MASSINGILL ZIPS TO MOLER WIN, TAKES OVER POINT LEAD
Williamsburg, Ohio (August 4, 2023)………Bryce Massingill raced to his series-leading fifth feature victory of the USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget season on Friday night at Ohio’s Moler Raceway Park.
In the process, Massingill (Troy, Ohio) also took over the series point lead after racing to the lead 12 laps into the feature event, passing former point leader Zach Wigal just after the midway point.
Wigal controlled the first half of the 20-lap main event before being overtaken by Massingill. Wigal fell back to third and remained in contention with four laps to go when the lapped car of Matt Lux broke a wheel, which sent him flipping into the wall. Massingill slipped by without trouble, but Wigal got caught up in, knocking him out of the race and out of the point lead with an 18th place result.
In the end, Massingill prevailed in a four-lap, three-car “trophy dash” for his third win at Moler in four tries this season. Defending series champ Stratton Briggs (Anna, Ohio) took second with Ian Creager (Covington, Ohio) third, Cale Coons (Greencastle, Ind.) fourth and Gunnar Lucius (Delphos, Ohio) fifth.
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USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 4, 2023 – Moler Raceway Park – Williamsburg, Ohio
VMS MOTORSPORTS FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Zach Wigal, 18, Wigal-14.524; 2. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-14.647; 3. Cale Coons, 11T, Taylor-14.679; 4. Matt Lux, 5KB, Wells-14.705; 5. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-14.727; 6. Kyle Keaton, 6K, Keaton-14.736; 7. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-14.899; 8. Conner Bolding, 2, Briggs-14.956; 9. Jakeb Boxell, 44JB, Boxell/Merkler-14.974.
VMS MOTORSPORTS SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Stratton Briggs, 21, Fedorczyk-15.070; 2. Chett Gehrke, 10, Moore-15.148; 3. Cole Morgan, 7m, Morgan-15.238; 4. Tate Martz, 34, GMB-15.265; 5. Carl Peterson, 49p, Peterson-15.284; 6. Alex Watson, 3E, Watson-15.336; 7. Josh Yenser, 16y, 15.348; 8. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-15.593; 9. Steven Gresham, 27G, Gresham-16.321.
VMS MOTORSPORTS THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-15.015; 2. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-15.193; 3. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-15.277; 4. Tyler Kalb, 32, Kalb-15.531; 5. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-15.650; 6. Luke Lemons, 33L, Lemons-15.740; 7. Brayden Schwartz, 55s, Schwartz-15.755; 8. Jimmie Guidry, 21G, Guidry-16.190; 9. Page Perrine, 55, Perrine-17.281.
PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Wigal (4), 2. Ian Creager (3), 3. Cale Coons (2), 4. Jakeb Boxell (9), 5. Matt Lux (1), 6. Kyle Keaton (6), 7. Michael Magic (7). NT
U.S. LAWNS SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tate Martz (1), 2. Stratton Briggs (4), 3. Cole Morgan (2), 4. Josh Yenser (7), 5. Chett Gehrke (3), 6. Alex Watson (6), 7. Cody Dye (8), 8. Carl Peterson (5). NT
STIEFEL’S HOME & AUTO THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bryce Massingill (4), 2. Abby Hohlbein (2), 3. Gunnar Lucius (3), 4. Tyler Kalb (1), 5. Luke Lemons (5), 6. Brayden Schwartz (6), 7. Page Perrine (8), 8. Kayla Roell (9), 9. Jimmie Guidry (7). NT
FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bryce Massingill (4), 2. Stratton Briggs (1), 3. Ian Creager (3), 4. Cale Coons (7), 5. Gunnar Lucius (9), 6. Abby Hohlbein (6), 7. Tate Martz (5), 8. Cole Morgan (8), 9. Chett Gehrke (14), 10. Jakeb Boxell (10), 11. Tyler Kalb (12), 12. Michael Magic (19), 13. Kayla Roell (23), 14. Brayden Schwartz (18), 15. Jimmie Guidry (24), 16. Cody Dye (20), 17. Page Perrine (21), 18. Zach Wigal (2), 19. Matt Lux (13), 20. Kyle Keaton (16), 21. Josh Yenser (11), 22. Luke Lemons (15), 23. Alex Watson (17), 24. Carl Peterson (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-11 Zach Wigal, Laps 12-20 Bryce Massingill.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Bryce Massingill-831, 2-Zach Wigal-807, 3-Stratton Briggs-761, 4-Ian Creager-746, 5-Matt Lux-740, 6-Gunnar Lucius-723, 7-Abby Hohlbein-640, 8-Jakeb Boxell-573, 9-Josh Yenser-538, 10-Alex Watson-477.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: August 5, 2023 – Atomic Speedway – Chillicothe, Ohio
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier: Zach Wigal
U.S. Lawns First Heat Winner: Zach Wigal
Performance Electronics Second Heat Winner: Tate Martz
Stiefel’s Home & Auto Third Heat: Bryce Massingill
Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger: Kayla Roell (23rd to 13th)
Impact Racing Luck Racer: Tate Martz
HARF/DARF Hard Luck Award: Thomas Briggs