Kyle Cummins won the USAC opener at Volusia Monday (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
2/10/25
Volusia Speedway Park
Barberville, FL
USAC
34 cars
Daison Pursley (7th car out to time) set quick time at 16.156 seconds, just five-tenths of a second slower than CJ Leary’s track record. Justin Grant (21st car out) was second quick, followed by Kyle Cummins (8th), Mitchel Moles (11th), Logan Seavey (1st), Brady Bacon (9th), Briggs Danner (14th), Kevin Thomas Jr. (15th), Eddie Tafoya Jr. (19th) and Brian Ruhlman (27th). Ricky Lewis did not get a time in due to U-joint issues. Kyle Jones also did not get a time in and was done for the night, as was Trey Osborne.
Heat one (started): 1. Seavey 57 (4) 2. Carson Garrett (1) 3. Pursley 86 (5) 4. Kobe Simpson 21K (2) 5. Kayla Roell 4K (7) / 6. John Mollick 4J (6) 7. Tafoya Jr. 51T (3) DNS – Trey Osborne 6T, Kyle Jones 79
8-lap heats took the top five to the feature. Garrett led early over Simpson, Seavey, Tafoya and Mollick. Seavey moved into second on lap two. Mollick moved as high as fourth by lap four. Seavey passed Garrett for the lead on lap five, while Pursley, who got a slow start, shot from sixth to fourth. Roell picked off Mollick for the last transfer. Pursley gained third on the white flag lap.
Heat two (started): 1. Chase Stockon 92 (2) 2. Kale Drake 2B (3) 3. Bacon 20 (5) 4. Grant 4 (6) 5. Jadon Rogers 66 (1) / 6. Ricky Lewis 41 (9) 7. Mark Smith M1 (7) 8. Ruhlman 49 (4) 9. Eddie Vancil 7v (8)
Stockon led wire to wire. Rogers started second, but was overcome by Drake on lap two in a good battle. Grant moved into a transfer spot at the same time. Bacon continued his surge by taking third from Rogers on lap three, and second from Drake on lap four. Both Grant and Lewis (from the tail) moved into fourth and fifth by Rogers with two to go before Vancil stopped to bring a caution. The yellow negated a Bacon pass for the lead. Stockon led Bacon, Drake, Grant and Lewis back to green. Drake moved into second on the restart, while Rogers picked off Lewis for the final transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Danner 39 (5) 2. Cummins 3P (6) 3. Joey Amantea 88J (1) 4. Jake Swanson 5T (3) 5. Hayden Reinbold 19 (4) / 6. Tom Harris 84 (2) 7. Harley Burns 16 (7) 8. Troy Carey 45N (8)
Amantea led early over Swanson, Danner, Harris and Cummins. Cumming nabbed fourth from Harris on lap two. On lap four, Danner shot from third into the lead, coming out of turn four to go on to win. Cummins moved into third at the same time and then took second from Amantea on lap five. Reinbold gained the final transfer spot from Harris with two to go.
Heat four (started): 1. Robert Ballou 12 (4) 2. CJ Leary 21AZ (2) 3. Moles 19AZ (6) 4. Thomas Jr. 3R (5) 5. Nic Harris N2 (3) / 6. Gunnar Setsar 5G (7) 7. Matt Goodnight 39G (1) 8. Mike Haggenbottom 51 (8)
Leary led Ballou, Goodnight, Moles and Thomas Jr. early. Ballou shot by Leary to take the lead on lap two, while Moles moved into third. KTJ took fourth form Goodnight on lap four. Setsar gained the final transfer from Goodnight with two to go, only to have N. Harris steal it from him on the last lap.
B main (started): 1. Lewis (6) 2. Setsar (5) 3. T. Harris (3) 4. Ruhlman (2) / 5. Tafoya Jr. (1) 6. M. Smith (8) 7. Mollick (4) 8. Goodnight (7) 9. Burns (9) 10. Haggenbottom (11) 11. Carey (10) 12. Vancil (12) DNS – Osborne, Jones
The 12-lapper took the top four to the feature. Tafoya led T. Harris, Setsar and Ruhlman early. Lewis moved into at transfer on lap two, when he got by Ruhlman. T. Harris shot by Tafoya for the lead on lap three, while Lewis garnered third from Setsar. A lap later, Lewis was by Tafoya for second, and Setsar followed him into third on lap five. Lewis used the high side to get by T. Harris and take the lead on lap eight. Setsar followed him into second a lap later. Ruhlman battled Tafoya to gain the final transfer on the white flag lap.
A main (started): 1. Cummins (4) 2. Pursley (6) 3. Bacon (1) 4. Grant (5) 5. Danner (7) 6. Seavey (2) 7. Drake (14) 8. Thomas Jr. (10) 9. Leary (18) 10. Moles (3) 11. Ballou (8) 12. Stockon (9) 13. Rogers (20) 14. Swanson (15) 15. Lewis (24) 16. Amantea (21) 17. Reinbold (12) 18. Garrett (19) 19. Roell (23) 20. Ruhlman (11) 21. Setsar (22) 22. N. Harris (16) 23. T. Harris (17) 24. Simpson (13)
The 26-lapper (originally scheduled for 25) saw Bacon lead early over Cummins and Pursley. Cummins moved to the point early and began pulling away before Roell came to a stop three laps in. Cummins led Bacon, Pursley, Seavey and Grant back to green. On lap eight, Grant slid by Seavey in turn two to take over fourth. Danner moved into fifth, when Seavey bobbled over the turn four cushion. Cummins was already lapping cars by the 11th circuit. Grant got by Pursley in traffic on lap 16 for third. Cummins built up almost a half lap lead before Simpson got into the inside wall with five to go. The lead was gone, but Cummins shot out again over Bacon, Grant, Pursley and Danner. The lead five remained the same until a slowing Swanson brought a final caution on lap 24, setting up a green, white, checker finish. While Cummins could not be challenged, Pursley used the opportunity to get by both Grant and Bacon to finish runner-up in his first night in Chad Boat’s sprint car entry.