By Greg Parent,Track Rat photo
Brainerd, MN
After disappointment the previous night following an apparent victory when his car weighed in just eight pounds light at the scale, Scotty Thiel of Sheboygan, Wisconsin was back with a vengeance on Sunday night September 2 and raced to a popular Mighty Axe Nationals victory at the North Central Speedway. Once again, a strong field of seventeen UMSS sprint cars were on hand for the second night of this annual Labor Day Weekend tradition. For Thiel, it was a great way to rebound from the opening night scale miscue and gave the young driver a real boost heading into this weekend’s UMSS race at the 12th Annual Richert Memorial.
Just as was the case the night before, the UMSS ran three heat races with passing and finishing points. Following the heats, high point driver and inaugural UMSS Champion Leigh Thomas redrew the #4 pill putting current point leader Jerry Richert, Jr. and 2009 double Axe winner Sye Anderson on the front row for what would be a very entertaining 20 lap feature. Richert took the early lead but was under pressure from several drivers, as the sprint cars were using multiple lanes on the well-prepared racing surface.
Thiel was on the move forward from his sixth starting spot, as he was up to third by lap three and then ducked under Thomas for second on lap five. Using a similar move, Thiel drove underneath Richert for the top spot on lap seven and set sail out front. A tremendous battle ensued for positions two through six during the remainder of the race, as Thiel was in command. On the final corner of the last lap, Thomas regained the second place finishing position from Richert exiting turn four. Thomas and Richert split the lapped car of Anna Kouba in a drag race to the checkers. Chris Graf started ninth and worked his way up to fourth at the finish, as he was definitely one of the fastest cars on the track. Graf needed a caution but none would fly to slow the pace. Andy Jones completed a decent weekend with his second top five finish. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Anderson, Jared Goerges, Chad Patterson, Tony Kaus and Anna Kouba.
It was a wild night in UMSS heat race action, as four cars were eliminated due to various crashes and incidents. The action started off fast and furious in the first heat when rookie racer James Broty backed in sprinter into the turn two wall. Broty’s car was done for the night with heavy rear end damage. By virtue of starting his 12th night of racing with the UMSS, Broty earned the 2012 GRP Motorsports Rookie of the Year honors. Unfortunately, James’ season is likely over a few races earlier than he would have liked due to a damaged race car.
Following an uneventful second heat, things really got wild and crazy in the third heat. While racing for the lead on lap two, Tony Norem drove his car hard into turn one on the bottom and slid up the track, making contact with the leader Jennifer Eriksen. Eriksen’s sprinter exited the track and performed a series of wild flips before coming to rest against a modified race car waiting in the staging area outside of turn two. Eriksen was not injured in the crash, but her car was done for the night. Series officials parked Norem for the remainder of the night for rough driving. His car was damaged, but may have been repairable. An altercation ensued in the turn two area following the crash with further suspensions handed out to Norem. On the restart, Jason Tostenson’s car broke a left rear torsion bar and veered into the front stretch concrete wall exiting turn two. Jason’s car rode up the wall and banged into it several times on the right side before coming to a stop. Fortunately he remained upright, but the car sustained enough right side damage that his string of twelve consecutive top ten finishes came to an end when he was unable to start the feature race.
When the final checkers had waved on the 2012 edition of the Mighty Axe Nationals, race fans had certainly been provided with a little bit of everything from some exiting racing action on the track, a few wild crashes along with some post-race drama at the scales on Saturday night to some heated moments following the turn two heat race accident on Sunday night. The UMSS now turns its attention to a great night of racing this coming Saturday September 8 at the Cedar Lake Speedway for the 12th Annual Jerry Richert Sr Memorial, as the series is proud to be a part of this annual early September tradition along with the IRA 410 Outlaw sprints and vintage cars. More information is available on the UMSS website at www.umsprints.com or by checking out their Facebook page.
UMSS Race Results – North Central Speedway September 2, 2012 (Race #16)
11th Annual Mighty Axe Nationals
Alpha Apparel & Promotions Ultimate Sprint Heat #1 (8 laps): Sye Anderson 37, Jerry Richert, Jr. 63, Scotty Thiel 64, Chris Graf 20G, Tony Kaus 3TK, James Broty 33 DNF.
Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Heat #2 (8 laps): Andy Jones 73, Chad Patterson 15, Anna Kouba 5, Kevin Bradwell 95, Brad Nelson 7N, Dan Grams 13 DNS.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Heat #3 (8 laps): Leigh Thomas 29, Jared Goerges 9, Jason Tostenson 36 DNF, Jennifer Eriksen 10x DNF, Tony Norem 45 DQ.
GRP Motorsports A Main (20 laps): Thiel, Thomas, Richert, Graf, Jones, Anderson, Goerges, Patterson, Kaus, Kouba, Bradwell, Nelson, Grams DNF, Broty DNS, Eriksen DNS, Tostenson DNS, Norem DQ.
Lap Leaders: Richert 1-6, Thiel 7-20
No Cautions!