DENNEY THUNDERS TO SPEED2 MIDGET VICTORY AT GAS CITY
By: Linda Mansfield
Gas City, Indiana (July 31, 2021)………The USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget portion of the program at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway attracted 26 entries, and defending series champion Jacob Denney, 16, of Galloway, Ohio came away as the winner of that 25-lap feature after he regained the lead from Chett Gehrke of Bardstown, Ky. on the last lap.
Polesitter Ryan Thomas of Indianapolis led the first lap of the midget feature before Denney charged under him in Turn 3 to take command. Thomas retired on lap 11 while in second place, and Aaron Leffel of Springfield, Ohio jumped from fourth to second on the next lap.
Gehrke, who started ninth, made his first appearance in the top five on lap eight, right before the first yellow flew for Josh Yenser of Hilliard, Ohio and Cory Guingrich of Celina, Ohio after contact in Turn 4. Gehrke moved into third on lap 10 and was trailing only Denney and Leffel when the second caution flew with 15 laps down after the seventh- and eighth-place drivers, Zack Gingerich of Celina, Ohio and Abby Hohlbein of Cloverdale, Ohio, spun in Turn 4.
Denney had good restarts all night and the one with 15 laps down was no exception. Gehrke had a good one too and passed Leffel for second at that point. Gehrke was then able to pass Denney to lead lap 19, but Denney got the lead back by charging under Gehrke on the backstretch on the next lap.
Another spin by Hohlbein in Turn 4 on lap 23 set up a two-lap dash to the checkered. Gehrke gave it all he had but Denney had a 0.123-second margin of victory over Gehrke at the line in Chuck Taylor’s No. 11T Triple X Ecotech, which is sponsored by Erwin Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram of Troy, Ohio, Fuelab, and Rod End Supply.
Leffel finished third. Yenser came from the 17th starting position after winning the B-main to place fourth, and Stratton Briggs of Anna, Ohio finished fifth.
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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: July 30, 2021 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana
FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Jacob Denney, 11T, Taylor-13.647; 2. Chett Gehrke, 93c, Gehrke-13.880; 3. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-14.167; 4. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-14.242; 5. Kyle Keaton, 1, Keaton-14.378; 6. Kyle Kriegbaum, 12, Kriegbaum-14.581; 7. Kameron Gladish, 4, Gladish-16.117.
SECOND FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-13.308; 2. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-13.369; 3. Josh Yenser, 12Y, Yenser-13.656; 4. Ryan Thomas, 1FR, Wingo-13.723; 5. Cory Guingrich, 42, Guingrich-14.008; 6. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-14.022; 7. Ryan Lemons, 33L, Lemons-14.104.
THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Aaron Leffel, 11L, Taylor-13.627; 2. Zack Gingerich, 8z, Gingerich-14.062; 3. Mark Nieft Jr., 20N, Nieft-14.082; 4. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-14.667; 5. Steven Gresham, 27G, Gresham-14.793; 6. Ryan Moran, 01, Moran-NT.
FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-13.284; 2. Bryce Massingill, 12m, Massingill-13.286; 3. Cody Beard, 7, Beard-13.578; 4. Kyle Dager, 2, Dager-13.609; 5. Mike Nash Jr., 17, Nash-14.144; 6. Alex Watson, 3E, Watson-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jacob Denney, 2. Gunnar Lucius, 3. Chett Gehrke, 4. Kyle Keaton, 5. Cody Dye, 6. Kyle Kriegbaum, 7. Kameron Gladish. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Stratton Briggs, 2. Ryan Thomas, 3. Cory Guingrich, 4. Abby Hohlbein, 5. Josh Yenser, 6. Ian Creager, 7. Luke Lemons. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Aaron Leffel, 2. Zach Gingerich, 3. Mark Nieft Jr., 4. Jim Jones, 5. Steven Gresham.
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bryce Massingill, 2. Michael Magic, 3. Cody Beard, 4. Alex Watson, 5. Kyle Dager, 6. Mike Nash Jr. NT
SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Josh Yenser, 2. Ian Creager, 3. Kyle Dager, 4. Cody Dye, 5. Luke Lemons, 6. Steven Gresham, 7. Mike Nash Jr., 8. Kameron Gladish. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (2), 2. Chett Gehrke (9), 3. Aaron Leffel (3), 4. Josh Yenser (17), 5. Stratton Briggs (6), 6. Michael Magic (7), 7. Kyle Dager (19), 8. Ian Creager (18), 9. Kyle Keaton (13), 10. Mark Nieft Jr. (11), 11. Jim Jones (15), 12. Zack Gingerich (8), 13. Abby Hohlbein (14), 14. Alex Watson (16), 15. Gunnar Lucius (4), 16. Cody Beard (12), 17. Ryan Thomas (1), 18. Cody Dye (20), 19. Bryce Massingill (5), 20. Cory Guingrich (10). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Ryan Thomas, Laps 2-18 Jacob Denney, Lap 19 Chett Gehrke, Laps 20-25 Jacob Denney.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Jacob Denney-366, 2-Stratton Briggs-366, 3-Bryce Massingill-342, 4-Ian Creager-321, 5-Abby Hohlbein-311, 6-Josh Yenser-267, 7-Chett Gehrke-253, 8-Zack Gingerich-251, 9-Kyle Dager-220, 10-Ryan Thomas-179.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: July 31, 2021 – Circus City Speedway – Peru, Indiana
Contingency Award Winners:
Hawk Hard Charger: Josh Yenser (17th To 4th)
Rosewood Precision Move of The Race: Kyle Keaton