By Gerold Keysor
With the heavy rains beginning the week, it was questionable whether Limaland Motorsports Park would be able to run, but the staff and crew pulled together, and the racetrack was pristine for the Fifth Annual Mike Streicher Memorial presented by Post Printing. Troy, Ohio’s Bryce Massingill became the first two-time winner of the USAC Midwest Thunder Midget feature honoring Streicher.
Next up were the USAC Midwest Thunder Midgets in their 25 lap A Main honoring the late Mike Streicher. No. 10 Chett Gehrke and No. 35 Bryce Massingill would lead the field to green with Gehrke grabbing the early lead. Caution would fly on lap 2 as the No. 44JB of Jakeb Boxell came to a stop on the front stretch with a broken fuel pump ending his bid to win back to back Streicher Memorial races. Gehrke would resume his lead on the restart, but Massingill would take his No 35 to the lead on lap 5 and never look back. 2023 Mike Streicher Memorial winner Zach Wigal in the No. 18 would charge to second on lap 18, but would not be able to close on Massingill, who would win and become the first two-time winner of the Streicher Memorial, winning over Wigal, Gehrke, No. 74 Luke Hall, and No 5 Matt Lux.
USAC D2 Midgets – 25 entries
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 35-Bryce Massingill[2]; 2. 18-Zach Wigal[7]; 3. 10-Chett Gehrke[3]; 4. 74-Luke Hall[6]; 5. 5-Matt Lux[12]; 6. 01-Ryan Moran[4]; 7. 91-Tyler Nelson[11]; 8. 22-Gunnar Lucius[1]; 9. 74H-Drew Rader[19]; 10. 11X-Jalen Cox[10]; 11. 7M-Cole Morgan[8]; 12. 36-Ian Creager[15]; 13. 11T-Ryan Barr[16]; 14. 11-Buddy Hollmeyer[9]; 15. 49-Carl Peterson IV[13]; 16. 4T-Cody Dye[14]; 17. 21J-Jacob Sabaj[20]; 18. 55S-Brayden Schwartz[17]; 19. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[23]; 20. 2W-Jon Watson[22]; 21. 87-Travis Stickels[21]; 22. 44JB-Jakeb Boxell[5]; 23. (DNS) 5M-Michael Magic; 24. (DNS) 21-Dylan Trost
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Zach Wigal[4]; 2. 10-Chett Gehrke[3]; 3. 11-Buddy Hollmeyer[1]; 4. 49-Carl Peterson IV[2]; 5. 55S-Brayden Schwartz[5]; 6. (DNF) 87-Travis Stickels[7]; 7. (DNS) 5M-Michael Magic
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Gunnar Lucius[4]; 2. 7M-Cole Morgan[2]; 3. 11X-Jalen Cox[3]; 4. 4T-Cody Dye[1]; 5. 21-Dylan Trost[5]; 6. (DNS) 97-Jim Jones
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Bryce Massingill[6]; 2. 01-Ryan Moran[2]; 3. 91-Tyler Nelson[3]; 4. 36-Ian Creager[4]; 5. 74H-Drew Rader[1]; 6. 2W-Jon Watson[5]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 74-Luke Hall[2]; 2. 44JB-Jakeb Boxell[4]; 3. 5-Matt Lux[3]; 4. 11T-Ryan Barr[1]; 5. 21J-Jacob Sabaj[5]; 6. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[6]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 18-Zach Wigal, 00:13.480[1]; 2. 10-Chett Gehrke, 00:13.769[3]; 3. 49-Carl Peterson IV, 00:14.270[4]; 4. 11-Buddy Hollmeyer, 00:14.270[5]; 5. 55S-Brayden Schwartz, 00:14.611[2]; 6. 5M-Michael Magic, 00:15.464[6]; 7. (DNS) 87-Travis Stickels, 00:15.464
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 22-Gunnar Lucius, 00:13.935[4]; 2. 11X-Jalen Cox, 00:13.991[3]; 3. 7M-Cole Morgan, 00:14.425[6]; 4. 4T-Cody Dye, 00:14.808[5]; 5. 21-Dylan Trost, 00:15.046[2]; 6. (DNS) 97-Jim Jones, 00:15.046
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 36-Ian Creager, 00:13.827[1]; 2. 91-Tyler Nelson, 00:13.932[3]; 3. 01-Ryan Moran, 00:14.061[6]; 4. 74H-Drew Rader, 00:14.150[4]; 5. 2W-Jon Watson, 00:15.124[2]; 6. 35-Bryce Massingill[5]
Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 44JB-Jakeb Boxell, 00:13.728[3]; 2. 5-Matt Lux, 00:13.926[4]; 3. 74-Luke Hall, 00:13.952[5]; 4. 11T-Ryan Barr, 00:14.511[2]; 5. 21J-Jacob Sabaj, 00:14.565[1]; 6. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger, 00:15.051[6]