Elko, MN — (October 6, 2012) — Brooke Tatnell completed his weekend sweep of the Fall Dirt Nationals at the Elko Speedway on Saturday October 6 with a dominating run in the 25 lap Upper Midwest Sprintcar Series (UMSS) final race of the season. Tatnell also kept his 2012 record perfect at Elko, as he won the Spring Dirt Nationals UMSS event here back in April. Tatnell drove his own 1AU sprinter to victory both nights.
A strong field of 29 UMSS sprint cars returned for action on the final night of the season, and the very first Ultimate Sprint heat provided some of the best action seen all season long with a four car battle up front which served to get the adrenaline flowing on an otherwise cool evening. As is typical at Elko, the UMSS ran heats, a B Main and their feature race. Ultimate Sprint Heat wins went to 2009 UMSS Champion Leigh Thomas, Jason Tostenson, and Dave Becker who was making his first appearance of the season with the UMSS in only third night out. Kaley Gharst saw a huge lead in the second heat go up in smoke when the engine in his car expired. The B Main had some top runners, as Davey Heskin, Tony Norem, Cam Schafer and Kevin Bradwell earned the four transfer spots into the A Main. For Bradwell, it was his first weekend running with a full-blown 360ci engine in his sprint car. Bradwell was the inaugural Traditional sprint non-winged champion last year and runner-up this season, and he has raced numerous winged events the past two seasons with his under-powered traditional sprint motor. Mastell Racing had two engines in cars this weekend, and Bradwell along with Scotty Thiel were the fortunate recipients.
Running his fourth race with the UMSS this season, young Derrik Lusk of Jackson was the high-point driver after the three heats. Like the previous night, the zero pill was drawn resulting in a straight-up start for the feature. This put Lusk and Tatnell on the front row. Tatnell swept into the lead on the opening lap and held the top spot throughout the remainder of the race. The race was only slowed once when Jerry Richert, Jr. and Jordan Martens made contact while attempting to avoid a spinning Tommy Barber in turn two. Richert’s car glanced off the turn two wall and tipped on its side to bring out the red flag four laps into the race. Richert had earlier been honored as the 2012 UMSS Champion. Although the season did not end the way he would have liked it to, Richert is one of the top competitors here in our area and a tremendous champion now the past two seasons with the UMSS.
When the race returned to green flag action, Tatnell quickly bolted away from the field and began to encounter traffic on lap 14. Behind Tatnell, Lusk and Scotty Thiel were having a great battle for second. On lap 20, Thiel finally got past Lusk and set his sights on Tatnell. While working lapped traffic, Thiel was able to close in on Tatnell but never got close enough to make a serious bid for the lead. Tatnell completed his sweep at Elko several car lengths in front of Thiel. Lusk turned in his best UMSS finish in third. Leigh Thomas rebounded from a dismal Friday night performance to run solid in fourth. Ben Schmidt, who Tatnell beat on the final lap the previous night, advanced nine positions to finish fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Jared Goerges, 16th starter Chris Graf, Wade Nygaard, 2010 UMSS Champion Cody Hahn, and Tony Norem from 18th.
Tatnell grinned when asked about his weekend sweep and said, “My crew did a great job this weekend and all season long to give me a strong car each night. There was some more left if I needed it, but I did not see or hear anybody next to me. This has been a fun season running with the UMSS. They have a great group of drivers and fans, and it is an honor to race with them and support the series when I can.” For Tatnell, it was his ninth UMSS win of the season in fifteen starts and also his 18th career series victory. The win paid Tatnell $2,000 for his efforts along with a $100 Minnesota Mafia bonus. Thiel earned $1,000 for his runner-up finish thanks to some sponsorship help from GRP Motorsports. Schmidt and Graf were awarded $100 Minnesota Mafia Hard Charger Awards while Sye Anderson took home the $100 Hard Luck Award.
With Richert on hand to become the 2012 Champion, Chris Graf finished the season second in the GRP Motorsports Championship point standings. Sye Anderson was third, and he was the only driver to compete in all 20 events in 2012. On the final night of the season, Jason Tostenson advanced to fourth in the final standings ahead of Tony Kaus. Kaus was not able to compete at Elko on Saturday night after he blew his motor on Friday. Anna Kouba, Tatnell, Chad Patterson, Goerges and Scott Broty completed the top ten in the points. James Broty had previously earned the 2012 GRP Motorsports Rookie of the Year title.
The UMSS would like to thank all fans, drivers, pit crews, families, sponsors, track promoters and series officials for their support throughout the 2012 season. It’s a team effort amongst all of these fine people in helping make the fourth UMSS season a success. The annual fall meeting will take place on Saturday October 13 at 10:00AM at Joe Senser’s Sports Bar in Roseville for all three UMSS divisions. UMSS CDO Ron Bernhagen is hoping to announce details regarding the banquet at this meeting. Elko Speedway also announced that the Spring Dirt Nationals will return with two weekends of action on the dirt at Elko in early May 2013. The UMSS sprints will be part of the program once again. Keep tabs on the UMSS during the off-season on our website at www.umsprints.com or become a friend of the UMSS on their Facebook page. See you in 2013 for some more exciting sprint car racing action…UMSS style!
UMSS Race Results – Elko Speedway Fall Dirt Nationals October 6, 2012 (Race #20):
Alpha Apparel & Promotions Ultimate Sprint Heat #1 (10 laps): Leigh Thomas 29, Derrik Lusk 93, Jesse Smith 9x, Scott Broty 33, Cody Hahn 23, Tony Norem 45, Cam Schafer 54, Tori Knutson 14K, Dan Grams 13, Dalyn Cody 22W DNS.
Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Heat #2 (10 laps): Jason Tostenson 36, Brooke Tatnell 1AU, Jared Goerges 9, Ben Schmidt 35, Tommy Barber 75, Chris Graf 20G, Chad Patterson 15, Donovan Peterson 11XS, Kaley Gharst 6 DNF, Sye Anderson 37 DNF.
Driverwebsites.com Ultimate Sprint Heat #3 (9 laps): Dave Becker 7, Scotty Thiel 64, Jordan Martens 13JM, Wade Nygaard 9N, Jerry Richert Jr 63, Davey Heskin 91, Kevin Bradwell 95, Jennifer Eriksen 10x, Matt Ziebarth 3Z.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service B Main (12 laps): Heskin, Norem, Schafer, Bradwell, Eriksen, Peterson, Patterson, Knutson, Grams, Ziebarth, Gharst DNS, Anderson DNS, Cody DNS.
GRP Motorsports A Main (25 laps): Tatnell, Thiel, Lusk, Thomas, Schmidt, Goerges, Graf, Nygaard, Hahn, Norem, Tostenson, Smith, Barber, Schafer, Heskin DNF, Martens DNF, Richert DNF, Broty DNF, Bradwell DNF, Becker DNF.
Lap Leaders: Tatnell 1-25.
(1) Caution.
Fastest lap turned during the night: Kaley Gharst 12.994 seconds in hot laps.
Fastest Feature Lap: Brooke Tatnell 13.062 seconds.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.