The Shark Karter Sarff Claims First Ever USAC Feature Win

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Shark Karter Sarff gets it done for his first ever USAC feature win on night 2 of Indiana Midget Week. After completing four straight quick times in Indiana Midget week dating back to 2025 Karter Sarff has his feature victory. 

Zach Wigal brought the field to green on Night Two of Indiana Midget Week, but the start was anything but smooth. Coming through turn four, Wigal clipped an infield tire, though he managed to gather it up and still lead the opening lap. One lap later, Wigal did it again nearly triggering a stack‑up exiting turn four, dropping from first to fourth in a single corner. With doing so he surrendered the lead to Gunnar Setser. 

While the chaos up front drew most of the attention during the main, one of the biggest storylines was unfolding quietly behind them. Jacob Denny, after winning the semi‑feature, stormed from 19th to 5th in the main event an incredible +14 charge that earned him the Hard Charger Award. Denny from the drop of the green was on the move, making multiple lanes work but especially down low. 

With 4 laps in, contact between Kyle Jones and Denny sent Jones over. Jones was able to make it to the work area, and return before the field went back green.

On the restart, the top three of Setser, Jakeb Boxell, and Karter Sarff all shared one thing in common: none had ever won a USAC national midget feature.

With 24 to go, Boxell powered around Setser to take command. Two laps later, Sarff continued his march forward, sliding Setser for second in turns one and two. Setser tried to counter in three and four, but slight tire contact allowed Sarff to hold the spot.

With 21 to go, Wigal clipped another infield tire and nearly parked the car in the middle of the corner, dropping to seventh.

Near the halfway mark the fans finally got the lead battle they were waiting for. Sarff threw a slider on Boxell in one and two, but Boxell crossed under and held the lead at the line. The next lap, Sarff repeated the move; Boxell again turned down, this time with more momentum and a car length of breathing room. But entering turns three and four, Boxell tried a protective half‑slider line on the bottom, and Sarff diamonded the corner, driving underneath to take over the lead.

With 16 laps remaining, Sarff officially took control and from there, he seemed to check out.

Once he reached traffic, Sarff entered a different gear entirely. He sliced through lapped cars with patience and precision, going high, low, middle, and even threading three‑wide when needed. Boxell never got within a couple seconds as Sarff put on a clinic in racecraft for the traffic being so thick. 

When the checkered fell, Karter Sarff had done it all with sliders, diamond lines, momentum lines, traffic management and he earned every bit of his first career USAC National Midget victory.

Hot Laps Gunner Setser fastest in group 1

Mack Leopard fastest in group 2

Kevin Thomas Jr. fastest in group 3

Mack Leopard is fastest overall out all drivers in hot laps. 

Full qualifying results

1. Karter Sarff-15.383

2. Brecken Reese-15.448

3. Jakeb Boxell-15.465

4. Jacob Denney-15.483

5. Kale Drake-15.487

6. Gunnar Setser-15.502

7. Zach Wigal-15.592

8. Colton Robinson-15.644

9. Drake Edwards-15.675

10. Kevin Thomas Jr.-15.687

11. Trevor Cline-15.716

12. Cannon McIntosh-15.732

13. Kyle Jones-15.741

14. Justin Grant-15.756

15. Ethan Mitchell-15.843

16. Gavin Miller-15.848

17. Hayden Reinbold-15.905

18. Brandon Carr-15.907

19. Logan Seavey-15.944

20. Drew Sherman-15.949

21. Matt Sherrell-15.966

22. Bradley Cox-16.191

23. Adam Taylor-16.378

24. Chris Serle-Thrussell-16.759

25. Mike Unger-16.934

26. Sammy Males-17.806

27. Mack Leopard-16.109 time did not count due to missing the scales following qualifying

**Karter Sarff goes quick time for second night in a row and fourth quick time in a row in terms of Indiana Midget Week dating back to 2025’s final two nights of midget week.

