EASTERN MIDGETS HIT HICKORY; MIDWEST THUNDER CLASHES AT MONTPELIER; LEMKE GRABS USAC KERN CO. 20-LAPPER

North Carolina and Indiana will host USAC Speed2 Midget Series events this weekend, with races at Hickory, N.C. and Montpelier, Ind.

George Kurtz and Jessica Bean lead the Eastern Speed2 Midget series to Saturday’s race at Hickory Motor Speedway, while Saturday’s race at Montpelier Motor Speedway serves as the 2017 series opener following an April 1 rainout at the same track. Gage Etgen of Celina, Ohio is the defending series champion. Bean, of Farmland, Ind., won the Eastern opener last month at Durham, N.C.

Adam Lemke of Hollister, Calif. earned his first USAC feature victory Saturday night as he won the 20-lap Speed2 Western US Midget race at the Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, Calif.

Lemke passed Cody Jessop on lap 5 and led the rest of the way to defeat fast qualifier Tom Paterson, Blake Brannon, Joel Rayborne and Annie Breidinger.

The Western Dirt series resumes May 13 at Merced (Calif.) Speedway, while the Western Pavement series is slated to compete May 6 at Madera (Calif) Speedway.

2017 USAC Speed2 Western US Overall Midget Series Standings: 1-Jesse Love IV-236, 2-Annie Breidinger-214, 3-Tom Paterson-201, 4-Blake Brannon-183, 5-Toni Breidinger-168, 6-Adam Lemke-155, 7-Antonia Boscacci-54, 8-Cody Jessop-62, 9-Johnny Nichols-60. 10-Jeremy Speck-58.

2017 USAC Speed2 Western US Dirt Midget Series Standings: 1-Jesse Love IV-78, 2-Annie Breidinger-74. 3-Tom Paterson-72, 4-Antonia Boscacci-67, 5-Adam Lemke-65, 6-Blake Brannon-60, 7-Jeremy Speck-58.

2017 USAC Speed2 Eastern Midget Series Standings: 1-George Kurtz-71, 2-Jessica Bean-70, 3-Kyle Resco-67, 4-Mick McFarland-66, 5-Nolan Allison-58, 6-Sam Hatfield-57, 7-Jagger Parker-52, 8-Jake Trainor-50, 9-Connor Yonchuk-46, 10-Jake Garcia-43.