By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, OH (September 20, 2024) – Daison Pursley took advantage of a mid-race restart to go from third to first and held off multiple challenges from Cannon McIntosh to win the USAC National Midget Car Series feature during the Be4TheCrowns event at Eldora Speedway.
Pursley ended up in victory lane after a wild 25-lap affair that featured seven lead changes among five different drivers, taking lead during a late race restart.
“Cannon (McIntosh) decided to kind of take off all the way around the top, and Jacob (Denney) kind of started stepping his way down, so I was able just to follow him. Then they just left it wide open for me to try to do something into one, and was just able to pull it off.”
Grant and Denney started on the front row for the 25-lap main event with Grant taking the lead as Jacob Denney and Cannon McIntosh swapped the second position. Denny then used a power move railing the top of the racetrack to take the lead on lap five, only to have Grant take the top position back one lap later.
On two consecutive laps the race for the lead featured three wide racing in Eldora’s treacherous turn two that saw Zach Daum eventually take the lead. Two laps later McIntosh rolled around the top and passed Daum for the top position.
While Denny and Daum raced for second, Pursley was making his presence felt from seventh starting position and started to run down the leaders.
Then caution flag appeared with six laps to go and setup Pursley to make his move, going from third to first in a single swoop through turns one and two. On the other end of the track Denney got into the fence in turns three and four.
McIntosh tried to keep pace with Pursley and ended up getting into the wall on the backstretch, somehow keeping the car under power.
McIntosh caught a break after his save when Ryan Timms slowed to bring out the caution flag with two laps to go. McIntosh tried one more attempt at a slide job coming to the white flag after the restart, but Pursley was able to counter for the victory.
For Pursley, Friday’s success helped build confidence going into Saturday’s $15,000 to win finale where he will start one position closer to the front than Friday.
“I said in the heat race interview when this place gets slick against the fence, the CB Industry cars roll around here pretty good,” said Pursley. “Happy to win that thing from seventh and feel confident enough for tomorrow that that we can maybe get the job done from sixth tomorrow.”
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