For practically the entire first half of Wednesday night’s USAC Indiana Midget Week opener at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Ryan Timms wasn’t going much of anywhere.
That’s when the Oklahoma City, Okla. native took to the high side of the 3/8-mile and never wavered from it, thus propelling himself from the 12th starting position to the lead with four laps remaining en route to capturing his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory at The Burg in as many tries in as many years.
The 30-lap barnburner featured six lead changes, the most in a USAC Indiana Midget Week main event since the Kokomo Speedway round a decade ago in 2014. Wednesday’s race was just one shy of the all-time IMW record of seven lead changes turned in during the 2007 event at Kokomo.
At the wheel of his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio – IWX – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota, Timms provided Mike Curb his milestone 200th career victory as USAC national entrant, the first to reach the double-century mark in series history.
“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. 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 captured a Silver Crown win at Tennessee’s Memphis Motorsports Park. Curb’s latest triumph 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 in 2021.
“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.”
The driver of Kunz/Curb-Agajanian’s No. 67 has had the hot hand of late at Lawrenceburg, winning the last three Indiana Midget Week events at the track between Buddy Kofoid (2022) and Timms (2023-24). Timms’ sixth overall USAC National Midget victory also moved him to 107th all-time alongside Spencer Bayston, Donnie Beechler, George Benson, Dana Carter, Bob Cicconi, Robby Flock, Nick Fornoro Jr., Arnie Knepper, Ricky Shelton, Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland Jr., Kevin Thomas Jr. and Roger West.
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 of the racing surface. Pole sitter and defending Indiana Midget Week titlist Logan Seavey then used a drive off the top rope to lead briefly on 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, and on the 11th circuit, he used a drive off the turn two banking to cut down underneath Axsom in turn three and return to the front of the pack for the second time.
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 to reassume the number one position. Soon thereafter, Daison Pursley entered the fray and took advantage of a Seavey bobble on the turn four cushion on lap 16 to swipe second. Seavey fought back to edge ahead of Pursley for the runner-up spot moments later on lap 17 but Seavey immediately began to drop off the pace before ultimately pulling into the infield, out of the race with a 17th place result.
Pursley now posed a challenge to Axsom for the lead and took it in his grasp on lap 23 with a deep drive under Axsom for the spot in turn three. Fifth running Kevin Thomas Jr.’s right rear tire then gave way on lap 25, scattering chunks of rubber across the front straightaway before coming to a stop in turn one, necessitating a yellow flag.
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.”
From there, Timms pulled away on the top shelf to score a 0.620 second victory over Daison Pursley with Emerson Axsom third, Cannon McIntosh fourth and Hayden Reinbold fifth. In the process, Timms became the first driver to win back-to-back USAC Indiana Midget Week races at Lawrenceburg since Rico Abreu captured three-straight in 2014-15-17.
Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) led four laps late in his CB Industries/PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota and came away with his third top-two finish of the USAC National Midget season in just four starts thus far.
In his first series start of the season, Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) led a race-high 18 laps in a third place run aboard his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD – IWX – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) earned hard charger honors courtesy of Irvin King for his 18th to sixth advancement, pocketing an extra $100 in cash for his efforts.
The Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night was awarded to fifth place finisher Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Ariz.) who earned his first career top-five result with the series in what was his 73rd career USAC National Midget feature start.
In Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, Rookie Zach Wigal (Belpre, Ohio) became a first-time fast qualifier in USAC National Midget competition, posting the top time in just his sixth career series appearance. In the feature, Wigal earned his best career series finish to date, an eighth.
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