June 4, 2025 | By Richie Murray, USAC Media

Kale Drake charges from 9th to victory at Indiana Midget Week opener

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—All year long, Kale Drake has displayed an astounding passing prowess that has put him atop USAC’s passing master standings.

During Tuesday night’s 21st annual USAC Indiana Midget Week opener at Circle City Raceway’s, that very same passing prowess took the ninth place starting Drake to victory lane.

In a race which saw the lead exchange hands six different times among three drivers, Drake (Collinsville, Oklahoma) broke through with the winning move around Kevin Thomas Jr. with six laps remaining to earn his first career Indiana Midget Week win, his second straight USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory and his third career series victory overall.

Drake, whose 120 passes in USAC national feature events in 2025 is a staggering 66 more than anyone else, leads the season long Parallax Group Passing Master standings.  Starting inside row five, Drake needed to dig deep to get to the front once more in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Eibach – TRD – Toyota – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.

In the meantime, pole sitter Logan Seavey sprinted out to the lead where he’d remain for the initial 18 circuits of the 30-lap feature. On the ninth lap, 10th running Gunnar Setser flipped upside down in turn two to bring out the only red flag of the night. Setser was able to walk away while Cannon McIntosh, second in series points, also dropped out following the incident, finishing 25th in the 25-car field.

When action resumed, Daison Pursley slid past Seavey in turns one and two on the 10th lap. Seavey astutely cut back under to reassume the lead, then fended off another Pursley attack in turns three and four to lead at the stripe by a wheel. Shortly thereafter, Karter Sarff circled the waters, then pounced on lap 16 to take second from Pursley.

Suddenly, it was a swarm of six different cars all under a blanket as fifth starting Kevin Thomas Jr. rolled the bottom to fourth on lap 16, to third on lap 17, to second on lap 18 and to the lead on lap 19 in three-wide fashion with himself on the low line, Drake in the middle and Seavey on the outside.

Drake had surged from sixth to second in a five-lap span between laps 16-20, and after a somewhat stagnant start, he had surprised the field with his presence at the front and even surprised himself!

“I didn’t think we were going to have anything for them,” Drake stated. “Early on in that race, we were struggling and at a standstill really. I could pounce on them when they made a mistake, but other than that, I really didn’t have speed. When I stumbled upon that line, it worked out really well for us.”

“That” line involved bouncing his right rear tire off the outside wall in turns one and two, then diamonding his path from the top of turn three to the bottom of turn four. Drake took that maneuver to the lead past Thomas on lap 21 and the duel was on. Thomas retook the top spot on lap 22 before Drake took it back on the 23rd lap. Thomas regained the lead on lap 24, but Drake fought back to reach the top once more on lap 25 around the outside of turn four.

Artist Bob Ross once encouraged people to embrace “happy accidents.” Instead of viewing errors as mistakes, he encouraged individuals to use the opportunity to create something unexpected and positive. Drake’s artistry on the racetrack transformed from what could've been construed as an accident to a pivotal and winning moment.

“I accidentally did that move in one and two and kind of gained on the guys ahead of me, and I was like, ‘whew! If we can replicate that, we’re going to be hard to beat,’” Drake revealed. “Once I made it happen, we were able to pick our way right through them. They were hanging really bad off the exit, so I could make the diamond line work. I was able to drive it into the corner so hard, thanks to having such a good racecar. I really just had to get it turned and come down the hill. There’s not much to lean on up there and it’s really slick. You’ve got to come up with unique lines like that.”

Despite reaching lapped traffic during the final two laps, Drake was able to extend his lead over Thomas in the final stages, leading the final six laps to win by a 1.265 second margin over Thomas, Sarff and Pursley with Seavey rounding out the top-five.

Furthermore, Drake became the first feature winning driver to also grab hard charger honors in USAC National Midget competition this season, advancing eight positions to score his second straight feature victory with the series after also winning on May 18 at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex in similarly dramatic fashion.

“They were racing really hard in front of me, so it slowed them all down, and it really opened the door for me,” Drake explained. “To grab another Rod End Supply Hard Charger is unreal. We’ve passed so many racecars this year, and I think that’s just a testament to the racecars I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in. It just makes my job really easy. If only I could just start my night off a little better! But it doesn’t seem to drag us down too bad.”

It was exactly seven years ago to the day that Kevin Thomas Jr. captured his lone USAC Indiana Midget Week win at Kokomo Speedway in 2018. Seven years later, to the day, Thomas nearly pulled off his second IMW triumph, leading three different times for a total of four laps en route to a second place finish.

Karter Sarff made an impressive Indiana Midget Week debut, finishing with a career best USAC National Midget result of third to earn the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.

Justin Grant earned his 12th career USAC National Midget Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying time, which tied him for 49th place on the all-time list alongside Cannon McIntosh, Don Meacham, Larry Rice and Josh Wise. It was also the fifth fast time of Grant's Indiana Midget Week career, tying him for second most all-time with Bryan Clauson.


USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 3, 2025 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 21st Annual USAC Indiana Midget Week

HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-12.482; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-12.526; 3. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.539; 4. Karter Sarff, 21K, Sarff-12.553; 5. Zach Wigal, 8, Cornell-12.566; 6. Corbin Rueschenberg, 26, Rueschenberg-12.598; 7. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-12.603; 8. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.612; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.615; 10. Drake Edwards, 83, CBI-12.628; 11. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.654; 12. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.659; 13. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-12.679; 14. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.711; 15. Brecken Reese, 00, Chandler-12.717; 16. Steven Snyder Jr., 4, RMS-12.733; 17. Trey Marcham, 85, Central-12.735; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-12.745; 19. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.753; 20. K.J. Snow, 86x, CBI-12.786; 21. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-12.788; 22. Jakeb Boxell, 14JB, 4 Kings-12.846; 23. Daniel Harding, 71w, Golding-12.853; 24. Zach Daum, 5D, O'Dell-12.867; 25. Mason Hannagan, 71H, Hills-12.869; 26. Kaiden Manders, 71, Golding-12.878; 27. Preston Norbury, 77AZ, Norbury-12.902; 28. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-12.920; 29. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.952; 30. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.953; 31. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-13.010; 32. Tom Payet, 7AU, Bennett-13.026; 33. Jake Robinson, 8AU, Robinson-13.084; 34. Kevin Newton, 16TH, 2nd Law-13.108; 35. Chris Baue, 36, Baue-13.355; 36. Scott Orr, 88s, Orr-13.399; 37. Rylan Gray, 81G, Gray-14.514; 38. Christopher Hartman, 35s, Hodge-NT; 39. Abby Hohlbein, 2B, Poe-NT.

CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Trey Marcham, 4. Kyle Jones, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Zach Wigal, 7. Mason Hannagan, 8. Cale Coons, 9. Jake Robinson. 2:08.811

K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Drake Edwards, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Jakeb Boxell, 6. Corbin Rueschenberg, 7. Kaiden Manders, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 9. Kevin Newton, 10. Christopher Hartman. NT

USACGEAR.COM THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Brecken Reese, 6. Daniel Harding, 7. Preston Norbury, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Chris Baue. 2:11.124

COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Daum, 2. Steven Snyder Jr., 3. Karter Sarff, 4. K.J. Snow, 5. Gavin Miller, 6. Kyle Cummins, 7. Colton Robinson, 8. Tom Payet, 9. Scott Orr. NT

ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Wigal, 2. Corbin Rueschenberg, 3. Mason Hannagan, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Kaiden Manders, 6. Daniel Harding, 7. Blake Brannon, 8. Preston Norbury, 9. Cale Coons, 10. Colton Robinson, 11. Tom Payet, 12. Chris Baue, 13. Jake Robinson, 14. Kevin Newton, 15. Christopher Hartman, 16. Ethan Mitchell, 17. Rylan Gray. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kale Drake (9), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 3. Karter Sarff (3), 4. Daison Pursley (2), 5. Logan Seavey (1), 6. Zach Wigal (11), 7. Justin Grant (6), 8. Hayden Reinbold (4), 9. Zach Daum (10), 10. Gavin Miller (15), 11. Jacob Denney (16), 12. Thomas Meseraull (8), 13. Drake Edwards (13), 14. Kyle Jones (21), 15. Cale Coons (25-P), 16. Jakeb Boxell (22), 17. Mason Hannagan (23), 18. Kyle Cummins (24), 19. Trey Marcham (19), 20. Steven Snyder Jr. (18), 21. Corbin Rueschenberg (12), 22. Brecken Reese (17), 23. K.J. Snow (20), 24. Gunnar Setser (7), 25. Cannon McIntosh (14). NT

(P) represents a provisional starter.

**Gunnar Setser flipped on lap 9 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1-18 Logan Seavey, Laps 19-20 Kevin Thomas Jr., Lap 21 Kale Drake, Lap 22 Kevin Thomas Jr., Lap 23 Kale Drake, Lap 24 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 25-30 Kale Drake.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-430, 2-Kale Drake-400, 3-Cannon McIntosh-379, 4-Logan Seavey-370, 5-Jacob Denney-352, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-344, 7-Gavin Miller-336, 8-Steven Snyder Jr.-327, 9-Drake Edwards-324, 10-Kyle Jones-259.

USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-78, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-77, 3-Karter Sarff-73, 4-Daison Pursley-66, 5-Justin Grant-65, 6-Logan Seavey-62, 7-Zach Wigal-60, 8-Hayden Reinbold-59, 9-Zach Daum-54, 10-Jacob Denney-48.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-120, 2-C.J. Leary-54, 3-Kyle Cummins-45, 4-Briggs Danner-44, 5-Chase Stockon-42, 6-Robert Ballou-41, 7-Gunnar Setser-38, 8-Justin Grant-33, 9-Jadon Rogers-30, 10-Kyle Jones-29.

USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-9, 2-Mason Hannagan-9, 3-Kyle Jones-7, 4-Kyle Cummins-7, 5-Jacob Denney-6, 6-Jakeb Boxell-6, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-5, 8-Zach Wigal-5, 9-Gavin Miller-5, 10-Justin Grant-4.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 4, 2025 – Paragon Speedway – Paragon, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – 21st Annual USAC Indiana Midget Week


CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jacob Denney (12.698)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant (12.482)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Gunnar Setser
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
USACgear.com Third Heat Winner: Kale Drake
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Zach Daum
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kale Drake (9th to 1st)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Karter Sarff
ProSource Hard Work Award: Brecken Reese


==========================================================================================================================


CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY 410 SPRINTS

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 34C-Shane Cottle[8]; 2. 4-Justin Grant[1]; 3. 6T-Trey Osborne[3]; 4. 5T-Jake Swanson[6]; 5. 83C-Chance Crum[17]; 6. 15-Kevin Thomas Jr[7]; 7. 24M-Hunter Maddox[20]; 8. 2B-Kale Drake[11]; 9. 33P-RJ Johnson[5]; 10. 2-Evan Mosley[2]; 11. 97-Austin Nigh[14]; 12. 81-Kole Kirkman[10]; 13. 42AU-Nathan Smee[12]; 14. 44-Brent Sexton[19]; 15. 1-Rylan Gray[13]; 16. 13P-Cameron La Rose[16]; 17. 9Z-Zack Pretorius[18]; 18. 16B-Harley Burns[4]; 19. 21B-Beau Brandon[15]; 20. 53-Brayden Fox[9]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 83C-Chance Crum[2]; 2. 9Z-Zack Pretorius[3]; 3. 44-Brent Sexton[4]; 4. 24M-Hunter Maddox[9]; 5. 5-Saban Bibent[6]; 6. 39-Matt Goodnight[8]; 7. 06-Jadon Rogers[7]; 8. 41-Ricky Lewis[17]; 9. 37-Logan Prickett[11]; 10. 47-Charles Davis Jr[1]; 11. 34-RJ Miller[15]; 12. 5W-Kyle Willis[10]; 13. 6-Logan Calderwood[12]; 14. 43-Brennon Marshall[14]; 15. 18-Landon Butler[18]; 16. 2A-Abby Hohlbein[13]; 17. 00-Noah Whitehouse[5]; 18. (DNS) 11-Jack Hoyer

