10/15/21 4:55 PM TAYLOR MADE: DENNEY DOUBLES UP WITH 2ND CONSECUTIVE USAC MIDWEST THUNDER MIDGET CROWN
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TAYLOR MADE: DENNEY DOUBLES UP WITH 2ND CONSECUTIVE USAC MIDWEST THUNDER MIDGET CROWN
Speedway, Indiana (October 15, 2021)………Coming off a four-win championship season in 2020, Jacob Denney had no thought of resting on his laurels coming into the 2021 USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget season.
The 16-year-old from Galloway, Ohio accrued one of the most dominant seasons in series history, winning seven points races en route to a 41-point victory in the final standings.
Denney won early and often in 2021, winning more than half of the 13 points races held in Indiana and Ohio and giving Troy, Ohio-based Team Taylor its fifth consecutive series title.
Wins for Denney came at six different venues during the year, twice at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway, twice at U.S. 24 Speedway in Logansport, Ind., two non-points special events at Montpelier (Ind.) Motor Speedway, and three more full-points wins at Waverly, Ohio’s Atomic Speedway, Peru, Indiana’s Circus City Speedway and Indianapolis and Indiana’s Circle City Raceway.* Denney also put in a stretch of seven-straight feature victories between the months of July and August.
Stratton Briggs (Anna, Ohio) finished as the championship runner-up for the fourth time in the last five years, including each of the past three seasons.* He added two wins in his homeland in May at Limaland Motorsports Park and in July at Jackson County Speedway.
Bryce Massingill (Troy, Ohio) added the first two wins of his career with the series at Gas City in June and again in September at the brand-new Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, Ind., going on to finish a career-best third in the final points.
Ian Creager (Covington, Ohio) snagged a special event feature win at Ohio’s Waynesfield Raceway Park on Independence Day Weekend, carrying him onward to equal his points placing from 2020 by taking fourth in the standings for the second consecutive year.
Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.) took fifth in the final standings and moved into second all-time in USAC Midwest SpeeD2/Focus/HPD Midget feature victories with a Labor Day weekend score at Gas City.* He also added two non-points, special event triumphs to open the season indoors at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.
Kayla Roell (Dillsboro, Ind.) became the first female to win a USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget feature in the final points race of the year at U.S. 24 Speedway in Logansport, Ind. in September.
Three-time series champion Aaron Leffel (Springfield, Ohio) partook in a part-time schedule this season, scoring one special event feature victory in September at Montpelier.
Five drivers started all 13 points-paying feature events in 2020: Stratton Briggs, Ian Creager, Jacob Denney, Bryce Massingill and Abby Hohlbein (Cloverdale, Ohio), who finished 6th in points.
Denney led all drivers with 11 top-five finishes while Creager was the lone individual to finish inside the top-10 in all 13 feature races.
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1************ 785******* Jacob Denney, Galloway, Ohio
2************ 744******* Stratton Briggs, Anna, Ohio
3************ 708******* Bryce Massingill, Troy, Ohio
4************ 700******* Ian Creager, Covington, Ohio
5************ 677******* Chett Gehrke, Broken Arrow, Okla.
6************ 624******* Abby Hohlbein, Cloverdale, Ohio
7************ 554******* Josh Yenser, Hilliard, Ohio
8************ 491******* Zack Gingerich, Celina, Ohio
9************ 453******* Kyle Dager, Fort Wayne, Ind.
10********** 383******* Aaron Leffel, Springfield, Ohio
11********** 330******* Bryce Dues, Minster, Ohio
12********** 311******* Tommy Kouns, Lebanon, Ind.
13********** 307******* Cory Guingrich, Celina, Ohio
14********** 302******* Kyle Kriegbaum, Marion, Ind.
15********** 281******* Cody Dye, Covington, Ky.
16********** 271******* Alex Watson, Columbus, Ohio
17********** 253******* Ryan Thomas, Indianapolis, Ind.
18********** 224******* Michael Magic, Winder, Ga.
19********** 219******* Mark Nieft Jr., Brownsburg, Ind.
20********** 218******* Kayla Roell, Dillsboro, Ind.
21********** 214******* Jim Jones, Indianapolis, Ind.
22********** 197******* Taylor Nibert, South Vienna, Ohio
23********** 163******* Carl Peterson, Waterford, Mich.
24********** 144******* Cody Beard, Huntingburg, Ind.
