Daison Pursley celebrated his 100th career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature start in style during Saturday night’s Huncovsky Classic at the Belleville (Kan.) Short Track.

Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) tracked down and passed Ryan Timms with 15 laps remaining to score his first series victory since August of 2021 and his first since a severe spinal cord injury in a USAC Midget event later that same year nearly derailed his career.

Now he’s back in the hunt and back to running up front, setting the stage with a second-place result in Friday’s Belleville opener followed by a long-awaited third career series victory on Saturday at the 1/4-mile dirt oval and his first for the CB Industries team with whom he joined during the offseason.

Starting fourth on the grid for the 40-lapper in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota, Pursley made it his duty in trying to chase down early leaders Ashton Torgerson and Ryan Timms for much of the first half of the duration.

Torgerson led the opening three laps from the pole position in what was just the third USAC National Midget event he’d ever signed into. However, Torgerson’s Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate, Ryan Timms, had his car wound up on the topside and charged around Torgerson for the lead in turn one on the fourth lap. Pursley, meanwhile, followed suit, and likewise, blazed around the outside of Torgerson in the first turn to slot into second.

Timms continued to hold serve up front, but on lap 11, he nearly saw his lead crumble when he dove low entering turn one to place Jeff Stasa a lap down. As he slid up, Timms smacked the turn two curb with his right rear tire and briefly became airborne. Nonetheless, Timms hung on to the lead and fended off Pursley for the time being.

“I knew the top was going to be pretty good there early on with the rework that they did,” Pursley explained. “I thought I got ahead of Ryan there and I could kind of set my own pace. Then I tried the bottom in three and four and allowed him to slide me into one. I just tucked in behind him and let him set the pace and let the track come to us.”

USAC Highlights Belleville Short Track National Saturday 5-18-24

USAC National Midget Results At Belleville Short Track Results

1. Daison Pursley (4)

 2. Ryan Timms (2)

3. Kale Drake (12)

4. Cannon McIntosh (10)

5. Zach Daum (3)

 6. Logan Seavey (8)

7. Ashton Torgerson (1)

8. Ethan Mitchell (6)

9. Kyle Jones (17)

10. Gary Taylor (11)

11. Gavin Miller (14)

12. Justin Grant (9)

13. Zach Wigal (23)

14. Jacob Denney (13)

 15. Jerry Coons Jr. (16)

16. Sam Johnson (21)

17. Jake Andreotti (18)

18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5)

19. Austin Torgerson (19)

20. Jeff Stasa (22)

21. Curtis Spicer (24)

 22. Steven Snyder Jr. (15)

23. Daniel Whitley (7)

24. Jake Bubak (20). NT