Bowers Adds UMSS Dan Grams Memorial To Win List

By Greg Parent
St. Croix Falls,WI

After Chris Graf and Jerry Richert, Jr. got collected in an incident in turn 2 on lap 9 of the 25 lap UMSS Dan Grams Memorial feature race on Friday night July 24 at the St. Croix Valley Raceway, Ryan Bowers found himself in a familiar position during the 2015 racing season, leading the feature race and looking for another win.  Mission accomplished, but not without having to hold off Lou Kennedy, Jr. following a red flag with 15 laps in the books for a hard crash involving Lou’s son Thomas Kennedy and Jared Goerges.  Thomas took a ride in the ambulance to a local hospital to be checked over.  Later he reported that he was very sore and bruised his back, but otherwise he was going to be okay.  In fact, he would race the very next night.  Meanwhile, Bowers fended off the challenges from Lou Kennedy after the race resumed and went on to record his fourth win of the season en route to Rock Auto Victory Lane and a $1,300 payday thanks to some sponsorship help from GRP Motorsports.  Bowers joins Davey Heskin and Brooke Tatnell as winners of this event.

Besides a delay for the accident in turn four 15 laps into the feature race, the racing program was delayed when the tail end of a thunderstorm system that kind of blew up over and around the track managed to clip the speedway with a few minutes of heavy rain during the first feature race on the track (pure stocks).  It was all over about 5 minutes after it started, but it took the track crew about an hour before the racing program could resume with lightning flashing in a large thunderhead cloud southeast of the track.  The track was wicked fast following the brief but heavy rain!

Prior to the rain delay, Bowers and Chris Graf had picked up Ultimate Sprint Heat wins while Thomas and his dad Lou Kennedy won the Challenge Races.  The top four in passing and finishing points managed to redraw in the exact opposite order of how they earned their points, putting Richert and Graf on the front row with Bowers and Lou Kennedy in row two.  Graf grabbed the early lead while running some blistering fast laps on the heavy cushion followed by Richert.  Misfortune struck the lead duo with eight laps scored when Chad Patterson and Jake Lempelius made slight contact in turn one and Patterson’s car got a bit sideways.  The two leaders were right behind this incident and unfortunately got collected and spun around.  Graf and Richert had to tag the tail in front of three lapped cars on the restart with Bowers now the new leader.  Thomas Kennedy pitted under the caution and tagged the tail.  Bowers led the final 17 circuits which included the red flag stoppage for the Thomas Kennedy and Jared Goerges crash seven laps later.  At the checkers, it was Bowers, Lou Kennedy, and Jamey Ogston with an impressive run in third.  Richert recovered to finish fourth ahead of Rick Kobs while Graf rode home in sixth.  Kevin Bradwell had a solid run in seventh followed by Lempelius, Bob McVitty and Reed Allex.

The UMSS winged sprints along with the Traditional sprints then headed over to the Rice Lake Speedway the next night to see if Ryan Bowers could complete a weekend sweep or if another driver could stop the current UMSS point leader’s streak at one.

UMSS Race Results – St. Croix Valley Raceway July 24, 2015 (Race #12)
3rd Annual UMSS Dan Grams Memorial

GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 199-Ryan Bowers[3]; 2. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[4]; 3. 03-Jamey Ogston[8]; 4. 63-Jerry Richert Jr[1]; 5. 34-Rick Kobs[7]; 6. 20G-Chris Graf[2]; 7. 95-Kevin Bradwell[10]; 8. 52-Jake Lempelius[11]; 9. 7M-Bob McVitty[15]; 10. 91A-Reed Allex[14]; 11. (DNF) 9-Jared Goerges[5]; 12. (DNF) 20K-Thomas Kennedy[6]; 13. (DNF) 15-Chad Patterson[12]; 14. (DNF) 18-Ryan Wilson[13]; 15. (DNF) 5-Anna Kouba[9]
Lap Leaders: Graf 1-8, Bowers 9-25. Cautions: (2) Yellow flag with 8 laps scored when 15 got crossed up in turn 1-2 in front of leaders and collected 20G & 63. 20G & 63 restarted tail. Red Flag with 15 laps in when 20K & 9 crashed in turn 4 with both cars getting upside down.

Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20K-Thomas Kennedy[2]; 2. 5-Anna Kouba[1]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf[5]; 4. 9-Jared Goerges[3]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston[4]; 6. 15-Chad Patterson[6]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex[8]; 8. 18-Ryan Wilson[7]
Lap Leader: T Kennedy 1-8. Cautions: (1)

Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[4]; 2. 34-Rick Kobs[3]; 3. 199-Ryan Bowers[6]; 4. 63-Jerry Richert Jr[5]; 5. 52-Jake Lempelius[1]; 6. 95-Kevin Bradwell[2]; 7. 7M-Bob McVitty[7]
Lap Leaders: Lempelius 1, L Kennedy 2-8. No cautions.

Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 199-Ryan Bowers[2]; 2. 63-Jerry Richert Jr[4]; 3. 21K-Lou Kennedy Jr.[7]; 4. 34-Rick Kobs[3]; 5. 20K-Thomas Kennedy[5]; 6. 5-Anna Kouba[1]; 7. 15-Chad Patterson[6]; 8. 91A-Reed Allex[8]
Lap Leader: Bowers 1-8. No cautions.

Driverwebsites.com Ultimate Sprint Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 20G-Chris Graf[2]; 2. 03-Jamey Ogston[4]; 3. 9-Jared Goerges[6]; 4. 95-Kevin Bradwell[5]; 5. 52-Jake Lempelius[1]; 6. (DNF) 18-Ryan Wilson[7]; 7. (DNF) 7M-Bob McVitty[3]
Lap Leader: Graf 1-7. Cautions: (1)