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Justin Grant[1]; 2. 33P-RJ Johnson[2]; 3. 53-Brayden Fox[4]; 4. 1-Rylan Gray[3]; 5. 47-Charles Davis Jr[6]; 6. 00-Noah Whitehouse[8]; 7. 24M-Hunter Maddox[7]; 8. 2A-Abby Hohlbein[9]; 9. 41-Ricky Lewis[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Evan Mosley[4]; 2. 5T-Jake Swanson[5]; 3. 81-Kole Kirkman[2]; 4. 97-Austin Nigh[1]; 5. 83C-Chance Crum[7]; 6. 5-Saban Bibent[6]; 7. 5W-Kyle Willis[8]; 8. 43-Brennon Marshall[9]; 9. 18-Landon Butler[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6T-Trey Osborne[1]; 2. 15-Kevin Thomas Jr[2]; 3. 2B-Kale Drake[4]; 4. 21B-Beau Brandon[6]; 5. 9Z-Zack Pretorius[3]; 6. 06-Jadon Rogers[7]; 7. 37-Logan Prickett[5]; 8. 34-RJ Miller[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 16B-Harley Burns[1]; 2. 34C-Shane Cottle[8]; 3. 42AU-Nathan Smee[6]; 4. 13P-Cameron La Rose[2]; 5. 44-Brent Sexton[7]; 6. 39-Matt Goodnight[4]; 7. 6-Logan Calderwood[3]; 8. 11-Jack Hoyer[5]

Qualifying 1: 1. 4-Justin Grant, 00:12.462[1]; 2. 33P-RJ Johnson, 00:12.762[8]; 3. 1-Rylan Gray, 00:12.802[3]; 4. 53-Brayden Fox, 00:12.886[7]; 5. 41-Ricky Lewis, 00:12.909[6]; 6. 47-Charles Davis Jr, 00:13.056[4]; 7. 24M-Hunter Maddox, 00:13.149[9]; 8. 00-Noah Whitehouse, 00:13.264[5]; 9. 2A-Abby Hohlbein, 00:13.697[2]

Qualifying 2: 1. 97-Austin Nigh, 00:12.786[7]; 2. 81-Kole Kirkman, 00:12.870[3]; 3. 18-Landon Butler, 00:12.992[2]; 4. 2-Evan Mosley, 00:13.009[4]; 5. 5T-Jake Swanson, 00:13.048[5]; 6. 5-Saban Bibent, 00:13.059[1]; 7. 83C-Chance Crum, 00:13.085[6]; 8. 5W-Kyle Willis, 00:13.533[9]; 9. 43-Brennon Marshall, 00:13.838[8]

Qualifying 3: 1. 6T-Trey Osborne, 00:12.363[6]; 2. 15-Kevin Thomas Jr, 00:12.486[4]; 3. 9Z-Zack Pretorius, 00:12.709[2]; 4. 2B-Kale Drake, 00:12.811[5]; 5. 37-Logan Prickett, 00:12.964[8]; 6. 21B-Beau Brandon, 00:12.995[7]; 7. 06-Jadon Rogers, 00:13.215[1]; 8. 34-RJ Miller, 00:13.901[3]

Qualifying 4: 1. 16B-Harley Burns, 00:12.787[6]; 2. 13P-Cameron La Rose, 00:12.967[8]; 3. 6-Logan Calderwood, 00:13.166[7]; 4. 39-Matt Goodnight, 00:13.183[5]; 5. 11-Jack Hoyer, 00:13.186[3]; 6. 42AU-Nathan Smee, 00:13.571[1]; 7. 44-Brent Sexton, 00:14.185[2]; 8. 34C-Shane Cottle, 00:14.422[4]