KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Daison Pursley made his first points victory with the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series count Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway by winning the Corn Belt Clash worth $12,000.
The win came aboard the Team AZ Racing No. 21az. In 988 Lifeline 410 action, Chase Randall scored his second win of the season in that class.
Eric Schulz flipped down the backstretch before a lap could be completed in the 30-lap Corn Belt Clash feature. He was unhurt. One green, Pursley led Carson Garrett, Justin Grant, C.J. Leary and Brady Bacon. Leary and Bacon both passed Grant and Garrett to move themselves into second and third on lap two before Korbyn Hayslett slowed, bringing out the caution.
On lap four, Xavier Doney flipped while running seventh, bringing another stoppage. Bacon gained second from Leary on that restart, as he was a lone wolf on the cushion in turns one and two. The next slowdown came 12 laps in, when Logan Seavey slowed.
Pursley led Bacon, Leary, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Justin Grant back to green. Bacon hit the bottom of turn four on the restart and got a run that propelled him under Pursley for the lead in turn one. He held that lead through a lap 15 caution for Garrett, and a lap 19 slowdown for Joey Amantea.
Pursley began reeling in the two-time winner of the Corn Belt Clash and shot by with a slider in turn three on lap 22, to take the lead for good. Pursley pulled away to the win, ahead of Bacon, Thomas, Leary and Kyle Cummins, who won a back-and-forth battle with Justin Grant for fifth.
“This is huge,” said Pursley. “I feel like we were close so many times. I thought I gave it away once I messed up on the restart. I thought it was over from there, because Brady doesn’t usually make any mistakes. I just tried to keep on pressuring him in three and four, and thankfully we were able to do it. I was fortunate that he missed the bottom there in three and I was able to hit the bottom and slide by. Brady is no slouch at any track, and especially if you look at the history here at Knoxville.”
“(Pursley) kind of messed up on the restart and we were able to get by him,” said the second place Bacon. “He could just roll through the center, and kind of slide up and get a straight shot on the straightaway. I had to kind of just stay right on the berm. I just couldn’t get enough speed to keep him behind me. I was cheating getting into three and he just beat us. He ran a good race, and they were just a little better than us tonight.”
“We were constantly working on the car,” said Thomas. “It’s a full (Rock Steady Racing) team effort. Thanks to my team. We went from a 15th-place finish last night to a third. That’s what it’s all about. I just kind of stalled out once I got to third. I couldn’t do as much as I wanted to. They kind of figured out a couple little things, but a big shout out to my team.”
The 20-lap 988 Lifeline A main got off to a terrible start with a melee that involved a minimum of seven cars. After Emerson Axsom and Sawyer Phillips got together, cars involved included those of Garet Williamson, Jake Bubak, Kerry Madsen, and AJ Moeller, Tasker Phillips and Chris Martin, who were done.
Don Droud Jr., who will be inducted into the Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame in July, shot out to the early lead once things went green, ahead of Aaron Reutzel, Chase Randall, Austin McCarl and Brian Brown. Things went non-stop the rest of the way, with Droud entering lapped traffic on the eleventh circuit.
About that time, Randall used the high side of turn two in heavy traffic to get around Reutzel for second and begin his pursuit of Droud. Using the same point on the track, he shot by Droud on lap 12 and began pulling away. McCarl passed Reutzel for third on the same lap.
Randall won comfortably over Droud, Austin McCarl, Reutzel and Brown.
“You just got to want it,” said Randall in Victory Lane. “I want it so bad for myself and this whole (TKS Motorsports) team. They’ve given me one of the best opportunities I’ve had to compete at the top level. Starting in third, I was trying to be a little patient. It was super fast, and I knew lapped traffic would be my best bet. It kind of worked out for me. The lane kind of opened to get by Aaron in one, and we were able to get by (Droud) too. It just feels amazing to be standing here in Victory Lane, and we look forward to the future.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Knoxville Raceway, Knoxville, Iowa, June 1, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-19.708; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.769; 3. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-19.863; 4. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-19.918; 5. Jake Swanson, 2B, 2B Racing-20.027; 6. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-20.031; 7. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-20.224; 8. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-20.245; 9. Xavier Doney, 74, Doney/Lawson-20.275; 10. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-20.306; 11. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-20.329; 12. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-20.377; 13. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.396; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-20.432; 15. Chase Johnson, 4J, Ford-20.485; 16. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-20.495; 17. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-20.576; 18. Wesley Smith, 44, Smith-20.640; 19. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-20.933; 20. Jadon Rogers, 17GP, Dutcher-20.981; 21. Logan Calderwood, 73, Ford-20.998; 22. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-21.064; 23. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-21.131; 24. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-21.322; 25. Eric Schulz, 38, Grein-21.428; 26. Tyler Graves, T4, Graves-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Joey Amantea, 4. Carson Garrett, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Korbyn Hayslett, 8. Charles Davis Jr., 9. Eric Schulz. 2:45.569
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Justin Grant, 6. J.J. Yeley, 7. Jadon Rogers, 8. Hunter Maddox, 9. Tyler Graves. 2:47.168
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Xavier Doney, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Wesley Smith, 7. Logan Calderwood, 8. Kobe Simpson. 2:48.136
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Korbyn Hayslett, 2. Logan Calderwood, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Kobe Simpson, 6. Eric Schulz, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. Tyler Graves. 2:54.648
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (1), 2. Brady Bacon (6), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Kyle Cummins (11), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Robert Ballou (8), 8. Mitchel Moles (13), 9. Jake Swanson (2), 10. J.J. Yeley (17), 11. Chase Johnson (15), 12. Matt Westfall (16), 13. Carson Garrett (3), 14. Chase Stockon (14), 15. Jadon Rogers (20), 16. Charles Davis Jr. (22), 17. Korbyn Hayslett (19), 18. Logan Calderwood (21), 19. Kobe Simpson (23), 20. Joey Amantea (12), 21. Logan Seavey (10), 22. Xavier Doney (7), 23. Wesley Smith (18), 24. Eric Schulz (24). NT