By Richie Murray
Ocala, Florida (February 15, 2025)………Seemingly, it was only a matter of time before Daison Pursley broke through the iron wall that had stood in his path to victory throughout Winter Dirt Games XVI.
Following finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd and leading a total of 43 laps across the past five nights of USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship racing in Florida, the Locust Grove, Oklahoma native finally hurdled the hump to land a long-awaited victory during Saturday night’s Winter Dirt Games XVI finale at Ocala Speedway.
Pursley collected $10,000 for his efforts in the 35-lap feature event at the 3/8-mile dirt oval as he picked his way to the lead past Mitchel Moles on the 21st circuit and led the remaining 15 trips in his CB Industries/Avanti Windows & Doors – Pristine Auction – NOS Energy Drink/Spike/Stanton Chevy.
For Pursley, it was third career USAC National Sprint Car points-paying feature victory, and his first for the newly formed CB Industries team owned by former series winning driver Chad Boat. Now, in the team’s first six races together, they’ve yet to finish off the podium in six starts.
Although the team was so close to victory on each of the five nights, it didn’t get them down. All it did was prove that they were in position to win every time they hit the racetrack, and soon, their time was going to come.
“As the week went on, we wanted to win more and more,” Pursley admitted. “This is just a phenomenal racecar. It’s been a pleasure to drive, for sure, and I’m just the one lucky enough to get to be in the seat.”
Starting third in the 24-car field, Pursley used traffic to his advantage on lap 15 when second-running Brady Bacon became boxed in behind the 22nd place car of Kobe Simpson in turns three and four. Pursley dove to the bottom, then sliced between Bacon and Simpson on the front straightaway to become the new occupant of the runner-up spot.
“I just felt like I was the only one, at least among those ahead of me, who was moving around in one and two, and I knew that was going to be the place to try to do something down the back straightaway with how he and Brady were floating up,” Pursley explained. “I got lucky enough to where Brady decided to try to run the top in three and four, and with lapped traffic, I was the one actually getting to pounce on them.”
When the yellow flag was displayed for 14th place Hayden Reinbold’s flat right rear tire on the 19th lap, it removed traffic from the equation but allowed Pursley free reign to discover which path fit to his liking.
On the first lap following the restart, Pursley wound himself up on the high side and was able to pull even alongside Moles on the back straightaway. On the ensuing go around, Pursley modified his approach by diving under Moles in turn one to swipe the lead away, albeit briefly.
Moles cut back under Pursley at the exit of turn two to reassume the top spot as Pursley slipped back underneath Moles midway down the dogleg headed for turn three when Pursley ramped his right front tire over Moles’ left rear. Pursley landed on all fours to complete the pass on the inside of turn three to become the new leader with 15 laps remaining.
“I just started moving around a little bit, and when Mitchel and I got to racing, I knew his angle was so low in the middle of one and two that it was going to shoot him up the track,” Pursley pointed out. “I kind of anticipated it a little bit where I thought he was going to slide a little bit further, then I ended up getting into his left rear a bit as we drag raced into three.”
With 10 laps to go, Pursley had established a 1.6 second lead as Bacon worked on Moles for second. Ultimately, on lap 25, Bacon managed to charge around Moles to swipe second for good just prior to Logan Seavey (9th) slowing with a flat right rear tire, which dropped him to 18th in the final running order.
Although Pursley’s lead was subsequently erased multiple times down the stretch, including for the final time with five laps to go, he was the class of the field, crossing the finish line 0.351 seconds ahead of Thursday Ocala winner Brady Bacon, Friday Ocala victor Kyle Cummins, Wednesday Ocala winner Justin Grant and Mitchel Moles, who led a race high 20 laps before falling back to fifth at the checkered.
It took a minute for everything to align the way Pursley hoped it would, and after five close calls, the 2023 USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year was able to close out the week on top.
“It was once again a phenomenal car by Chad and his crew,” Pursley praised. “It’s been a pleasure to drive. This thing’s been really good and I’m excited for the future here. What an amazing racetrack too. You could move around in one and two and there was the typical, unique Bubba line in three and four that you had to be good at. It took me all week to figure it out, but nonetheless, we finally did.”
As a car owner, Chad Boat ranks 10th in all-time USAC National Midget wins with 41, a run which includes two series championship in 2020 and again in 2024, which came with Pursley at the wheel. But it’s been a long time since he’s been in the USAC National Sprint Car win column, specifically July of 2009, when he raced to his second and final career triumph during Indiana Sprint Week at Kokomo Speedway. Nearly 16 full seasons later, it’s a welcome homecoming for the first-time USAC National Sprint Car winning car owner.
“It’s definitely special,” Boat exclaimed. “These are the best in the business in non-wing sprint car racing. To come out and race against Justin Grant, Kyle Cummins, Brady Bacon and guys like that, it’s tough and it’s a slugfest. These races are tough to win and I’m super proud of Daison. My guys did an amazing job. It’s a new group of guys working together this year and we came out of the box swinging, and I’m really proud of that.”
Kyle Cummins earned the 2025 Winter Dirt Games championship, earning an extra $5,000 for his efforts throughout the six-race series, which included six top-five finishes and two feature victories. In fact, he and Pursley both tied for the number one spot at 449 points for the week, but Cummins held the tiebreaker with his pair of victories at Volusia Speedway Park and Ocala. Afterward, Cummins promptly proclaimed that he’s going to Disney World.
