KOKOMO, Ind. — Daison Pursley passed fellow Toyota driver Michael Pickens on lap 26 of 30 and went on to win the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ feature and earn the Indiana Midget Week title Sunday night at Kokomo Speedway.
Pursley, also the series points leader, registered two wins, a second and two third-place finishes in the five Indiana Midget Week events, along with a pair of top qualifiers and three heat race wins.
“Everyone that’s a part of this team is amazing,” Pursley said. “It’s just such a phenomenal car to drive. I always wanted to win here at Kokomo and was finally able to pull it off. Michael got the bottom rolling pretty early and then went high and he was just gone. Once we hit lapped traffic, we were able to pounce on some errors. Hats off to Michael and Logan that was a great race. It’s cool to win the Indiana Midget Week championship and hopefully it leads to more.”
Overall, this season, the CB Industries driver has earned three victories and seven top-three podium finishes in the season’s first eight races.
Toyota-powered drivers led all 30 laps in Sunday night’s feature as Jade Avedisian took the lead for lap one before her Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Pickens would drive underneath her to take the lead on lap two.
Pickens would then lead the next 24 laps while Pursley would move up from sixth to second by lap nine and then trade the position with Logan Seavey before finally taking over second on lap 23 as the top three were separated by less than a second.
Pursley would then drive by Pursley heading down the back straight on lap 26. A red flag would then come out on lap 27, setting up a four-lap dash to the finish, but Pursley was up to the task, pulling away from Pickens for the win.
Cannon McIntosh and Kale Drake completed the top five.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Championship, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Ind., June 9, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.318; 2. Michael Pickens, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.379; 3. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-13.477; 4. Hank Davis, 8, Cornell-13.508; 5. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.524; 6. Daniel Whitley, 7m, RAMCO-13.531; 7. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.560; 8. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-13.562; 9. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-13.583; 10. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-13.606; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.606; 12. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.613; 13. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-13.626; 14. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-13.659; 15. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.673; 16. Zach Daum, 7p, RAMCO-13.706; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.727; 18. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.742; 19. Frankie Guerrini, 63, F & F-13.759; 20. Jake Andreotti, 14, 4 Kings-13.793; 21. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-13.816; 22. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.837; 23. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.843; 24. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.920; 25. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-14.009; 26. Weston Gorham, 18N, Dickerson-14.018; 27. Lance Bennett, 91, Mason-14.193; 28. Tom Dunkel, 17A, Ford-14.845; 29. Robert Carson, 99K, LOK-15.032.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Drake Edwards, 4. Chase McDermand, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Adam Taylor, 7. Robert Carson, 8. Steve Buckwalter.
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Taylor Reimer, 3. Michael Pickens, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Kyle Jones, 6. Daniel Whitley, 7. Weston Gorham.
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Gavin Miller, 3. Zach Wigal, 4. Jade Avedisian, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Frankie Guerrini, 7. Lance Bennett.
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Andreotti, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Blake Brannon, 4. Hank Davis, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Tom Dunkel, 7. Ryan Timms.
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Frankie Guerrini, 2. Steve Buckwalter, 3. Daniel Whitley, 4. Ryan Timms, 5. Adam Taylor, 6. Lance Bennett, 7. Tom Dunkel, 8. Weston Gorham, 9. Robert Carson.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (7), 2. Michael Pickens (5), 3. Logan Seavey (6), 4. Cannon McIntosh (9), 5. Kale Drake (8), 6. Zach Daum (18), 7. Gavin Miller (23), 8. Jacob Denney (14), 9. Chase McDermand (13), 10. Ryan Timms (16), 11. Hayden Reinbold (15), 12. Kyle Jones (17), 13. Jade Avedisian (1), 14. Zach Wigal (4), 15. Frankie Guerrini (20), 16. Jake Andreotti (10), 17. Taylor Reimer (22), 18. Justin Grant (12), 19. Hank Davis (3), 20. Ethan Mitchell (2), 21. Blake Brannon (24), 22. Steve Buckwalter (19), 23. Drake Edwards (21), 24. Daniel Whitley (11).
