By Greg Parent (9-9-17)
And once again, Ryan Bowers of Ham Lake sat in Rock Auto Victory Lane following his first UMSS win of the season. Bowers won this event back in 2014 driving for the Mastell Brothers Racing team. Switch gears to 2017, and Bowers is now behind the wheel of the potent Seidenkranz Brothers sprinter. For the 2015-2016 UMSS Champion Bowers, it was his 11th career UMSS winged sprint car feature victory. Bowers and his team earned $1,500 for their efforts from a purse that was in excess of $8,000.
Brooke Tatnell was looking to make it two straight in UMSS competition and add another win to his series-leading 33 victories. Tatnell took the lead from Bowers on lap 13 and looked like he would do just that. On lap 21, Tatnell’s Protofab 14 sprinter suddenly had a trail of smoke pour out from behind it entering turn three and Tatnell drove the car to the infield off of turn four. Bowers inherited the lead back and held off all challengers for his second Richert Memorial title.
The fantastic weather drew a field of 70 sprint cars in the three divisions on the program. The UMSS winged sprints drew 21 cars. Three heat races were run with Gregg Bakker, Derrik Lusk and Scott Bogucki picking up the wins. Two Challenge races rounded out the double qualifiers, as Tatnell and Bogucki were the winners. In the first Challenge race, Skylar Prochaska took a wild ride in turn two after hooking a rut in turn one and flipped over several times. Although Prochaska was okay, his Weisman sprinter was done for the night. Under the red, leader Mark Toews had his sprinter pushed to the pits with apparent engine problems and was also out of action for the remainder of the evening.
The battle for the Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports Series got interesting after the double round of qualifiers, as point leader Lusk had been called for a jump at the start of his heat race and Graf, who is second behind Lusk, got collected in a mishap at the start of the second Challenge race and had to restart at the tail minus his front nose wing. Bowers, sitting third in the Midwest Power points, did not have any issues and found himself on the outside front row for the feature. Bogucki would fire from the pole while Eric Lutz and Tatnell rolled off from row two. Graf and Lusk started seventh and eighth respectively for the 25 lap feature.
A spirited battle between Bowers and Bogucki took place at the drop of the green and culminated on the back stretch on the fourth lap of the feature when Bogucki tried to duck underneath Bowers. Tight quarters saw Bogucki make slight contact with the inside concrete wall near the end of the back straight and spin into the infield. His car was not damaged and Bogucki restarted 17th. Meanwhile Bowers continued to lead while Tatnell worked his way to second with Eric Lutz in third. Lutz suddenly pulled to the infield several laps later and was out of the race. The second and final caution waved when Chase Viebrock rolled to a stop in turn four with a broken rear end in his sprinter with 11 laps scored. Tatnell and Bowers swapped slide jobs over the course of the next couple of laps before Tatnell gained the advantage and lead.
Just when it was looking like Tatnell might race to his third Richert Memorial victory in UMSS competition, misfortune struck on lap 21 and he was out of the race. No caution was necessary, as Tatnell quickly drove his car to the infield. Bowers inherited the lead back. Not that we needed any more drama, but another very interesting story was developing. Bogucki had raced his way from the back of the field on the first restart all the way back up to second. Without a caution to close the gap on Bowers, Bogucki crossed the finish line in second. The story continues though, as in post-race tech Bogucki was DQed for not having any mufflers on his car, adding more drama to an already interesting feature race. All cars behind Bogucki moved up one spot in the final finishing order. Two-time and defending Midwest Power Series Champion Graf finished second ahead of current Midwest Power point leader Lusk. Bakker and Jamey Ogston rounded out the top five. Ogston arrived late, as he and his crew needed to make repairs following a crash in IRA action at Superior the night before. Completing the top ten finishers was Dean Brown, Wayne Modjeski, Rick Kobs, Kevin Bradwell and 305 racer Jeremy Schultz. Four cars were unable to start the feature due to mechanical problems or crashes. They included Prochaska, Toews, Jason Tostenson and Ronnie Erickson.
The Richert family and numerous sponsors always do a great job at adding bonus money to the UMSS portion of the program. In addition to the Midwest Power and GRP Motorsports money for their series, the Richert family (and sponsors) added money to the final 13 positions in the feature race. Rick Mastell from Mastell Brothers Racing also added three $100 bonuses. The UMSS Hard Charger Award went to Rick Kobs with a +10 gain. The UMSS Tough Luck Award had plenty of candidates. It ended up going to series regular Chase Viebrock. The final UMSS award from Mastell was a 10th place bonus that went to Jeremy Schultz. Traditional driver Tony Klose won the drawing at the drivers meeting for a free right rear Hoosier tire, as both UMSS divisions were eligible. Last place finishers in each feature also earned a special bonus from an anonymous donor via the Richert family. Those went to Elliot Amdahl in the UMSS winged sprints and Jimmy Kouba in the Traditional sprints. Drivers had to make an attempt to start the feature in order to be eligible.
