9/10/2016
It's Carson McCarl Topping the UMSS Portion of the Richert Memorial
The final event on the schedule for the UMSS winged sprint car division is also one of the more prestigious events held in the Upper Midwest each season. This year was the 16th Annual Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial featuring the IRA Outlaw Sprints, the UMSS Winged Sprints and the UMSS Traditional Sprints. Winning this race is always special, and young Carson McCarl of Altoona, IA etched his name in the record books as he led the final 21 laps in the UMSS winged sprint car feature race to claim his first-ever series victory. From the famous McCarl racing family out of Iowa, Carson had run several times in the past with the UMSS. Coming north for the double header memorial races at Princeton and Cedar Lake, McCarl more than made the trip worthwhile with his $2,000 victory on Saturday night. McCarl celebrated his win along with his team in Rock Auto Victory Lane. Commenting after the races, McCarl indicated how much fun he had during the weekend and said, "See you next year at this event."
The other significant battle going on during the UMSS feature race was of course the battle for the UMSS GRP Motorsports High Five Championship Bonus and series point title. Ryan Bowers of Ham Lake had seen his 48 point lead erased the night before at Princeton, as both he and three-time series champion Jerry Richert, Jr. of Forest Lake came into the night TIED for the top spot in the standings. Simply put, the driver who finished the feature race in front of the other would end up winning the championship. To add another interesting twist to the chase for the championship, Bowers would find himself behind the wheel of the potent 34DD Donnohue car while Richert drove his own car with the number 62 on it in an attempt to win the race that he so dearly would like to win. The night before at Princeton, Richert was in the 34DD car. Bowers own 199 car had too much damage from the night before, so Pat Donnohue stepped up and put him in the 34DD car with the Mastell Racing Brothers motor in the car. That set the stage for the evening.
Following heat race wins by John Schulz, Derrik Lusk and Bowers, the Challenge Races were won by Jamie Ball and Rager Phillips. The all-important double round of points earned would see Bowers, McCarl, Schulz and Lee Grosz earn the chance to draw for the top four starting spots. For the second night in a row, Schulz drew the pole position with Bowers sitting outside. Bowers blasted into the early lead with McCarl trailing. Matching his car number, McCarl took control on lap 6 and would not relinquish the lead. The race was slowed on three occasions, the first with four laps in when Phillips spun in turn 4. After McCarl got the lead, Lee Grosz eventually worked his way into second on lap 11. The laps clicked off under green until Grosz appeared to make contact with the outside concrete wall just before turn 3 and flipped over once to bring out the red. Grosz was towed to the pits with front end damage. Phillips had some problems again in turn 4 on the restart and spun to bring out the final caution and end his night.
McCarl led the remainder of the race, as the feature actually ran 26 laps instead of 25 (an extra bonus lap for the fans). Those following the UMSS point battle were focused on Bowers and Richert. Bowers had slid back a few positions in the field and in the waning laps, Richert closed in but came up one spot short at the checkers. Brooke Tatnell crossed the finish line in second behind McCarl, but Tatnell failed to cross the scales after the race and was disqualified. This moved Derrik Lusk up to the $1,000 second spot, and he also earned the $150 GRP Motorsports Hard Charger Award. Finishing third was John Schulz ahead of Bowers and Richert. Rounding out the top ten finishers was Graf, Ball, Mark Toews, Leigh Thomas and Dean Brown.
Chris Graf handily won his second consecutive Midwest Power Series title and the top prize of $1,000. Following the races, the Midwest Power Series Dice Roll Gamble took place at UMSS pit headquarters. The top ten drivers in the Midwest Powers Series points earned the chance to throw four dice in order to see if they might win $100,000. The top two finishers in the UMSS Traditional sprint car feature were also given an opportunity to roll the dice. For the ten Midwest Power Series drivers, a $500 bonus from GRP Motorsports was on the line for the driver who rolled the highest point total on their dice. In order to win the $100,000 top prize, a driver would have to roll and have all four dice come up with the UMSS logo on the top. Nobody won the $100,000 prize, but Dean Brown rolled a total of 23 points on his dice (the UMSS logo counted as a six for this purpose) and won the $500 GRP Bonus. That means Brown only missed the big prize by one die. That is close for sure, and a smiling Dean Brown gladly accepted the $500 prize.
Congrats to Ryan Bowers on winning his second UMSS winged sprint car championship by a mere three points over Richert. Lee Grosz ended up winning the most feature races (3) during the weather abbreviated 13 race season. Bowers and Graf won twice. Single wins went to Richert, Lusk, Tony Norem and McCarl. Jackson wins for the show point only co-sanctioned races went to Scott Winters and Chris Martin. The UMSS wishes to thank all drivers, crews, teams, fans and sponsors for a successful winged sprint car racing season. Check out the news, results and other information on the UMSS website at www.umsprints.com or visit us on our Facebook page.
