STANFILL PREVAILS IN CIRCUS CITY DUEL
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Peru, Indiana (August 14, 2021)………The two main players in the hunt for the USAC Midwest Regional Midget championship put their battle on display during Saturday night’s 30-lap feature at Circus City Speedway in Peru, Ind.
Bryan Stanfill (Bakersfield, Calif.) and series point leader Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.) duked it out for the duration of the feature distance with Stanfill leading the initial four laps before giving way to Gehrke on the fifth lap.
Gehrke, the defending series champ, controlled the pace throughout the middle stage, leading a race-high 17 laps until Stanfill raced back by for the lead with just nine laps remaining.
Stanfill ultimately prevailed for his second series victory of the year by a 0.344 second margin over Gehrke, Greg Mitchell (Parkersburg, W.Va.), Scott Orr (Columbia City, Ind.) and Abby Hohlbein (Cloverdale, Ohio).
By virtue of his victory, Stanfill closed the gap in the title race to a mere 13 points behind Gehrke.
Additionally, in what was a special night for the Stanfill family, Bryan's son Cruz also captured the Junior Sprint feature victory at the track in the same evening.
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USAC MIDWEST REGIONAL MIDGET RESULTS: August 14, 2021 – Circus City Speedway – Peru, Indiana
QUALIFYING: 1. Bryan Stanfill, 75AU, Griffiths-11.031; 2. Kayla Roell, 4K, Martin-11.225; 3. Scott Orr, 88, Orr-11.226; 4. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-11.334; 5. Jordan Calendine, 38, Calendine-11.340; 6. Keith Ousley, 27, Ousley-11.367; 7. Greg Mitchell, 001B, Mitchell-11.381; 8. Ben Varner, 25v, Gladish-11.402; 9. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-11.403; 10. Chett Gehrke, 10, Moore-11.445; 11. Garrett Mitchell, 001y, Mitchell-11.645.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Bryan Stanfill, 2. Greg Mitchell, 3. Chett Gehrke, 4. Glenn Waterland, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Keith Ousley. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Abby Hohlbein, 2. Scott Orr, 3. Jordan Calendine, 4. Ben Varner, 5. Garrett Mitchell. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Stanfill, 2. Chett Gehrke, 3. Greg Mitchell, 4. Scott Orr, 5. Abby Hohlbein, 6. Jordan Calendine, 7. Garrett Mitchell, 8. Kayla Roell, 9. Glenn Waterland, 10. Ben Varner, 11. Keith Ousley. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Bryan Stanfill, Laps 5-21 Chett Gehrke, Laps 22-30 Bryan Stanfill.
USAC MIDWEST REGIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Chett Gehrke-465, 2-Bryan Stanfill-452, 3-Chance Crum-330, 4-Tyler Nelson-310, 5-Kayla Roell-264, 6-Glenn Waterland-235, 7-Shane Cottle-228, 8-Jeff Beasley-190, 9-Abby Hohlbein-165, 10-Jeff Schindler-109.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST REGIONAL MIDGET RACE: August 28, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana
