GEHRKE GETS GAS CITY’S USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SEASON FINALE

By: Linda Mansfield

Gas City, Indiana (October 21, 2022)………Chett Gehrke of Broken Arrow, Okla. was victorious in Friday night’s 20-lap USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets Presented By Performance Electronics season finale at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway.

Matt Lux of Manila, Ind. started second and led the first three laps of the feature until Drew Rader of Findlay, Ohio brought out the first of three yellows with three laps down when he spun on the front stretch near turn four.

Jakeb Boxell of Zanesville, Ind., who started third, used the low groove coming out of turn two to pass Lux following the restart. He led laps four through seven.

Bryce Massingill of Troy, Ohio, who started fourth, passed Boxell to lead laps eight through 14, surviving a restart with nine laps down after Isaac Chapple of Willow Branch, Ind., stopped low in turn two.

Alex Watson of Columbus, Ohio brought out the third yellow when he spun in turn four with 14 laps down.

There was a three-car war for the lead on the restart between Massingill, Gehrke and Jerry Coons Jr. of Tucson, Ariz., and Gehrke, who started fifth in the Fedorczyk Motorsports No. 21, came out on top. The No. 21 is a Ripper chassis with an MWR engine out of Warren, Mich. and it’s sponsored by CP Mobil Shrink Wrap.

Coons, who started way back in the 17th position, got second at that point. The USAC Triple Crown champion tried both the high groove and the low groove in attempts to pass Gehrke, but he was directly behind him, 0.433 of a second back, when the checkered waved.

It was a stirring runner-up finish for Coons, who broke into the top-10 when he got ninth on lap four and the top-five when he got fourth on lap eight. He set the fastest lap of the race and was the PPC Performance Powder Coating hard charger.

Series champion Stratton Briggs of Anna, Ohio started eighth and finished third as he passed Massingill for the final podium position on lap 17. Massingill hung on for fourth and Boxell finished fifth.

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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE RESULTS: October 21, 2022 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana

FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Matt Lux, 5KB, Wells-12.902; 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 5, Wells-12.943; 3. Chris Dickey, 12, Dickey-13.137; 4. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-13.151; 5. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-13.192; 6. Page Perrine, 55, Perrine-13.811; 7. Jon Watson, 20x, Watson-13.946; 8. Travis Stickels, 87, Stickels-14.504.

SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell-13.024; 2. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.083; 3. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-13.106; 4. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-13.631; 5. Connor Wolf, 11T, Taylor-13.734; 6. Don Bigelow, 4B, Bigelow-15.122; 7. John Robbins, 4, Robbins-15.565.

THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Drew Rader, 74, Bassitt-12.940; 2. Kyle Dager, 2K, Dager-12.992; 3. Zach Wigal, 18, Wigal-13.055; 4. Scott Koerner, 5m, Koerner-14.462; 5. Brayden Schwartz, 11L, Taylor-14.638; 6. Ryan Moran, 01, Moran-NT; 7. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-NT.

FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Alex Watson, 3E, Watson-12.993; 2. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-13.069; 3. Chett Gehrke, 21, Fedorczyk-13.097; 4. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-13.313; 5. Isaac Chapple, 6, Hall-13.505; 6. Dave Osborn, 18x, Osborn-14.276; 7. Tyler Watkins, 5, Watkins-14.496.

LUCKY DASH: (4 laps) 1. Kyle Dager, 2. Chris Dickey, 3. Chett Gehrke, 4. Brayden Schwartz. NT

PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Matt Lux, 2. Stratton Briggs, 3. Chris Dickey, 4. Ian Creager, 5. Jon Watson, 6. Travis Stickels, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Page Perrine. NT

BREWHOUSE DRIVE-THRU SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jakeb Boxell, 2. Abby Hohlbein, 3. Carl Peterson, 4. Kayla Roell, 5. Connor Wolf, 6. John Robbins, 7. Don Bigelow. NT

K & M TOOL & DIE THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Drew Rader, 2. Kyle Dager, 3. Ryan Moran, 4. Scott Koerner, 5. Brayden Schwartz. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chett Gehrke, 2. Bryce Massingill, 3. Alex Watson, 4. Michael Magic, 5. Isaac Chapple, 6. Dave Osborn, 7. Tyler Watkins. NT

SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Jon Watson, 3. Isaac Chapple, 4. Zach Wigal, 5. Travis Stickels, 6. Dave Osborn, 7. Connor Wolf, 8. Tyler Watkins, 9. John Robbins, 10. Don Bigelow, 11. Brayden Schwartz. NT

FEATURE: (20 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chett Gehrke (5), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (17), 3. Stratton Briggs (8), 4. Bryce Massingill (4), 5. Jakeb Boxell (3), 6. Ryan Moran (11), 7. Michael Magic (16), 8. Kyle Dager (1), 9. Abby Hohlbein (7), 10. Ian Creager (13), 11. Isaac Chapple (19), 12. Kayla Roell (14), 13. Zach Wigal (20), 14. Carl Peterson (10), 15. Drew Rader (6), 16. Scott Koerner (15), 17. Chris Dickey (9), 18. Alex Watson (12), 19. Jon Watson (18), 20. Matt Lux (2). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Matt Lux, Laps 4-7 Jakeb Boxell, Laps 8-14 Bryce Massingill, Laps 15-20 Chett Gehrke.

PERFORMANCE POWDER COATING HARD CHARGER: Jerry Coons Jr. (17th to 2nd)

FINAL USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS POINTS: 1-Stratton Briggs-1250, 2-Bryce Massingill-1124, 3-Michael Magic-1045, 4-Ian Creager-982, 5-Carl Peterson-958, 6-Josh Yenser-860, 7-Jakeb Boxell-768, 8-Zach Wigal-724, 9-Abby Hohlbein-664, 10-Jim Jones-638.