WIGAL WINS AT ATOMIC
Chillicothe, Ohio (August 5, 2023)………Zach Wigal prevailed to win his series-tying fifth USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature of the season on Saturday night at Chillicothe, Ohio’s Atomic Speedway.
Wigal started from the pole position and waged a racelong battle with outside front row starter Jakeb Boxell throughout the scheduled 20-lap distance with Boxell (Zanesville, Ind.) credited with a second place finish, Ian Creager (Covington, Ohio) in third, defending series champion Stratton Briggs (Anna, Ohio) in fourth and point leader Bryce Massingill (Troy, Ohio) in fifth.
An inadvertent white flag was displayed on both lap 18 and 19 of the scheduled 20-lap feature, which in turn caused some drivers in the field to slow, thinking the second flag shown was the checkered. The finish ultimately reverted to the running order as the field crossed the start/finish line on lap 19. Atomic Speedway stated that both Boxell and Creager would receive a second-place finisher payout.
Wigal was the evening’s VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier and also grabbed the victory in Performance Electronics Heat Race One. Boxell scored U.S. Lawns Heat Two while Cale Coons (Greencastle, Ind.) collected Stiefel’s Home & Auto Heat Three.
Cole Morgan (Brookville, Ohio) turned in a fine top-10 run by advancing from his 18th starting position to finish 9th, which earned him the night’s Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger award.
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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2023 – Atomic Speedway – Chillicothe, Ohio
VMS MOTORSPORTS FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Zach Wigal, 18, Wigal-14.810; 2. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-14.978; 3. Stratton Briggs, 21, Fedorczyk-15.071; 4. Alex Watson, 3E, Watson-15.285; 5. Kyle Keaton, 6K, Keaton-15.323; 6. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-16.558; 7. Jody Paul, 5J, Paul-17.019.
VMS MOTORSPORTS SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-15.006; 2. Chett Gehrke, 10, Moore-15.016; 3. Cale Coons, 11T, Taylor-15.140; 4. Travis Walters, 97, Walters-15.183; 5. Luke Lemons, 33L, Lemons-15.566; 6. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-15.893; 7. Brayden Schwartz, 55s, Schwartz-15.952.
VMS MOTORSPORTS THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-14.846, 2. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-15.090, 3. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell-15.234, 4. Josh Yenser, 16y, Yenser-15.496, 5. Cole Morgan, 7m, Morgan-15.603, 6. Matt Lux, 5KB, Wells-15.712, 7. Jimmie Guidry, 21J, Guidry-15.947.
PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Wigal (4), 2. Stratton Briggs (2), 3. Gunnar Lucius (3), 4. Kyle Keaton (5), 5. Cody Dye (6), 6. Jody Paul (7), 7. Alex Watson (1). NT
U.S. LAWNS SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jakeb Boxell (2), 2. Josh Yenser (1), 3. Bryce Massingill (4), 4. Abby Hohlbein (3), 5. Matt Lux (6), 6. Cole Morgan (5), 7. Jimmie Guidry (7). NT
STIEFEL’S HOME & AUTO THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (2), 2. Ian Creager (4), 3. Travis Walters (1), 4. Carl Peterson (6), 5. Chett Gehrke (3), 6. Luke Lemons (5), 7. Brayden Schwartz (7). NT
FEATURE: (19 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Wigal (1), 2. Jakeb Boxell (2), 3. Ian Creager (4), 4. Stratton Briggs (3), 5. Bryce Massingill (9), 6. Gunnar Lucius (7), 7. Chett Gehrke (14), 8. Carl Peterson (11), 9. Cole Morgan (18), 10. Josh Yenser (6), 11. Matt Lux (15), 12. Cody Dye (13), 13. Brayden Schwartz (20), 14. Jimmie Guidry (21), 15. Travis Walters (8), 16. Kyle Keaton (10), 17. Abby Hohlbein (12), 18. Cale Coons (5), 19. Luke Lemons (17), 20. Jody Paul (16). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Jakeb Boxell, Lap 19 Zach Wigal.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Bryce Massingill-889, 2-Zach Wigal-877, 3-Stratton Briggs-822, 4-Ian Creager-810, 5-Matt Lux-781, 6-Gunnar Lucius-778, 7-Abby Hohlbein-669, 8-Jakeb Boxell-640, 9-Josh Yenser-581, 10-Alex Watson-487.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: August 12, 2023 – Montpelier Motor Speedway – Montpelier, Ohio
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier: Zach Wigal
Performance Electronics First Heat Winner: Zach Wigal
U.S. Lawns Second Heat Winner: Jakeb Boxell
Stiefel’s Home & Auto Third Heat: Cale Coons
Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger: Cole Morgan (18th to 9th)