6/18/2016
A Night of Firsts for Ryan Bowers at North Central UMSS Triple Header
For the first time at North Central Speedway, all three UMSS divisions were on the program for the 1st Annual UMSS Triple Header. For the first time, Ryan Bowers drove a new Donnohue Designs Racing sprint car instead of his familiar ride. For the first time, the new car and driver combo produced a thrilling first victory in the 2016 racing season for the defending UMSS Champion. Bowers passed Tony Norem exiting turn four coming to the white flag and excited the crowd with his late race heroics for the $1,000 win. Norem had led the whole way, but a caution near the halfway mark bunched up the field and Bowers stayed close, waited for the right opportunity in traffic, and executed the winning move for his 9th career UMSS feature victory. Bowers celebrated in Rock Auto Victory Lane with his usual wing wave upon exiting his car.
Fourteen UMSS winged sprints ran through their usual double round of qualifiers, as Jamey Ogston and Bowers won heat races while Norem and Lee Grosz topped the Challenge races. The top four drivers in passing and finishing points redrew for the first four starting spots in the feature. Norem and Bowers drew the front row with Leigh Thomas and Grosz in row two for the 25 lap main event. Bowers' car arrived late, so he missed hot laps and had to jump right into it just in time for his heat race. The rest of the night would go very well for the young driver from Ham Lake in what many might consider to be a storybook type of evening.
Norem immediately blasted to the top lane on the cushion and began to pull away from the rest of the field at the start of the feature. Norem lapped four cars before the lone caution flew for a spin in turn two by Trevor Serbus. This allowed the field to close up behind Norem for the restart near the halfway mark of the race. Norem continued to lead with Bowers and Grosz running within striking distance. As the laps clicked by under green, Bowers closed in on Norem with about five laps to go. The leaders once again approached lapped traffic late in the race. The winning move came amongst lapped cars. Norem finished second with Grosz in third. Defending Mighty Axe Champion at NCS Jerry Richert, Jr. and winner at NCS last July, Jamey Ogston, rounded out the top five. Jared Goerges had a nice run forward from 12th to finish sixth. Leigh Thomas, Cody Hahn, Dean Brown and Kevin Bradwell completed the top ten. Reed Allex, Trevor Serbus and Bob McVitty were also running at the end of the race. Roger McVitty was unable to start the feature after his sprinter broke a driveshaft in his Challenge race.
Tony Norem continues to lead the UMSS points after three events. Bowers and Richert are close behind. Bowers reportedly has another four races in the red #2 DDR Blaine Brothers sprinter. Next up for the UMSS winged sprints is the Sprints at the Creek event on Pink-Out Night at the Deer Creek Speedway on Saturday June 25. During the inaugural appearance at Deer Creek last year, Jerry Richert, Jr. defeated a strong field of cars. Midwest Power Equipment and GRP Motorsports have helped boost the purse for the June 25 show with the winner taking home $2,000 and second place earning $1,000. 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 - North Central Speedway June 18, 2016 (Race #3)
1st Annual UMSS Triple Header
GRP Motorsports A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2-Ryan Bowers[2]; 2. B1ST-Tony Norem[1]; 3. 4J-Lee Grosz[4]; 4. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr[5]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston[6]; 6. 9-Jared Goerges[12]; 7. 29-Leigh Thomas[3]; 8. 34-Cody Hahn[7]; 9. 1D-Dean Brown[8]; 10. 95-Kevin Bradwell[10]; 11. 91A-Reed Allex[9]; 12. 77-Trevor Serbus[13]; 13. 7M-Bob McVitty[11]; (DNS) 74-Roger McVitty.
Lap Leaders: Norem 1-23, Bowers 24-25. Cautions: (1) yellow for 77 spin lap 11.
Hoosier Racing Tire Challenge Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. B1ST-Tony Norem[3]; 2. 29-Leigh Thomas[4]; 3. 34-Cody Hahn[6]; 4. 95-Kevin Bradwell[1]; 5. 7M-Bob McVitty[2]; 6. (DNF) 77-Trevor Serbus[7]; 7. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston[5].
Lap Leaders: Bradwell 1, Norem 2-8. Cautions: (1) yellow for 03 spin turn 4 lap 3.
Driverwebsites.com Challenge Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4J-Lee Grosz[4]; 2. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr[3]; 3. 2-Ryan Bowers[5]; 4. 91A-Reed Allex[6]; 5. 1D-Dean Brown[2]; 6. 9-Jared Goerges[7]; 7. (DNF) 74-Roger McVitty[1].
Lap Leader: Grosz 1-8. No cautions.
Meeks Video Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr; 2. 03-Jamey Ogston[2]; 3. 4J-Lee Grosz[5]; 4. B1ST-Tony Norem[7]; 5. 1D-Dean Brown[6]; 6. 95-Kevin Bradwell[3]; 7. 91A-Reed Allex[4]; 8. 9-Jared Goerges[1].
Lap Leader: Ogston 1-7. Cautions: (1) yellow for 9 spin turn 2 lap 1.
Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 2-Ryan Bowers[3]; 2. 29-Leigh Thomas[2]; 3. 34DD-Jerry Richert Jr[5]; 4. 7M-Bob McVitty[1]; 5. 77-Trevor Serbus[7]; 6. 74-Roger McVitty[4]; 7. (DNF) 34-Cody Hahn[6].
Lap Leaders: B. McVitty 1-2, Bowers 3-7. No cautions.
Rock Auto Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