25********** 125******* Adam Taylor, Dwight, Ill.
26********** 125******* Gunnar Lucius, Delphos, Ohio
27********** 114******* Ryan Moran, Ottawa, Ohio
28********** 77********** Adam Schmenk, Columbus Grove, Ohio
29********** 52********** Wes Pinkerton, Reynolds, Ind.
30********** 49********** Jeff Schindler, Evansville, Ind.
31********** 49********** Tom Hessel, Van Wert, Ohio
32********** 47********** Andy Martin, Findlay, Ohio
33********** 41********** Jon Watson, Columbus, Ohio
34********** 41********** Steven Gresham, Seymour, Ind.
35********** 37********** Justin Davis, Spencer, Ind.
36********** 35********** Chris Dickey, Westfield, Ind.
37********** 20********** Cody Downard, Lima, Ohio
38********** 10********** Ryan Huggler, Winamac, Ind.
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2021 USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 FEATURE WINNERS:
Feb 26: Southern Illinois Center - Du Quoin, IL (SE) -
WINNER: Chett Gehrke
Feb 27: Southern Illinois Center - Du Quoin, IL (SE) -
WINNER: Chett Gehrke
May 14: Limaland Motorsports Park - Lima, OH -
WINNER: Stratton Briggs
May 29: U.S. 24 Speedway - Logansport, IN -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Jun 4: Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, IN -
WINNER: Bryce Massingill
Jul 3: Waynesfield Raceway Park - Waynesfield, OH (SE) -
WINNER: Ian Creager
Jul 9: Jackson County Speedway - Jackson, OH -
WINNER: Stratton Briggs
Jul 10: Atomic Speedway - Waverly, OH -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Jul 30: Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, IN -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Jul 31: Circus City Speedway - Peru, IN -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Aug 6: Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, IN -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Aug 7: Montpelier Motor Speedway - Montpelier, IN (SE) -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Aug 20: Circle City Raceway - Indianapolis, IN -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Aug 21: U.S. 24 Speedway - Logansport, IN -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
Sep 3: Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, IN -
WINNER: Chett Gehrke
Sep 11: Montpelier Motor Speedway - Montpelier, IN (SE) -
WINNER: Aaron Leffel
Sep 17: Circle City Raceway - Indianapolis, IN -
WINNER: Bryce Massingill
Sep 25: U.S. 24 Speedway - Logansport, IN -
WINNER: Kayla Roell
Oct 9: Montpelier Motor Speedway - Montpelier, IN (SE) -
WINNER: Jacob Denney
(SE) represents a non-point, special event
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2021 USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 FEATURE WINS: (FULL POINTS)
7-Jacob Denney
2-Stratton Briggs & Bryce Massingill
1-Chett Gehrke & Kayla Roell
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2021 USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 FEATURE WINS: (FULL POINTS)
2-Jacob Denney & Chett Gehrke
1-Ian Creager & Aaron Leffel
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2021 USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 TOP-5 FEATURE FINISHES:
11-Jacob Denney
10-Chett Gehrke
9-Stratton Briggs
8-Bryce Massingill
5-Ian Creager & Aaron Leffel
4-Abby Hohlbein & Josh Yenser
2-Cory Guingrich, Kayla Roell & Adam Taylor
1-Luke Lemons, Michael Magic & Alex Watson
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2021 USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 TOP-10 FEATURE FINISHES:
13-Ian Creager
12-Stratton Briggs
11-Jacob Denney & Chett Gehrke
10-Bryce Massingill
9-Josh Yenser
8-Abby Hohlbein
6-Kyle Dager
5-Aaron Leffel
4-Tommy Kouns, Kayla Roell & Alex Watson
3-Cory Guingrich & Michael Magic
2-J.B. Boxell, Cody Dye, Zack Gingerich, Luke Lemons, Mark Nieft Jr., Trey Osborne, Adam Taylor & Ryan Thomas
1-Zane Briggs, Bryce Dues, Tom Hessel, Kyle Keaton, Gunnar Lucius, Ryan Moran, Taylor Nibert, Carl Peterson, Wes Pinkerton, Drew Rader & Adam Schmenk
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2021 USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 TOP-10 FEATURE STARTS:
13-Stratton Briggs, Ian Creager, Jacob Denney, Abby Hohlbein & Bryce Massingill
12-Josh Yenser
11-Chett Gehrke & Zack Gingerich
10-Kyle Dager
8-Bryce Dues & Kyle Kriegbaum
7-Cody Dye, Cory Guingrich & Tommy Kouns
6-Jim Jones, Ryan Thomas & Alex Watson
5-Aaron Leffel, Luke Lemons, Taylor Nibert & Mark Nieft Jr.