Jadon Rogers passed 39 cars throughout the past six races in Florida to score the Hughes Racing / Indiana Mafia / Flamingo Sandy Winter Dirt Games Passing Master title and an $800 reward. It’s the second such award of his career as he also collected the honor in 2022.
Sporting a “Moose-Stache,” Chase Stockon transformed his night after suffering a flat right rear tire while leading his heat race, which required extensive repairs to the nerf bar and torque tube. He started at the tail of the semi-feature and transferred his way through, then earned hard charger honors by advancing from 23rd to 13th in the main event. For that, he earns Inferno Armor’s Fire Move of the Night.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 15, 2025 – Ocala Speedway – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XVI – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
ROD END SUPPLY FIRST QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary (#21AZ Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Carson Garrett (#15 BGE), 3. Kale Drake (#2B 2B Racing), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#3R Rock Steady), 5. Harley Burns (#16 Britt Aero), 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (#51T Tafoya), 7. Ricky Lewis (#74B Lewis) , 8. Dustin Burtron (#51 Holston). 2:26.794
CAR IQ SECOND QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou), 2. Jake Swanson (#5T Daming Swanson), 3. Tom Harris (#84 Harris), 4. Briggs Danner (#39 Hogue), 5. Joey Amantea (#88J JPA), 6. Matt Goodnight (#39G Goodnight), 7. Eddie Vancil (#7v Vancil), 8. Mark Smith (#M1 Smith). NT
K1 RACEGEAR THIRD QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey (Abacus #57), 2. Jadon Rogers (#66 Amati), 3. Hayden Reinbold (#19 Reinbold-Underwood), 4. Gunnar Setser (#5G KO), 5. Kayla Roell (#4K Roell), 6. Chase Stockon (#92 Sertich), 7. Troy Carey (#45N Carey), 8. Kobe Simpson (#21K Simpson). NT
FAST DASH: (6 laps) 1. Brady Bacon (#20 Dyson), 2. Mitchel Moles (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 3. Daison Pursley (#86 CBI), 4. Kyle Cummins (#3p Petty), 5. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP), 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Robert Ballou, 8. C.J. Leary. 1:27.767 (New Track Record)
ALSO AT THE TRACK: Oliver Akard (#32 Rase)
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 2. Mark Smith, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Kobe Simpson, 5. Ricky Lewis, 6. Eddie Vancil, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Dustin Burtron. NT
FEATURE: (35 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (3), 2. Brady Bacon (1), 3. Kyle Cummins (4), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Mitchel Moles (2), 6. Carson Garrett (9), 7. Robert Ballou (7), 8. C.J. Leary (8), 9. Kale Drake (12), 10. Jake Swanson (10), 11. Jadon Rogers (11), 12. Briggs Danner (16), 13. Chase Stockon (23), 14. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 15. Tom Harris (13), 16. Harley Burns (18), 17. Hayden Reinbold (14), 18. Logan Seavey (6), 19. Kayla Roell (20), 20. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (21), 21. Kobe Simpson (24), 22. Gunnar Setser (17), 23. Joey Amantea (19), 24. Mark Smith (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Mitchel Moles, Laps 21-35 Daison Pursley.
**Troy Carey flipped during the third qualifier.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-449, 2-Daison Pursley-449, 3-Justin Grant-425, 4-Brady Bacon-366, 5-Mitchel Moles-344, 6-C.J. Leary-325, 7-Logan Seavey-324, 8-Jake Swanson-313, 9-Briggs Danner-309, 10-Robert Ballou-295.
USAC WINTER DIRT GAMES XVI POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-449, 2-Daison Pursley-449, 3-Justin Grant-425, 4-Brady Bacon-366, 5-Mitchel Moles-344, 6-C.J. Leary-325, 7-Logan Seavey-324, 8-Jake Swanson-313, 9-Briggs Danner-309, 10-Robert Ballou-295.
USAC NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-32, 2-Kale Drake-31, 3-Jadon Rogers-26, 4-Chase Stockon-20, 5-Briggs Danner-19, 6-Robert Ballou-17, 7-Harley Burns-14, 8-Daison Pursley-13, 9-Kyle Cummins-11, 10-Jake Swanson-11.
HUGHES RACING / INDIANA MAFIA / FLAMINGO SANDY WINTER DIRT GAMES XVI SPRINT CAR PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Jadon Rogers-39, 2-C.J. Leary-38, 3-Chase Stockon-35, 4-Kale Drake-34, 5-Briggs Danner-30, 6-Robert Ballou-30, 7-Kyle Cummins-29, 8-Daison Pursley-25, 9-Justin Grant-23, 10-Harley Burns-20.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: April 4, 2025 – Paragon Speedway – Paragon, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Winter Dirt Games XVI Champion: Kyle Cummins
Winter Dirt Games XVI Hughes Racing / Indiana Mafia / Flamingo Sandy Passing Master Champion: Jadon Rogers (39)
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (14.346)
Rod End Supply First Qualifier Winner: C.J. Leary
Car IQ Second Qualifier Winner: Robert Ballou
K1 RaceGear Third Qualifier Winner: Logan Seavey
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Eddie Tafoya Jr.
Hard Charger: Chase Stockon (23rd to 13th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Chase Stockon