UMSS Race Results - Cedar Lake Speedway September 10, 2016 (Race #13 of 13 on the season)
16th Annual Jerry Richert Sr. Memorial
Midwest Power Equip & GRP Motorsports 16th Annual Jerry Richert Sr Memorial Feature (26 Laps): 1. 6-Carson McCarl[4]; 2. 2L-Derrik Lusk[10]; 3. 99-John Schulz[1]; 4. 34D-Ryan Bowers[2]; 5. 62-Jerry Richert Jr[6]; 6. 20G-Chris Graf[11]; 7. 5J-Jamie Ball[8]; 8. 5T-Mark Toews[13]; 9. 29-Leigh Thomas[14]; 10. 1D-Dean Brown[12]; 11. 91A-Reed Allex[16]; 12. 52-Jake Lempelius[17]; 13. 85T-Adam Tough[21]; 14. (DNF) 22P-Rager Phillips[9]; 15. (DNF) 4J-Lee Grosz[3]; 16. (DNF) 85-Jason Tostenson[15]; 17. (DNF) 7M-Bob McVitty[18]; 18. (DNF) 74-Roger McVitty[20]; 19. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston[19]; 20. (DNF) 13MJ-Brandon Halverson[7]; (DNS) 5-Devin Kline; (DNS) 22-Rick Kobs; (DNS) F16-Tony Rustad; (DQ) 14-Brooke Tatnell[5]
Lap Leader: McCarl 1-26 (Race ran one extra lap.) Cautions: (3) 22P spin turn 4 with 4 laps in. 4J front end damage turn 3 with 19 laps in while running second. 22P spin turn 4 on restart. Note: 14 Tatnell finished second but was DQed after the race for not going to the scale.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race 1 (11 Laps): 1. 5J-Jamie Ball[2]; 2. 62-Jerry Richert Jr[4]; 3. 6-Carson McCarl[7]; 4. 4J-Lee Grosz[5]; 5. 14-Brooke Tatnell[6]; 6. 2L-Derrik Lusk[8]; 7. 1D-Dean Brown[3]; 8. 91A-Reed Allex[11]; 9. 52-Jake Lempelius[9]; 10. 7M-Bob McVitty[10]; 11. 74-Roger McVitty[1]; (DNS) 22-Rick Kobs
Lap Leader: Ball 1-11 No cautions.
Mastell Brothers Trailer Service Challenge Race 2 (11 Laps): 1. 22P-Rager Phillips[1]; 2. 13MJ-Brandon Halverson[4]; 3. 34D-Ryan Bowers[9]; 4. 99-John Schulz[8]; 5. 5T-Mark Toews[3]; 6. 20G-Chris Graf[7]; 7. 85-Jason Tostenson[10]; 8. 29-Leigh Thomas[6]; 9. 85T-Adam Tough[11]; 10. (DNF) 5-Devin Kline[5]; 11. (DNF) 03-Jamey Ogston[2]; (DNS) F16-Tony Rustad
Lap Leader: Phillips 1-11 Cautions: (1) for 5 blew tire turn 3 and stopped with 6 laps in.
Meeks Video Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-John Schulz[2]; 2. 14-Brooke Tatnell[6]; 3. 5-Devin Kline[4]; 4. 1D-Dean Brown[7]; 5. 03-Jamey Ogston[3]; 6. 74-Roger McVitty[1]; 7. 7M-Bob McVitty[5]; 8. (DNF) F16-Tony Rustad[8]
Lap Leader: Schulz 1-8. No cautions. F16 blew an engine and was done for the night.
Track Rat Photos Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2L-Derrik Lusk[1]; 2. 20G-Chris Graf[3]; 3. 4J-Lee Grosz[7]; 4. 13MJ-Brandon Halverson[2]; 5. 5J-Jamie Ball[5]; 6. 22P-Rager Phillips[8]; 7. 85-Jason Tostenson[4]; 8. 22-Rick Kobs[6]
Lap Leaders: Lusk 1, Graf 2, Lusk 3-8. No cautions.
Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 34D-Ryan Bowers[2]; 2. 6-Carson McCarl[6]; 3. 29-Leigh Thomas[1]; 4. 62-Jerry Richert Jr[5]; 5. 5T-Mark Toews[4]; 6. 91A-Reed Allex[7]; 7. 52-Jake Lempelius[3]; 8. 85T-Adam Tough[8]
Lap Leader: Bowers 1-8. No cautions.
Victory Lane photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
