SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — Motivated by a second-place finish a night earlier, Cannon McIntosh won Monday night’s 39th Firemen’s Nationals at Angell Park Speedway.
McIntosh seized the moment, heisting the lead from Sunday night winner Zach Wigal on the second lap, then stormed to his first victory at the third-mile dirt oval at the controls of his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Gear Wrench – TRD – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.
“Last night, we were so close,” McIntosh lamented. “I was running it with everything I had, and I felt like I got to (Wigal) there in traffic. He just got through a little bit better than me. But I was hungry for it tonight. Everyone I talked to before the race today, I told them I was going for it tonight, and that’s what we did. In qualifying, you want to be quick time but when you can qualify around the fifth or sixth spot, it’s huge because you get to start on the front row, and we just went all out from there. It definitely feels better to be back on the top step. Podiums are always great, but wins are amazing.”
It was McIntosh’s first win in USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition since opening night in mid-May and was the eighth overall of his career with the series.
McIntosh started the 30-lap feature from the outside of the front row beside pole sitter Thomas Meseraull.
However, it was last night’s winner, third-starting Wigal, who surged to the front on the opening lap when he scooted along the bottom of turns three and four to take over where he left off from the night before. Nonetheless, the tables were turned on the second go-around when Wigal entered turn three high, leaving an open path on the bottom for McIntosh to breeze on by and assume the lead.
Meanwhile, deep into the field, Logan Seavey was relegated to starting at the back of the pack after a broken pump drive shaft prevented him from recording a qualifying lap.
Starting 22nd in the feature, Seavey had advanced five positions up to 17th by lap four but was contacted in the rear bumper by Frankie Guerrini in turn four, sending Seavey spinning backwards into the outside wall, albeit with light contact.
Restarting at the tail once more, Seavey ultimately advanced +15 to finish seventh.
One lap following the resumption of the race, fifth-running Meseraull biked on his entry into turn three, then broadsided the wall, which sent him helicoptering through the air multiple times before landing upside down.
Meseraull eventually walked away after the accident, but his heavily damaged ride was towed to the pits with him still sitting in the seat, but officially out of the race.
While McIntosh was busy applying the gauntlet on the field to the tune of 1.6 seconds on the ensuing restart, Zach Wigal, Justin Grant and Daison Pursley were running three-wide for second.
On the sixth circuit, Pursley slotted ahead of both drivers in a fourth-to-second grab-and-go on the back straight.
Wigal, meanwhile, held on with all his might as he half-spun in turn three right in front of Grant, but kept on motoring, still in third, but a long way from the front where McIntosh had established control.
The night’s second and final red flag occurred on lap 11 when Guerrini cartwheeled four times at the exit of turn four.
From halfway on, McIntosh was continuously hounded for the lead by Pursley who could never seem to get within a couple car lengths from the rear bumper of McIntosh.
As the top two entered the tail end of the field with seven laps remaining, McIntosh nearly sailed it a little too high in turn four on lap 24, coming within a whisker of nailing the concrete. But it was no harm, no foul as McIntosh rooster-tailed the wall and raced away from Pursley once more, maintaining a half-second lead in the process.
“I feel like the car was really good as the race went on and it actually got a little bit tighter as it went on,” McIntosh explained. “I was worried we’d get too free throughout the middle of the race, but the car just came to life as the fuel load kept burning off. I was just watching the laps click off and I saw Daison poke a nose about halfway and I knew I had to give it all from there. I just kept running hard and I didn’t really know what line he was running. Keith (Kunz) said he was keeping it up all the way around, but I stayed with the line I was running. I felt like it was good, and it obviously worked.”
McIntosh couldn’t be touched down the stretch as he closed out a 0.554-second victory over runner-up Pursley Wigal third, Ryan Timms fourth and Justin Grant rounding out the top five.
Pursley finished third aboard the CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“Our car was good tonight, and I felt like I had to try too many lines late in the race to try and catch Cannon because he was just fast enough in three and four where I couldn’t really gain on him or capitalize on one of his mistakes,” Pursley stated. “It’s just part of midget racing with how fast everybody is right now, but overall, it was a good weekend for the team.”
It was a career best weekend for Wigal. After winning his first career USAC National Midget feature on Sunday night, Wigal finished his first Firemen’s Nationals experience with back-to-back podiums.
“(Car owner) Chad (Boat) had the car super hooked up and we were digging,” Wigal recalled. “It was a super technical track. It’s just super awesome that somebody with as little experience as me can come out and run with the best of the best.”
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wis., Sept. 2, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-14.617; 2. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-14.813; 3. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.813; 4. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-14.840; 5. Rylan Gray, 87, RMS-14.852; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.866; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-14.867; 8. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-14.871; 9. Chase McDermand, 40, McDermand-14.874; 10. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.921; 11. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.957; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-14.957; 13. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.963; 14. Zach Daum, 16, Royal-14.995; 15. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.030; 16. Jakeb Boxell, 44, 4 Kings-15.163; 17. Will Armitage, 83, Fatt Right Foot-15.166; 18. Mariah Ede, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.167; 19. Frankie Guerrini, 8, Cornell-15.231; 20. Ricky Lewis, 4, 4 Kings-15.248; 21. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-15.592; 22. Cameron Weishoff, 55, Weishoff-16.356; 23. Daniel Whitley, 57A, RAB-NT; 24. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Gavin Miller, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Zach Wigal, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Jakeb Boxell, 6. Frankie Guerrini, 7. Cameron Weishoff, 8. Jade Avedisian. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Will Armitage, 6. Jacob Denney, 7. Rylan Gray, 8. Ricky Lewis. 2:04.262
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Mariah Ede, 6. Adam Taylor, 7. Chase McDermand, 8. Daniel Whitley. 2:04.108
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (2), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. Zach Wigal (3), 4. Ryan Timms (7), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Jacob Denney (10), 7. Logan Seavey (22), 8. Kale Drake (4), 9. Gavin Miller (8), 10. Chase McDermand (11), 11. Zach Daum (14), 12. Jade Avedisian (12), 13. Mariah Ede (18), 14. Rylan Gray (9), 15. Jakeb Boxell (16), 16. Will Armitage (17), 17. Adam Taylor (20), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 19. Cameron Weishoff (21), 20. Frankie Guerrini (19), 21. Ethan Mitchell (15), 22. Daniel Whitley (23), 23. Thomas Meseraull (1).