HPD
Wednesday, 2 October 2019

SPEED2 MIDGETS IN ACTION IN INDIANA, ILLINOIS, NORTH CAROLINA

#93c Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.) #93c Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.) Bill Miller Photo

SPEED2 MIDGETS IN ACTION IN INDIANA, ILLINOIS, NORTH CAROLINA

Speedway, Indiana (October 1, 2019)………A trio of USAC Speed2 Midget series are in action this Saturday night, October 5, in the states of Indiana, Illinois and North Carolina as the season hits the home stretch.

The Midwest Thunder Midget season finale hits Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway for the Fall Festival of Speed this Saturday night along with a USAC Midwest Special Event open midget race.  It marks the sixth and final appearance of the season for the series at Gas City.  Aaron Leffel (Springfield, Ohio) won the first round in April while Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.) reeled off three-straight during the summer.  Stratton Briggs (Anna, Ohio) won at Gas City in September and, in fact, has won each of the last two series races to close the gap in the standings to 19 behind Leffel.

It’s an Engler IMRA Midget doubleheader on Saturday at Peoria Speedway in Illinois with two feature events, beginning with the makeup for the rained out Aug. 31 race.  From there, the series will then move into a new, complete show.  California’s Bryan Stanfill and Adam Taylor of Illinois won heat races on the rained out night at the end of August. 

Eastern Speed2 Midgets make their lone trip of the season this Saturday to Swansboro, North Carolina’s Carteret County Speedway.  Chris Lamb won last year’s race there while Jessica Bean (Farmland, Ind.) was the fastest qualifier.  Bean leads the series standings entering the event by 39 points as she seeks her third consecutive championship.

Saturday at Gas City, along with midgets, the night features Sprint Cars, wing IMCA RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars, MMSA/AMSA Mini-Sprints and Tough Trucks.  Pits open at 2pm Eastern, front gates open at 4:30pm, hot laps at 5pm and racing at 6:30pm.  Adult general admission tickets are $20 and kids age 12 and under are free.  Pit passes are $35.

Saturday at Carteret County, it’s USAC’s Eastern Speed2 Midgets, Super Trucks, Mini-Stocks, U-CARs and Legends.  Pits open at 9am, practice at 1pm, grandstands at 4pm, drivers meeting at 4pm, qualifying at 4:30pm, meet and greet at 6pm, pre-race ceremonies at 6:45pm and racing at 7:15pm.  Tickets are $15 for ages 11 and up and free for kids age 10 and under.  It’s also First Responders Appreciation Night.  Tickets are $5 off for active/retired police, fire fighters and EMS. 

Saturday at Peoria, UMP Late Models, UMP Modifieds, UMP Hornets and B-Mods join the IMRA Speed2 Midgets.  Adult grandstand tickets are $25 while kids 10 and under are free.  Pits open at 4pm Central, grandstands open at 5pm, drivers meeting at 5:45pm and hot laps at 6pm.  Pit passes are $40 for adults and $15 for kids.

USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Aaron Leffel-713, 2-Stratton Briggs-694, 3-Cory Guingrich-563, 4-Alex Watson-494, 5-Zane Briggs-489, 6-Gunnar Lucius-459, 7-Kyle Kriegbaum-440, 8-Ian Creager-437, 9-Tommy Bigelow-324, 10-Bryce Dues-307.

USAC ENGLER IMRA SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Andy Baugh-953, 2-Tyler Roth-829, 3-Jake Sollenberger-808, 4-Mark McMahill-698, 5-Kevin Battefeld-661, 6-Brent Burrows-637, 7-Russell Johnston-577, 8-Jeff Sparks-576, 9-John Heitzman-547, 10-Shane Morgan-495.

USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Jessica Bean-738, 2-Connor Gross-699, 3-Nolan Allison-590, 4-Neal Allison-552, 5-Alex Murray-503, 6-Preston Lattomus-406, 7-Sam Hatfield-389, 8-Levi Riffle-334, 9-Daytona Spicola-312, 10-Eric Lewis-277.