PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. — Emerson Axsom passed Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Ryan Timms on lap 19 of 30 and led the final 12 laps to win the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature at Lincoln Park Speedway on night two of Indiana Midget Week.
Axsom is the fifth different driver to win in the first five USAC events this season and the third from Keith Kunz Motorsports along with Timms and Cannon McIntosh.
Starting from the outside of row two, Timms would run the outside line to move past McIntosh on lap one with McIntosh, Kale Drake, Pursley and Taylor Reimer rounding out the top five.
Timms, who won the Indiana Midget Week opener at Lawrenceburg on Wednesday, quickly pulled away from the field as he and McIntosh ran one-two through the first 16 laps before a caution flag bunched the field.
On the restart, Axsom overtook McIntosh for second on lap 17 and quickly close in on Timms. He would throw a slider for the lead on lap 18, only to have Timms dive back underneath him to retake the lead at the flag stand, but it wouldn’t last long as Axsom gained the lead for good on lap 19.
The top two would maintain their spots over the final 12 laps with the focus becoming a battle between McIntosh and Daison Pursley for third.
Eventually, Pursley grabbed the final podium position on lap 22, with McIntosh placing fourth, ahead of Reimer as Toyota drivers claimed the top-five finishing positions.
It was the first USAC midget victory in three years for Axsom, who runs a limited schedule in the series while focusing on sprint cars.
“KKM’s stuff is so good. This is my second midget race in six months and these cars are just a dream to drive,” Axsom said. “I tweaked on the shocks a little bit under that yellow and the car came to life. I haven’t won a midget race in a long time, but I feel like I’ve run second a million times where stuff just doesn’t go our way. Thanks to Keith, Toyota and everyone on this race car. This car was just a dream to drive.”
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship, Lincoln Park Speedway, Putnamville, Ind., June 6, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-12.705; 2. Emerson Axsom, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.740; 3. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.742; 4. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.844; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.844; 6. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.859; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr, 9, Mounce/Stout-12.883; 8. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.948; 9. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-12.954; 10. Zach Daum, 7p, RAMCO-12.973; 11. Jake Andreotti, 14, 4 Kings-12.973; 12. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.994; 13. Ricky Lewis, 54, 4 Kings-13.029; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.089; 15. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.103; 16. Kaiden Manders, 7m, RAMCO-13.131; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-13.135; 18. Logan Prickett, 37, MKP-13.168; 19. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-13.190; 20. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-13.202; 21. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-13.241; 22. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.255; 23. Michael Pickens, 54NZ, Mounce/Stout-13.258; 24. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-13.302; 25. Hank Davis, 8, Cornell-13.314; 26. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.354; 27. Drake Edwards, 3p, Petty-13.461; 28. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.562; 29. Lance Bennett, 91, Mason-13.823; 30. Weston Gorham, 18N, Dickerson-13.854; 31. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.877; 32. Tom Dunkel, 17A, Ford-13.943; 33. Jeff Schindler, 8x, Schindler-13.949; 34. Adam Bolyard, 4, Bolyard-14.017; 35. Glenn Styres, 0G, Styres-14.343; 36. Robert Carson, 99K, LOK-NT; 37. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-NT; 38. Abby Hohlbein, 27, Joyner-13.796.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Kyle Jones, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Ricky Lewis, 7. Hank Davis, 8. Lance Bennett, 9. Jeff Schindler. 2:14.732
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Kale Drake, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Logan Prickett, 8. Weston Gorham, 9. Abby Hohlbein, 10. Adam Bolyard. 2:16.805
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Jake Andreotti, 4. Michael Pickens, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Steve Buckwalter, 7. Drake Edwards, 8. Glenn Styres, 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. 2:14.070
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase McDermand, 2. Zach Wigal, 3. Taylor Reimer, 4. Gavin Miller, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Kaiden Manders, 7. Blake Brannon, 8. Tom Dunkel, 9. Robert Carson. 2:16.906
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Ricky Lewis, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Drake Edwards, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Hank Davis, 7. Blake Brannon, 8. Weston Gorham, 9. Lance Bennett, 10. Logan Prickett, 11. Abby Hohlbein, 12. Jeff Schindler, 13. Glenn Styres, 14. Adam Bolyard, 15. Robert Carson, 16. Steve Buckwalter, 17. Justin Dickerson. 2:54.024
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Emerson Axsom (5), 2. Ryan Timms (4), 3. Daison Pursley (6), 4. Cannon McIntosh (2), 5. Taylor Reimer (3), 6. Chase McDermand (9), 7. Jade Avedisian (10), 8. Kale Drake (1), 9. Kyle Cummins (7), 10. Gavin Miller (16), 11. Logan Seavey (12), 12. Jacob Denney (13), 13. Hayden Reinbold (18), 14. Kyle Jones (20), 15. Justin Grant (8), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 17. Jake Andreotti (15), 18. Michael Pickens (21), 19. Drake Edwards (23), 20. Zach Wigal (22), 21. Zach Daum (14), 22. Ricky Lewis (17), 23. Kaiden Manders (24), 24. Ethan Mitchell (19).
