PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Daison Pursley made a daring last-lap pass to earn his first USAC Silver Crown victory in only his second start in the series.
Pursley has now won a race in all three USAC national divisions and a winged sprint car this season.
Driving the Team AZ No. 21, Pursley shared the front row with Brady Bacon, who set a track record during qualifying.
Bacon, who won the night’s USAC sprint car feature, took the early lead in the 50-lap affair.
Justin Grant, who started in fourth, found himself in a three-way battle for the lead with Bacon and Pursley 15 laps into the feature event. Grant took second from Pursley with 34 laps remaining.
Grant would continue to battle with Bacon over the next 13 laps before officially taking the lead with a slider in turns one and two.
Pursley passed Bacon with 18 laps remaining.
Pursley would use the top side of the race track to run down Grant over the final 18 laps while continuously banging into the cushion and the outside wall, but still keeping the car running.
With lapped traffic playing a factor in the final laps of the race, Pursley would make his move, a slider in turns three and four, to try and take the lead.
Grant turned his car back down the hill a bit to stay alongside Pursley with the two cars banging tires coming down the frontstretch.
Grant held the lead into turns one and two on the white flag lap, but in turns three and four Pursley used the top side of the track to mount momentum to get by Grant for the win.
“I feel like there were a lot of scary moments there,” explained Pursley in victory lane. “It’s Port Royal. If you want to win, you have to do stuff like that.”
Grant finished second, with Bacon coming home third.
USAC Silver Crown National Championship, Port Royal Speedway, Port Royal, Pa., June 15, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: (top-16 locked into the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 9, Dyson-19.816 (Track Record); 2. Daison Pursley, 21, Team AZ-19.858; 3. Kody Swanson, 77, Doran/Binks-19.943; 4. Logan Seavey, 22, Rice/Abacus-20.042; 5. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.098; 6. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-20.264; 7. Mitchel Moles, 119, Reinbold/Underwood-20.285; 8. Chase Stockon, 69, Pink 69-20.342; 9. Chase Dietz, 86, Lee-20.361; 10. Shane Cottle, 53, Five Three-20.503; 11. Kyle Steffens, 08, Steffens-20.521; 12. Briggs Danner, 10, DMW-20.539; 13. Alex Bright, 24, Haggenbottom-20.593; 14. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-20.668; 15. Robert Ballou, 97, Lein-20.715; 16. Carmen Perigo, 52, Stehman-20.857; 17. Trey Osborne, 81, BCR-20.922; 18. Mark Smith, 01, L & M-21.111; 19. Chris Fetter, 15, Fetter-21.321; 20. Mark Bitner, 4, Yeska-21.361; 21. Nathan Moore, 48, Thomas/Moore-21.381; 22. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-21.533; 23. Tom Savage, 38, Savage-22.008; 24. C.J. Leary, 6, Klatt-NT; 24. C.J. Leary, 6, Klatt-NT (Time of 20.223 disallowed); 25. Kaylee Bryson, 26, Pierce-NT (Time of 20.272 disallowed); 26. Trey Burke, 60, Legacy/Wilson-NT (Time of 20.462 disallowed); 27. Gregg Cory, 32, Williams/Cory-NT (Time of 21.309 disallowed).
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps, top-8 transfer to the feature) 1. Mark Smith, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Trey Burke, 4. Mark Bitner, 5. Chris Fetter, 6. Nathan Moore, 7. Kaylee Bryson, 8. Trey Osborne, 9. Dave Berkheimer, 10. Tom Savage, 11. Gregg Cory. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (2), 2. Justin Grant (6), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Matt Westfall (5), 5. Kody Swanson (3), 6. Chase Dietz (9), 7. Mitchel Moles (7), 8. Alex Bright (13), 9. Briggs Danner (12), 10. Logan Seavey (4), 11. Kyle Steffens (11), 12. Carmen Perigo (16), 13. Mark Smith (17), 14. Trey Burke (19), 15. Brian Ruhlman (14), 16. Shane Cottle (10), 17. Robert Ballou (15), 18. Kaylee Bryson (23), 19. Chase Stockon (8), 20. Mark Bitner (20), 21. Chris Fetter (21), 22. Trey Osborne (24), 23. C.J. Leary (18), 24. Nathan Moore (22). 28:53.852 (Track Record)