Heat Race Results

Top-6 transfer straight to feature, starting positions in parentheses

Heat Race #1

1. Gavin Miller (1)

2. Kyle Jones (2)

3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3)

4. Zach Wigal (4)

5. Karter Sarff (6)

6. Logan Seavey (7)

7. Jacob Denney (5)

8. Bradley Cox (8)

9. Mike Unger (9)

Gavin Miller jumped out front at the drop of the green and never looked back, leading every lap as he ran the top on his way to grabbing his first heat‑race win of the season. KKM teammate Jacob Denny made an early move, climbing to fourth on the opening lap and appearing to show promising speed around the bottom. But on lap two, he missed the bottom entering in turn one, and that’s when the backwards slide began. From there, he had to find speed fast to keep pace with Zach Wigal, Karter Sarff, and Logan Seavey, each committed to their own grooves. Sarff was glued to the bottom, while Seavey ripped the top.

Denny continued searching for a lane that could bring the car back to life, but both Sarff and Seavey made every inch of real estate hard to come by with them running separate lines. With one lap remaining, it briefly looked like Denny might have a chance to capitalize when Wigal and Sarff came together in turn two, costing Sarff momentum. But Denny wasn’t close enough to take advantage, especially with Seavey still running the top. Denny finishing outside of the transfer cost him the always important USAC top six qualifying time that would have put him within the top three rows for the start of the feature. 

Heat Race #2

1. Justin Grant (2)

2. Kale Drake (5)

3. Hayden Reinbold (1)

4. Trevor Cline (3)

5. Brecken Reese (6)

6. Drew Sherman (7)

7. Colton Robinson (4)

8. Adam Taylor (8)

9. Sammy Males (9)

Heat Race Two rolled to green with Hayden Reinbold, the previous night’s feature winner, leading. But starting on the pole under USAC’s invert system also meant his qualifying effort left something to be desired. Reinbold knew he’d need a heat‑race win to keep his hopes of going back‑to‑back alive.

Unfortunately for him, Justin Grant was starting on the outside of him. Grant was another driver who badly needed a heat win to improve his feature starting spot.

At the drop of the green, Reinbold and Grant were perfectly mirrored through turns one and two, but the exit of turn two told the story of Grant having better drive off speed around the top. With Grant pulling away entering the backstretch, he was able lead the first lap of the heat. 

A few spots back, Kale Drake was making noise early. On lap two he banged the cushion and executed a strong two‑for‑one move on Trevor Cline and Colton Robinson. Cline countered in the next set of corners, retaking the spot, but the following lap Robinson’s car appeared to stall as he tried to back it into the cushion, sliding up and over the top of turn one to bring out a quick caution.

On the restart, Drake went right back to work at reclaiming third from Cline and setting his sights on Reinbold and Grant. With three laps remaining, Drake slipped past Reinbold for second, but Grant was ripping the top and making to much speed to be caught with only a couple of laps left.

Grant led the heat race field to the checkered. Afterward, he said he needed to put his bad qualifying run behind him and let the car do what it does best which is scratch and claw for speed in the slick.

Heat Race #3

1. Cannon McIntosh (3)

2. Gunnar Setser (5)

3. Ethan Mitchell (2)

4. Jakeb Boxell (6)

5. Matt Sherrell (7)

6. Mack Leopard (9)

7. Drake Edwards (4)

8. Brandon Carr (1)

9. Chris Serle-Thrussell (8)

Heat Race Three came to life with “Lil Bundy” Ethan Mitchell jumping out front and leading the opening lap. By the time the field exited turn four the next time around, it appeared you could’ve thrown a blanket over the entire pack.

For several laps, the crowd was treated to a fierce three‑way fight for second as Gunner Setser, Brandon Carr, and Cannon McIntosh traded lines and momentum. With four laps remaining, the intensity jumped up even more when Matt Sherrell, Drake Edwards, and Carr went three‑wide for fourth.

At the same moment, the battle for the lead began. McIntosh threw a slider on Mitchell entering turn one, which opened the door for Setser to join the fray. The trio stormed down the front stretch three‑wide for a moment coming to three laps to go.

The caution flew shortly after for two separate incidents: Edwards climbed over the cushion in turn one, and Chris Serle‑Thrussell did the same in the previous set of corners.

On the restart, McIntosh began to pull away until teammate Brandon Carr got up and over the cushion in turns three and four, bringing out another yellow. Because the field had already taken the white flag, the race started back up into a one‑lap dash to settle the final heat of the night.

On the final lap, McIntosh committed to the cushion while Setser drove the bottom, but Setser couldn’t complete the pass before McIntosh powered to the checkered.

Semi Feature Top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses

1. Jacob Denney (1)

2. Drake Edwards (3)

3. Bradley Cox (5)

4. Colton Robinson (2)

5. Brandon Carr (4)

6. Adam Taylor (6)

7. Sammy Males (8)

8. Mike Unger (7)

USAC Midget Feature Results starting positions in parentheses

1. Karter Sarff (6)

2. Jakeb Boxell (4)

3. Cannon McIntosh (7)

4. Kale Drake (3)

5. Jacob Denney (19)

6. Gunnar Setser (2)

7. Justin Grant (8)

8. Brecken Reese (5)

9. Gavin Miller (9)

10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10)

11. Zach Wigal (1)

12. Matt Sherrell (17)

13. Logan Seavey (15)

14. Trevor Cline (11)

15. Bradley Cox (21)

16. Colton Robinson (22)

17. Ethan Mitchell (13)

18. Kyle Jones (12)

19. Hayden Reinbold (14)

20. Brandon Carr (23)

21. Drake Edwards (20)

22. Mack Leopard (18)

23. Drew Sherman (16)

24. Adam Taylor (24)

Next USAC Midget Race 6/11/26 Lincoln Park Speedway

USAC Top 10 Midget Championship Points 

1-Jakeb Boxell-277

2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-269

3-Jacob Denney-263

4-Justin Grant-251

5-Kale Drake-243

6-Zach Wigal-242

7-Gunnar Setser-220

8-Gavin Miller-214

9-Brecken Reese-211

10-Hayden Reinbold-204.

USAC Top 10 Indiana Midget Week Points 

1-Jakeb Boxell-139

2-Karter Sarff-135

3-Cannon McIntosh-128

4-Kale Drake-128

5-Brecken Reese-122

6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-120

7-Logan Seavey-115

8-Jacob Denney-113

9-Zach Wigal-111

10-Gunnar Setser-111

410 Sprint Support Class Results

Photo finish in Semi Feature Stelzig won by 0.054 seconds over Gary Rooke.

Semi Feature Results Starting Positions in Parentheses 

1. Caleb Stelzig (6)

2. Gary Rooke (1)

3. Todd Hobson (3)

4. Logan Prickett (9)

5. Bryce Andrews (2)

6. Ashton Thompson (8)

7. JR Bonesteel (4)

8. Jim Tribby (5)

9. Jessie Miller (7)

10. Michael Clark (10)

Feature Results Starting Positions in Parentheses 

1. Ricky Lewis (5)

2. Jordan Kinser (6)

3. Zack Pretorius (8)

4. Brandon Mattox (11)

5. Cameron La Rose (9)

6. Trey Osborne (2)

7. Anton Hernandez (12)

8. Caleb Stelzig (16)

9. Beau Brandon (13)

10. Adyn Schmidt (15)

11. Jake Swanson (4)

12. Brandon Spencer (7)

13. Logan Prickett (19)

14. Jadon Rodgers (1)

15. Todd Hobson (18)

16. Bryce Andrews (20)

17. Jack Hoyer (14)

18. Charles Davis Jr. (10)

19. Gary Rooke (17)

20. Jake Scott (3)

Points and lap times provided by USAC and MyRacePass