BRIGGS BAGS MONTPELIER MIDWEST THUNDER OPENER

Montpelier, Indiana (April 23, 2022)………Stratton Briggs raced to the lead just four laps into Saturday’s USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget season opener at Montpelier (Ind.) Motor Speedway.

Briggs (Anna, Ohio) led the final 17 laps of the 20-lap feature after taking over the lead from Bryce Massingill (Troy, Ohio) to capture the series’ season opening feature for the second consecutive year.

Taking the victory by 1.925 seconds, Briggs was followed to the line by Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Massingill, Gunnar Lucius (Delphos, Ohio) and Ian Creager (Covington, Ohio). 

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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: April 23, 2022 – Montpelier Motor Speedway – Montpelier, Indiana

FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-16.157; 2. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-16.163; 3. Kyle Dager, 36, Briggs-16.688; 4. Ian Creager, 36c, 16.805; 5. Cory Guingrich, 42, Guingrich-16.915; 6. Chuck Walker, 55, Walker-16.927; 7. Taylor Nibert, 11L, Taylor-17.282.

SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Ryan Thomas, 1, Thomas-16.293; 2. Austin Nemire, 40, Hall-16.393; 3. Gunnar Lucius, 11T, Taylor-16.616; 4. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-16.758; 5. Josh Yenser, 5, Yenser-17.067; 6. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-17.429; 7. Jody Paul, 5p, Paul-NT.

THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Wes Pinkerton, 9p, Pinkerton-16.134; 2. Chett Gehrke, 93c, Gehrke-16.272; 3. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-16.288; 4. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-16.330; 5. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-16.787; 6. Kyle Keaton, 6K, Keaton-17.040; 7. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Stratton Briggs, 2. Cory Guingrich, 3. Ian Creager, 4. Kyle Dager, 5. Chuck Walker, 6. Taylor Nibert. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Bryce Dues, 2. Gunnar Lucius, 3. Ryan Thomas, 4. Austin Nemire, 5. Cody Dye, 6. Josh Yenser, 7. Jody Paul. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Chett Gehrke, 2. Abby Hohlbein, 3. Bryce Massingill, 4. Wes Pinkerton, 5. Carl Peterson, 6. Kyle Keaton, 7. Jim Jones. NT

FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Stratton Briggs, 2. Chett Gehrke, 3. Bryce Massingill, 4. Gunnar Lucius, 5. Ian Creager, 6. Cory Guingrich, 7. Ryan Thomas, 8. Bryce Dues, 9. Michael Magic, 10. Kyle Dager, 11. Carl Peterson, 12. Austin Nemire, 13. Chuck Walker, 14. Abby Hohlbein, 15. Taylor Nibert, 16. Jim Jones, 17. Kyle Keaton. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Cory Guingrich, Laps 4-20 Stratton Briggs.

USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Stratton Briggs-70, 2-Chett Gehrke-67, 3-Bryce Massingill-64, 4-Gunnar Lucius-61, 5-Ian Creager-58, 6-Cory Guingrich -55, 7-Ryan Thomas-52, 8-Bryce Dues-49, 9-Michael Magic-46, 10-Kyle Dager-43.

NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: April 30, 2022 – Atomic Speedway – Chillicothe, Ohio

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

K & M Tool & Die First Heat Winner: Stratton Briggs

Brewhouse Drive Thru Second Heat Winner: Bryce Dues

Third Heat Winner: Chett Gehrke

Rosewood Machine Precision Move of The Race: Bryce Massingill

Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger: Michael Magic (19th to 9th)