7/21/2013
Mueller Notches Initial TSCS Win At Granite City
Mike Mueller Notches Initial TSCS Win At Granite City Speedway
Sauk Rapids, MN
On a pleasant summer evening during their only appearance of the season at the Granite City Speedway, Mike Mueller notched his first career Traditional Sprint Car Series (TSCS) feature win on Sunday July 21. While the majority of the feature race field worked the cushion up top, Mueller was committed to running the bottom lane from the opening lap. Exiting turn four on lap 17, Mueller's patience and setup paid off as he took the lead from fellow rookie Brian VanMeveren and went on the record his inaugural TSCS victory three laps later in a nonstop run to the checkers.
A solid field of (14) TSCS sprints signed into the pits at Grantie City for their second-ever appearance. Defending race winner Kevin Bradwell was on hand along with defending champion and current point leader Rob Caho, Jr. All-time leading TSCS feature winner Johnny Parsons III completed the trio of leading winners on hand. On this particular night though, it would be a couple of rookie drivers showing the way up front in the feature race.
Following two heat races which were won by Brian VanMeveren and Rob Caho, Jr, Cam Schafer ended up first in passing/finishing points and redrew the #4 pill for the feature race invert. This put Reactor Racing teammates of VanMeveren and Parsons on the front row of the 20 lap main event. Van Meveren powered into the early lead on the cushion and looked like he might run away with the race. As the laps clicked off under green, Mike Mueller was making the bottom lane work and began moving forward. As the high groove started to fade some, Mueller was smooth on the bottom, waited on his setup to come in, and soon reeled in the leaders. Moving by Caho for second, Mueller quickly ducked underneath fellow rookie VanMeveren coming off turn four on lap 17 to take over the lead. Three laps later, it was Mueller crossing the finish line first for his inaugural series win. Caho, VanMeveren, Parsons, and Schafer completed the top five. All cars finished the caution-free race.
Caho continues to lead the TSCS series standing after twelve races. Next weekend the non-winged sprints race twice along with their winged counterparts each night. On Friday July 26, the TSCS sprints will be part of the Dan Grams Memorial at the St. Croix Valley Raceway. The following night July 27 they will make the half hour trek south to the Cedar Lake Speedway for their only appearance in 2013 at the high-banked 3/8 mile oval. Keep tabs on all of the TSCS action by clicking on the blue logo at www.umsprints,.com or become a friend of the UMSS on their Facebook page.
UMSS TSCS Race Results - Granite City Speedway July 21, 2013 (Race #12)
Driverwebsites.com Heat #1 (10 laps): 24 Brian VanMeveren, 54 Cam Schafer, 87 Mike Mueller, 34 Denny Stordahl, 41s Jack Clark, 9 Katrina Sautbine DNF, 1 Jeff Pellersels DNS.
Sprintsource.com Heat #2 (10 laps): 78 Rob Caho Jr, 12 Johnny Parsons III, 2k Jake Kouba, 95 Kevin Bradwell, 2 Tom Porter, 51 Jori Hughes, 60 Lucas Milz DNF.
Mora Motorworks A Main (20 laps): Mueller, Caho, VanMeveren, Parsons, Schafer, Bradwell, Kouba, Stordahl, Sautbine, Clark, Porter, Hughes. DNS: Milz, Pellersels.
Lap Leaders: VanMeveren 1-16, Muller 17-20.
No Cautions!
Victory Lane Photo courtesy of Vince Peterson at Track Rat Photos.
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
