HAT TRICK: RADER TAKES MONTPELIER, WINS THIRD FEATURE IN LAST THREE STARTS

Montpelier, Indiana (August 27, 2022)………Drew Rader doesn’t always race with the USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets.  But when he does, he wins.

That story has been true of late as the Findlay, Ohio racer captured victory in his third consecutive series start on Saturday night at Montpelier (Ind.) Motor Speedway, and his second-in-a-row at Montpelier after also capturing the series’ last visit to the track in July.

Rader led early, patrolling the field for the initial five laps before giving way to Michael Magic (Winder, Ga.).  Magic held serve at the front of the field for the ensuing eight laps until Rader raced his way back into the lead on lap 14.

A late yellow with two laps remaining in the 20-lap main event set up a restart and resulted in one of the most sensational finishes of the season.

Rader, along with challengers Bryce Massingill (Troy, Ohio) and point leader Stratton Briggs (Anna, Ohio), traded sliders for the win throughout final two circuits until Rader emerged ahead at the line with his third feature winning trophy of the season.

Rader was followed to the line by Massingill and Briggs, who collected his 15th consecutive top-five finish with the series this year.  Magic faded to fourth at the stripe while Cory Guingrich (Celina, Ohio) rounded out the top-five.

==================

USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2022 – Montpelier Motor Speedway – Montpelier, Indiana

FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-15.010; 2. Alex Watson, 3E, Watson-15.087; 3. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell-15.276; 4. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-15.621; 5. Cody Beard, 7, Beard-16.020; 6. Ryan Moran, 01, Moran-16.258; 7. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-16.764; 8. Mark Nieft Jr., 20N, Nieft-18.599; 9. Jody Paul, 5, Paul-18.720.

SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 2. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-14.392; 2. Drew Rader, 74, Bassitt-14.611; 3. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-15.027; 4. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-15.352; 5. Josh Yenser, 5Y, Yenser-15.402; 6. Tyler Nelson, 11T, Taylor-15.565; 7. Bill Dunham, 84, Dunham-15.876; 8. Thomas Bigelow, 2B, Bigelow-16.877.

THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-14.957; 2. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-15.149; 3. Kyle Keaton, 6K, Keaton-15.510; 4. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-15.563; 5. Cory Guingrich, 62, Guingrich-15.625; 6. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-16.790; 7. Aaron Sanders, 1s, Sanders-16.844; 8. Don Bigelow, 4B, Bigelow-18.576.

BREWHOUSE DRIVE-THRU FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Jakeb Boxell, 2. Bryce Massingill, 3. Alex Watson, 4. Carl Peterson, 5. Cody Beard, 6. Cody Dye, 7. Mark Nieft Jr., 8. Ryan Moran, 9. Jody Paul. NT

K & M TOOL & DIE SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Michael Magic, 2. Drew Rader, 3. Stratton Briggs, 4. Josh Yenser, 5. Ian Creager, 6. Bill Dunham, 7. Thomas Bigelow, 8. Tyler Nelson. NT

PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Abby Hohlbein, 2. Cory Guingrich, 3. Jim Jones, 4. Aaron Sanders, 5. Kyle Keaton, 6. Don Bigelow, 7. Bryce Dues, 8. Gunnar Lucius. NT

POLE DASH: (4 laps) 1. Drew Rader, 2. Bryce Massingill, 3. Jakeb Boxell, 4. Michael Magic, 5. Cory Guingrich, 6. Abby Hohlbein. NT

FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Drew Rader, 2. Bryce Massingill, 3. Stratton Briggs, 4. Michael Magic, 5. Cory Guingrich, 6. Gunnar Lucius, 7. Cody Beard, 8. Carl Peterson, 9. Ian Creager, 10. Alex Watson, 11. Bill Dunham, 12. Cody Dye, 13. Josh Yenser, 14. Tyler Nelson, 15. Jim Jones, 16. Thomas Bigelow, 17. Mark Nieft Jr., 18. Jakeb Boxell, 19. Aaron Sanders, 20. Abby Hohlbein, 21. Bryce Dues, 22. Kyle Keaton. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Drew Rader, Laps 6-13 Michael Magic, Laps 14-20 Drew Rader.

RUMBLE IN FORT WAYNE / PERFORMANCE POWDER COATING HARD CHARGER: Gunnar Lucius (22nd to 6th)

PRECISION MOVES OF THE RACE: Drew Rader, Bryce Massingill & Stratton Briggs.

USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS POINTS: 1-Stratton Briggs-960, 2-Michael Magic-832, 3-Bryce Massingill-798, 4-Ian Creager-744, 5-Carl Peterson-735, 6-Josh Yenser-689, 7-Zach Wigal-581, 8-Abby Hohlbein-577, 9-Jakeb Boxell-543, 10-Jim Jones-490.

NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE: September 2, 2022 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana