Reinbold Takes Night One of Midget Week

By James Zimmerman

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Mother Nature cut it close, but she held off just long enough for USAC and Circle City Raceway to complete the midget feature before a heavy downpour washed out the support‑class sprint car event. By then, the story of the night was already written.  Hayden Reinbold, driving the AME Electrical No.19AZ, charged from 7th to score his second career USAC National Midget win and his first‑ever Indiana Midget Week victory.

Pole sitter Zach Wigal led the field on lap one, but Brecken Reese quickly came alive in the 20Q, making the middle‑to‑high groove work to take command. Behind them, Kale Drake and Justin Grant waged a early battle for third. Grant secured the spot on lap four of the 30‑lap feature.

With six laps complete, Reinbold sat 8th but, he didn’t stay there long. Entering turns three and four, he maneuvered the bottom perfectly, sliding past Logan Seavey and Karter Sarff, beating both back to the scoring loop. By lap 10, he had taken 5th from Drake and was visibly the fastest car running the low line around the entire track.

The race’s biggest moment and turning point came on lap 16. Grant hopped the gnarly looking turn‑three cushion, sending his car sideways down the track just as Jacob Denny entered the corner. Denny had nowhere to go and his right‑front struck Grant’s left‑front, flipping Denny and appearing to destroy Grant’s front end and steering. Denny was tipped back over, none the worse for wear and continued on. Grant’s night looked finished…until the Chad Boat Industries crew pulled off a, thrashing under caution to get the No. 87 back on track to salvage some points. Reinbold avoided the pile up with a maneuver move of driving above the cushion, inheriting 3rd with 14 laps still to go. The incident also brought Seavey back into the picture after running just outside the top five since lap five.

On the restart, Reinbold wasted no time. Exiting turn two, he powered past Wigal for 2nd. Two laps later, he executed a bottom‑line pass on Reese, who was still committed to the running the top. Reinbold officially took the lead and never looked back.

A quick caution reset and restacked the field with 10 laps to go. After the restart, Seavey peeled off the top and threw a slider on Reese to take 2nd place in turns three and four. Meanwhile, Kevin Thomas Jr. was putting on a show as he worked toward the front. Starting 14th, KTJ scrummed and worked the bottom and middle like the veteran he is. With nine laps left, he was already up to 5th and still moving forward. As the bottom groove appeared to accordion in the turns, KTJ shifted to the middle and continued picking off spots.

Now with the top three trying to break away, the battle for fourth appeared to turn into pure chaos. Exiting turn four with three laps remaining, Wigal, Drake, Sarff, and Jacob Boxell appeared to go four‑wide. The melee made for great racing for the fans. Up front, Reinbold appeared to be gone and glued to the bottom, hitting every mark, and stretching his lead over Seavey.

Reinbold’s drive was an example of patience and precision. From 7th to the victory, he delivered a great performance to open the 2026 Indiana Midget Week.

USAC Midget qualifying for Circle City 6/9/26
1. Karter Sarff-12.620
2. Drake Edwards-12.636
3. Justin Grant-12.662
4. Logan Seavey-12.689
5. Kale Drake-12.712
6. Brecken Reese-12.741
7. Zach Wigal-12.761
8. Trevor Cline-12.792
9. Gunnar Setser-12.793
10. Hayden Reinbold-12.821
11. Jacob Denney-12.830
12. Kevin Thomas Jr.-12.855
13. Cannon McIntosh-12.864
14. Colton Robinson-12.878
15. Kyle Jones-12.904
16. Gavin Miller-12.969
17. Rylan Gray-13.033
18. Matt Sherrell-13.037
19. Brandon Carr, 98K-13.050
20. Ethan Mitchell-13.097
21. Mack Leopard-13.115
22. Adam Taylor-13.119
23. Bradley Cox-13.132
24. Jakeb Boxell-13.133
25. Drew Sherman-13.356
26. Chris Hartman-13.736
27. Robert Carson-13.880
28. Mike Unger-13.891

Heat Race Results
Top-5 transfer straight to feature, starting positions in parentheses

Heat #1
1. Mack Leopard (1)
2. Cannon McIntosh (3)
3. Karter Sarff (6)
4. Rylan Gray (2)
5. Kale Drake (5)
6. Gunnar Setser (4)
7. Drew Sherman (7)

HEAT #2
1. Hayden Reinbold (4)
2. Matt Sherrell (2)
3. Colton Robinson (3)
4. Brecken Reese (5)
5. Adam Taylor (1)
6. Chris Hartman (7)
7. Drake Edwards (6).

HEAT #3
1. Jacob Denney (4)
2. Justin Grant (6)
3. Brandon Carr (2)
4. Kyle Jones (3)
5. Zach Wigal (5)
6. Bradley Cox (1)
7. Robert Carson (7)

HEAT #4
1. Jakeb Boxell (1)
2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4)
3. Ethan Mitchell (2)
4. Logan Seavey (6)
5. Gavin Miller (3)
6. Trevor Cline (5)
7. Mike Unger (7)

Semi Feature, top 4 transfer to feature
1. Drake Edwards (1)
2. Gunnar Setser (3)
3. Trevor Cline (2)
4. Bradley Cox (4)
5. Drew Sherman (6)
6. Chris Hartman (5)
7. Mike Unger (8)
8. Robert Carson (7)

Feature Results
1. Hayden Reinbold (7)
2. Logan Seavey (4)
3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (14)
4. Zach Wigal (1)
5. Brecken Reese (2)
6. Jakeb Boxell (10)
7. Kale Drake (3)
8. Cannon McIntosh (15)
9. Gunnar Setser (13)
10. Karter Sarff (6)
11. Jacob Denney (8)
12. Colton Robinson (16)
13. Gavin Miller (18)
14. Kyle Jones (17)
15. Justin Grant (5)
16. Mack Leopard (9)
17. Matt Sherrell (20)
18. Brandon Carr (21)
19. Trevor Cline (12)
20. Ethan Mitchell (22)
21. Adam Taylor (23)
22. Drake Edwards (11)
23. Bradley Cox (24)
24. Rylan Gray (19)

Next USAC Midget Race 6/10/26 Paragon Speedway

Top 10 in Midget Week Points
1-Hayden Reinbold-78
2-Logan Seavey-75
3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-71
4-Zach Wigal-65
5-Brecken Reese-64
6-Jakeb Boxell-63
7-Kale Drake-58
8-Cannon McIntosh-56
9-Karter Sarff-55
10-Jacob Denney-49

Top 10 in Midget Season Points
1-Kevin Thomas Jr.-220
2-Jakeb Boxell-201
3-Jacob Denney-199
4-Zach Wigal-196
5-Justin Grant-191
6-Hayden Reinbold-173
7-Kale Drake-173
8-Gavin Miller-160
9-Gunnar Setser-157
10-Brecken Reese-153.

410 Traditional Sprint Support Class Heat Results
Heat#1
1. Turnbull
2. Swanson
3. La Rose
4. Pretorius
5. Hoyer
6. Andrews

Heat #2
1. Rogers
2. Lewis
3. Brandon
4. Gray
5. Crum
6. Bonesteele

Heat#3
1. Osborne
2. Whitehouse
3. Prickett
4. Smee
5. Stelzig
6. Hobson

No Feature ran for 410 Sprint due to rain