By Greg Parent
A fantastic evening for racing produced an incredible turn of events in the 25 lap UMSS Traditional sprint car feature for the running of the 25th Annual Earl & Ethel Kouba Memorial race at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Friday evening July 7. Winning her first-ever sprint car feature, young Anna Hippe (Kouba) thrilled the large crowd on hand when she took the lead on lap 21 from Johnny Parsons III and went on to park her non-winged sprint car in Rock Auto Victory Lane. The celebration by the Kouba family was well-deserved and quite frankly the dramatic win was something that Hollywood writers couldn’t script any better.
A Traditional Sprint Car Series record turnout of 28 cars meant that four heat races would be run for the first time in series history along with the dash, and a 28 car starting field for their main event would also set an over all UMSS record as the largest starting grid in series history. Anna won a series-high $1,025 for her effort and also earned the $125 Camelion Batteries Hard Charger Award. The total purse including all bonus money and the cash dash winnings came in at a series record $8,825. It truly was a night of firsts at Cedar Lake, as the popular non-winged sprint cars capped off their portion of the WoO weekend opening night with an entertaining feature that produced a brand new winner. For Anna Hippe to garner her first sprint car feature win at her family’s 25th Annual Earl & Ethel Kouba Memorial race is priceless and certainly is, and may be forever, the most memorable night of her racing career.
The four 10-lap heat races were won by Ty Sampair, Jon Lewerer, Brad Peterson and Neal Matuska. Ty Sampair won the $150 first place Dash for Cash payout over Peterson. The top four drivers in the all-important passing and finishing points from the heat races redrew for starting spots in the first two rows of the A Main. The redraw would see James Giossi and Parsons on the front row with Lewerer and Peterson rolling off behind them. With the Traditional sprint car feature moving up in the running order due to some fuel issues affecting several WoO teams, the Giossi crew was hustling to repair front end damage on their sprint car that happened in the dash when Parsons spun around in turn one and Giossi clipped the back end of Parsons’ sprint car with the left front of his car.
James Giossi and his crew made repairs in time for the feature, and the young driver who has been racing a late model for most of the season would make his second start in a Traditional sprint car this season. Giossi led the first six laps before electrical issues ultimately forced him out of the race three laps later. Parsons took over the top spot on lap 7 following a restart for the second caution of the race. One final caution with fifteen laps in the books waved when Jake Kouba made contact with his dad Jimmy Kouba causing front end damage on his 2k sprinter. This set up a tremendous final 10 laps for Anna Hippe. Anna was running around 5th at the time, and in the final 10 laps she was nothing short of a rocket. Anna quickly moved up to third, then watched as JP3 and Jon Lewerer were having a very good battle for the lead. On lap 20, Anna got by Lewerer for second and one lap later she took the lead from JP3, a lead she would hold over the course of the final five laps. Parsons, Lewerer, rookie sprint car driver Brad Peterson and current point leader Mike Mueller completed the top five. Incredibly, 22 cars of the 28 starters finished the race with ALL 22 cars still on the lead lap! Indeed, a record setting evening at CLS in many respects. Anna Hippe also became the second female driver to race to a feature victory in UMSS Traditional sprint car competition, as Katrina Sautbine had two wins in the division back in 2013.
The Kouba family wants to thank all of the drivers, race fans, Cedar Lake Speedway and the sponsors for making this night the most memorable Kouba Memorial in the 25 year history of the event. Special thanks for their contributions to the purse go to Gillund Enterprises/Justice Brothers, GRP Motorsports, Bevlor Utilities, Protofab and the Kouba family. Special bonus awards were presented by Camelion Batteries via Matt Bohl for the aforementioned Hard Charger Award won by Anna Hippe, the $125 Sterling Perseverance Hard Luck Award presented at the drivers meeting to Hunter Custer by Kid Cody and GRP, and a special $55 15th place finisher bonus courtesy of Chad Patterson which fittingly was won by the number 55 sprint car of Joseph Kouba.
The Traditional sprint cars make their second appearance of the season next Saturday night July 15 at the Rice Lake Speedway before joining the with the UMSS winged sprints the following Saturday July 22 at the Ogilvie Raceway for the 6th Annual Davey Tabor Memorial. Keep tabs on all of the UMSS Traditional sprint car action by visiting our website at www.umsprints.com and clicking on the blue logo or by following us on Facebook.
UMSS – Traditional Sprint Car Series
Cedar Lake Speedway
New Richmond, WI
Friday July 7, 2017
Heat Race #1:
1. N1 – Ty Sampair
2. 12 – Johnny Parsons III
3. 3K – Jeremy Kerzman
4. 14 – Cam Schafer
5. 99 – Bryan Roach
6. 24 – Brian Van Meveren
7. 1 – Tony Norem
Heat Race #2:
1. 69S – John Lewerer
2. 12X – Blake Anderson
3. 16 – Anna Hippe
4. 6L – Joe Lallier
5. 55 – Joseph Kouba
6. 15E – Caley Emerson
7. 34 – Denny Stordahl
Heat Race #3:
1. 93 – Brad Peterson
2. 22 – Jeff Pellersels
3. 11G – James Giossi
4. 95 – Kevin Bradwell
5. 29 – Hunter Custer
6. 33C – Cody Emmans
7. 0 – Kyle Finnegan
Heat Race #4:
1. 6 – Jake Kouba
2. 87 – Mike Meuller
3. 2K – Jimmy Kouba
4. 7 – Scott Brandt
5. 101 – Paul Schultz
6. 90 – Tony Klose
Dash:
1. N1 – Ty Sampair
2. 93 – Brad Peterson
3. 48 – Neal Matuska
4. 12 – Johnny Parsons III
5. 69S – John Lewerer
. 11G – James Giossi
Feature:
1. 16 – Anna Hippe
2. 12 – Johnny Parsons III
3. 69S – John Lewerer
4. 93 – Brad Peterson
5. 87 – Mike Meuller
6. 6 – Jake Kouba
7. 7 – Scott Brandt
8. 22 – Jeff Pellersels
9. 99 – Bryan Roach
10. 48 – Neal Matuska
11. 3K – Jeremy Kerzman
12. 15E – Caley Emerson
13. 95 – Kevin Bradwell
14. 55 – Joseph Kouba
15. 6L – Joe Lallier
16. 24 – Brian Van Meveren
17. 34 – Denny Stordahl
18. 33C – Cody Emmans
19. 29 – Hunter Custer
20. 101 – Paul Schultz
21. 0 – Kyle Finnegan
22. 1 – Tony Norem
23. 14 – Cam Schafer
24. 90 – Tony Klose
25. 12X – Blake Anderson
26. 2K – Jimmy Kouba
27. 11G – James Giossi