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Tony Norem In Familiar Territory At Ogilvie Raceway

The UMSS winged sprint cars finally caught a break in the weather. After rain forced the three previous racing events to be cancelled, the UMSS winged sprint car division was able to hold its second race of the season on Saturday June 4 at the Ogilvie Raceway. With several other area tracks rained out, Ogilvie was able to get their show in with only a couple of slight delays for light mist early on and eventually the sun appeared later in the evening. Two drivers who have found success at Ogilvie in past UMSS races also appeared up front in what turned out to be an exciting six lap dash to the checkers in the 25 lap UMSS Big O Sprint Showdown feature race. One of those drivers, Tony Norem from Silver Lake, put himself in familiar territory running a good share of the race right up next to the concrete wall on his way to Rock Auto Victory Lane and the $1,000 payday. For Norem, it was his third UMSS win at the Big O dating back to 2012 and his seventh career series victory. The other driver, 2015 UMSS Champion Ryan Bowers of Ham Lake, was also gunning for his third win at Ogilvie. A smiling Tony Norem joked afterwards in the pits that he needed to see who was trying to take the lead from him in those closing laps, and when he saw it was Bowers, he knew he really had to get going if he was going to keep Bowers behind him. "The fun meter was pegged in those final laps," quipped Norem.

The UMSS winged sprints drew a field of (16) cars. With the Traditional sprints also on the program, a total of (38) sprint cars were signed into the pit area. The UMSS winged division ran its usual double round of qualifying races with drivers earning passing and finishing points in each. Ultimate sprint heats were won by Cody Hahn and Cam Schafer. With a good share of the field inverted for the two Challenge races, Norem and Jerry Richert, Jr. picked up the victories. The top four in points drew for their starting positions in the first two rows of the main event. It would be Norem and Schafer on the front row with Richert and Hahn in row two.

Norem jumped up top on the opening lap and set sail, disappearing from the field as he flew around the 3/8th mile oval in quick fashion. The battle for second developed between eighth starter Jamey Ogston and seventh starter Chris Graf. Ogston moved into the runner-up spot on lap 3 with Graf gaining the third position a lap later. While working lapped traffic on lap 11, the two cars made contact on the front stretch. Graf's car did a nose stand and flipped, landing upright and coming to a spinning stop at the end of the front straightaway with heavy front end damage. Ogston's car coasted around the track and came to a stop under the red flag. For 2013 UMSS Champion Chris Graf, his night ended on the wrecker while Ogston's car was pushed pit side with some damage in the rear end. At this point with ten laps officially scored, Norem had lapped up through seventh place, and with Ogston and Graf out of the race, only the top five cars remained on the lead lap.

Once again Norem disappeared from the field on the restart, as Ryan Bowers moved to second. A final caution waved when rookie Adam Tough spun in turn four with 19 laps scored. This set the stage for what would be an exciting six lap dash to the checkers. The top five cars of Norem, Bowers, Hahn, Richert and Schafer were still on the lead lap with 2009 UMSS Champion Leigh Thomas the first of the lapped cars running in sixth. On the restart, Norem did not pull away from the field. In fact, Bowers applied heavy pressure for the lead with the two drivers exchanging the top spot on a couple of occasions much to the delight of the large crowd. Bowers led at the line on lap 23, but Norem, who had now moved down a bit on the track, dove underneath him in turn one on lap 24 to retake the top spot. Bowers made an all-out effort on the final lap going into turn one, but lost just enough momentum to allow Norem to pull out into the lead by several cars lengths. Norem defeated Bowers by 8/10ths of a second at the finish. 2010 UMSS Champion Cody Hahn rode home in third ahead of three-time UMSS Champion Jerry Richert, Jr. while 2014 Traditional Sprint Car Series Champion Cam Schafer completed the top five as the only other car on the lead lap. Leigh Thomas actually crossed the finish line in front of Schafer, but Thomas was one lap down and only completed 24 laps. Other lapped cars rounding out the top ten included Reed Allex with a very good run, Anna Hippe who was doing double-duty just like Schafer, Dean Brown and rookie Roger McVitty.

The series will have an off-weekend on June 10-12 before returning to action at North Central Speedway on Saturday night June 18 for the first UMSS Triple Header at the Brainerd track featuring all three divisions on the program. Check out the schedule, results, points and other news for the UMSS winged sprint car division on our website at www.umsprints.com by clicking on the red logo or follow us on Facebook.

UMSS Race Results - Ogilvie Raceway June 4, 2016 (Race #2)

GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. B1ST-Tony Norem[1]; 2. 199-Ryan Bowers[7]; 3. 34-Cody Hahn[4]; 4. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr[3]; 5. 5C-Cam Schafer[2]; 6. 29-Leigh Thomas[8]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex[11]; 8. 5-Anna Hippe[9]; 9. 1D-Dean Brown[10]; 10. 74-Roger McVitty[13]; 11. (DNF) 85-Adam Tough[14]; 12. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston[6]; 13. (DNF) 20G-Chris Graf[5]; 14. (DNF) 7M-Bob McVitty[12]; (DNS) 1-Jeff Pellersels; (DNS) 77-Trevor Serbus.

Lap Leaders: Norem 1-22, Bowers 23, Norem 24-25. Cautions: (1) red with 10 laps scored for crash on front stretch involving 03 & 20G (both out) & 1 yellow with 19 laps scored for 85 spin turn 4 (out).

Rock Auto Challenge Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. B1ST-Tony Norem[3]; 2. 20G-Chris Graf[4]; 3. 34-Cody Hahn[6]; 4. 199-Ryan Bowers[5]; 5. 1D-Dean Brown[2]; 6. 91A-Reed Allex[1]; 7. 74-Roger McVitty[7]; 8. 85-Adam Tough[8]

Lap Leader: Norem 1-8. No cautions.

Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr[3]; 2. 29-Leigh Thomas[2]; 3. 03-Jamey Ogston[5]; 4. 5C-Cam Schafer[6]; 5. 5-Anna Hippe[4]; 6. 7M-Bob McVitty[1]; 7. (DNF) 1-Jeff Pellersels[7]; (DNS) 77-Trevor Serbus

Lap Leaders: Thomas 1-6, Richert 7-8. Cautions: (1) yellow with 6 laps scored for 1 car on back stretch with smoke pouring out. Pellersels was done for the night. Serbus blew a motor in hot laps and was scratched for the evening.

Track Rat Photos Ultimate Sprint Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Cody Hahn[2]; 2. 03-Jamey Ogston[1]; 3. 5-Anna Hippe[4]; 4. B1ST-Tony Norem[7]; 5. 29-Leigh Thomas[6]; 6. 91A-Reed Allex[3]; 7. 7M-Bob McVitty[5]; 8. 85-Adam Tough[8]

Lap Leader: Hahn 1-8. No cautions.

Meeks Video Ultimate Sprint Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5C-Cam Schafer[5]; 2. 199-Ryan Bowers[1]; 3. 20G-Chris Graf[3]; 4. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr[6]; 5. 1D-Dean Brown[4]; 6. 74-Roger McVitty[7]; 7. (DNF) 1-Jeff Pellersels[2]; (DNS) 77-Trevor Serbus

Lap Leaders: Bowers 1-4, Schafer 5-8. No cautions.

Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.

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