line looks like this, 1020 Points, 6 Wins, 9 Top 5’s, 13 Top 10’s, 14 Features Started, 4 Heat Wins, and 15 Races Entered. In features, Kole had an average start of 8.64, and an average finish of 4.79, gaining an average of 3.86 positions per feature.
Eastin Ashbrooke finished second in series points, 92 behind Kole. Finishing third in HART Series points, is Kole’s father, Todd Kirkman, 202 points behind his son. Fourth in points is Alex Burgener (-357), and rounding out the Top 5 in points is 2020 HART Series champion Jake Cheatham, 383 points behind.
Top 10 Points:
Kole Kirkman - 1020 Points, 6 Wins, 9 Top 5’s, 13 Top 10’s, 14 Features, Avg. Start 8.64, Avg. Finish 4.79
Eastin Ashbrooke - 928 Points, 4 Top 5’s, 7 Top 10’s, 14 Features, Avg. Start 9.64, Avg. Finish 10.29
Todd Kirkman - 818 Points, 5 Top 5’s, 7 Top 10’s, 13 Features, Avg. Start 10.77, Avg. Finish 10
Alex Burgener - 663 Points, 7 Top 10’s, 9 Features, Avg. Start 12, Avg. Finish 8.11
Jake Cheatham - 637 Points, 1 Win, 4 Top 5’s, 7 Top 10’s, 10 Features, Avg. Start 8.7, Avg. Finish 8.6
Daniel Robinson - 608 Points, 3 Wins, 5 Top 5’s, 5 Top 10’s, 9 Features, Avg. Start 7.11, Avg. Finish 7.22
Darin Naida - 593 Points, 1 Win, 3 Top 5’s, 8 Top 10’s, 8 Features, Avg. Start 8.13, Avg. Finish 5.5
Tres Mehler - 584 Points, 10 Features, Avg. Start 8.38, Avg. Finish 16.88
Jack Hoyer - 580 Points, 1 Win, 3 Top 5’s, 8 Top 10’s, 8 Features, Avg. Start 9.5, Avg. Finish 6.25
Kenton Brewer - 570 Points, 3 Top 5’s, 9 Top 10’s, 9 Features, Avg. Start 8.33, Avg. Finish 7.11