From Kami Tarvis
New Richmond, WI, September 10, 2022- The Traditional Sprint cars of the Pirtek Renegades were back at Cedar Lake Speedway to celebrate the 22nd annual Jerry Richert memorial race. Twenty-one sprinters signed in to do battle, in three 7-car qualifiers. Pirtek heat race #1, which was actually run third after some extended surface preparation, saw the #54 of Cam Schafer bring home the win from the second row. RTS podcast heat #2 went Jake Kouba, while “Surfin’ Safari” Brad Peterson bested the field in CLS heat #3. Peterson and Schafer accumulated identical 138 passing points for top honors in that category. Saturday was also the third and final installment of the GT Transport Hot Shot Challenge. The top six points earners from the heat races all were given the option of forfeiting their scheduled starting position – and head tail end for the start – in pursuit of a whopping $3,000 bonus paid out by GT Transport. Of the six eligible drivers, Cam Schafer and Scott Brandt took up the challenge.
With Schafer giving up the catbird’s seat for the challenge, that put Brad Peterson and Nick DaRonco on the front row. At the drop of the green, Peterson led DaRonco, Johnny Parsons, Mike Mueller, and Jon Lewerer through lap one, with DaRonco taking over the top spot on the second circuit. At the back, Schafer and Brandt went to work immediately and started slicing their way forward, as the pair had already worked their way up to 11th and 12th when a caution flew just four laps in. Back under green, DaRonco began pulling a gap ahead of Parsons, Peterson, Jake Kouba and Mueller. On a restart after the caution on lap eleven, Schafer worked from sixth to fourth in his dogged pursuit of the GT bonus cash. As the laps clicked off, DaRonco increased his lead over the second running Peterson and Schafer, who had clawed his way up to third. At the double checkers, it was Nick DaRonco extending his CLS winning streak to five, ahead of Peterson, Schafer, Mueller and Kouba. With no driver able to claim the GT Transport Hot Shot Challenge, the $3,000 bounty was split evenly among the drivers who competed in all three GT Transport events this summer.
The Pirtek Renegade season wraps up this weekend for both the winged and traditional sprint cars as they participate in the annual Legendary 100 at Cedar Lake on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, September, 15 – 17. More information on upcoming events for the Pirtek Renegades, as well as links to other Renegades series, can be found at www.umsprints.com, or on facebook.
RESULTS:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 8-Nick DaRonco[2]; 2. 93-Brad Peterson[1]; 3. 54-Cam Schafer[19]; 4. 87-Mike Mueller[6]; 5. 6-Jake Kouba[3]; 6. 12-Johnny Parsons III[4]; 7. 99-Bryan Roach[10]; 8. 7-Scott Brandt[20]; 9. 78-Rob Caho Jr[7]; 10. 10Z-Zach Widdes[5]; 11. 69S-Jon Lewerer[8]; 12. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[16]; 13. 95-Kevin Bradwell[9]; 14. 17-Erik Bjorklund[12]; 15. 57-Ryan Buck[17]; 16. 04-Brian Trembath[13]; 17. 17K-Mackenzie Bjorklund[15]; 18. 135-Joshua Hulberg[14]; 19. 1-Chuck Schumacher[11]; 20. 76-Kevin Bertram[21]; 21. (DNS) C4-Carl Wade
Pirtek Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 54-Cam Schafer[3]; 2. 8-Nick DaRonco[5]; 3. 95-Kevin Bradwell[2]; 4. 10Z-Zach Widdes[7]; 5. 04-Brian Trembath[1]; 6. 135-Joshua Hulberg[6]; 7. 57-Ryan Buck[4]
RTS podcast Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Kouba[2]; 2. 7-Scott Brandt[3]; 3. 12-Johnny Parsons III[6]; 4. 99-Bryan Roach[4]; 5. 1-Chuck Schumacher[5]; 6. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[1]; 7. (DNS) C4-Carl Wade
CLS Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Brad Peterson[3]; 2. 87-Mike Mueller[1]; 3. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 4. 69S-Jon Lewerer[6]; 5. 17-Erik Bjorklund[2]; 6. 17K-Mackenzie Bjorklund[5]; 7. 76-Kevin Bertram[7]