Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) was all fired up following his first career Eldora Speedway victory on Friday night with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship. (Indy Racing Images Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Bryan Hulbert & Richie Murray
Rossburg, Ohio (September 20, 2024)………In a race that featured six lead changes among five different drivers, Daison Pursley’s first victory lane experience at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on Friday night required him to squeeze every ounce of speed, bravery, desire and gumption out of himself and his CB Industries No. 86.
When the 25-lap war on the 1/2-mile dirt oval was all said and done, Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) was standing on top once more for the sixth time during the 2024 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship season. On this particular occasion, he pounced and prevailed over the driver who remains his closest nemesis in the championship fight – Cannon McIntosh.
After racing from third to first on lap 20 restart in the Before The Crown main, Pursley led the remaining six laps, and then excelled on another late-race restart to fend off McIntosh for his eighth career feature victory with the series, tying him for 84th all-time alongside Brady Bacon, Merle Bettenhausen, Tony Bettenhausen, Hank Butcher, Kevin Doty, Dan Drinan, Ronnie Duman, Brian Gerster, Kenny Irwin Jr., Eddie Johnson, Michael Lewis, Andy Michner, Josh Wise and none other than McIntosh himelf.
Pursley also continued CB Industries’ dominance of late at Eldora, which has seen the team win five of its last six series starts at the track dating back to 2021 with Chris Windom (3), Mitchel Moles (1) and now Pursley (1) reigning triumphant.
For the seventh place starting Pursley, the car is a dream to drive and he’s happy to be the one holding the steering wheel after becoming the first hard charger to win a USAC National Midget feature during the 2024 season.
“When this place gets slick against the fence, these CB Industries car roll around here pretty good,” Pursley stated. “I’m happy to win that thing from seventh, and I’m confident enough for tomorrow that we can get the job done from sixth.”
Taking off from the inside of the fourth row in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota, Pursley trailed the opening half of the feature as Justin Grant led the opening four revolutions.
Jacob Denney wheeled his way into the lead on lap five before Grant returned to the point on the sixth lap. However, Grant’s lead proved short lived, and he again surrendered the lead on lap nine to the bottom-feeding Zach Daum. As the frontrunners worked three-wide through the third and fourth turns, Grant and Denney operated high while Daum tiptoed around the inside wall and into the lead on lap nine.
Pacing the hub through the 11th go-around, McIntosh entered the fray with a rim-riding pass of Daum for the lead on the 12th lap. At that some moment, then eighth running Pursley began to make his surge forward as he found a moment to breathe once the initial scramble of the start subsided and the race settled into a groove.
“During the first handful of laps, everyone was equal,” Pursley explained. “Nobody could really find their rhythm to get clean air or space. Once Cannon finally cleared for the lead, he set sail and set a good pace, then I was finally able to start climbing up top to make good laps. Then I was able to get to third and started trying stuff into one and sliding myself differently than what they were doing. I felt like I was inching away at him, but I definitely wasn’t gaining a ton of ground.”
As McIntosh settled in around the topside, the first yellow flag of the night was displayed for Gavin Miller who spun to a stop in the second turn on the 19th lap after contact between he and Hayden Reinbold amid the battle for eighth. That set up a restart for which Pursley knew he had to get done as he figured it was going to be his only shot.
The third-place running Pursley wasted no time on the ensuing resumption, driving by Denney on the front straightaway before sliding McIntosh for the lead on entry into turn one. Retaking the lead for a brief moment, McIntosh surged his way back past Pursley on the back straightway but was unable to stave off Pursley’s dive into turn three.
“I felt like I got a really good start,” Pursley admitted. “Cannon decided to take off all the way around the top, then Jacob started stairstepping his way down. I was able to follow him and then they left it wide open for me to try to do something into (turn) one and I was able to pull it off.”
McIntosh was able to close right to Pursley’s back bumper during the final laps, but a hard clobbering of his right rear tire against the outside turn two wall on lap 23 allowed Pursley to sail away. Moments later, however, a caution for the overheating and slowing car of 10th running Ryan Timms gave McIntosh one more try at a green-white-checker race to the finish line.
Pursley slid himself into turn one on the opening lap of the restart, but McIntosh mustered the momentum on the topside through turns one and down to allow himself a shot at a slider in turn three. With the white flag in the air, McIntosh slid across the nose of Pursley to complete the pass. However, Pursley calmly flicked his steering wheel to the left to drive back underneath McIntosh at the exit of turn four and retain the lead.
