LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Ryan Timms came on strong down the stretch on the opening night of USAC’s Indiana Midget Week and provided car entrant Mike Curb his milestone 200th career victory as USAC national entrant.
Curb is the first to reach the double-century mark in series history.
Behind the wheel of the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio – IWX – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota, Timms started 12th and raced the top of the three-eighths-mile track throughout the 30-lap event, taking the lead with four laps remaining and winning his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature at Lawrenceburg.
The race featured six lead changes, the most in a USAC Indiana Midget Week main event since the Kokomo Speedway round in 2014.
Timms was surprised to learn about Curb’s milestone accomplishment.
“I had no idea that was a thing going into tonight,” Timms admitted. “But now that I know, it’s pretty awesome. Not many people get a chance to run for this amazing team. For me to be able to get that opportunity to win 200, it feels really good to get it done.”
For team principal Keith Kunz, he and Curb — along with Cary Agajanian — have been longtime partners on their racing activities dating back to the 2012 season. Since that point in time, 115 of Curb’s 200 victories have occurred in association with Kunz, bringing an immense amount of pride for Kunz to be a part of this monumental occasion.
“Mike’s been with us for 13 years and we’ve won a lot of championships together,” Kunz reminisced. “Mike has supported racing from all the way back in the 1970s. Two hundred career USAC national wins for a car owner is just phenomenal. We’re really proud to be partners with Mike Curb.”
Curb’s first USAC national victory as a car entrant arrived on Halloween afternoon 1999 when driver Brad Noffsinger delivered a Silver Crown victory at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Curb’s latest was orchestrated by Timms who won from the outside of row six, the deepest charge to win an Indiana Midget Week race since Thomas Meseraull similarly came from 12th to win at Paragon Speedway.
“There early, probably up until lap 10 or 15, I really wasn’t going anywhere,” Timms acknowledged. “I was just staying where I was. I would gain a spot here and lose a spot there. If you told me on lap 10 that I’d be standing (in victory lane), I would have never believed you.”
Outside front row starter Emerson Axsom, making his first series start of the year, had the upper hand early as he led the initial four laps on the bottom line. Pole sitter and defending Indiana Midget Week titlist Logan Seavey then used a drive off the top rope lead briefly the fifth go-around.
On lap five, 23rd running Adam Bolyard, making his USAC debut, tipped over on his side after his left rear wheel dislodged from his car entering turns three and four. Bolyard, a veteran TQ Midget competitor, was unable to restart.
Meanwhile, on the race’s lap six resumption, Axsom found a drive off the bottom once again to reclaim the lead from Seavey in turns three and four. Seavey, however, kept Axsom just within his outstretched arms.
On the 11th circuit, he used a drive off the turn two banking and cut down underneath Axsom in turn three to return to the front of the pack for the second time this evening.
Axsom never relented or conceded, then provided the next stage in the see-saw affair as he made the low line stick in turns one and two on the 14th lap. Soon thereafter, Daison Pursley entered the fray and took advantage of a Seavey bobble on the turn four cushion on lap 16.
Seavey fought back to edge ahead of Pursley moments later on lap 17 but Seavey immediately began to drop off the pace before ultimately pulling into the infield.
Pursley now posed a challenge to Axsom for the lead and took it on lap 23 with a deep drive under Axsom for the spot in turn three.
Fifth-running Kevin Thomas Jr’s right-rear tire gave way on lap 25, scattering chunks of rubber across the front straightaway before coming to a stop in turn one.
Standing third on the restart with six laps remaining, Timms immediately disposed of Axsom for second with a high side maneuver, then continued to attack up top for the next three laps until he charged around the low-riding Pursley for the lead off turn four on lap 27.
“There really wasn’t much of a curb getting into one,” Timms explained. “I figured that maybe if I entered in the fluff, it would hold me and be a lot quicker. Sure enough, it was really fast through there. I’m so happy I was able to race here again because this is one of my favorite tracks. It’s just phenomenal. The track was around the bottom early, but it ended up being really good.”
Timms pulled away on the top shelf to score a 0.620-second victory over Daison Pursley with Axsom third. Cannon McIntosh and Hayden Reinbold completed the top five.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Lawrenceburg, Ind., June 5, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Zach Wigal, 89, CBI-14.578; 2. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-14.596; 3. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.614; 4. Zach Daum, 7p, RAMCO-14.694; 5. Emerson Axsom, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.746; 6. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.814; 7. Chase McDermand, 8w, Ford-14.835; 8. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.840; 9. Jacob Denney, 25, Malloy-14.872; 10. Ryan Timms, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.884; 11. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.922; 12. Jade Avedisian, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.991; 13. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.002; 14. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-15.005; 15. Kaiden Manders, 7m, RAMCO-15.075; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr, 9, Mounce/Stout-15.085; 17. Jake Andreotti, 14, 4 Kings-15.146; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.224; 19. Michael Pickens, 54NZ, Mounce/Stout-15.232; 20. Justin Grant, 2, RMS-15.288; 21. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.353; 22. Hank Davis, 8, Cornell-15.420; 23. Ricky Lewis, 54, 4 Kings-15.435; 24. Adam Bolyard, 4, Bolyard-15.836; 25. Lance Bennett, 91, Mason-16.090.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Ryan Timms, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Taylor Reimer, 5. Zach Wigal, 6. Michael Pickens, 7. Lance Bennett, 8. Chase McDermand. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Cannon McIntosh, 2. Kyle Jones, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Jake Andreotti, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Gavin Miller, 8. Ricky Lewis. 1:59.32
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Jacob Denney, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Jade Avedisian, 7. Kale Drake, 8. Adam Bolyard. 1:59.81
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ryan Timms (12), 2. Daison Pursley (5), 3. Emerson Axsom (2), 4. Cannon McIntosh (7), 5. Hayden Reinbold (4), 6. Justin Grant (18), 7. Taylor Reimer (15), 8. Zach Wigal (6), 9. Jacob Denney (11), 10. Zach Daum (3), 11. Kale Drake (20), 12. Jade Avedisian (14), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 14. Michael Pickens (17), 15. Gavin Miller (13), 16. Lance Bennett (23), 17. Logan Seavey (1), 18. Kyle Jones (19), 19. Kaiden Manders (8), 20. Chase McDermand (10), 21. Ricky Lewis (21), 22. Jake Andreotti (16), 23. Adam Bolyard (22), 24. Ethan Mitchell (24), 25. Hank Davis (25).
