DENNEY WINS 4TH STRAIGHT USAC MW THUNDER RACE AT GAS CITY
By: Linda Mansfield
Gas City, Indiana (August 7, 2021)………Jacob Denney collected his fourth consecutive USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature Friday night at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Bryce Massingill of Troy, Ohio got the best of polesitter Cody Beard of Evansville, Ind., and Zack Gingerich of Celina, Ohio, who started second, to vault from third and lead the first 15 laps of the 20-lap midget feature.
That included withstanding two restarts for a caution with three laps down when Abby Hohlbein of Cloverdale, Ohio, Taylor Nibert of South Vienna, Ohio, and Cory Guingrich of Celina, Ohio got together in Turn 4, and another one with five laps down when Hohlbein spun between Turns 1 and 2.
Denney, who started sixth, passed Gingerich for fifth on lap one, Chett Gehrke of Broken Arrow, Okla. and Josh Yenser of Hilliard, Ohio for third on lap two, and Beard for second on lap three.
Massingill enjoyed over a 1-second lead as the front runners all used the same low groove, but Denney was able to use lapped traffic to get around Massingill on lap 16. He was 1.701 seconds ahead of him at the finish.
Gehrke finished third. Stratton Briggs of Anna, Ohio rallied from an 11th-place starting spot to finish fourth, while Ian Creager of Covington, Ohio came from 15th to finish fifth.
Chuck Taylor of Troy, Ohio owns the winning midget, which is a Triple X Ecotech sponsored by Erwin Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram of Troy, Ohio, Fuelab, and Rod End Supply.
The feature event was also the first in USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget history to include three women in a race: Kayla Roell (9th), Taylor Nibert (12th) and Abby Hohlbein (20th).
========================
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 6, 2021 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana
FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Josh Yenser, 12Y, Yenser-13.706, 2. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-13.965, 3. Cody Beard, 7, Beard-13.995, 4. Kyle Dager, 2, Dager-14.046, 5. Luke Lemmons, 33L, Lemmons-14.097, 6. Taylor Nibert, 11L, Taylor-15.710, 7. Blake Adams, 44, Adams-15.772, 8. Kyle Kriegbaum, 12, Kriegbaum-18.187.
SECOND FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-13.201, 2. Jacob Denney, 11T, Taylor-13.217, 3. Cory Guingrich, 42, Guingrich-13.321, 4. Bryce Massingill, 12m, Massingill-13.331, 5. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-13.351, 6. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.603, 7. Alex Watson, 20x, Watson-13.612, 8. Tommy Kouns, 98, Kouns-13.843.
THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Chett Gehrke, 93c, Gehrke-13.181, 2. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-13.355, 3. Zack Gingerich, 8z, Gingerich-13.702, 4. Mark Nieft Jr., 20N, Nieft-13.783, 5. Jeremy Howe, 2H, Howe-14.105, 6. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-14.174, 7. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Cody Beard, 2. Josh Yenser, 3. Taylor Nibert, 4. Luke Lemmons, 5. Cody Dye, 6. Blake Adams, 7. Kyle Kriegbaum. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jacob Denney, 2. Bryce Massingill, 3. Abby Hohlbein, 4. Stratton Briggs, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Cory Guingrich, 7. Tommy Kouns, 8. Alex Watson. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Chett Gehrke, 2. Zack Gingerich, 3. Bryce Dues, 4. Mark Nieft Jr., 5. Ian Creager, 6. Jeremy Howe, 7. Jim Jones. NT
FEATURE: (20 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (6), 2. Bryce Massingill (3), 3. Chett Gehrke (5), 4. Stratton Briggs (11), 5. Ian Creager (15), 6. Josh Yenser (4), 7. Alex Watson (22), 8. Bryce Dues (9), 9. Kayla Roell (14), 10. Tommy Kouns (20), 11. Cory Guingrich (17), 12. Taylor Nibert (7), 13. Zack Gingerich (2), 14. Mark Nieft Jr. (12), 15. Jeremy Howe (18), 16. Jim Jones (21), 17. Blake Adams (16), 18. Kyle Kriegbaum (19), 19. Cody Beard (1), 20. Abby Hohlbein (8), 21. Luke Lemmons (10), 22. Cody Dye (13). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Bryce Massingill, Laps 16-20 Jacob Denney.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Jacob Denney-506, 2-Stratton Briggs-479, 3-Bryce Massingill-473, 4-Ian Creager-437, 5-Chett Gehrke-384, 6-Abby Hohlbein-377, 7-Josh Yenser-368, 8-Zack Gingerich-329, 9-Kyle Dager-279, 10-Bryce Dues-209.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: August 7, 2021 – Montpelier Motor Speedway – Montpelier, Indiana – Special Event
Contingency Award Winners:
Hawk Hard Charger: Alex Watson (22nd to 7th)
Rosewood Precision Move of The Race: Ian Creager