WATSON TOPS USAC MIDWEST THUNDER MIDGETS AT GAS CITY’S TOM BIGELOW CLASSIC

Gas City, Indiana (June 25, 2022)………Alex Watson of Columbus, Ohio took the lead on lap 18 and went on to win Friday night’s 20-lap USAC SpeeD2 Midwest Thunder Midget feature at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway.

There were three leaders during the feature. Last year’s Rookie of the Year, Josh Yenser of Plain City, Ohio, who started second, broke away initially and had nearly a one-second lead over the polesitter, 14-year-old Zach Wigal of Belpre, Ohio, when the fifth-place driver, Kyla Roell of Dillsboro, Ind., flipped high in the air between turns one and two. Roell, who is also 14, got out of her Beast/Honda under her own power, but it was a disappointing end to a promising evening that saw her win the second heat.

Yenser led the first four laps before Michael Magic of Indianapolis took over by charging under Yenser in turn two.  Watson, who started ninth, was fifth by that point, but two laps later, Watson passed 16-year-old Bryce Massingill of Troy, Ohio and Wigal to move into third place.  On the following lap, lap number eight, both Watson and Massingill passed Yenser to make the top-five Magic, Watson, Massingill, Yenser and Wigal.

At the halfway point on lap 10, Magic had a 1.157-second lead over Watson, but with only two laps to go, Watson passed him and went on to win by 0.743 seconds.  Stratton Briggs of Anna, Ohio came on late in the race to turn a sixth-place starting spot into a third-place finish.  Massingill and Wigal rounded out the top-five in a race that went non-stop after the red for Roell with one lap down.

Watson’s midget is sponsored by Erwin of Troy, Ohio; FK Rod Ends; Fuelab and LST.

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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE RESULTS: June 24, 2022 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana

FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Chett Gehrke, 93c, Gehrke-13.579; 2. Taylor Nibert, 11L, Taylor-13.902; 3. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-13.935; 4. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell-14.133; 5. Cory Guingrich, 42, Guingrich-14.293; 6. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-14.399; 7. Chris Guingrich, 62, Guingrich-15.333; 8. Don Bigelow, 4B, Bigelow-15.827; 9. Luke Lemons, 33L, Lemons-NT.

SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-13.180; 2. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.279; 3. Josh Yenser, 5y, Yenser-13.410; 4. Cody Beard, 7, Beard-13.513; 5. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-13.552; 6. Page Perrine, 55, Perrine-14.152; 7. Tyler Watkins, 5, Watkins-15.210; 8. Kyle Dager, 2, Briggs-16.922; 9. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-NT.

THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-13.143; 2. Alex Watson, 11T, Taylor-13.576; 3. Zach Wigal, 18, Wigal-13.690; 4. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-13.781; 5. Wes Pinkerton, 9p, Pinkerton-13.996; 6. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-14.183; 7. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-NT; 8. Thomas Bigelow, 2B, Bigelow-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Michael Magic, 2. Cory Gingrich, 3. Chris Guingrich, 4. Jim Jones, 5. Jakeb Boxell, 6. Taylor Nibert.

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kayla Roell, 2. Josh Yenser, 3. Cody Beard, 4. Ian Creager, 5. Kyle Dager, 6. Gunnar Lucius, 7. Tyler Watkins, 8. Abby Hohlbein.

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Wigal, 2. Stratton Briggs, 3. Alex Watson, 4. Bryce Massingill, 5. Wes Pinkerton, 6. Carl Peterson.

FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Alex Watson (9), 2. Michael Magic (4), 3. Stratton Briggs (6), 4. Bryce Massingill (12), 5. Zach Wigal (1), 6. Josh Yenser (2), 7. Cory Guingrich (3), 8. Ian Creager (11), 9. Carl Peterson (17), 10. Chris Guingrich (7), 11. Thomas Bigelow (18), 12. Jim Jones (10), 13. Cody Beard (8), 14. Chett Gehrke (19), 15. Wes Pinkerton (14), 16. Jakeb Boxell (13), 17. Gunnar Lucius (16), 18. Taylor Nibert (15), 19. Kayla Roell (5).

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Josh Yenser, Laps 5-17 Michael Magic, Laps 18-20 Alex Watson.

USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Stratton Briggs-448, 2-Bryce Massingill-418, 3-Michael Magic-376, 4-Ian Creager-374, 5-Carl Peterson-334, 6-Josh Yenser-310, 7-Kyle Dager-287, 8-Abby Hohlbein-261, 9-Bryce Dues-254, 10-Jim Jones-241.

NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS RACE: June 25, 2022 – Montpelier Motor Speedway – Montpelier, Indiana