Indianapolis, Indiana (September 13, 2024)………Chett Gehrke slipped by for the lead on lap 13 and raced onward to victory during Friday night’s USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget event at Indiana’s Circle City.
For Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.), it was his second consecutive series points-paying victory of the season, with each coming with a different. While Gehrke won in July at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway for car owner Don Moore, his Circle City victory came at the wheel of Tom Fedorczyk’s machine.
Starting fourth, Gehrke passed early race leader and VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier Matt Lux (Manilla, Ind.) at the halfway point of the 25-lapper after Lux patrolled the field for the first 12 laps. From there, Lux carried on to his 19th career series victory, second all-time.
Gehrke was followed to the line by Cale Coons (Greencastle, Ind.) who slotted into the runner-up spot after getting by Lux with four laps remaining. Lux came home third with Jakeb Boxell (Zanesville, Ind.) fourth and Tyler Nelson (Olathe, Kan.) rounding out the top-five.
Bryce Massingill (Troy, Ohio) made the best of a tough night to hang on to a three-point lead in the season long championship standings. After an early race ordeal, Massingill restarted at the tail of the 24-car feature field on the lap five resumption. From there, he picked off 18 cars to finish sixth, which earned him the Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race honors.
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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: September 13, 2024 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana
FIRST VMS MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Matt Lux, 5, Wells-13.337; 2. Ryan Fleming, 11T, Taylor-13.800; 3. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling-13.950; 4. Robert Carson, 10x, Nelson-13.982; 5. Jimmie Guidry, 21G, Guidry-14.279; 6. Tommy Bigelow, 2B, Bigelow-14.318; 7. Nolan Kiefer, 97K, Kiefer-14.532; 8. Travis Stickels, 87, Stickles-15.132.
SECOND VMS MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-13.365; 2. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-13.387; 3. Tyler Nelson, 10, Nelson-13.542; 4. Chett Gehrke, 21, Fedorczyk-13.669; 5. Cole Morgan, 7m, Morgan-13.820; 6. Alex Watson, 3w, Watson-13.892; 7. Scott Albrecht, 74, Albrecht-14.079; 8. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-14.392.
THIRD VMS MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Tate Martz, 34, GMB-13.347; 2. Zach Wigal, 18, Wigal-13.401; 3. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-13.463; 4. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell/Merkler-13.469; 5. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-13.635; 6. Brayden Schwartz, 55s, Schwartz-13.936; 7. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-14.113; 8. Steven Gresham, 27G, 14.897.
PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Matt Lux (4), 2. Cale Coons (2), 3. Robert Carson (1), 4. Ryan Fleming (3), 5. Jimmie Guidry (5), 6. Tommy Bigelow (6), 7. Nolan Kiefer (7), 8. Travis Stickels (8). NT
STIEFEL’S HOME & AUTO SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chett Gehrke (1), 2. Tyler Nelson (2), 3. Bryce Massingill (3), 4. Stratton Briggs (4), 5. Cole Morgan (5), 6. Alex Watson (6), 7. Scott Albrecht (7), 8. Cody Dye (8). NT
HOOSIER AUTO RACING FANS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Michael Magic (2), 2. Jakeb Boxell (1), 3. Tate Martz (4), 4. Ian Creager (5), 5. Brayden Schwartz (6), 6. Jim Jones (7), 7. Steven Gresham (8), 8. Zach Wigal (3). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chett Gehrke (4), 2. Cale Coons (2), 3. Matt Lux (1), 4. Jakeb Boxell (5), 5. Tyler Nelson (7), 6. Bryce Massingill (9), 7. Michael Magic (8), 8. Stratton Briggs (11), 9. Tate Martz (3), 10. Ian Creager (12), 11. Brayden Schwartz (15), 12. Ryan Fleming (10), 13. Nolan Kiefer (19), 14. Cody Dye (23), 15. Alex Watson (17), 16. Jim Jones (18), 17. Scott Albrecht (20), 18. Travis Stickels (22), 19. Tommy Bigelow (16), 20. Steven Gresham (21), 21. Robert Carson (6), 22. Zach Wigal (24), 23. Cole Morgan (14), 24. Jimmie Guidry (13). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Matt Lux, Laps 13-25 Chett Gehrke.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Bryce Massingill-635, 2-Jakeb Boxell-632, 3-Cale Coons-613, 4-Tate Martz-567, 5-Matt Lux-556, 6-Ian Creager-525, 7-Stratton Briggs-478, 8-Zach Wigal-460, 9-Ryan Fleming-425, 10-Luke Hall-400.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: September 14, 2024 – Waynesfield Raceway Park – Waynesfield, Ohio
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier: Matt Lux (13.337)
Performance Electronics First Heat Winner: Matt Lux
Stiefel’s Home & Auto Second Heat Winner: Chett Gehrke
Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Third Heat Winner: Michael Magic
Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger: Cody Dye (23rd to 14th)
Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race: Bryce Massingill
Competition Suspension Inc. Highest Pill: Bryce Massingill
Impact Lucky 7th Place Feature Finisher: Michael Magic
Saldana Racing Products Gift Certificate: Alex Watson
Curtis Motor Sales 10th Place Finisher: Ian Creager
Lynn Cook – A Racer’s Friend Hard Luck: Zach Wigal
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