4-Cody Beard, Michael Magic, Carl Peterson & Kayla Roell
3-Nate Foster, Gunnar Lucius & Trey Osborne
2-J.B. Boxell, Zane Briggs, Matt Cogley, Jeremy Howe, Ryan Moran, Keith Ousley, Jody Paul, Adam Schmenk & Adam Taylor
1-Blake Adams, Thomas Briggs, Alex Cogley, Ron Coleman, R.J. Corson, Justin Davis, Chris Dickey, Bill Dunham, Kameron Gladish, Steven Gresham, Tom Hessel, Kyle Keaton, Andy Martin, Wes Pinkerton, Drew Rader, Jeff Schindler, Travis Stickels & Jon Watson
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ALL-TIME USAC MIDWEST SPEED2 FEATURE WINS: (FULL POINTS EVENTS)
24-Tate Martz
15-Chett Gehrke, Joe Liguori, Ross Rankine & James Robertson
14-Aaron Leffel
13-Stratton Briggs
11-Patrick Bruns & Jacob Denney
10-Robbie Ray
9-Toby Alfrey
8-Cooper Clouse & Austin Nemire
6-Jake Blackhurst
5-Mario Clouser, Gage Etgen, Kyle Hamilton, Gage Walker & Alex Watson
4-Tyler Cottongim, Nick Drake, Chris Lamb, Jordan Noblitt & Ronnie Wuerdeman
3-Josh Clemons, John Heydenreich & Scott Hunter
2-Eric Fehrman, Craig Haack, Brandon Hartsell, Korbyn Hayslett, Ryan Krachun, Josh Lakatos, Alison MacLeod, Tony Main, Bryce Massingill, Steven Mathews, Jordan Pennington, Jimmy Simpson, Adam Taylor & Adam Wilsdon
1-Kobe Allison, Dalton Armstrong, Tony Ave, Andy Baugh, Jessica Bean, Corey Bedwell, Jerry Coons Jr., Ian Creager, Nic Davidson, Mitchell Davis, Bobby East, Ricky Ehrgott, Derek Fisher, Jeremy Frankoski, Bradley Galedrige, Joey Greening, Nick Hamilton, Ryan Hamilton, Auston Harris, Jared Irvan, Tyler Irwin, Blaine Leydig, Jimmy Light, Ryan Litt, Brad Loyet, Chase McDermand, Stephanie Mockler, Sean Murphy, Rex Norris III, Bryan Nuckles, Brad Paris, Wil Raber, Brad Racer, Bradley Riethmeyer, Kayla Roell, Gedd Ross, Chase Scott, Ryan Smith, Jacob Stickle, Byron Stowe, Matt Westfall & Tanner Whitten
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ALL-TIME USAC MIDWEST SPEED2 MIDGET FEATURE WINS: (NON-POINTS, SPECIAL EVENTS)
3-Aaron Leffel
2-Jacob Denney, Chett Gehrke, Korbyn Hayslett & Wil Raber
1-Ian Creager, Trenton Darland, Tyson Hart, Steven Intravaia, Chris Lamb, Matthew Lundstrom, Andy Malpocker & Dillon Morley
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USAC MIDWEST SPEED2 DRIVER CHAMPIONS:
2003: Robbie Ray
2004: Tate Martz
2005: Tate Martz
2006: Jordan Noblitt (Dirt) & Tate Martz (Pavement)
2007: James Robertson
2008: Kyle Hamilton
2009: Joe Liguori
2010: Joe Liguori (Overall), Joe Liguori (Dirt) & Jake Blackhurst (Pavement)
2011: Ross Rankine (Overall), Ross Rankine (Pavement) & Patrick Bruns (Dirt)
2012: Ross Rankine (Pavement) & Ross Rankine (Dirt)
2013: Cooper Clouse (Pavement) & Gage Walker (Dirt)
2014: Austin Nemire (Pavement) & Austin Nemire (Dirt)
2015: Alex Watson
2016: Gage Etgen
2017: Aaron Leffel
2018: Aaron Leffel
2019: Aaron Leffel
2020: Jacob Denney
2021: Jacob Denney
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