It’s T.N.T. Time Once Again At Ogilvie Raceway

By Greg Parent

Ogilvie, MN
(6-8-13) Some drivers seem to excel on a certain track for whatever reason or prefer to drive a certain line around various tracks.  At the Ogilvie Raceway and at many other tracks throughout the area, there is one thing that has become abundantly clear,  Working the famous T.N.T. (Tony Norem Territory) to perfection at Ogilvie, Norem raced to his third Upper Midwest Sprintcar Series (UMSS) victory at the Big O and his fifth career UMSS win on Saturday night June 8.  Norem had to withstand several challenges from current UMSS point leader Chris Graf of Glencoe, but he successfully planted the familiar B1st sprint car up top near the wall and rode to victory in the Big O Sprint Showdown during the only appearance for the UMSS at the fast 3/8 mile oval this season.

Like the night before at Princeton, a strong field of 21 UMSS sprints were on hand at Ogilvie on what turned out to be a nice evening for racing with the sun making a welcome appearance during the afternoon.  Nineteen cars were able to start the feature race.  Lee Grosz had an engine go sour while leading his heat race and was done for the night.  Kevin Nickel had something break on his car during hot laps, sending him head on into the turn two concrete wall.  Nickel’s sprint car was destroyed, but he was not hurt in the hard impact.  Jason Tostenson, Graf and Norem topped the Ultimate Sprint Heat races with 2009 UMSS Champion Leigh Thomas and Rick Kobs claiming Challenge Race victories.  Norem was high point driver after the two rounds of qualifying races and redrew the coveted zero pill for a straight-up feature start.  2010 UMSS Champion Cody Hahn crashed in his heat race, but he was able to make repairs thanks to the help from many great teams and especially Kevin Nickel in order to start the feature.

Norem and Graf brought the field to the green flag for the 20 lap feature and ended up swapping lines in turns 1 and 2.  Graf soon found that the Norem line up top was better for his car too. Fourth starter Tostenson was searching a couple of different lanes and ran third early on while third starter Joseph Kouba was finding the bottom to his liking.  With five laps in, Jared Goerges spun in turn four to bring out the yellow.  On the restart, Graf dove low and grabbed a brief lead over Norem in turn two only to see Norem take it back in turn four.  Rick Kobs slowed with seven laps scored to bring out the second caution, and once again Graf tried to take the top spot from Norem on the restart.  Norem was up to the challenge.  Joseph Kouba was now making his presence felt in third running right around the bottom.

In his first race of the season, 2011 UMSS Co-Rookie of the Year Chad Patterson joined the “Upside Down Club” when he clipped a tire and flipped to bring out the red flag with nine laps in the books.  Patterson was okay.  Again Graf tried unsuccessfully to get by Norem when the race went green.  A six lap run to the final caution saw 2012 UMSS Rookie of the Year James Broty having a great run up into the top five.  When Neal Matuska made contact with a lapped car and required wrecker assistance, this set the stage for the final five lap shootout.  Graf made one last effort to take the lead from Norem on the restart, but Norem powered past Graf exiting turn two before he could complete the pass.  Finishing behind Norem and Graf in the top five was Joseph Kouba, James Broty and Tostenson.  Rounding out the top ten finishers were Anna Kouba, Cody Hahn from 18th, Carson McCarl in his debut in the Mastell Racing sprint car, Goerges and Tony Kaus.

The UMSS thanks the fans and drivers for another great weekend of sprint car racing at Princeton and Ogilvie, as the series evened its score with Mother Nature with four races in while four others have fallen victim to the weather.  The UMSS will now take a couple of weekends off before returning to action in the big two-day Open Wheel Nationals event at the St. Croix Valley Raceway paying the Saturday night feature winner a whopping $5,000.  Race fans will want to be sure to be at SCVR on June 28-29 for this popular event which also features the Traditional non-winged sprints, open wheel modifieds and Midwest mods.  The UMSS website at www.umsprints.com and Facebook page contain plenty of information to keep fans and drivers up-to-date on all the exciting UMSS action.

UMSS Race Results – Ogilvie Raceway June 8, 2013 (Race #4)
Big O Sprint Showdown:

Alpha Apparel & Promotions Ultimate Sprint Race #1 (6 laps): 36 Jason Tostenson, 37 Sye Anderson, 5 Anna Kouba, 55 Joseph Kouba, 3TK Tony Kaus, 48 Neal Matuska, 10 Kevin Nickel DNS.

Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Race #2 (7 laps): 20G Chris Graf, 31 James Broty, 15 Chad Patterson, 27 Carson McCarl, 34 Rick Kobs, 20 Jordan Wilmes, 4J Lee Grosz DNF.

Driverwebsites.com Ultimate Sprint Race #3 (7 laps): B1st Tony Norem, 9 Jared Goerges, 63 Jerry Richert Jr, 7 Dave Becker, 29 Leigh Thomas, 91A Reed Allex, 23 Cody Hahn DNF.

Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race #1 (10 laps): Thomas, Norem, Kaus, A Kouba, Broty, Tostenson, Richert, McCarl, Matuska, Allex, Nickel DNS.

Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race #2 (8 laps): Kobs, J Kouba, Graf, Wilmes, Anderson, Goerges, Becker, Patterson, Hahn DNS, Grosz DNS.

GRP Motorsports Feature (20 laps): Norem, Graf, J Kouba, Broty, Tostenson, A Kouba, Hahn, McCarl, Goerges, Kaus, Becker, Wilmes, Allex, Matuska DNF, Patterson DNF, Thomas DNF, Anderson DNF, Kobs DNF, Richert DNF, Grosz DNS, Nickel DNS.