All-in-all it was another great evening at the Richert Memorial for an event that honors the racing career of the “Rim Riding Gopher” and multi-time IMCA Champion Jerry Richert, Sr. of Forest Lake. Ian Madsen picked up his second Richert Memorial win in the IRA 410 Outlaw sprint portion of the program. The UMSS winged sprints will close out their season with two races next weekend. The inaugural appearance at the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa will come on Friday evening September 15. The following night the series will head east a bit and close out the season at the Deer Creek Speedway on Saturday evening September 16. The battle for the Midwest Power Equipment/GRP Motorsports Series title is a good one with Derrik Lusk leading Chris Graf and Ryan Bowers coming into the final weekend. Graf pretty much has the 2017 UMSS season point title locked up. The main focus will be for the Midwest Power championship, as several strong competitors are expected to be on hand to compete in both races. The IRA 410 Outlaw sprints and the UMSS Traditional sprints will also be part of each racing program on the final weekend of the season. Keep tabs on all of the UMSS winged sprint car action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the red logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS Race Results – Cedar Lake Speedway September 9, 2017 (Race #13)
17th Annual Jerry Richert, Sr. Memorial
Race 5 of 7 in Midwest Power Equip/GRP Motorsports Series
Midwest Power/GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 64-Ryan Bowers, [2]; 2. 20G-Chris Graf, [8]; 3. 2-Derrik Lusk, [9]; 4. 11X-Gregg Bakker, [5]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston, [10]; 6. 1-Dean Brown, [6]; 7. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [11]; 8. N1-Rick Kobs, [18]; 9. 77-Kevin Bradwell, [13]; 10. 33S-Jeremy Schultz, [12]; 11. 7M-Bob McVitty, [15]; 12. 91A-Reed Allex, [14]; 13. (DNF) 14-Brooke Tatnell, [4]; 14. (DNF) 6-Eric Lutz, [3]; 15. (DNF) 50-Chase Viebrock, [7]; 16. (DNF) 51A-Elliot Amdahl, [17]; (DNS) 36-Jason Tostenson, ; (DNS) 5T-Mark Toews, ; (DNS) 35-Skylar Prochaska, ; (DNS) 62-Ronnie Erickson, ; (DQ) 84-Scott Bogucki, [1]
Lap Leaders: Bowers 1-12, Tatnell 13-20, Bowers 21-25. (2) cautions. First yellow for 84 spin on back stretch while attempting to take lead from 64 with 3 laps scored. Second yellow for 50 stopped turn 4 with rear end failure. 14 broke while leading. 84 DQed in post-race tech for no mufflers.
Challenge Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Brooke Tatnell, [5]; 2. 64-Ryan Bowers, [7]; 3. 50-Chase Viebrock, [4]; 4. 1-Dean Brown, [6]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston, [2]; 6. 77-Kevin Bradwell, [11]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex, [10]; 8. (DNF) 5T-Mark Toews, [3]; 9. (DNF) 35-Skylar Prochaska, [1]; 10. (DNF) 51A-Elliot Amdahl, [8]; (DNS) N1-Rick Kobs,
Lap Leaders: Prochaska 1-5, Toews 6-8, Tatnell 9-10. (1) red for 35 flip turn 2 with 8 laps scored. 5T was leading at the time but pushed to the pits under the red with apparent engine issue. Tatnell inherited the lead and led the remaining two laps.
Challenge Race 2 (10 Laps): 1. 84-Scott Bogucki, [8]; 2. 6-Eric Lutz, [7]; 3. 11X-Gregg Bakker, [6]; 4. 2-Derrik Lusk, [3]; 5. 20G-Chris Graf, [4]; 6. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [5]; 7. 33S-Jeremy Schultz, [9]; 8. 7M-Bob McVitty, [10]; 9. (DNF) 36-Jason Tostenson, [1]; 10. (DNF) 62-Ronnie Erickson, [2]
Lap Leader: Bogucki 1-10. (2) yellows. On initial start 62 slow, collected 20G & 11x. 62 on hook, 20G tagged tail minus front wing. 11x kept going with front wing damage. Second yellow with 5 laps scored when 2 spun turn 3 while attempting to pass 11x. 2 tagged tail.
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 64-Ryan Bowers, [5]; 2. 11X-Gregg Bakker, [1]; 3. 50-Chase Viebrock, [2]; 4. 62-Ronnie Erickson, [4]; 5. 35-Skylar Prochaska, [6]; 6. 51A-Elliot Amdahl, [3]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex, [7]
Lap Leaders: Bakker 1-6, Bowers 7. No cautions. Note: 35 Prochaska docked two positions at the finish for jumping the initial start.
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 6-Eric Lutz, [3]; 2. 14-Brooke Tatnell, [4]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf, [5]; 4. 2-Derrik Lusk, [2]; 5. 36-Jason Tostenson, [1]; 6. 33S-Jeremy Schultz, [7]; 7. 7M-Bob McVitty, [6]
Lap Leaders: Lusk 1-6, Lutz 7. No cautions. 2 Lusk docked two spots for jumping initial start.
Heat 3 (7 Laps): 1. 84-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 2. 1-Dean Brown, [4]; 3. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, [3]; 4. 5T-Mark Toews, [6]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston, [7]; 6. (DNF) N1-Rick Kobs, [5]; 7. (DNF) 77-Kevin Bradwell, [1]
Lap Leader: Bogucki 1-7. (1) yellow on initial start when 77 broke.