On the final lap, Pursley wasn’t going to be denied as he put his right rear tire right within inches of the concrete surrounding the perimeter of turns three and four to notch his initial Eldora score by 0.574 second margin. McIntosh crossed the stripe in second with Denney third, Daum fourth and Logan Seavey completing the top-five.
McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.,) finished second after leading a race-high eight laps in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/GearWrench – TRD – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota. Despite the disappointment of coming up on the short end of his first Eldora win, it was still his best career result at The Big E.
The same goes for Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio) who led two laps of the feature en route to his best career Eldora finish while also equaling his best result of the USAC National Midget season in his Tom Malloy/Trench Shoring – Rodela Specialty Fabrication/LynK/Ed Pink Toyota.
Meanwhile, it was a long time coming for Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.). In what was his first Eldora Speedway appearance in 10 years, he equaled his best career finish at the track with a fourth. Throughout much of the race, he was running so low on the track, you couldn’t even see him from a vantage point on the front straightaway. That is, until he emerged with the lead. Starting ninth, he led three laps and came away as the honoree of the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
For the second straight year, Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) earned Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier honors with the USAC National Midgets at Eldora. His fast lap of the night was the 19th of his USAC National Midget career, tying him with Jay Drake for 28th place on the all-time list.
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 20, 2024 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – BeFour the Crowns
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-16.708; 2. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.831; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-16.850; 4. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.855; 5. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-16.885; 6. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-16.886; 7. Zach Daum, 17, O'Dell-16.903; 8. Chris Windom, 89x, CBI-16.904; 9. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-16.925; 10. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-16.944; 11. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-16.985; 12. Briggs Danner, 98, Schneider-17.099; 13. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.112; 14. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.137; 15. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.150; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-17.158; 17. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-17.325; 18. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-17.399; 19. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-17.662; 20. Matt Goodnight, 23, Simon-17.759; 21. Michael Smith, 76, Savage-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Kale Drake, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Kayla Roell. 2:21.929
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Zach Wigal, 3. Jacob Denney, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Jade Avedisian, 6. Kyle Jones, 7. Matt Goodnight. 2:25.029
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Gavin Miller, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Justin Grant, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Drake Edwards, 7. Michael Smith. 2:25.702
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (7), 2. Cannon McIntosh (3), 3. Jacob Denney (2), 4. Zach Daum (9), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Zach Wigal (12), 7. Justin Grant (1), 8. Chris Windom (10), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 10. Kale Drake (14), 11. Gavin Miller (8), 12. Hayden Reinbold (18), 13. Briggs Danner (13), 14. Kyle Jones (17), 15. Jade Avedisian (15), 16. Thomas Meseraull (16), 17. Drake Edwards (11), 18. Matt Goodnight (20), 19. Michael Smith (21), 20. Kayla Roell (19), 21. Ryan Timms (5). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Justin Grant, Lap 5 Jacob Denney, Laps 6-7 Justin Grant, Lap 8 Jacob Denney, Laps 9-11 Zach Daum, Laps 12-19 Cannon McIntosh, Laps 20-25 Daison Pursley.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-1063, 2-Cannon McIntosh-1010, 3-Ryan Timms-912, 4-Zach Daum-892, 5-Logan Seavey-883, 6-Jacob Denney-846, 7-Justin Grant-836, 8-Gavin Miller-801, 9-Kale Drake-751, 10-Zach Wigal-750.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-182, 2-Logan Seavey-170, 3-Robert Ballou-140, 4-C.J. Leary-117, 5-Kyle Cummins-115, 6-Justin Grant-112, 7-Chase Stockon-112, 8-Brady Bacon-109, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-99, 10-Joey Amantea-92.
4-CROWN NATIONALS PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-8, 2-Zach Wigal-7, 3-Hayden Reinbold-6, 4-Logan Seavey-5, 5-Zach Daum-5, 6-Ryan Timms-5, 7-Kale Drake-4, 8-Cannon McIntosh-3, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-3, 10-Kyle Jones-3.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 21, 2024 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 42nd 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Gavin Miller (16.764)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey (16.708)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Ryan Timms
T.J. Forged / Car IQ Third Heat Winner: Gavin Miller
Hard Charger: Daison Pursley (7th to 1st)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Zach Daum