By Richie Murray
Montpelier, Indiana (October 4, 2025)………Luke Hall doubled up by winning both 20-lap USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature events on Saturday night at Indiana’s Montpelier Speedway, the final two series points-paying events of the season.
With his third and sixth place finishes in the two respective feature events, Tyler Nelson of Olathe, Kansas captured the 2025 USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget driving championship.
The first feature of the evening was the makeup date for the event rained out on August 16. In this one, Nelson led the opening nine laps before the eighth place starting Hall (Ludlow Falls, Ohio) took control on the 10th lap and led the remaining 10 circuits. Hall was followed to the line by Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger Bryce Massingill, Nelson, Ian Creager and Jalen Cox.
In the second of the two features, Hall started sixth and methodically moved his way forward. Drew Rader (lap 1), Michael Magic (laps 2-3) and Matt Lux (laps 4-8) swapped the lead early in the going before Lux once again found his way to the front in his Kyle Heitmeyer owned machine, then led the final 12 laps to win again over Bryce Massingill while Stratton Briggs took third with Rader fourth and Lux fifth.
For Hall, it was his second and third points-paying series victories of the year and the sixth and seventh of his career.
Nelson was the VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier with a lap of 15.094 seconds. Lux was the winner of the Performance Electronics heat race one with Hall taking Stiefel Home & Auto heat race two, Stratton Briggs scoring Hoosier Auto Racing Fans heat three and Bryce Massingill Performance Electronics heat four.
Massingill captured Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger honors in the first feature, starting 19th after going to a backup car and advancing 17 spots to finish in the runner-up position.
Buddy Hollmeyer received the Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move after advancing 10 positions from 18th to 8th in the first feature.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: October 4, 2025 – Montpelier Speedway – Montpelier, Indiana
VMS MOTORSPORTS FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Matt Lux, 5, Wells-15.099; 2. Ian Creager, 36, Creager-15.440; 3. Wes Pinkerton, 21, Fedorczyk-15.671; 4. Alex Watson, 11L, Taylor-15.730; 5. Brayden Schwartz, 55s, Schwartz-15.850; 6. Dylan Trost, 21T, Trost-16.019; 7. Luke Lemons, 404, Boxell/Merkler-16.039; 8. Jim Jones, 97, Jones-16.210.
VMS MOTORSPORTS SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Michael Magic, 5m, Magic-15.219; 2. Ryan Moran, 01, Moran-15.388; 3. Luke Hall, 74, Heitmeyer-15.395; 4. Jalen Cox, 11x, Cox-15.512; 5. Derrick Noffsinger, 18N, Noffsinger-15.842; 6. Cole Morgan, 7m, Morgan-16.050; 7. Taylor Nibert, 11N, Nibert-16.777; 8. Travis Stickels, 87, Stickels-17.522.
VMS MOTORSPORTS THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Tyler Nelson, 91, Nelson-15.094; 2. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-15.246; 3. Abby Hohlbein, 11H, Hohlbein-15.394; 4. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-15.485; 5. Chase Hodge, 7c, Hodge-15.606; 6. Buddy Hollmeyer, 11, Taylor-15.774; 7. Tyler Watkins, 67, Watkins-16.247; 8. Jacob Goeglein, 8, Goeglein-16.503.
VMS MOTORSPORTS FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-15.392; 2. Drew Rader, 74H, Heitmeyer-15.403; 3. Jon Watson, 2w, Watson-15.794; 4. Bryce Dues, 0H, Sniper-16.062; 5. Sammy Males, 11m, Males-16.805; 6. Taten Long, 99, Long-16.825; 7. Cody Beard, 7x, Beard-NT.
PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Matt Lux (4), 2. Alex Watson (1), 3. Wes Pinkerton (2), 4. Ian Creager (3), 5. Luke Lemons (7), 6. Brayden Schwartz (5), 7. Dylan Trost (6), 8. Jim Jones (8). NT
STIEFEL’S HOME & AUTO SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Luke Hall (2), 2. Michael Magic (4), 3. Jalen Cox (1), 4. Ryan Moran (3), 5. Derrick Noffsinger (5), 6. Cole Morgan (6), 7. Taylor Nibert (7), 8. Travis Stickels (8). NT
HOOSIER AUTO RACING FANS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Stratton Briggs (1), 2. Tyler Nelson (4), 3. Abby Hohlbein (2), 4. Buddy Hollmeyer (6), 5. Chase Hodge (5), 6. Jacob Goeglein (8), 7. Tyler Watkins (7), 8. Gunnar Lucius. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bryce Massingill (4), 2. Drew Rader (3), 3. Jon Watson (2), 4. Cody Beard (7), 5. Bryce Dues (1), 6. Taten Long (6), 7. Sammy Males (5). NT
SEMI: (12 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Taylor Nibert (2), 2. Taten Long (4), 3. Jim Jones (5), 4. Travis Stickels (6), 5. Dylan Trost (1), 6. Tyler Watkins (7), 7. Jacob Goeglein (3), 8. Sammy Males (8). NT
FIRST FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Luke Hall (8), 2. Bryce Massingill (19), 3. Tyler Nelson (4), 4. Ian Creager (5), 5. Jalen Cox (9), 6. Michael Magic (16), 7. Brayden Schwartz (2), 8. Buddy Hollmeyer (18), 9. Cole Morgan (7), 10. Chase Hodge (15), 11. Jon Watson (13), 12. Derrick Noffsinger (14), 13. Travis Stickels (21), 14. Wes Pinkerton (1), 15. Luke Lemons (20), 16. Ryan Moran (11), 17. Abby Hohlbein (3), 18. Dylan Trost (10), 19. Bryce Dues (17), 20. Matt Lux (6), 21. Jim Jones (12). NT
SECOND FEATURE: (20 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Luke Hall (6), 2. Bryce Massingill (4), 3. Stratton Briggs (8), 4. Drew Rader (1), 5. Matt Lux (5), 6. Tyler Nelson (2), 7. Wes Pinkerton (9), 8. Ian Creager (13), 9. Brayden Schwartz (18), 10. Abby Hohlbein (11), 11. Buddy Hollmeyer (15), 12. Alex Watson (7), 13. Jalen Cox (17), 14. Cody Beard (16), 15. Cole Morgan (19), 16. Chase Hodge (20), 17. Derrick Noffsinger (14), 18. Taten Long (22), 19. Jim Jones (23), 20. Taylor Nibert (21), 21. Travis Stickels (24), 22. Jon Watson (12), 23. Ryan Moran, DQ. Michael Magic (3) (disqualified for missing the scales after finishing 3rd). NT
**Luke Lemons flipped during the makeup feature. Tyler Watkins flipped during the semi.
FIRST FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Tyler Nelson, Laps 10-20 Luke Hall.
SECOND FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Drew Rader, Laps 2-3 Michael Magic, Laps 4-8 Matt Lux, Laps 9-20 Luke Hall.
FINAL USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Tyler Nelson-477, 2-Bryce Massingill-472, 3-Matt Lux-460, 4-Luke Hall-426, 5-Zach Wigal-368, 6-Ian Creager-355, 7-Cole Morgan-354, 8-Brayden Schwartz-347, 9-Buddy Hollmeyer-333, 10-Jakeb Boxell-298.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
VMS Motorsports Fast Qualifier: Tyler Nelson (15.094)
Performance Electronics First Heat Winner: Matt Lux
Stiefel’s Home & Auto Second Heat Winner: Luke Hall
Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Third Heat Winner: Stratton Briggs
Fourth Heat Winner: Bryce Massingill
First Feature Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger: Bryce Massingill (19th to 2nd)
First Feature Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race: Buddy Hollmeyer
First Feature Hard Luck: Luke Lemons
First Feature LynK Chassis 10th Place Bonus: Chase Hodge
First Feature Wilwood Tough Brake: Luke Hall
Second Feature Performance Powder Coating Hard Charger: Brayden Schwartz (18th to 9th)
Second Feature Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race: Stratton Briggs
Second Feature Hard Luck: Taylor Nibert
Second Feature LynK Chassis 10th Place Bonus: Brayden Schwartz
Second Feature Wilwood Tough Brake: Stratton Briggs
Second Saldana Racing Products Certificate: Ryan Moran