Belleville, IL. (3/25/23) Daison Pursley would not let the previous day percipitaion dampen the opening night celebrations of the Turnpike Challenge at Port City Raceway on Saturday Night to capture his eighth career victory with the POWRi National Midget League in a thrilling forty-lap feature.
Early Tulsa Oklahoma competition with thirty-eight POWRi National and West Midget Leagues entrants would see Mitchell Moles start quickest with a 9.924-lap in hot-laps as Kyle Jones, Joe B Miller, Zach Daum, Jace Park, and Chance Crum each earned heat racing wins with Cannon McIntosh and Jade Avedisian picking up the semi-feature victories.
Setting the field of top-notch competitors of competition would find high-point qualifier Mitchell Davis battling front-row counterpart Kyle Jones into the first pair of corners on the opening lap with Mitchell Davis flying to the initial racing advantage as Jace Park, Kyle Jones, Chance Crum, and Jonathan Beason was found racing inside the running top five.
Leading the field for the first three revolutions, Mitchell Davis would clip an infield tractor tire to relinquish the lead to Chance Crum as Jace Park and Kyle Jones followed suit in passing the one-time leading Mitchell Davis.
Sticking to the fastest lane out front, Crum would appear to be the dominant entry to beat while establishing a comfortable lead for twenty-seven laps with Jace Park and a hard-charging Daison Pursley pursued by using the extreme high line.
Flying through the field would witness Jace Park, Daison Pursley, and Chance Crum battle epically with three-wide racing for the prized position for several laps.
Entering into the end of feature picture with Crum guarding the lead would see Park apply strategy by using the newly implemented “Commitment Cone” to battle into the lead after a caution with Daison Pursley following behind.
Late race dramatics would reveal on the final corner of the final lap with Daison Pursley pulling off the feature victory over Jace Park in a drag race to the finish line. Only leading the last ninety feet, Pursley would clinch the feature win.
“This is the kind of racing that Port City provides, this track was phenomenal tonight. I had a really good battle with Chance and Jace late and I knew I could bide my time. I’m really proud of this team and it’s an awesome opportunity” stated Daison Pursley in the Port City Raceway victory lane ceremony. Adding “The choose cone added even more excitement with strategy coming into play late”.
Jace Park would clinch a solid runner-up showing with Zach Daum holding steady into completing the feature's final podium placement. One-time leader Chance Crum would finish fourth as Jonathan Beason rounded out the POWRi National Midget League top-five finishers in the 2023 POWRi Turnpike Challenge.
POWRi National and West Midget Leagues | Port City Raceway | 3/25/23:
Hoosier Racing Tire Fast Hot Lap Time: 68-Mitchell Moles(9.924)
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 7U-Kyle Jones
Auto Meter Heat Race 2 Winner: 51B-Joe B Miller
Schure Built Suspensions Heat Race 3 Winner: 5U-Zach Daum
AFCO Racing Heat Race 4 Winner: 40-Jace Park
Rod End Supply Heat 5 Winner: 26-Chance Crum
Max Papis Innovations Semi-Feature 1 Winner: 08-Cannon McIntosh
KSE Racing Products Semi-Feature 2 Winner: 71-Jade Avedisian
MVT Services High Point Qualifier: 56-Mitchell Davis
Super Clean Hard Charger: 19A-Daison Pursley
Toyota Racing Development Feature Winner: 19A-Daison Pursley(+12)
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 19A-Daison Pursley[13]; 2. 40-Jace Park[6]; 3. 5U-Zach Daum[7]; 4. 26-Chance Crum[3]; 5. 8L-Jonathan Beason[9]; 6. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[10]; 7. 3N-Jake Neuman[8]; 8. 7U-Kyle Jones[2]; 9. 71-Jade Avedisian[18]; 10. 28-Ace McCarthy[20]; 11. 68-Mitchel Moles[15]; 12. 5-Gavan Boschele[22]; 13. 21K-Karter Sarff[12]; 14. 97-Gavin Miller[11]; 15. 51B-Joe B Miller[5]; 16. 56-Mitchell Davis[1]; 17. 25K-Taylor Reimer[4]; 18. 21-Emilio Hoover[24]; 19. 97K-Cooper Williams[23]; 20. 08-Cannon McIntosh[17]; 21. 15D-Andrew Deal[19]; 22. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[21]; 23. 00-Talin Turner[16]; 24. 7D-Michelle Decker[14].
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[2]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[4]; 3. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[3]; 4. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[1]; 5. 10-Matt Sherrell[7]; 6. 71E-Mariah Ede[6]; 7. 98-Ryan Padgett[9]; 8. 36-Kevin Reed[10]; 9. 07-Scout Spraggins[11]; 10. 17X-Kurt Stellhorn[8]; 11. 44-Branigan Roark[5].
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 71-Jade Avedisian[1]; 2. 28-Ace McCarthy[2]; 3. 5-Gavan Boschele[3]; 4. 36K-Kris Carroll[8]; 5. 97K-Cooper Williams[5]; 6. 21-Emilio Hoover[4]; 7. 56X-Mark Chisholm[9]; 8. 28P-Bradley Fezard[7]; 9. 47K-Kevin Brewer[6]; 10. 14E-Jeffrey Newell[10]; 11. 19-Tyler Edwards[11].
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7U-Kyle Jones[5]; 2. 56-Mitchell Davis[8]; 3. 00-Talin Turner[2]; 4. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[7]; 5. 44-Branigan Roark[3]; 6. 36K-Kris Carroll[1]; 7. 98-Ryan Padgett[6]; 8. 07-Scout Spraggins[4].
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 51B-Joe B Miller[2]; 2. 21K-Karter Sarff[1]; 3. 68-Mitchel Moles[3]; 4. 08-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 5. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[6]; 6. 71E-Mariah Ede[5]; 7. 28P-Bradley Fezard[8]; 8. 14E-Jeffrey Newell[7].
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 5U-Zach Daum[1]; 2. 97-Gavin Miller[2]; 3. 19A-Daison Pursley[4]; 4. 28-Ace McCarthy[3]; 5. 71-Jade Avedisian[7]; 6. 47K-Kevin Brewer[5]; 7. 17X-Kurt Stellhorn[8]; 8. (DNS) 19-Tyler Edwards.
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 40-Jace Park[2]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[7]; 4. 7D-Michelle Decker[6]; 5. 97K-Cooper Williams[1]; 6. 10-Matt Sherrell[5]; 7. 36-Kevin Reed[4].
Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 26-Chance Crum[4]; 2. 8L-Jonathan Beason[3]; 3. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[2]; 4. 5-Gavan Boschele[1]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[5]; 6. 21-Emilio Hoover[7]; 7. 56X-Mark Chisholm[6].
Next up the POWRi National Midget League will see action at Farmers City Speedway for the Illini 100 running in conjunction with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series on March 31 and April 1st.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.
Photo Credit: Danny Clum
- administrator on Mar 26, 2023
- Article Date: 3/26/2023