Photo Credit: A J Johnson
Somerton, Arizona (November 4, 2023)………In his first ride in the Team AZ Racing No. 21AZ, Daison Pursley became a first-time AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Car Series feature winner during Friday’s opening night of the 56th Western World Championships presented by Avanti Windows & Doors and Yuma Insurance at Somerton, Arizona’s Cocopah Speedway.
Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) charged from his fourth starting position to take over the lead from Matt Westfall just two laps into the 30-lap contest. From there, Pursley, this year’s Rookie of the Year on the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship tour, led the remaining 29 laps in his Team AZ Racing/Apache Transport – Stratis Construction – USW Cat Construction/DRC/1-Way Chevy.
The victory came in Pursley’s first visit to Arizona since suffering a spinal injury during a USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship event during the Western World Championships of 2021 at the now defunct Arizona Speedway.
It’s the second straight victory at Western World for the Team AZ Racing team, which swept the final night of the 2022 event with driver Jake Swanson.
Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) finished as the runner-up with Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) third, Chase Johnson (Penngrove, Calif.) fourth and 2019 USAC National Sprint Car champion C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) rounding out the top-five.
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AMSOIL USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS November 3, 2023 – Cocopah Speedway – Somerton, Arizona – 56th Western World Championships presented by Avanti Windows & Doors and Yuma Insurance
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Ricky Lewis, 41, Brown-16.393; 2. C.J. Leary, 77m, Michael-16.429; 3. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-16.464; 4. Jake Swanson, 73x, Ford-16.498; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, Bonneau-16.605; 6. Chase Johnson, 73, Ford-16.779; 7. Max Adams, 44c, Corey-16.824; 8. Matt Westfall, 11c, Turner/Wheeler-16.830; 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-16.869; 10. Brody Roa, 17R, Dunkel/BR-16.939; 11. Logan Williams, 5w, McCarthy-17.026; 12. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-17.048; 13. Justin Grant, 37, Mitchell-17.061; 14. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-17.061; 15. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.117; 16. Braden Chiaramonte, 73B, Chiaramonte-17.151; 17. Austin Williams, 2, Williams-17.158; 18. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-17.210; 19. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-17.283; 20. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-17.307; 21. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-17.479; 22. Tanner Boul, 99T, Boul-17.481; 23. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-17.519; 24. R.J. Johnson, 2R, Yeley-17.547; 25. Grant Sexton, 22, Sexton-17.591; 26. Josh Pelkey, 12, Allen-17.646; 27. Logan Calderwood, 73c, Ford-17.681; 28. Dustin Burkhart, 21x, Team AZ-17.851; 29. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-17.932; 30. Patrick Krob, 3K, Krob-18.380; 31. Shane Sexton, 74, Sexton/Gatlin-18.436; 32. Justin Kierce, 43, Tuttle-18.559; 33. J.J. Yeley, 2y, Yeley-NT.
FLOWDYNAMICS INCORPORATED FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Austin Williams, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Ricky Lewis, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Grant Sexton, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 8. Austin Grabowski. NT
BILLSJERKY.NET SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Tommy Malcolm, 2. Brody Roa, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Tanner Boul, 7. Josh Pelkey. NT
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Verne Sweeney, 2. James Turnbull II, 3. Logan Williams, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Max Adams, 6. A.J. Bender, 7. Logan Calderwood, 8. Shane Sexton. NT
WC FRIEND COMPANY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. R.J. Johnson, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Braden Chiaramonte, 5. Cody Williams, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Justin Kierce, 8. Dustin Burkhart. NT
FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Max Adams, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Austin Grabowski, 6. Josh Pelkey, 7. Grant Sexton, 8. A.J. Bender, 9. Justin Kierce, 10. Logan Calderwood, 11. Tanner Boul, 12. Shane Sexton, 13. Dustin Burkhart, 14. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 15. Cody Williams. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (4), 2. Matt Westfall (1), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 4. Chase Johnson (7), 5. C.J. Leary (5), 6. Jake Swanson (3), 7. Charles Davis Jr. (11), 8. Logan Williams (10), 9. Tye Mihocko (13), 10. Austin Grabowski (17), 11. Austin Williams (14), 12. Tommy Malcolm (15), 13. Mitchel Moles (22), 14. A.J. Bender (23), 15. Brody Roa (9), 16. Josh Pelkey (21), 17. Verne Sweeney (18), 18. Max Adams (8), 19. R.J. Johnson (19), 20. Justin Grant (12), 21. James Turnbull II (16), 22. Grant Sexton (20), 23. Ricky Lewis (6). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Matt Westfall, Laps 2-30 Daison Pursley.
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER HARD CHARGER: Mitchel Moles (22nd to 13th)
WILWOOD DISC BRAKES LUCKY 13 AWARD: Mitchel Moles
NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS:
1-Brody Roa-1162, 2-Tommy Malcolm-1042, 3-Austin Williams-918, 4-Cody Williams-824, 5-A.J. Bender-824, 6-Logan Calderwood-701, 7-Charles Davis Jr.-666, 8-Grant Sexton-593, 9-Verne Sweeney-529, 10-R.J. Johnson-477.
NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 4 – Cocopah Speedway – Somerton, Arizona – 56th Western World Championships presented by Avanti Windows & Doors and Yuma Insurance