MASSINGILL TOPS MIDWEST THUNDER AT GAS CITY
By: Linda Mansfield
Gas City, Indiana (September 3, 2022)………Bryce Massingill of Troy, Ohio, won Friday night’s 20-lap USAC Performance Electronics Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature, repeating his victorious performance on July 29.
Massingill started on the pole, but he had to take a back seat to Michael Magic of Winder, Ga. and Zach Wigal of Belpre, Ohio in the early going.
A winner in a similar race here on Aug. 12, Magic started second but passed Massingill for the initial lead with a move to the outside at the start/finish line on lap one.
Magic survived a restart with three laps down after Tom Fedorczyk of Warren, Mich. slipped over the cushion in turn four to bring out the first of four yellows but Wigal, who started third, passed him for the lead on lap six right before the second yellow. That one was necessary after Josh Yenser of Plain City, Ohio stopped in the middle of turn four.
Wigal was overtaken by Magic to retake the lead on lap seven in the same spot he had passed Massingill earlier. That didn’t set well with Wigal, who passed Magic back on lap nine to regain the lead. Wigal had a 0.639-second lead over Magic with Massingill in third when the third yellow waved with 11 laps down after Carl Peterson of Waterford, Wis. stopped on the backstretch.
Massingill dipped under Magic in turn four for second place following that restart to take second on lap 12. At that point, Wigal’s night went from great to not so great, as he spun in turn two while leading to bring out the last yellow.
That gave Massingill the lead and the 17-year-old driver stayed in front the rest of the way. Jakeb Boxell of Zanesville, Ind., who started fifth, was always close and he moved into third due to Wigal’s misfortune. Boxell passed Magic for second on lap 15 and went on to finish second, taking the checkered flag 0.667 of a second after Massingill did.
Magic finished third. Chris Dickey of Westfield, Ind. turned a seventh place starting spot into a fourth place finish, while point leader Stratton Briggs of Anna, Ohio rounded out the top five. Wigal ended up 12th.
Massingill’s midget is a Boss chassis with a Mike Wallace-prepped engine. It is sponsored by Carbrite, Double Jay Construction and Sroufe’s Painting of Troy, Ohio.
Tyler Watkins of Marion, Ind. flipped in turn two with three laps down in the third heat while running sixth. He got out of his midget under his own power.
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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE RESULTS: September 2, 2022 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana
FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell-12.869; 2. Wes Pinkerton, 9p, Pinkerton-12.976; 3. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-12.999; 4. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-13.070; 5. Bill Dunham, 84, Dunham-13.505; 6. Page Perrine, 55, Perrine-13.509; 7. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-13.858; 8. Chris Dickey, 12, Dickey-NT.
SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Zach Wigal, 18, Wigal-12.996; 2. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-13.202; 3. Matt Lux, 5KB, Wells-13.311; 4. Josh Yenser, 5y, Yenser-13.372; 5. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-13.510; 6. Luke Lemons, 11L, Taylor-13.666; 7. Tommy Kouns, 98, Kouns-13.764; 8. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-13.901.
THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-12.802; 2. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-13.063; 3. Cory Guingrich, 62, Guingrich-13.321; 4. Tom Fedorczyk, 21, Fedorczyk-13.665; 5. Tyler Watkins, 5, Watkins-13.771; 6. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-14.279; 7. Mark Nieft Jr., 20N, Nieft-14.430.
PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Bryce Massingill, 2. Jakeb Boxell, 3. Chris Dickey, 4. Wes Pinkerton, 5. Ian Creager, 6. Bill Dunham, 7. Jim Jones, 8. Page Perrine. NT
BREWHOUSE DRIVE-THRU SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Michael Magic, 2. Zach Wigal, 3. Matt Lux, 4. Josh Yenser, 5. Carl Peterson, 6. Luke Lemons, 7. Tommy Kouns, 8. Cody Dye. NT
K & M TOOL & DIE THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Stratton Briggs, 2. Cory Guingrich, 3. Gunnar Lucius, 4. Tom Fedorczyk, 5. Mark Nieft Jr., 6. Tyler Watkins, 7. Bryce Dues. NT
FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bryce Massingill (1), 2. Jakeb Boxell (5), 3. Michael Magic (2), 4. Chris Dickey (7), 5. Stratton Briggs (4), 6. Matt Lux (8), 7. Wes Pinkerton (10), 8. Ian Creager (13), 9. Cory Guingrich (6), 10. Gunnar Lucius (9), 11. Cody Dye (23), 12. Zach Wigal (3), 13. Josh Yenser (11), 14. Bill Dunham (16), 15. Mark Nieft Jr. (15), 16. Jim Jones (19), 17. Carl Peterson (14), 18. Tom Fedorczyk (12), 19. Page Perrine (22), 20. Luke Lemons (17), 21. Tommy Kouns (20), 22. Bryce Dues (21), 23. Tyler Watkins (18). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Michael Magic, Lap 6 Zach Wigal, Laps 7-8 Michael Magic, Laps 9-12 Zach Wigal, Laps 13-20 Bryce Massingill.
**Tyler Watkins flipped during the third heat.
PPC PERFORMANCE POWDER COATING HARD CHARGER: Cody Dye (23rd to 11th)
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS POINTS: 1-Stratton Briggs-1018, 2-Michael Magic-896, 3-Bryce Massingill-868, 4-Ian Creager-793, 5-Carl Peterson-764, 6-Josh Yenser-726, 7-Zach Wigal-620, 8-Jakeb Boxell-610, 9-Abby Hohlbein-577, 10-Jim Jones-521.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE: September 16, 2022 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana