PARAGON, Ind. — Throughout his brief but successful USAC Indiana Midget Week career, Karter Sarff has displayed a tremendous knack for qualifying.
On Wednesday night during round two of IMW at Paragon Speedway, the Mason City, Illinois native translated his time trial prowess into his first USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory.
The sixth-starting Sarff, nicknamed “The Shark,” slipped through the pack and passed leader Jakeb Boxell on the 14th lap. He led the remaining 17 circuits to snag the victory aboard his Paul May Motorsports/Peffley & Hinshaw Wrecker Service – Factory 71/Ripper/Speedway Toyota.
With the win, Sarff became the first driver since Gavin Miller in 2023 to win his first USAC feature during Indiana Midget Week. Sarff is now the first driver since John Andretti in 1985 to win his first USAC National Midget race at Paragon.
“It doesn’t even feel real,” Sarff stated. “It’s kind of emotional, honestly, with just how hard we’ve been working and I’m so thankful for Paul letting me come out here and have a little fun. Paul and I work together really well, and obviously, it shows. We just needed to put a whole night together, and once I got the lead there, I felt like tonight was our night and I was going to give it my all. A huge thank you to everyone who’s been a part of my journey and helped me get here. It’s pretty badass to get my first USAC win.”
Sarff was the fastest qualifier for the fourth consecutive Indiana Midget Week event, a streak that began at Paragon one year ago. His lap of 15.383 seconds set the tone for the night, and slotted him on the outside of row three for the 30-lap feature.
For the second straight night, Zach Wigal started from the pole and led the opening lap. Unfortunately for him, just like in the IMW opener at Circle City the night before, it was the only lap he led. On the second lap, Wigal slipped sideways off turn four, allowing Gunnar Setser to shoot past to the lead. Wigal, meanwhile, fell back to fourth as Setser, Boxell and Sarff all drove by.
The evening’s lone red flag was displayed on the fourth lap when Kyle Jones flipped in turn four.
Once the race resumed, a duel formed at the front of the field between Setser and Boxell. After his lap six slider attempt was thwarted by Setser in turns three and four, Boxell gathered it up and went topside around Setser off turn two to become the new race leader on the seventh go around.
Sarff followed suit on the ninth lap, going toe-to-toe with Setser in turns three and four before emerging with the second position on lap nine. Twice, Sarff executed a turn one slide job on Boxell on laps 13 and 14, but each time, Boxell countered back underneath to retake the spot midway down the back straight.
But on the 14th lap, Sarff smelled blood in the water and successfully diamonded turns three and four to snare the top spot from Boxell, and took complete command of the race from there on, just one lap before the halfway mark.
“I kind of found that line there early,” Sarff admitted. “I don’t know if I did it on purpose or about spun out. However, I found it, and it worked the whole race. I’m just thankful for God showing me that line. I just felt like it was our night and it just feels really, really good.”
Sarff wasn’t quite out of the woods yet during the second half of the race as lapped traffic occupied the high, low and middle lanes at times. But all the while, Sarff remained on attack mode to push his lead to nearly two seconds in the latter stages.
“I definitely was getting a little nervous there,” Sarff admitted. “I felt like I kept getting slowed down and couldn’t quite run the line I wanted to run. There were cars all over the place where the good line was. So, I just had to try and bite my tongue there and not do anything stupid, but at the same time, everyone’s closing in on you. It was super stressful, and I’m just so relieved right now.”
Nothing spells stress relief like a victory, and Sarff delivered, crossing under the checkered flag 2.274 seconds ahead runner-up Jakeb Boxell with Cannon McIntosh third, Kale Drake fourth and Jacob Denney fifth.
Not only was the win the first in USAC National Midget competition for Sarff, it was also the first for car owner Paul May, the veteran sprint car racer from Terre Haute, Indiana.
“It’s special,” Sarff exclaimed. “There’s all the fans that are here and just being in the state of Indiana. All these tracks are pretty difficult and they’re not all that similar, I feel, to most of the tracks I run full-time at with POWRi. I’m kind of at a loss for words and just super grateful. Thank you to Paul May and Toyota and everyone on Paul’s car who helps make it happen.”
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Paragon Speedway, Paragon, Ind., June 10, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Karter Sarff, 71m, May-15.383; 2. Brecken Reese, 20Q, Reese-15.448; 3. Jakeb Boxell, 54, 4 Kings-15.465; 4. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.483; 5. Kale Drake, 4, RMS-15.487; 6. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-15.502; 7. Zach Wigal, 1, O’Dell-15.592; 8. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.644; 9. Drake Edwards, 40D, McDermand-15.675; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-15.687; 11. Trevor Cline, 55, Cline-15.716; 12. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.732; 13. Kyle Jones, 7TX, Engler-15.741; 14. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-15.756; 15. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.843; 16. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.848; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-15.905; 18. Brandon Carr, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.907; 19. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.944; 20. Drew Sherman, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.949; 21. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-15.966; 22. Bradley Cox, 45, Mason-16.191; 23. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-16.378; 24. Chris Serle-Thrussell, 75AU, Griffiths-16.759; 25. Mike Unger, 67u, Frederiksen/Unger-16.934; 26. Sammy Males, 4AU, Males-17.806; 27. Mack Leopard, 40L, McDermand-NT (time of 16.109 disallowed due to missing scales).
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 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). 2:07.379 (New Track Record)
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 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). NT
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 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). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (8 laps, 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). 2:12.791
FEATURE: (30 laps, 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).
